The Perils of February

Spring Training is officially full force today in Yankee-ville. Today marked the Yanks first full team workout, accompanied by the requisite pics, which, though not particularly exciting or interesting -- or sometimes even visible, really -- still get me excited for the start of baseball season. After flipping through various channels yesterday, and realizing the sports options consisted of golf, hockey, bowling, and lacrosse, even fuzzy spring  training pictures are a light at the end of the tunnel. That tunnel is the end of winter, and it starts in February, after the Super Bowl and before March Madness. It's a long stretch, patch worked together by basketball. Don't get me wrong ... I like basketball. It's just not baseball or football. And it can't compare to the glory of September (and hopefully October). When football is beginning and baseball is coming down the (hopefully meaningful) stretch. 

February is just an awful sports month. And there's the hockey. ALL THE HOCKEY. Even in New York, with all the sports fans I know, I don't know a whole lot of hardcore hockey fans. But as an avid twitterer, I see them often. And they are quite the vocal bunch. I'll give them this: there is no one who loves their sport more than hockey fans, except maybe soccer fans, who also seem to dominate in February, and which also is a sport I have zero interest in..

Granted, there is basketball. My Gators are having a great year in basketball, and it seems as though it's anyone's tournament this year, while at the same time seeming like it isn't Kentucky's or Duke's, which is alone a reason to celebrate. And it is my first year on the Brooklyn Nets bandwagon. Due to a lack of televisions at my current job, I haven't seen as many Nets games as I'd like to, nor have I been to the arena yet. But Brooklyn has been my home for the last 16 years, and any team that plays here, I'll support. Even if it's the Islanders. It can't pain me to root for hockey any more than it's going to pain me to root for Kevin Youkilis.

Speaking of Youk ... I've had a hard time accepting past Red Sox in Yankee uniforms. Some were tougher than others. Johnny Damon? Harder than Wade Boggs, but easier than Roger Clemens. But Kevin Youkilis? If A-Rod hadn't broken my heart so many times -- he's the ultimate "I-love-you-baby-I-didn't-mean-to-hurt-you" kind of guy -- maybe, just MAYBE, I could give Youkilis a shot. But thanks to A-Rod's faulty hips, Kevin Youkilis will be shoved down my throat like a teaspoon of cinnamon. No easing into it. He's just so synonymous with Boston for me. And I really have an irrational hatred of all things Massachusetts. I've been booed there more than once for wearing a Yankee hat, and my parents lived in Worcester, which, if you're unfamiliar with it, be thankful. And then there's the Patriots. And Youkilis is married to Tom Brady's sister! He's a Red Sox, in the most irreversible of ways.

Until he hits his first walk off home run. Yankee fans are fickle like that.

But at this point in the sports year, I'll take it.

At least February is a short month. A short, depressing, cold, hockey-filled month. And if you can get through Valentine's Day and the Slam Dunk Contest, March is around the corner, with St. Patrick's Day and March Madness, which leads right to the start of baseball season. This year, the NCAA Sweet 16 is the appetizer to Opening Day. It's the rebirth cycle of the sports season.

And it can't come soon enough. 

The irony that I'm starting a blog titled Marcia's Monday Musings on a Sunday is not lost on me. I'm starting this with the idea that I will write regularly, at least once a week, preferably on a Monday. Plus, I'm a sucker for alliteration, and the letter M. And while writing once a week is not lofty goals for most, I like to set the bar low.

I'm sort of kidding.

I'm not a writer, but I love them. I truly think they are the most interesting people in the world. And all kinds of them, too. Sitcom writers to sportswriters. Columnists to comedians. Novelists to newsmen. And Aaron Sorkin. I love Aaron Sorkin.

And you too, bloggers. You get a bad rep.

Anyway, I just thought it was a great skill to hone, and I think I'm going to give it a try. I'm sure you'll see a lot of sports here. For those who know me, I'm pretty sports-obsessed, but not athletic in any conceivable way (and I just discovered unathletic isn't a word. Learning stuff already). I don't like all sports. I love baseball (Yankees) college football and basketball (Gators), and have jumped on the Brooklyn Nets bandwagon.

I also live in Brooklyn, and have a huge issue with hipsters. Especially hipsters in Nets jerseys. I hate hipsters in Nets jerseys.

This is where I plan to start keeping track of it all. I bartend in New York City, which comes with it's own set of stories. This blog is really for me. But I'll be happy if anyone cares to come along.

I will try to keep the complaining about the three-year-old upstairs who sounds like he wears cement booties and runs around all day in a kind of morse code iambic pentameter to a  minimum.

Hoping to start in earnest tomorrow.