My fiancé and I took a winter vacation last week to Niagara
Falls, Ontario. Most of our friends
thought we were crazy to go north in the winter time. When it is February, and there is a polar
vortex, it is clearly still winter in the Midwest. While up there she got to see the falls for
the first time. It was my first time
seeing them frozen like they were. They
aren’t actually frozen, but rather they are the pit for all of the ice that has
built up along all the Great Lakes that feed into it, so when the ice goes over
the falls, it just gets trapped and builds until it looks like the falls are
frozen. Underneath that ice, is the same
water moving quickly, and in April, all of that ice that we saw will be gone,
and every visitor can see the water flow for the entire summer season. And starting around November, the ice will
slowly return.
Our
last night there, we went to Skylon Tower for dinner. We saw the same falls as we did earlier in
our trip, except that there was less ice, the water was beginning to seep
thru. As soon as we got back, she put
away her winter themed table settings, and full team scrimmages were happening
in Arizona and Florida. It’s spring, and
it’s time for a new baseball season. The
country is beginning to thaw, diamonds are being prepped for games, the
stadiums are being stocked with souvenirs, and ticket offices are looking for
any last minute season ticket holders they can find. Once the snow melts, spring arrives. It brings back so many memories from my
childhood as an Indians fan, the Albert Belle flex, Kenny Lofton’s steals and
climbs up the center field wall, Omar’s bare hands, Jeff Kent’s stache; Charles
Nagy’s breaking ball, and more. It
flowed on thru my life into what were down seasons for the Indians, but still memorable
moments, Jody Gerut’s sliding catches, Fausto vs. the midges, CC, Pronk, Bob
Wickman putting all of us on edge every appearance, Victor’s swing, Cliff Lee’s
resurgence and emergence, Grady Sizemore’s dives, and We are All
Kipnisses.
Once the snow melts, what will our new
memories be? While the snow covered the
ground, we said ‘good-bye’ to Joe Smith, Chris Perez, Matt Albers, Ubaldo
Jimenez, and Drew Stubbs. We welcomed
John Axford, Josh Outman, David Murphy, Elliot Johnson, and Shaun Marcum. What will all these moves mean? I can’t be certain, but I know one thing is
certain, don’t think this is close to the same team that Cleveland fans saw
last season. What were the strengths of
last season may not be the strengths this year, who was healthy, may not be
healthy this year, and who was injured, may be fully healthy all season. There isn’t any ‘What if’ or Harlem Shake
promos, but instead a letter from Terry Francona to the fans. Chris Perez’s twitter account is no longer
important, but John Axford’s facial hair is.
Ubaldo’s mechanics are irrelevant (until we face Baltimore), but I
suddenly care about Shaun Marcum’s rehabilitation.
Spring
is here, and the Indians are practicing.
The blog is open for comments, and there will plenty of posts from me
about whatever the season will hold. Win
or lose, we are all part of the Tribe, and there will be joy, heartache, and
most likely a new grey hair or two. If
there wasn’t, would it even really be fun to be a Cleveland Indians fan?
Roll Tribe (Oh wait…that was last year too…hmmm)
#Windians
