If New Year's Eve...

is only 2 days away, could baseball season be far behind?
Well, yes, I guess it is still a way off, but it's still on my mind.
For the last 2 years, the LSH & I have gone to Mets Spring Training. I already was pretty much decided that we would skip it this year, maybe make it an every other year thing. If I had any doubts about my decision, the powers that be of the WBC, World Baseball Classic, have helped me feel good about my decision.
Why in the world is it held during our Spring Training? As of right now, only one Met, my boy, David Wright, is officially playing. Now, I'm sure DW is thrilled to have the chance to wear the Team USA jersey and play for his country and I'm happy for him. However, Carlos Beltran, Carlos Delgado and Pedro Feliciano have made it known that they want to play for Puerto Rico, Johann Santana and Francisco Rodriguez want to play for Venezuela and Jose Reyes for the Dominican Republic and if any of those countries doesn't invite them, they are plain crazy. That means the Mets will be without 2 starting pitchers (including their ace), one reliever, the first and third basemen and the shortstop for at least part, if not all, of spring training.
The Mets are probably going to tell Santana to sit this one out, as he's rehabbing from surgery. But I'm really surprised that nothing was said to David. Is it really worth taking the chance of injury to play in this competition? David is an all-out competitor and I don't expect him to really rein it in here. I'll be holding my breath every time he takes the field.
On another note...One of my co-workers and fellow Mets fan, learned that the NJ Sportswriter's Association is holding an awards ceremony at the end of next month to honor some professional athletes who are either from NJ or play for a NJ area (that includes NY :) team. It just so happens that my boy, David, is being presented with the Sports Humanitarian of the Year award due to his dedication and charitable efforts through the David Wright Foundation. Anyway, the banquet hall it's being held at isn't very far from us (in fact, my wedding reception for my first marriage was there!) and the price isn't too bad as these things go. So we've been trying to get a group together to go. Now, this is just the type of thing that falls into my "Que Sera Sera" beliefs (see post from Dec 28). If you have ever tried to get a group together to do ANYTHING, you know exactly how it goes. When the plan is first mentioned, EVERYBODY is enthusiastic and climbs right on board....until the time comes to "show me the money." And then, the group starts falling apart like the Jets 2008 season (alright, I know some of you are thinking I could have said the METS season, but, hey, get your own blog!) So, as we understand that tables will be assigned, we made the deadline for payment tomorrow. So, we shall see tomorrow who will be joining us for some witty repartee and lots of laughs. I know the LSH has promised to escort me, no matter what happens. Thanks, sweetie. You're the best!