I read a bunch of papers every day, both delivered to my home and on the web. My field is Political Science and there is plenty of news there any day to catch my eye, although I do limit my attention to the Congress and the President. Here in Connecticut we have a new Governor – Dannel Malloy – who previously served 8 terms as Mayor of Stamford, so I’m giving him a grace period, knowing full well he does ‘hands on’ better than I.

Now sports – baseball and others. The New York City area is a mecca for pro sports or so most thought. Right now the Knicks are in favor and the Rangers. The NFL is on ‘a legal hiatus’ and the NHL teams are just about through their season.

The Yankees are not filling their stadium either and in fact the seats behind home plate are always empty during the first innings, and then people are allowed to fill in because of course it looks bad on TV. Some of this is the fault of the greed of the owners – those seats are four figure seats and there is absolutely nothing in the stadium once you are inside that is free. So if you get up to walk around, you surely will see something that you want or need no matter what. Meanwhile the TV cameras are at a loss to show the crowd, because there isn’t one – so they show the game as they should.

The only place I could find that was still filling their stadium with customers who were watching the game was Fenway. ‘Twas ever thus, no distractions for them. But of course, they are big on tradition. Unfortunately the team opened the season poorly, and took a bit of a hiatus, but they’ll recover.

So the Mets are in last place and at this stage it doesn’t mean much, but it will. If there is no upward movement by late May or early June, the team will look and be different after trades etc. Sandy Alderson moves like a flash in these matters. Terry Collins is taking the blame these days, but sooner or later we’ll all know who isn’t doing their share on the field and in the batters box. Right now, there are some new faces who are either doing very well or those who can’t seem to do anything right.

Baseball itself will survive, yes even for our Mets. Remember that it’s the game that draws us in – into a sunny, grassy field . A game played with a bat and ball, just like your kids do in Little League. There’s no time limit, just a simple game with nine innings.

For many of us, it is the sport we love, and the only one.

The season just started. Take it all in – the good with the bad, because you know what? It’s all good.