Box Seats - Look It's Baseball

For the Elliott Clan, Cincinnati Baseball is religion. And Opening Day is the holiest of events. Thank my loving parents for handing down the only two tickets they could find to my brother and I. So......we had the pleasure of seeing one of the greatest opening days our beloved Reds have ever played. Two home runs by Adam Dunn, a solid pitching performance from Aarron Harang, the appearance of Pete Rose, the major league debut of Josh Hamilton (due for his own Lifetime Original Movie) and an unselfish Griffey Jr. in right field finally. The only downside to a perfectly beautiful day was the ceremonial first pitch botched by Cincinnati Mayor, Mark Mallory, it seemed to go straight to the dugout, a metaphor for the city's social trajectory. My brother and I deliberated as to the city's worth other than baseball, and we couldn't come up with much. Chili, an unparalleled modern art museum, and the Reds. Being a bridge walk away from Kentucky doesn't help matters.

The endless variations on "Lay Down Sally" we heard from the countless fraternity bars during our trek to the ballpark prompted us to remember Cincy's musical legacy, which is nil. And you can't even technically count Afghan Whigs, since they formed in Athens, OH. In order to tie this in with all things music I ask two things: Is there someone from Cincinnati we forgot to mention? and What's the best song ever written about baseball? John Fogerty's "Centerfield"? Or perhaps Guided By Voices' "Look it's Baseball" from their extremely hard to find, Tonics and Twisted Chasers LP. Though April 2nd is when Red's optimism is at an all-time high, what I witnessed yesterday has me already hoping for an endless summer at Great American Ball Park.