People often wonder what the best time of the year is, and in my opinion it's right now. The NCAA Tournament is in full swing (and actually winding down with the Final Four this weekend), baseball season is just beginning with a full slate of games on Opening Day, and then in a little over a week it's the Master's. Needless to say, my social life comes to a screeching halt during this time.

While I'm certainly looking forward to both the Final Four and the Master's, I realized tonight just how much I love and missed baseball. There's something very special about the game. Maybe it's that you see it as the unofficial start to summer, or maybe it's because you remember those days growing up when you would go outside and play catch with your father. Whatever it is, tonight, as I was cooking dinner watching the Yankees game, I realized it's that time of the year again, time for another season to start where you look forward to each and every game, and know that you have something good to watch every day.

Now as for the game, I couldn't help but get a bit emotional at the beginning of the broadcast. Michael Kay and the production people at YES did a fantastic job putting together a tease that showed the importance of this Opening Day, the last one to be held at the 85-year old Yankee Stadium.

For the longest time I was adamantly opposed to the Yankees building a new stadium, whether it was right across the street from the current one, or in the Meadowlands as had been rumored in the early 90s. And while I have come to grips with the team moving, I guess I never thought that time would come, until tonight that is. All of a sudden, the magnitude hit me.

Some of the greatest days of my life have been spent at Yankee Stadium, and I guess some of the worst too.  But from that first time I walked into it as a little kid, and saw that beautiful green grass and amazing white facade, I knew it was a special place. How special? So special that when you say, "The Stadium," despite all of the other stadiums out there, people know what you're talking about. Yankee Stadium is the stadium. Sure, some parks are older like Wrigley Field and Fenway Park, but those aren't stadiums, they're great cozy ballparks.

I tried explaining to friends from Boston the feeling you get when you enter The Stadium for the first time, but they never got it. I tried telling them that The Stadium is a character all by itself, that it has its own personality and its own charm, but they still didn't get it. And then I took them to a game there last season. Sitting in our seats on the first base side, I looked over to one of my buddies, and he said, "This is really cool. Honestly, it's even better than I thought. It's amazing." As you have probably already figured out, that was coming from a Red Sox fan.

There are 80 games remaining at The Stadium, and I strongly urge each and every one of you to get there at least once if you've never done so. And for those of you who have been there, go again because there will never be another one like it. Hopefully, in addition to seeing this landmark, you'll also hear The Voice of The Stadium, Bob Sheppard, because he is as much of the experience as anything else. When you hear him for the first time, you'll again know what I'm talking about. One more thing, when you do go, please email me and let me know what you thought, I promise you won't be disappointed.

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