Of course the situation isn’t perfect, it never is, but baseball is, (more or less) in bloom.
Tryouts and practices have begun locally, in spite of the autumnal weather turn, and games will be played.
Not that you could garner that from websites attached to local baseball, other than the Trail American Legion (Jays) site, which tells us they won’t have any home games for another seven weeks.
B.C. junior hockey sites, including team sites, have been down a lot lately, dealing, so they say, with security issues.
So, as local teams that are not from Castlegar are done for the season, one turns to the season just beginning, wondering about teams, practices, games and whatnot. And one finds almost nada.
I suppose the Orioles, being, “senior,” and all that, could be forgiven for not using cyberspace to update its small core of fans - and perhaps garner a little attention for their futures in spaces such as this - being an, “older,” crowd and all.
But at the minor level, where half the participants, ages up to 19, could probably build a pretty good website during their half innings on the bench during games, it seems amazing nobody uses those skills to allow those of us who might be interested in the goings-on in minor ball to keep track of it.
Maybe there is an App for that, but I and many others do not use smart phones and tablets (I have a tablet, but haven’t been able to figure out how to use it) so need to access information on the basic interweb.
Lots of information on previous seasons, 2013, not so much.
I know plans are in place for the year, I read about some of them in the Times, but it would be nice, just in case I wanted to, you know, go to a game or volunteer or something, if the information was available in a semi-permanent, easily accessible place - you know, like a website.
• It may already be time to panic for Blue Jays fans.
The season has just begun, but their vaunted new starting rotation is proving anything but dominant. As I write this, they are being pummeled once again and are on their third relief pitcher.
Toronto is only second on my list of MLB teams for which to cheer, but I had been hoping for enough of a turnaround in their fortunes - because of the fortune invested in a turnaround - that the Blue Jays would be a team with a potential for post season drama. Instead they are in their worst early season run in 35 years.
I hoped, anyway, that the, “This Year,” dream would last beyond April.
We basically get to watch just Toronto and Seattle, the teams to which MLB has assigned local fandom, on a regular basis.
Seattle is still, “rebuilding,” although they are currently doing better than Toronto.
The Blue Jays were my hope that I might get to see some competitive pennant-chasing drama.
One must still hope, of course. It is still really early. Games played at this time of the season count as much as games later in the year, however, and the Blue Jays are digging quite a hole out of which to climb.
- Oh, well. Go Quinnipiac.