Of all the harbingers of spring and the hope eternal implied with it, few seize the imagination more than the term "pitchers and catchers report." Not merely for the notion itself but for what it conveys by extension: the thaw and awakenings and possibilities entwined with the season of rebirth that baseball has come to symbolize in our culture.
Even if baseball has become overshadowed by the NFL and in many ways is past its time as America's pastime, it remains ingrained in our social fabric.
So "pitchers and catchers" and the bursting pop of gloves, followed imminently by full-squad workout, in a certain way still feels like a right of citizenship as much as a rite of the season.
