Opening Day is a rite of spring
Today is the day when hope springs eternal. Today is the day when everybody's undefeated. Today is the day when winter's grasp is broken. Today is the day where, if you look closely off in the distance, you can see all the way to Omaha.
Today is Opening Day.
The late, great John Updike once compared the first day of a baseball season to a first kiss. The man who so eloquently told us of the Hub fans bidding the Kid adieu couldn't have been more correct. A lot of things in sports are over-romanticized into overkill. But Opening Day isn't one of them.
There is no event in sports more magical and cosmic than the first day of a baseball season. It is more than just Game No. 1; it is the one instance in time when all is right with the world. It is the one moment when, if only for a precious short while, anything and everything is right there for the taking.
Opening Day is a constant. Each year around this time, our national pastime helps bridge us from winter's dreary darkness into spring's airy light. Oozing of optimism and wonderment, no matter who you are, it feels like next year has finally come on Opening Day.
The two teams today are going in completely different ways. South Carolina harbors dreams of Rosenblatt Stadium and a trip to the College World Series. Duquesne is beginning what will likely be its final season ever, due to athletic department budget cuts.
But yet, today, they're both on the same footing, 0-0 with the whole world in front of them when they take the field at Carolina Stadium this afternoon.
"It's a great feeling," USC freshman lefty Tyler Webb, who will start Sunday, said of Opening Day. "You've got to love the atmosphere around here. It's going to be a great time.
"I feel like you've just got to get those jitters out the first day. After all the opening ceremonies and stuff, it's just another baseball game."
Speaking of opening ceremonies, today will be no different than any other opener; full of pageantry and history. The ceremonial first pitch will be handled by USC legend Kip Bouknight, celebrating the anniversary of his Golden Spikes Award-winning 2000 campaign, where he helped lead USC to Tanner's first SEC championship.
He'll be followed up by senior hurler Blake Cooper – a guy who USC coach Ray Tanner compares to Bouknight.
"I read it in the paper the other day, actually," Cooper said when asked about the comparison. "Kip was a great pitcher here. To be in comparison with him is something good."
The self-proclaimed "bulldog" made a decision after last season to rededicate himself, losing weight and hitting the gym. A few months later, he will receive quite possibly the greatest honor a pitcher can receive – starting Opening Day.
"It's a good honor," Cooper said. "The stadium's new, the stands are going to be packed. It's going to be a great atmosphere."
Tanner will be the first to tell you that every single game is important, and his team plays to that tenet. However, Opening Day carries a lot more juice than most ballgames.
"You always want to go out and get a first-day win," Cooper said. "I just want to go out and give our team a chance to win."
On paper, USC is the better team, without a doubt. However, they certainly can't take the Dukes, a tough group from the Rust Belt with nothing to lose likely making their last go-round against the big boys, lightly.
"We're playing a team in Duquesne that's been here enough that they're comfortable here," Tanner said. "As you know, the program is being dropped after the season. It's a little bit dangerous. It's a very dangerous situation for us."
Today is Opening Day. It's easy to just dismiss it as another game. There are 55 (and many more, the Gamecocks hope) after the close of business for the day tonight.
But to do that would be shortsighted. Today is a day so pure, so hopeful and so wonderful, that you have to stand back and soak it in.
"This is what it's all about," Tanner said. "This is a rite of spring."
That it is.