Appetizer

Well, it doesn't feel too much like baseball weather out there, but things are starting to happen; whether you know it or not. As Gus has pointed out, the NCAA college baseball season has fired up, MLB spring training's first games are about a week away, and the front office of your beloved HarbourCats is hard at work assembling a winner on and off the field.

This brief article is meant to pull you out of your Sochi chair for just a few minutes and get you to ponder some of the "off the field" things that you can start looking forward to as the rain gets bullied away by the summer sun. Hopefully, this will whet your appetite for that little white sphere with 108 magical stitches (and no, I'm not talking about Kevin Youkilis' head).

While you have been watching the Canucks lose, an outrageous NBA All Star Game and the final season of Breaking Bad, the 'Cats have been working Jon Gruden-like days to make your ballpark experience this year a great one. This is not the whole enchilada, but it should be big enough piece to get you excited:

1. The 'Cats welcome back a number of returning sponsors (see related press release) including Spinnaker's beer, a personal favourite of all of us here at the blog. Side note - return sponsors are good. This is an indication of the stability of our beloved team.
2. New seats (with backs) will be installed in RAP by the end of March so seat selection can actually take on the meaning it was meant to have vs. "uncomfortable butt-numbing bench space" selection.
3. There will be at least 2 fireworks nights this year and if they are anything like last year's, there will be many oooo's and ahhh's in the cool Vic-town evenings.
4. Our military will be specifically recognized in a couple of games this year, and there will also be a season long theme as we give our continued thanks to these well-deserving men and women. This will make Don Cherry very happy too.
5. The 'Cats will play a couple of roaming exhibition games on the island this year, most likely in the June 21-22 time-frame as that fits in well with the current schedule. Most other WCL league teams play these in-season exhibition games, so we're just getting with the program now. Where will they be?? Stay tuned...this is just a part of the overall package of extras that is being put together for the fans and the baseball community.
6. I'm sure some of the "old favourites" will be back, so Harvey better have a good off-season fitness program going if he is ever going to beat a kid around the bases. Heck, based on last year, I bet Bubba could even beat him. Come on Harv'...Eye of the Tiger!
7. The HarbourCats will also introduce a VERY cool new promotion called "Getaway Day". In the eighth inning of every game, a random draw will be held and some lucky fan will be whisked away by LA Limo to some mystery locale for a veritable potpourri of such things as coffee, dessert, dinner or appies for 2, a night a hotel or many others. Really though, what do we care, we get a free limo ride somewhere in the city! And, to make it even sweeter, at the end of the year, all previous winners who are interested, go into a final draw for a Grand Prize. They will have to show up "bags packed" so to speak, as this prize may or may not require a passport for a trip south.

So hopefully that gets you thinking about fungos and infield flies for at least a little while. It won't be long before you're sitting in your new high-back chair, sipping a frosty Tour de Victoria Kolsch and watching the 'Cats rip up the new West Division as they start their march towards the playoffs.