Until a few years ago, the mere mention of spring training would make me drool in anticipation.  Now that that has tempered off a bit, I attribute it to several potential factors, with the possibility of it being a combination of them.

1 - Baseball means springtime and springtime meant warmer temperatures.  When you grow up in the Midwest, where early spring is simply an excuse for the weather to be rainy and in the 40s/50s, baseball gave the hope that true spring was in the air.  Yes, I do love the winter but I am an equal fan of having all four seasons represented fully.  Do I not yearn for spring training as much because I now live in a temperate climate, where it’s not unheard of to be in your t-shirt by the end of February?  It is a major adjustment to go from bundling up at Wrigley or Tiger Stadium in the first week of April as though you were trekking across the Antarctic versus deciding which pair of shorts to wear to opening day at Turner Field.

2 - Living in a city where I have no emotional ties to the local baseball team also plays a factor.  The Braves simply haven’t captured my heart and it doesn’t help they play in a horrifically sterile stadium with apathetic fans.

3 - Have I have gone overboard with my immersion into hockey?  With having the Center Ice hockey package for TV, taping the entire Saturday evening of every Hockey Night In Canada, recording every Red Wings game and working as an Off Ice Official for the ECHL, I’m beginning to wonder if my previously equal love of baseball and hockey has tipped to hockey’s favor.

4 - Is it because the team I root for, the Tigers, were in the World Series and lost?  Last year was a wonderful surprise and even though the ending was tough to swallow, any Tigers fan that says they expected them in the World Series is a liar.  So I wonder if I’m still nervous about whether last year’s season was an aberration or a portent of good things to come in the next few years?

5 - On a semi-related note, is it because, since they were one of the last two teams to play almost until November, I’m quite not ready for baseball?  I found this to be the case each year the Red Wings won the Stanley Cup.  With the victory parade happening in early June, the preseason in October was right around the corner, whereas teams that didn’t make the playoffs were already done in early April.  They weren’t on the edge of their seats during a 2 month playoff run and thus are further removed from watching games.

Speaking of playoff runs, it occurred to me that out of the 4 main teams I root for, two made their respective sports’ Finals.  Sadly, they both lost – the Bears to those Indianasspolis Colts and the Tigers to the St. LaRussa Cardinals.  The other two teams came tantalizingly close.  The Wolverines perfect season was ruined in that shitburg in Columbus, Ohio and my beloved Red Wings had the NHL’s best regular season record but lost in the first round to the eventual Stanley Cup finalist (Oilers).

Therefore, I deem 2006 to be the “Close, But No Banana” year for the sports teams that I follow.  As for “those overpaid-for-their-profession guys in the other uniforms” that beat my “overpaid-for-their-profession guys in uniforms”, I will always hate them.  If you ever want to see Red James come out, just ask me about the 1995 New Jersey Devils team.  And Jeff Weaver, you mullet-wearing buttwipe who has choked for many teams including the Tigers, a pox on you and your family for pitching the clinching game for the Cardinals last year against your former team.

One final note – the ludicrous injuries that befall Kerry Wood and Mark Prior have already begun.  When you injure yourself IN A BATHTUB, it might be a sign from above that it might be time to retire prematurely.  The fact that the Cubs even signed Wood to a contract this year, even though most of it is performance-based, is about as delusional as signing a pact or treaty with North Korea.  You know how the story is going to end, so why prolong the agony?  I’d trade Wood for a few ballpark hot dogs right now and as soon as the transaction was completed, I’d point to who I made that trade with, yell “SUCKER!!!!!” at the top of my lungs and run like hell in the other direction.