God, I miss baseball!  As a child, I grew up with my dad and brothers, listening to Earl Gillespie and Blaine Walsh describe the games played by Eddie Mathews, Hank Aaron, Warren Spahn, and the others who wore the uniform of the Milwaukee Braves.  I loved every minute of it.

Later, as a young man in Atlanta, the city in which I chose to live and raise a family, I watched the newly minted Atlanta Braves.  They had made the same move south as I.  Now I watched, both in person and on Ted Turner's superstation, as the same Aaron and Phil Niekro, as well as Dale Murphy, Bob Horner, and others, struggled to rise above mediocrity.  I loved every minute of it.

A few years later, I watched in wonder as those Braves, blessed with Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, John Smoltz,  Chipper Jones, and others became the best team in the sport, at least during the regular season.  I, along with my sons and many friends, rarely missed an inning, either in person or on TV.

Semi-retired and living in Florida now, I love mlbtv.com, which, for a modest sum, lets me watch every major-league game.  I particularly love to watch those same Braves, who seem to have always been a part of my life.  I love every minute of it.

But now some invisible bug that the Chinese have let escape their shores has silenced my game, as well as many other of life's pleasures.  Japan would not have let this happen.  The Japanese love baseball almost as much as I do.  Perhaps if I were a Chinese checkers devotee, life would be better.  But it's not.  I hate every minute of it.

I sit here now in my den, staring at autographed baseballs and praying this horror will soon end.  My battle with cancer last season pales in comparison, although chemo fog and sleep deprivation might well have dimmed that nightmare in my memory bank.  I just want them to start playing baseball again, preferably in packed stadiums, but even in empty venues for the TV audience alone.  I want to hear the crack of the bat, with or without the cheers of the crowd, and I want to hear it soon.  I will love every minute of it.