Fight the Good Fight

It's the middle of February in New England, it's cold, and there are weeks and weeks to go before the weather warms up. What keeps New Englanders going through the heart of winter? The anticipation of baseball returning - of hot dogs and base hits and green grass and warm sunny days. Everything that is the beauty of summer in New England flashes to mind right now with the start of spring training in Florida.

When New Englanders bleed, they bleed Red Sox red. The passion for the team is in our DNA, because the baseball season is the embodiment of everything winter is not. When the 2009 season kicks off at Fenway Park on April 6th, it is likely to be 35 degrees - and standing room only. For the people in the park that day, it will feel like 75.

As the optimism of pre-season baseball ramps up once again, Red Sox Nation finds itself missing one of its leading citizens: Dean Barnett who passed away last October, at the age of 41.

Dean was a huge Sox fan, a strong voice for rational thought and for Republican principles, broadcasting from the heart of the liberal bastion that is Massachusetts. I started reading his Soxblog many years ago, and it was the first blog I ever bookmarked. When he went national with Hugh Hewitt, and then wrote for the The Weekly Standard, it was truly a story of local-boy-makes-good. Dean was a great Red Sox fan, a great Republican, a great writer, and a great person. And as the cycle of seasons once again brings us to the hope that is Red Sox spring training, I believe it is important to remember Dean Barnett, to remember his passion for baseball and politics, his passion for life in general, and the class and wit he displayed in fighting the good fight.

Seize the day, fight for what you believe in, cheer for the Red Sox. It's that simple.