“Every day is a new opportunity. You can build on yesterday’s success or put its failures behind and start over again. That’s the way life is, with a new game every day, and that’s the way baseball is.”

-Bob Feller

I resigned to my quarters last evening before the sun had set. I was preparing. Fueling up. Recharging my batteries. For the next morning when I awoke, we would be mere hours from the pandemonium that overtakes the city of Cleveland only once a year. Friends and strangers alike, partaking together in the streets. On this day, people aren’t Democrats or Republicans. They aren’t Catholic, Jewish or Muslim. They’ve all congregated to reminisce about past successes and failures, the promise of the future and to drink to the team that has been here 45 years longer than any other. On this day, the tenth of April, these people are all Cleveland Indians fans.

I woke up at three o’clock AM like a young boy on Christmas morning. Unable to return to slumber, I began thinking about the day that followed and the challenges that came with it. While the light at the end of the tunnel shined as luminous as a thousand suns, the path that preceded it would not be an easy one. There would be trials. There would be tribulations. I would get knocked down, and once I got back up, I would get knocked down again. There would be people rooting for my demise, because I’m from Cleveland, and that’s what people do. In the wee hours of this morning I had no choice but to focus on myself. Control what I could control. Picture myself doing what I needed to do, performing to the best of my abilities, doing my job. Visualizing the best possible outcome for every obstacle that sat between me and 4:10 PM. I made my self believe, in my heart, that I was going to succeed.

And that is why I know I will survive. I will be better than anything that tries to stop me. I will make it through this half-day in the office and be back downtown to slug beers with you by 12:30, Cleveland. Big players make big plays in big games. Someone wants to have a quick meeting at 11:30? Throw it on my calendar. Let me freshen up your coffee, boss. Anyone that walks by my cube is going to get a “Good Morning” with an exclamation mark and the smile emoji that shows teeth. Nothing will ruin this day. Because in Northeast Ohio, nothing is given. Everything is earned. And we watched Casey Kotchman get five hundred plate appearances in 2012. We earned this day.