Recession, Recede!

Don’t look now, folks, but with less than a month to go, the Major League Baseball season is right around the corner, ready to pounce and ready to perhaps take your wallet:

And while some speculate that the current economic crisis will severely hinder and affect baseball as well as the game’s overall attendance, I like to think that baseball will be just the thing that kicks us all in the collective ^ss and gets our minds thinking about things other than plummeting stocks and dwindling 401Ks. 

The good news is: we are already seeing signs that point to positive attendance numbers. 

The bad news is: people are really hurting.

I know it.  You know it.  We can’t turn on the evening news anymore without being fear-mongered to death by stock prices horrifically reminiscent of Jason Voorhees, Freddy Kruger and Dick Cheney.  Such scare tactics seem more responsible for soft markets and second-guessing investors than anything else.  We are being bombarded by negativity!

So I can’t help but ask: Isn’t the state of the economy more of an attitude than it is a tangible barometer for life?  Can we not convince ourselves that everything will be okay, that our bank accounts will be okay, that the Cardinals might make the post-season?

Despite King Bud’s ominous foreshadowing, the fact remains: we Joe Six-Pack US Americans (and some Canadians) need baseball.  We need to have that summer escape, experience that trite tranquility, find that bubbly beer-man.  Without it, we would be lost.  Believe me.  I remember 1994.

And it almost killed me.

Sure, we will all have to make sacrifices.  In fact, I have already begun instituting a frugal fiscal program that will eventually afford me the ability to go to the ballpark this season:

Instead of Johnnie Walker Black, I’ll drink Johnnie Walker Red.

Instead of Giordano’s, I’ll eat Little Caesars.

Instead of going to Kelly Clarkson concerts, I’ll watch American Idol Rewind.

And boom!

Simple as that, I have a few extra dollars to blow on $5 hot dogs and and $7 Old Styles.

But I will be happy… and that’s the most important thing.

Don’t hate me ‘cuz I’m right.

Peace,

Jeffy