This & That: Baseball (at last), Upcoming Road Work, Trucked In Eats, Outdoor Tunes, & Brewery Donuts?

By Ken DeLaat

Baseball is like church. Many attend, few understand.”-Leo Durocher

Baseball began Thursday night with a game cut short by a blowout of rain and a blowout of a different kind on display in the nightcap ,but tonight the season begins in earnest as the Tigers take the field.
And this looks to be a fascinating season. 
I know, I know, purists are alarmed as they always are (I am certain there were those who felt introducing  the use of gloves ruined the game) but in a year where everything has been tipped on its side, a 60 game run for the title with expanded rosters,16 playoff teams, fanless stadiums, games limited to geographic rivals, and a funky new rule that has teams starting with a runner on second base in extra inning games is just the kind of season that pairs well with 2020.
There’s bound to be the kind of drama that doesn’t always hold up over a 162 game 6 month season. It’s 60 games. Wild things could happen, marginally talented  teams could get hot and surprise their rivals with a sprint to the playoffs, maybe somebody slaps out a .400 average for the season or a pitcher runs the table with a 12-0 mark. Asterisks galore will thrive in the record books when it comes to this season,but so what? For some of us it certainly beats no baseball at all and this will be a year filled with anecdotal treasures.
Our Tigers are rated 29th among the 30 teams in terms of their chances for success this season. The only team in their rearview mirror is the Orioles. No one is giving the Bengals the least bit of a chance to do much better than last season (when they were dreadful) and the sizable budding talent they have stockpiled in recent years to restore the roar will not open the season on the roster. 
But right now the possibilities are endless right? They could jump out and win a few games and maybe call up some of the young arms if there’s half a season to go and it looks like a close race.
Maybe Cabrera roars back with a monster season, Boyd becomes an ace, a couple of relievers find  their niche, newcomers Cron and Schoop put some pop in the lineup….
And a whole lot of other things go right.
A whole lot.
But hey, they’re 0-0 right now.
Check back in around the 20-25 game mark. 

Couple of road things:
If you’re traveling south and headed for the Alpine area be aware there is likely to be a pause in your progress.
DOT says there will be intermittent lane closures for crack sealing from now until the end of August. N3 staff were snared in one of these ‘intermittents’ this past week and counted over 50 vehicles passing by while waiting with others to access the single lane that lay ahead. Some of the less patient among us did some rapid and at times creative turnarounds but those of us who stayed the course soon got on our way.
There’s another lane closure slated for M-37 this coming week just past the White as you’re getting ready to enter White Cloud.It is scheduled to start on  Monday
They didn’t specify what was to be done but it didn’t seem suspicious.
Here’s a link for state road closures.
www.michigan.gov/drive.  

If you haven’t been a part of the food truck scene at the Smuggler’s Cove site this Saturday marks the triumphant return of LumberJills (philly cheesesteak to die for) and another Sunday stopover for the popular Silver Star Cafe (get the burritos). Sunday also brings in Ice Box Ice Cream to cool things down on what looks to be a sweltering day.

The Braunschweiger Blues Band brought a little normalcy back to the community delivering on the first concert of the season at Veterans Park in Fremont. We at N3 World Headquarters were being detained out of town and so missed it, a regrettable miss because B3 never disappoints when it comes to putting on an entertaining show.
However, this return to outdoor music (not counting the occasional personal  kazoo concert by the fire, generally a short set due to popular demand) will hopefully continue and we understand the  schedule for next Thursday has another favored sound among the local citizenry with Backwoods Express taking the stage.
Yay music!

Got Donuts? Newaygo Brewing Co does. Saturday from 10am-12noon you can get their fresh made beauties and coffee to go.
Because no downtown should be without donuts. 

“New mysteries. New day. Fresh doughnuts.”-David Lynch

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