A Poem: Pitchers And Catchers Report

With obvious apologies to Franklin Pierce Adams.

These are the best of all possible words:
"Pitchers and catchers report."
They bring with them sunshine, and flowers, and birds:
"Pitchers and catchers report."

It's always a sign of a winter elapse
The very first blue note of spring (well, perhaps)
Mauer, Pavano, and Nathan and Capps -
"Pitchers and catchers report!"

Twins hurlers and backstops are due in Fort Myers on February 17, just ten days from today. The rest of the team must be in by the 23rd, and on the 27th - that's three weeks from yesterday, almost unbelievably - the Twins take on Boston in their first spring game of 2011.

You'll pardon me the complaining (and the weak attempt at poetry above), but if you're a Minnesotan like me, you know it's been kind of a difficult winter. It was 68 degrees here on November 10; it snowed eight inches three days later, and the ground hasn't been clear since. We've had over five feet of snow here in the metro, a full two feet more than average to this point, and since December 1 it's been above freezing only five times.

Today's predicted high: 4. Tomorrow: 2. In between, we'll hit -15 in the metro, probably in the -25 range outstate. And to top it all off, for those of us who are Vikings fans (and in Minnesota, that's most of us) - it's been just about the worst year imaginable.

So consider this your pep talk. As you freeze today, and as you endure the taunting from any cheesehead co-workers you might have, think of baseball, which starts next week. Once baseball is here, spring can't be far behind. In a winter with very, very little hope to cling to - use that. Pitchers and catchers report.