DaytonDailyNews.com

Of all the rites of spring, I cherish Opening Day for the Cincinnati Reds the most.

With the Findlay Market Parade, the pregame festivities and the game itself, it's a time of celebration in the Queen City, which closes for a "city holiday" as kids and adults play hooky from school and work in observance of baseball's annual rebirth.

It's like magic. Too bad Major League Baseball and its puppet commissioner, Bud Selig, disagree.

For decades, the first pitch of every season took place in Cincinnati. Then Selig came along and destroyed that sacred tradition by force-feeding us Sunday night garbage and season-opening series in Mexico, Puerto Rico and Japan.

It's shameful.

"The Reds were the team that opened the season, and that should've remained the case as the oldest franchise in the game," said St. Louis native Carl Moritz, an editor for the venerable Sporting News, the 122-year-old "Bible of Sports."

"They deserve that. Their fans deserve that. It just spoke of the tradition, the passion for the game that Cincinnati's always had. It was always a return to the roots and tradition of baseball, and to have that stripped away just isn't right."

Today, I will cheer parade grand marshal Cesar Geronimo, sing the National Anthem with Kathy Wade, marvel at the flyover of F-18 jets, cry at the introduction of the Joe Nuxhall, Chief Bender, Bob Howsam and Bob Purkey families and cringe at Hamilton County Commissioner Todd Portune's ceremonial first pitch.

And I'll curse Selig, who is Ebenezer Scrooge masquerading as Mother Teresa.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2253 or

cludwig@DaytonDailyNews.com.