Is there any­thing more excit­ing than Open­ing Day? Depends, I guess. Last time I went, the Phils were shelled by a Car­di­nals assault led by Albert Pujols. Pujols bounced a ball off the score­board in left on a drea­ry, cold after­noon at Cit­i­zen’s Bank Park. Pret­ty sure he broke a light or two.

Things quick­ly got out of hand. We sat in the 200 lev­el in right, where a group of drunk­en stu­dents start­ed fights and were puk­ing all over each oth­er. It got so bad they shut down the con­ces­sions. It sucked. We suf­fered through a few more innings and head­ed home. 

We caught their last home game that year, a dis­ap­point­ing loss in a make­up game to the Astros. How things have changed since.

I’m thrilled to be joined on this Open­ing Day by my fam­i­ly to see the Pres­i­dent throw out the first pitch and watch Roy Hal­la­day’s Phillies debut. Here’s to a great 2010 season!