Play ball!

Fountain Square during the Findlay Market Opening Day parade in Cincinnati (Mark Pfeiffer/April 4, 2005)


A stand-up spot for a standing room only ticket (Mark Pfeiffer/April 4, 2005)


Ken Griffey Junior faces Pedro Martinez (Mark Pfeiffer/April 4, 2005)

April 4: Attend Opening Day 2005 in Cincinnati. The Reds hit back-to-back homers to beat the Mets 7-6 in the bottom of the ninth inning. Not a bad way to start the season.

April 5: Attend a screening of FEVER PITCH, which turns out to be one of the year's best films to date. Think of it as ANNIE HALL for the baseball set. Although the jokes aren't as outlandish as is usually associated with the Farrelly brothers, it's a very funny film and quite possibly their best. FEVER PITCH is equal in quality to Hollywood's two other superb Nick Hornby adaptations (HIGH FIDELITY and ABOUT A BOY). Hornby creates male protagonists who are boys in men's bodies, yet compared to the adolescent behavior that defines most of mainstream cinema's romantic couples, FEVER PITCH is a refreshing alternative. It provides a truer, more mature portrayal of people working on their relationship. Go figure.

Colin Firth fans may be aware that FEVER PITCH was first made as a 1996 British pic that hews more closely to Hornby's book about soccer fanaticism, but it's a lesser film compared to its American counterpart.