Hope Springs Eternal

In addition to being the one-year anniversary of my arrival in Kabul, Thursday the 4th of March is also an important day for reasons that have nothing to do with Afghanistan, COIN, Islamic fundamentalism or American foreign policy.

Yep, that's right, it's the first game of Spring Training for the Chicago Cubs!

At 1405 (that's 2:05 PM Central Time for those of you in the civilized world) today the Cubs take on the Oakland A's in glorious HoHoKam Stadium.*

*A fine stadium that I actually visited once, due to the over-indulgence of the former girlfriend** who was wise enough not to expect me to skip a visit to HoHoKam on a trip to Phoenix. It was August, so the Cubs weren't even in town then, but it was fabulous to go nonetheless. Somewhere, there are still some pictures of that day.
**I prefer the term "former girlfriend" as opposed to "ex-girlfriend" simply because of the negative connotations of the latter term. She, on the other hand, would probably prefer the "ex-" for reasons which should be obvious to anyone who knows me well.

Courtesy of the Daver over at View From the Bleachers, here's the projected starting line-up (for those who care):

• Theriot SS- Always been a fan of "The Riot." Quick bat, quicker glove, has some trouble with consistency (and no serious power to speak of), but he's a gamer. Supposedly, the young phenom Starlin Castro will platoon at shortstop, which is good because we need to get an idea if this kid can really play.
• Kosuke RF- Still a fan of the "The Fuk" despite the fact that he didn't quite rise to the (unrealistic) expectations placed on him.
• DLee 1B- The old warhorse, somewhat more limited in his range now, with a nagging injury, but still one of the league's best firstbasemen, and a potentially game-changing bat.
• Aramis 3B- Also a little long in the tooth, but also one of the best third basemen in the game. Power, consistency, good range at the hot corner, the whole package. If 'Rami and DLee have the years they're both still capable of, we're going to the playoffs.
• Byrd CF- Don't know much about this guy, mostly 'cause I've been disconnected from the important things in life for more than a year. Good reports, we'll see.
• Colvin LF- Ditto. Colvin who?
• Fontenot 2B- Reminds me of Micky Morandini, the "Dandy Little Glove Man." Font is probably not that good (yet), but he's got talent.
• Soto C- We'll see if he can return to his rookie-of-the-year caliber season of a few years ago. Calls a good game for a young catcher.
• Wells RHP- Which Randy do we get this year? The "ooohh, that was nasty!" Randy, or the "Wow, he hit that really far!" Randy. Time will tell.

Man, I miss baseball. I might even watch a Yankees game, if it was the only game in town.

h/t to VFTB.