Holiday!

It poses to be a sleepless night for me tonight, as is usually the case before Opening Day at Citi Field, particularly in the now dozen or so consecutive years that I've had tickets to Opening Day, whether it's real Opening Day or the Home Opener. Currently, I feel as though I might be best served waking up at 7am and running out to the ballpark, but conventional wisdom (and my other half, who'll be accompanying me tomorrow in what will be her first Opening Day) will more than likely win out, I'll stay in bed a little later, and then divert my usual trip downtown onto the 7 train for my first sojourn to Flushing for the year.

I've said in the past that Opening Day really only feels official when it's a True Opening Day, such as it has been for the Mets the past 3 seasons. Still, even though the Mets have been playing for a week already, since I've barely seen much action live, the Home Opener will actually feel like Opening Day for me. The Mets have played 6 games; I've seen 0 live, except for a snippet of Friday night's game, and it's made for some pretty shoddy blogging around here of late. I'll try to do better tomorrow since I'll actually have seen the game.

Also, it's hard to not get fired up when you hear Howie Rose get on that microphone and start yelling, "WELCOME TO CITI FIELD, AND THE START OF THE 2015 NATIONAL LEAGUE SEASON IN NEW YORK!!!"

Other nice things about Opening Day, which can happen whether it's True Opening Day or not, is that it's a nice day off from Work, which I've generally requested and received several weeks in advance (although this year as I've recently switched jobs, my new employers were kind enough to honor my request for a personal day in spite of lack of accumulated service time). It's now a rare game where I feel a legitimate need to arrive at Citi Field 2+ hours prior to game time, just because it's nice to walk around the stadium, see what's new, get some food before the masses arrive and be in my seat at a leisurely pace before the Shofar is blown and the home season gets underway.

Even Opening Day has been a tough sell for the Mets in recent years, but this year, it's completely sold out, so I'd have to guess I'm not the only one raring to get going in the morning, but most, unlike me, will probably be driving. The Mets are encouraging fans to use mass transit but most people don't listen to those kinds of things, so the parking lot should be plenty full. You know where this is going. There has, for my money, been no better Opening Day Omen for a good season than a nice car fire during the game. Opening Day 2006, car fire. Mets run away with the division. 2006 NLDS Game 1, car fire. Mets win a nailbiter over LA. Ever since then, no car fire, and we know how things have turned out. Now that the Mets have moved into Citi Field, you can't even see the parking lot from where I'm sitting, so if there's a car fire, I'll have no idea. But maybe I can just sort of generate one with my mind, and that will carry things forward from there. If not, maybe being able to get a pocket schedule on Opening Day will be a fitting equivalent. It's been a good 3-4 years since the Mets have had pocket schedules available on Opening Day (and of course they have more than they know what to do with at the end of the season), but I think it might be just as good a sign if, by some chance, I could get a bunch of pocket schedules. Let's hope for at least 1 out of 2.

Howie Rose at 12:40. First pitch 1:10. See you then!