{"id":15834,"date":"2021-02-25T16:48:34","date_gmt":"2021-02-25T22:48:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/?p=15834"},"modified":"2021-03-04T22:55:35","modified_gmt":"2021-03-05T04:55:35","slug":"full-count-were-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/2021\/02\/25\/full-count-were-back\/","title":{"rendered":"Full Count \u2013\u2013 We\u2019re Back"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>Written by Andrew Cicco.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dear Major League Baseball,&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hi. It\u2019s Andrew, but you already knew that. It\u2019s been a while, even though the last out of the World Series feels like it happened just last week. Through all the excitement of celebrating Clayton Kershaw finally getting his ring, I forgot what was just around the corner: a long, lonely and lackluster four months without baseball.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Things got a little rough without you for a while. It almost seemed like it wouldn\u2019t get better, either. But that\u2019s the funny thing about you and other sports, isn\u2019t it? Even when things get their worst, you\u2019re there to distract us from our problems, even if just for a second. I\u2019m sure there are others like me who needed you really badly, too, and that\u2019s OK.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Honestly, I\u2019m just glad you\u2019re back.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Once we get to the tail end of February, my spirits always get lifted, as is the case for the millions of others like me out there. Everyone knows what February means: It\u2019s time for spring training. Even though it\u2019s pre-season work, it\u2019s still exciting to see that you\u2019re back at all. For baseball fans everywhere, like myself, it\u2019s like a second Christmas, and after waiting all those long months, baseball is finally back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A lot has changed since you left us with the Dodgers atop the baseball world. We\u2019ve seen a lot of superstars change teams, like George Springer (Houston Astros to Toronto Blue Jays) and Trevor Bauer (Cincinnati Reds to Los Angeles Dodgers), and we\u2019ve seen a couple of guys lock in their loyalty to their current cities, like Marcell Ozuna (Braves, 4 years\/$64M) and, perhaps the most electric young athlete you\u2019ve ever given us, Fernando Tatis Jr. (14 years\/$340M). A few of your rules have changed, and new and better changes are happening with you, too. You gave us a new list of prospects to be excited about for years to come, and we lost one of your brightest stars and oldest trailblazers in Hank Aaron. Like in real life, you give us ups and downs; we feel uplifted when we win and distraught when we lose. Some need to work harder than others, and some may choose to take the wrong path. But, like life, every single bit of it is worth it because that\u2019s part of the experience. When things get at their worst, you\u2019re there to pick us back up. I don\u2019t know about everyone else, but I really needed you back.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As a lifelong fan, I\u2019ve turned to you in every aspect of my life. The times I\u2019ve appreciated you the most were always when I felt I was at my worst. Those have been happening a lot since the pandemic first started, but that\u2019s one of the added \u201cperks\u201d to depression, isn\u2019t it? It doesn\u2019t matter because you always help me push through, as I know you\u2019ve done for millions alike out there.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s been a long four months waiting for you to get back. Now that you\u2019re back, I\u2019ve got a quick question: What took you so long? First game is Feb. 28, right? Atlanta Braves versus Tampa Bay Rays, right? I\u2019m there.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\u2019m so elated that you\u2019re finally back. Now we\u2019ve got a season to start. Let\u2019s do this.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Written by Andrew Cicco. Dear Major League Baseball,&nbsp; Hi. It\u2019s Andrew, but you already knew that. It\u2019s been a while, even though the last out of the World Series feels&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15068,"featured_media":15098,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[84,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15834","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-columns","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15834","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15068"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15834"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15834\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15835,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15834\/revisions\/15835"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15834"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}