Opening Day is My Thing

I'll be there again this year.  Today is Opening Day for the Cleveland Indians' season.

I was there in 1983.  I got my driver's license as quickly as I could after I turned 16 so I could drive to Opening Day.  Long story short, my Dad drove my friends and I anyway, but we made it.

I was there in 1984.  Even though my car's radiator died half way up there, and we missed the parade, I was there.

I was there in 1985.  Yankees game that year.  Soon-to-be-Hall-of-Famer Bert Blyleven made a memorable remark that year about the Hall of Fame.  [STORY HERE]

I was in college in 1986 and without a car for the 8+ hours roundtrip back.  I went to Opening Day at Cincinnati instead.

I don't think I made another Indians' opener until 1993.  That was the last opener in old Municipal Stadium.  I missed out on a ticket, snuck through a Stadium turnstile, snuck into the box seats, snuck down to a seat behind the dugout, and ended up with a great souvenir--my photo on the front page of the Canton Repository the next day enjoying the game.  [STORY HERE]

I gotta believe I made a couple more between 1995 and 1999, but marriage, young kids, and moving further away from Cleveland kept me away after that.

The tradition revised three years ago.

My oldest daughter went with me in 2009, though it rained so bad we didn't make it until the end.

The photo above was from Opening Day in 2010.  [STORY HERE]

I'll be on the first base side of the upper deck this year with my daughter Natasha again this year too.  Go Tribe!