Opening Day

April 10 was the first game at the new Busch. I was able to get a sneak preview during an exhibition game on April 4. Link to the photos is below:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lfcardinalsandmore/sets

In other news, babies 3 and 4 have been born. For those keeping track at home, we've got Zarah on Valentine's Day, Sarah on March 15 so far. Then, Grant Christian made his appearance on March 27, the day of his late Great Grandpa Tony's birthday. He's great grandchild #2, #3 is to be named Lillyan, is due in May and gave her parents quite a scare this weekend by not moving around while her mom and dad were enjoying opening day. She's fine, though, and still due in May. Baby #4 in my baby boom was due around the same time as Lilly but decided not to wait those extra 50 days and showed up on April 8. She's tiny but fine, so the little pack of newbies is now 3-1 girls to boys. Next up is probably Dave and Emily's little guy. This one will be the fourth in his/her household, so perhaps he or she is in no hurry to make an appearance. This might be his/her last few weeks of peace and quiet- ever.

The Cardinals are 4-3, I've seen so far just the disgusting final game of the sweep in Chicago. I also saw 2 fights in Wrigley and Izzy doling out a GRAND SLAM to Michael Barret who, incidentally, beat us with a homer the night before as well. Itwas painful to watch, and Izzy tried his damndest to lose opening Day in Busch III also, but just didn't quite make it. He did reduce Mulder's 6-2 lead to 6-4, and jacked his ERA to above 15 so it was a valiant effort. I have no problem with fans booing him, despite TLR reminding us all that Izzy already has 3 saves. Who cares?! He's scary.

I missed the immigration rally in STL, but am still baffled by the sudden interest in this issue. Immigration reform is the new gay marriage, I suppose. I wish the Iraq war was the new gay marriage. The bipartisan immigration reform proposed is dead now, but I'm still left to wonder: When you are undocumented, how do you prove you've lived in the US for 2 years, 5 years, or 3 years. If you've never been able to get legal driver's license, buy a house, sign a lease, or pay taxes, how do you prove your residence? Do you expect your employer to vouch for you, rendering bigger companies liable to bad press about how they employed undcoumented folks for years in large quantities? I doubt it.

How would that work? That plan seems as absurd as the idea of the great Berlin/wall of China Wall that some genuises want to use billions of dollars to erect on the southern border. What kind of garbage is that?! How about throwing a billion or two to the Mexican people who don't have potable water? How about addressing systemic problems that keep their children starving and their parents crossing the border in hopes of finding work that might keep their families alive. NAFTA, people, NAFTA. We did it, now we have to deal with the consequences. A wall is not "dealing with it".

Brilliant.