When MLB Gives You Lemons...

You've probably heard that Major League Baseball released the 2012 schedule that includes Opening Day for the Cincinnati Reds on Friday, April 6. If you've spent any time in Cincinnati at all, you know that Opening Day here is special...It's different than any other Opening Day in any other major league city, and it includes a huge parade sponsored by the merchants of Findlay Market.
However, this year's Opening Day date of April 6 presents several conflicts. Not only is April 6, 2012, Good Friday in the Christian calendar, but Passover begins at sunset on that date in 2012 as well. For the merchants at Findlay Market, the Friday before Easter is traditionally one of the biggest sales days of the year. The thought of trying to organize the Opening Day Parade in the midst of this popular shopping day seems impossible. The conflicts are numerous and even though Major League Baseball has stated that the dates are "tentative," the potential for disrupting the long-standing tradition of the Findlay Market Opening Day parade exists.
Scott Sloan and Tracy Jones spent the better part of their 700WLW radio show today discussing the conflicts. They suggested a solution that would include a split-squad exhibition game a few days before the actual Opening Day with proceeds going to the Reds Community Fund. I'd love to see it happen...But I'd take it a bit further. Wouldn't it be great to have the Findlay Market Opening Day Parade include real Reds players? Not one or two...but the whole team just as it was done originally in the late 1890's. I'm sure thousands of Cincinnatians would turn out to support the team and to celebrate the official start of the baseball season. Fans would line the streets for the parade and then fill the stadium, and the children of the Tri-State would benefit through the Reds Community Fund. The national spotlight would definitely be on Cincinnati, and we could show the rest of the league that we love our Reds' traditions. What a boost such a gigantic pep rally could give the team! And maybe with a little luck, the enthusiasm could carry over throughout the season, and we could all celebrate a World Series Championship with another parade to Fountain Square in the fall.
Let's put our heads together and figure out how we can turn this conflict into a winning situation for all of Cincinnati...After all, when life gives you lemons, you should make lemonade!