Pitchers and Catchers Report??

   By Gus Ramsey

   #getoffmylawn

   I love baseball. It runs through my blood like performance enhancing drugs through the veins of some of the greatest players of my lifetime. I consider Pitchers and Catchers Report Day a holiday. It ranks right up there with Christmas, Thanksgiving and all the greats. As a New England resident for all of my childhood, the day was extra special because it signified the imminent conclusion to winter and the burgeoning hope-filled days that spring delivered, right along with Easter eggs and April showers.

 SSSCCCRRREEEEEEECCCCCHHHH!
 CRASH!!!!

   That's the sound of the "Rite of Spring" careening off February's calendar and splattering itself all over every day of the week.
   Mets pitchers and catchers are set to "report" on February 20th. The other players are tabbed to arrive on February 24th. Today is February 16th. Do you know what I saw today? I saw video of Ike Davis, Daniel Murphy and David Wright working out at the Mets facility in Port St. Lucie, and it bugged me. It's bugged me for a few years now.
   I don't open up Christmas presents on December 17th. I don't eat a big turkey dinner with all the fixings on the third Thursday in November. I get why they do it, I just don't like it. I want to feel like those report dates are significant. Holidays are an event. Pitchers and Catchers Report Day used to feel like an EVENT, not just another day when some more guys showed up or they start getting fined.
   So in a few days the media outlets will show the video of players arriving, smiles on their faces, hope springing eternal all across Florida and Arizona as "pitchers and catchers report!"
   To me it'll feel like Monday.