The Edge of Glory

Turning a song title from the one and only Lady Gaga, whose Super Bowl Half Time Show last night was superb and groundbreaking, I found it a fitting way to describe how last night's game left me.

Unfortunately, it was not the outcome I was hoping for.

My Atlanta Falcons lost a heart breaker in the very first overtime game in Super Bowl history. And it was all at the hands of Mr. Immortal, Tom Brady. I can't stand him at all, but also can't take away what he has done over his career.

Yes, history was made last night. Between Brady's 5th ring, the overtime, and the Gaga spectacle, it was a night for the ages. I only wish that the Falcons had come out on the winning side of things. I keep getting told, "There's always next year." The only problem with that is, the unpredictability of sports offers no guarantees of anything. Additionally, the sting of defeat is all too familiar with me, that I had the highest of hopes that a victory was at hand for my dirty birds.

But it's time now to dust off and move on. And in much better news, it's 8 days until pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training at the new facility camp and ballpark in West Palm Beach. It will be a joint facility shared with the Washington Nationals. And from the early accounts, it looks fantastic.

Dallas Keuchel, Lance McCullers, Collin McHugh, Mike Fiers, Charlie Morton, Joseph Musgrove, Will Harris, Brian McCann and Ken Giles will all be among the first players to get a glimpse of the new digs and start getting their workouts and technique mastering in. Other players are due in by the 21st of the month, but can be down there as soon as Valentine's Day.

Your people's champion and mine, Evan Gattis will also be down in the sunshine state to get an early start to Grapefruit League. Speaking of El Oso Blanco, Fantasy Rankings have come out across the internet. As it turns out, the consensus rankings on our Big White Bear consist of the following:

#6 Among active Catchers (Beating out McCann, who came in at #10, if you can believe that!)
#16 among all DH candidates (Obviously, not as good, but also beat out Beltran, who came in at #29!)
#143 Among all active players across the entire league. Being in the top 200 indicates a strong, solid player.

Obviously, this isn't indicative of what the players will actually do throughout the season. Certainly, circumstances will change. Nevertheless, maybe this could mean a change of heart from Skipper Hinch as to how much playing time Evan will actually get. I mean, if HE has to fight for playing time, then that means EVERYONE should have to. Even the new acquisitions.

But I digress. Some pics of the equipment trucks being loaded were released today. Here were a couple found from Twitter!:

So while the end of the NFL season was a buzz kill, my favorite sport in baseball is about to start up again. As I've mentioned to some friends before, it is the time of year when all feels right in my world. With the potential of these spacemen to get a World Series championship, it would make all of the already right feelings feel even better!

Folks are going to be seeing a lot of Evan Gattis in 2017! A lot more than they might think!

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