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For all of you Major League Baseball fans who have anxiously been waiting to go in person to a game this season, the season officially begins at 12:05 p.m. on Thursday, April 1 (no this is not an April Fools prank). The Toronto Blue Jays play at the New York Yankees to start the season. The San Francisco Giants go to the Seattle Mariners in the day's finale at 9:10 p.m. The Milwaukee Brewers host the Minnesota Twins at 1:10 and the Chicago Cubs host the Pittsburgh Pirates starting 10 minutes later. The least expensive opening day game to go see is in Florida where Tampa Bay goes to Miami ($60). The highest priced game to attend is when the Arizona Diamondbacks travel to the San Diego Padres with tickets starting at $1048! I may need to win the lottery to go there!
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At MLB games to start with there will be seating limitations with anywhere from 10%-33% capacity, one state has opened up to 100%, but the team is still working on how many they will allow. Seats may be spaced out in pods so only families sit together. Some will only accept mobile ticket ordering, preordering packed food from vendors, proof of vaccination, no bags except for medical use or small clutch purses.
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The Dodgeville Area Chamber of Commerce's "Raffle For a  Cause" event came off without a hitch Friday night at the Dodger Bowl. Congratulations to all the winners, especially Frank Both of Oconomowoc, the $10,000 winner. There were a lot of prizes given away out of the 225 tickets. Chamber Executive Director Beth Mikrut-Gilles, the board and all the people who supported the event should be proud. The drawing of 225 tickets, announcing each one and posting notes on the boards to certify their winning or "support of the chamber" all took time. It was a good event!
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The UW Badgers Men's Basketball team was playing while the chamber event was going on. I, along with others, got a chance to get glimpses of their impressive win in the first round of the NCAA tournament while keeping an ear open to hear if their name was drawn. The Badgers looked like a different team in that game. They were completely outsized inside, but made up for it with accurate shooting from the outside and good defense. It was a good win!
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The UW Women's Hockey Team won the National Championship Saturday. The men's hockey team will be playing for the national title soon!
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The weather has turned pretty mild again except for the wind. I hate excess wind no matter if it's 40 degrees of 90 degrees! On the horizon though is a possibility of some rain/snow mixture this coming Sunday and then again (wait for it) ... on Easter Sunday - which is also brother Pat's birthday!
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Spring is officially here. Temperatures have hit the 60 degree mark and the snow went very gradually. There still are spots pretty much on the north side of buildings and trees where the sun hasn't yet melted the white stuff. Also there are some places where snow was piled very high that still has some showing. But instead of 10 feet high they may just be a foot or less! There hasn't been much mud around town for people to track all over the place - we're really lucky there! Check out the above photo on Parry Street (near Centennial Park) where the row of pine trees blocks the sun from hitting the snow alongside the roadway.