It’s Spring Again

“…to the girls and boys and people above. This is the time to fall in love.”

Human beings, speaking generally, are creatures of habit. Godless vagrants and general contractors aside, most people do the same thing every day. Of course, there are fluid variables — birthdays, dinners, concerts, funerals, Labor Days, ski trips, mental breakdowns, trips to the dentist.

During the winter months, baseball ceases to be a constant for the current author and reader. It is there for so many days, then gone. A new routine is established for the time being, and this routine turns to the new constant. So when baseball starts again, it is time to adjust our daily habits.

This Sunday, it will be time to make that adjustment.

We have habits — subhabits, if you will — that take place slightly before, or perhaps concurrent with, this tipping point. For baseball, it may be a cookout, or the purchase of a new cap or jersey. It may just be a small, internal celebration. The latter action is of no less importance than any other, because it is still a signifier of something that, at the time, seems like the most important thing happening.

The entrance of spring — speaking in terms of the calendar, at least — isn’t always apparent here in the middle west. But no matter the weather, baseball is its own barometer. Baseball doesn’t give a shit about what the weather has to say. When it comes, it’s spring again.

And so, to mark the official official beginning of spring, I listen to the song embedded below. It’s not the most basebally song — in so much as it doesn’t even reference the sport and the video features golf (the fact that this video may deserve its own post is not lost on me). It’s not even a terribly good song. But this is my subhabit. And since I won’t be “seeing” you until games have already started, I’m sharing it with you today.

Presenting the vocal stylings of Mr. Biz Markie: