By David KalanThe Daily Northwestern

They may seem insignificant to most of you – a small snippet on the front page of the paper.

But to the rest of us, those of us who live and breath the national pastime, they are the five sweetest words in the English language.

“Pitchers and catchers report today.”

(Pregnant pause)

See, the first two weeks of February are usually a black void on the sports calender. Sure the NBA is still going on, and the Knicks are actually playing semi-not-entirely-mediocre basketball, so that has been worth paying attention to.

Then there’s the NHL, where my Devils are streaking towards yet another division title behind Hart Trophy candidate and future hall-of-famer Martin Brodeur.

But 82-game seasons where more than half the league makes the playoffs are difficult to get excited about on a daily basis. And getting good hockey coverage is almost as tough as following my Southampton Saints as the push for promotion to the Premiership.

So until baseball returns there isn’t a whole lot to pique my interest. In fact, so little happens that Gov. Rod Blagojevich declaring the week of February 5-11 “Chicago Bears Week” actually seems kind of fascinating to me.

Ugh. Thank God baseball is finally here.

Of course, this week has been a struggle for me. The Mets don’t report until Friday, while the crosstown Yankees already opened camp, as have the Cubs and the Cardinals, among others.

Seeing Andy Pettitte soft toss in pinstripes while Tom Glavine sits at home makes me feel like a Jewish kid on Christmas. Not that I know what that’s like or anything.

But fortunately, the movies and Chinese food will only have to sate me for one more day before Glavine and the rest of the Mets’ grab bag pitching staff opens up the 2007 campaign.

Can I contain my excitement?

Not really. I’ve already planned my Spring Quarter schedule around what road trips I can make to see the Amazins. Whether or not this will mesh with my goal of graduating this June is really secondary.

We all have our priorities. Mine revolve around seeing Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran, Carlos Delgado and the always sexy David Wright as many times as humanly possible.

It may require skipping a class here or there and maybe handing in one or two papers late. But if I wind up not walking at commencement it won’t bother me.

It’s baseball season. I’ll know I made the right choice in the name of those five sweetest words. And if I don’t graduate my parents will be willing to pay for fall classes, right? I wasn’t all that keen on the whole “job search” thing anyway.

Sports Editor David Kalan is a Weinberg senior. He is normally giddy as a school girl every Friday. Reach him at [email protected].