Opening Day: A Celebrated "Holiday"

As Americans, we all have holidays that we look forward to and celebrate like Halloween and Easter.  And then there are a few official holidays that are a little less important to us. Do we really do anything special on Columbus or President's Day?  For sports fans, there are annual events that are treated like holidays.  Whether it is the Super Bowl, NCAA basketball tourney or even the opening of firearm season for deer hunters. For each of these events, we all have our parties we attend or other ways we do to celebrate them. As for baseball, it is obviously Opening Day.
We either take the day off or leave early from work or school to watch our favorite team that we haven't seen since last fall.  In addition to the optimism and hopes we all have for our team and players,  Opening Day also symbolizes the end of winter.  The days of snuggling under some blankets on the couch while it is cold and snowy outside are replaced by ones of grilling outdoors or taking road trips to the ballpark or elsewhere.
So, lets celebrate the end of winter and beginning of spring, with the game of baseball.  I can try to put in words why baseball is such a great game and what it  is represents, but I don't think I will do it enough justice.  Former Detroit Tiger announce Ernie Harwell probably explains it the best during his 1981 Hall of Fame induction speech. Take a listen:

So, good luck to your favorite team and players and see you all at the ballpark.