MLB: Opening Day Done the Wrong Way

Bud Selig ruins one of the best sports days of the year...

Spring is here! With it comes the high point of the sports year. The NBA is getting geared up for the playoffs. NCAA march madness is steam rolling towards the championship. The NFL draft brings new hope to fans of all teams of better times in the future. Spring training is finishing and opening day is around the corner...oh..wait...opening day is ...TODAY!

Yes the Boston Red Sox beat the Oakland Athletics 6-5 in 10 innings. The game would have been a great way to start the season, if it would have even taken place in the United States. America's pastime again began in Japan. Baseball is trying to be a more global game, but opening day in Japan! What a way to destroy one of the best things about the sport of baseball.

Opening day should be a national holiday. (Like the Friday before the Super Bowl, and the first two days of the NCAA basketball tournament should also be) Baseball is an American game and really marks the official start of spring. (I know spring was a week ago, but no one cares until baseball starts) Starting the baseball season in Japan, in the early hours of the morning, should be considered a crime against every fan of the sport.

The other problem with this years opening day is the fact that both the Red Sox and A's are still going to be playing exhibition games after the official start of the regular season. That is just plain dumb! Even if you wanted to do the start of the season over seas, why would you at least schedule the first regular season game to be after all the exhibition games were played.

Bud Selig has never been a great commissioner; however, having opening day this early in the year, before all of the exhibition games are finished, over seas, and not taking into account the time change for fans of the team is a new low for his miserable tenure as commissioner.