It's the most wonderful time of the year

Sing it with me!

Well, your ever-faithful Noise-maker is in a great mood. Saw the last 5 innings of the Yankees home opener. To the best of my knowledge, I'd never seen Javier Vazquez pitch before. I can't wait to watch it again. I was kinda hoping Joe would've left him in for the 9th, but totally understand why he didn't want to take a risk with the 2 run lead and the power that was coming up for the Sox. So instead, I got the pleasure of watching Mariano, which I would gladly spend the next 20 years doing. Eh, at least I know I get another 2 years of it.

But here's my beef: A-Rod.

Okay, not actually A-Rod himself. But the coverage of him. When we tuned into the game, the Yankees were in the field and the camera was on a tight close-up. It would then switch to Javier pitch, then back to A-Rod. That was all. ESPN's commentators didn't even talk about the pitches, just A-Rod, A-Rod, A-Rod, Bonds going for the record, A-Rod, A-Rod, A-Rod. Argh! And to the best of my knowledge he hadn't just made a great play--he didn't do anything significant for the part of the game I saw. Which is fine--he didn't need to.

I know he's probably the best player in the Majors. I know it's big news that he's in the Bronx. I've only been salivating over it since it was in the rumor-stage. But, PLEASE! The Yankees were a great team before him, they'd be a great team if the falls down the stairs tonight and can't play for the rest of the year. There are many, many other people you could talk about. Talk about Javier (which they finally did after the 7th), talk more about Jorge (nice homer, btw), talk about Wilson--few good plays today, better than the 3rd baseman, talk Jeter (remember him?) . . .

glad I could get that off of my chest. For now will stick with the big items: 3-1 today, 3-2 for the year, and Red Sox (2-1) on the 16th