The Many Complications of Following Baseball from Abroad

Unfortunately, even though there was a promise here to wake up at 3.05 AM and listen to the whole ceremonial opening day game between the White Sox and the Indians, we experienced a few technical difficulties. This is all part of the life of a die-hard fan in Finland. I can't come home from a nice day on the links, or Frisbee® in Central Park, and drop my body onto the sofa to still catch Mark Buehrle's first pitch. I don't have that luxury.

I'm not complaining, it's just part of what following baseball means to me. For me to be prepared to listen to any prime-time game on the radio I have to plan. This is not just "Oh, I'll cook dinner on Sunday a little earlier, at about six, so that we can be finished by the game". This is a much more thorough preparation than that.

First, I have to decide: Is this particular game worth waking-up for in the middle of the night? Part of this is questioning if I am prepared to go straight to start my day and go to work directly after listening to the game's conclusion. Another part of this question is: "Do I want to go to bed at 10 or 11 PM so that I can get a little bit of sleep?" The answer to this question for all playoff games this last year was obviously a yes. This also was the case for every Yankees game during their 11th straight run to the post-season, coming down to their final series with the current tenants of Fenway Park. Last night, I decided that opening day with the World Champion Chicago White Sox and the Cleveland Indians was also going to be worth it.

So, I set my alarm for 3.02 AM. I planned to rollout of bed, immediately fire up "Gameday audio" on MLB.com, then listen to the game, from the first pitch to the last. I would then take advantage of the late start to my days on Mondays and try to take an hour nap afterward. This would have all been fine if it went as planned. However, there were some unexpected malfunctions as I mentioned at the top of this notebook.

My alarm- using the clock feature on my iPod, appropriately named MyPod- either did not go off, or did not wake me in time for the start of the game. I just did not wake up. Be assured, when I awoke at 4.30 AM from a dream about Randy Johnson throwing a no-hitter against the newly-remodeled A's, I was both pissed, and in a hurry to get to my computer to fire up the game. After all, this is Mark Buehrle pitching. That guy has the quickest pitch to subsequent pitch count I have ever witnessed. I remember watching one of his outings last year that was done in under two hours! A joy for many of us baseball fans- but a concern for me, wanting to catch whatever I could of an important game.

Well to my surprise when I came to MLB.com , nature had its own delay in mind. It was only the middle of the fourth, Danny Graves inexplicably the pitcher officially on the mound, and Juan Uribe in the box -officially. In actuality of course, Bud Selig's worst nightmare- short of Sen. Mitchell revealing that Bud himself produced steroids in the late 90's- occured. The opening day game was being delayed due to rain. If we think of the opening day feature as baseball's way of saying to the world "Hey remember me? I've been on vacation for a while, but now I'm back and look how great I look", then what last night's unbelievably long rain delay said instead was "Hi, uh umm, sorry I'm late. I just got back from vacation, and you know I got a little drunk there, and pigged out on the breakfast buffet everyday"- all this coming from someone who looked ruddier than a cardinal with a beer gut to rival Sidney Ponson's. Actually, come to think of it, baseball came off looking just like Sidney Ponson with the first day rain delay.

Alas, though, these things are not under the control of baseball, butit was unfortunate for baseball to re-introduce itself to America in this way. I think this turn of events effected few the way it did me. I, after about an hour or so of waiting, just couldn't fathom staying up for one more minute just to see the three most dreaded letters in baseball season be flashed up on my screen: PPD. So i made the decision to go back to bed. As soon as I got up this morning [9AM], to my shock, I saw that they were still playing the top of the ninth- amazing, six hours including rain delays. I caught the end but by that time the 3-3 game of the 4th was now a 10-4 game and much less interesting to catch.

Anyway, that is in the past now, and today is a new day where we have a lot of games going on. I hope to catch one or two tonight and report on them in the morning. Good luck to everyone's favorite teams this season- in reality or fantasy. And I think I speak for a lot of fantasy owners when I say I hope C.C. Sabathia gets well soon.

-Fran