"Rookie Season"

When we wake up on Monday morning the football season will officially be over until next fall, I know many wives will heave a sigh of relief and cast their eyes upward in thanks to the Creator. I have some bad news for you wives, baseball isn't far behind! Yes as my beloved Bears fade into the sunset I begin to focus on my Chicago White Sox and the promise of one hundred and sixty-two games from the "boys of summer". I am a life long Sox fan, I have suffered through bad seasons and cheered through good ones, and I had a life long dream fulfilled in 2005 when my White Sox won the World Series in a 4 game sweep. Each year new faces enter the "Big Show", rookie ball players with the chance of a lifetime, play major league baseball. Nearly all of these rookies were high school and college stars with statistics that would knock the eyes out of the average fan. Last year the Sox started Gordon Beckham at third base, he was highly touted as a new and exiting talent, someone worth watching. Beckham was a short stop in college so he was now learning a new position while trying to make his major league debut. For the average person this may not sound like a big transition, but believe me it is, as a former ball player I can attest to the difficulty of playing out of position. I played first base and I was once called upon to play third, everything was backwards, the way you shifted your body before a pitch, the first reaction to a batted ball, and all of your cover assignments. It isn't just catching and throwing. The first half of the season for Gordon was pretty rough, but by the time the season ended he was one of those names you heard as a "Rookie of the Year", he met his challenge like a major leaguer. Later today another "rookie" will be taking the playing field in the "Big Leagues", Scott Brown will be sworn into the United States Senate as the junior senator from Massachusetts. Scott Brown will be taking the field with the ultimate political pros and he better have his head in the game. I'm sure he will be awestruck at first, which is totally understandable, but he must adjust quickly to his new "ball park"or those "old pros" will eat him alive. Reid, Durbin, and all the rest of the "heavy hitters" will be out to get the young senator, to try to make sure he has little impact on the current policies of the Obama administration. I hope he receives the support and guidance he needs from the conservatives on the "Hill". His election put him in the "Big Game", and now it's his time to show his stuff to the "fans". Unlike a rookie baseball player if he makes a mistake the consequences will be greater than a blown play. Veteran players carry scars from every mistake they have ever made, each scar represents a delay in the pursuit of victory. When I began playing I was given some good advice, " watch the good players and learn from their actions so you won't make the mistakes they did to get where they are". My great hope is that Scott Brown is watching the "great players", the Jeffersons, Adams, Franklins, and Washingtons who are the "Hall of Famers" in American history. As he steps onto the "playing field" today I hope he is ready to rise to the challenge that lays before him. I know America wishes him well today, as do I. Let the guidance of our founding fathers influence his every decision, and the Constitution of the United States be his political "bible"during his term of service to our country. God bless you in your "rookie year", perhaps you can be an "All-Star".