Happy New Year!

It's funny how confused a guy can get when he doesn't have baseball to keep his mind alert. It seems like New Year's Day was just 24 days ago and yet here we are celebrating another new year. I have always been a little confused by the notion that the Chinese have a different calendar than we do. I am further confused that their New Year doesn't seem to ever fall on the same day. It is like there is a Chinese random number generator that determines how long a year is and when it begins and ends. This year, New Years falls on January 24. It welcomes in the year of the snake. The year of the snake? Oh, this has good news written all over it. What better year for the Arizona Diamondbacks to go to the World Series and win it all than the year of the snake. I can see it now. There will be massive amounts of Chinese fireworks followed by a large snake float before we all meet at Bank One Ballpark for roast duck and fortune cookies. This is going to be an awesome year! With this new felt confidence, I called down to the Arizona Diamondbacks ticket office to ask about 2001 playoff and World Series ticket availability. The customer relations representative seemed very confused and tried to explain that they were still working through season ticket requests. There would be no playoff tickets sold until mid-September should the Diamondbacks be in contention. Be in contention? What kind of defeatist attitude is that? Of course they will be in contention. After all, how can 6 billion people possibly be wrong? I may not believe in the Chinese calendar but I sure won't disagree when it claims this is the year for the Arizona Diamondbacks!