It WAS a Happy Opening Day!

So it was a Happy Opening Day after all.

Aaron Judge went 0-for-5 with 4 strikeouts last night, and the Yankee Haters are all talking about this.

But the Yankees broke out for 5 runs in the top of the 2nds inning. They tacked on 2 runs in the 4th. Trent Grisham and Ryan McMahon, both mocked for their poor hitting last season, each had 2 RBIs. Giancarlo Stanton and Austin Wells, power hitters but not contact hitters, each had 2 hits. The Yankees scored 7 runs with only 1 extra-base hit, a triple by Grisham. They were neither homer-dependent nor Judge dependent.

Max Fried went 6 1/3rd innings, allowing 2 hits and a walk, striking out 4. Jake Bird finished the 7th inning. Brent Headrick pitched the 8th. Camilo Doval pitched the 9th, finishing the 3-hit shutout.

Yankees 7, San Francisco Giants 0. For the 1st time that counts in 169 days, as former Yankee radio announcer John Sterling would say, Ballgame over! Yankees win!

Yes, it's only one game. But when you win on Opening Day, everything looks better, everything sounds better, everything feels better, everything tastes better, everything even smells better.

Today is a day off, before the next game, at Oracle Park in San Francisco, tomorrow afternoon at 4:35 PM Eastern Time. Cam Schlittler starts against Robbie Ray.

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Yesterday was also Happy Ranger Elimination Day, for people who root for the New Jersey Devils (like me) and the New York Islanders. The New York Rangers lost to the Toronto Maple Leafs, a loss that means they cannot qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Both the Devils and the Isles are also unlikely to make the Playoffs, and all 3 teams seem to be going nowhere.

For the Devils, no Stanley Cups in 23 years. For the Islanders, 43 years. For the Rangers, 32 years, and 86 Years 1 Cup.

Maybe New York should stick to baseball.

Except, today, the Mets open, at home, against the Pittsburgh Pirates, a team that seems to have  only one player worth talking about, but it's Paul Skenes, who is probably the best pitcher in the National League right now. So there's a pretty good chance the Mets will start out 0-1.

I can.

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I haven't done a countdown in almost exactly one year, since March 27, 2025. Here goes:

* Next U.S. soccer team game: 2, this Saturday, at 3:30 PM, vs. Belgium, at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.

* Next New Jersey Devils rivalry game: 5, on Tuesday, March 31, at 7:00 PM, away to the New York Rangers.

* Next Arsenal match: 9, on Saturday, April 4, at 3:00 PM U.S. Eastern Time, away to Southampton FC in the Quarterfinal of the FA Cup.

* Next New York Red Bulls game: 9, on Saturday, April 4, at 7:30 PM, home to FC Cincinnati.

* Next Yankees-Red Sox series: 26, on Tuesday, April 21, at 6:45 PM, at Fenway Park. Less than 4 weeks.

* Next Red Bulls "derby" game: 27, on Wednesday, April 22, at 7:30 PM, home to DC United.

* Next World Cup: 77, on Thursday, June 11, split between the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Just 11 weeks. The Final will be on July 19, at the Meadowlands. It's beginning to look like the U.S. wouldn't have qualified if we weren't a host nation.

* Next North London Derby: Unknown. Arsenal have already played, and beaten, Tottenham Hotspur twice in the Premier League this season. At the moment, we don't even know if "Spurs" will be in the Premier League next season. With 7 League games to go, they are 1 point over the relegation zone. If they manage to avoid it, the 1st game of the 2026-27 season will be on Saturday, August 15, which would be 142 days. But the teams never open the season against each other, so it will probably be longer than that. They have played each other in August, but it's usually once in October or November in N5, then once in February or March in N17, and the occasionally cup tie.

* Next East Brunswick High School football game: Unknown, but if last year's schedule is any indication, it will probably be on the last Friday in August, which would be August 28. That's 155 days, or a little over 5 months.

* Next Rutgers football game: 161, on Thursday, September 3, at 7:30 PM, home to the University of Massachusetts.

* Next East Brunswick-Old Bridge football game: Unknown, but if last year's schedule is any indication, it will probably be on Friday, September 26, at Vince Lombardi Field in Old Bridge. That would be 183 days, or 6 months.

* Next election for the U.S. Congress and for the Governor of New York: 222, on Tuesday, November 3. A little over 7 months. In New Jersey, polls are open from 6:00 AM to 8:00 PM. In New York, they're open from 6:00 AM to 9:00 PM. If Trump is to be held accountable for anything, the voters must give the Democratic Party control of each house of Congress.

* Next Rutgers-Penn State game: 240, on Saturday, November 21, at a time TBA, at Beaver Stadium in State College, Pennsylvania.

* Next Summer Olympics: 841, on July 14, 2028, in Los Angeles. A little over 3 years. Perhaps there will be another boycott. 

* Next election for the President of the United States: 957, on November 7, 2028. A little over 2 1/2 years, or under 32 months. Time to end the Trump Era for once and for all, and to make America good again.

* Next Inauguration for the President of the United States: 1,031, on January 20, 2029. A little under 3 years. And stay out, you fat Fascist son of a bitch.

* Next elections for the Governor of New Jersey and the Mayor of New York City: 1,321, on November 6, 2029. I am fully confident that Governor Mikie Sherrill can govern the State well enough to convince voters to re-elect her. I am not at all confident that Kid Mayor, Zohran Mamdani, who has already screwed up two blizzards, can keep himself popular enough to avoid a primary challenge. He might even open the door for a competent, though probably evil, Republican to win.

* Next Winter Olympics: 1,408, on February 1, 2030. Yes, I know, we just finished a Winter Olympics. The next ones will be in the French Alps, a region that has included the sites of the Winter Olympics in 1924, the 1st one, in Chamonix; 1968, Grenoble; and 1992, Albertville. In fact, a lot of the Winter Olympics have been held in the Alps: 1928 and 1948 in St. Moritz, Switzerland; 1936 in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany; 1956 and 2026 in Cortina, Italy, with the Games that just ended being mainly in Milan but some events in Cortina; 1964 and 1976 in Innsbruck, Austria; and 2006 in Turin, Italy. Indeed, from Grenoble in the west to Milan in the east, it's only 230 miles, or roughly the distance between Midtown Manhattan and downtown Washington, D.C.