Missing the Lefthander

For me, tonight is the real beginning of the baseball season. The carnival of Opening Day is done, the intrigue and constancy of 161 begins. For the first time since 2000, the nightly vigilance could pay off.

Deck, Adirondack chair, Keystone Light. Blanket. Radio. And this:

Everywhere you hear, he won't be there.

Joe Nuxhall, as we know, wasnt just a broadcaster. He was a tangible presence in our lives, even if some of us never met him. Our years drifted down the river of his words, one languid evening at a time. I know he wasn't on the air much in the past few years, but there was always that chance. Now, there isnt. I know tonight I'll miss him terribly.

So here's what I'm going to do. Or at least attempt. To honor Nux, I'm going to try a very simple thing that for whatever reason most of us find it very hard to do:

Be nice to someone.

Go out of my way. A word, an action, a gesture. One a day, in memory of a guy who made being nice a way of life. Would it be that all of us could live by the example Joe Nuxhall set. I'm going to try, starting today.