Wreaking havoc across the country, Winter Storm Fern has been nasty. I know one lady named Fern, and I wouldn’t mess with her either. The country and especially the South need some warm temps to send Fern on her way to wherever and never come back.
Basketball is happening but with the Rebels and Bulldogs and my Boston Celtics not drawing many winning headlines, there doesn’t seem to be much interest in roundball at the moment. I’ll keep blaming Fern; she can take it. Canceling games across the state and beyond, it’s time to start talking baseball. That’ll warm things up. I know we still need to get through the county livestock shows and Mardi Gras, but the warmness of a nine-inning game and wood bats and beer with lightning bugs sparkling through the night is just what this country needs.
And the college baseball season is gonna be hot! LSU is preseason No. 1 followed by Tennessee at No. 3, Arkansas at No. 4, Mississippi State at No. 6, Texas at No. 8, Auburn at No. 10, Florida at No. 12, Georgia at No. 15 and Vanderbilt at No. 19. Southern Miss slides in at No. 23. Nine teams out of 16 in the top 20. There are gonna be some barn burners across the league this season. Heck, they can just take the SEC and replace some of the MLB divisions. Might make things more interesting if the Atlanta Braves are taking on the Georgia Bulldogs down the stretch for a dual World Series run.
Ole Miss gets ready to host Nevada starting on the day before Valentine’s Day, and the Bulldogs will have Hofstra in Starkville to kick off their run for Omaha. The SEC will start conference play in mid-March, with everyone focusing on hosting a Super Regional and getting a trip to AAA to find Nebraska.
Perhaps, I need to find my old Western Auto blue glove and take some infield and find my glittery gold aluminum bat from the 1970s that helped earn me a South Sunflower County All-Star selection in 1976. I believe I hit three home runs that season. My fielding percentage was decent but my ERA is still a ridiculous four digits, if not five. I was only called on the mound in emergency situations. Still not sure what the emergencies were, but my walks and hit by pitch and wild pitches would still be records of anybody who kept up with them. Heck, in today’s world, I’d probably get arrested for all the assault and battery from the mound I committed.
Yes, it’s time to blow ol’ Fern out and melt her down and chalk the lines and batter’s boxes, get some sunflower seeds and a batting glove and make some warmer memories on the baseball diamond. Heck, let’s play two!
