I am not sure if anyone noticed, but ESPN televised a three-hour discussion on steroids today. For atmosphere, they had the Pirates-Yankees game playing in the background. I guess it's no surprise that steroids talk dominated the action of today's spring opener, but c'mon guys -- there was a game going on.

I love watching spring training games, but I usually find the coverage to be very annoying. I usually welcome a chance to see the prospects (and suspects) get in the game -- you never know when you're going to get a glimpse of a future star. But the announcers (no matter who they are) seem to usually tune out after the regulars hit the showers. Today's broadcast was no exception. That being said, I hope Steve Phillips gets a lot of work in the booth. He seems really well-informed and he offers a lot of insight that you just don't get with other announcers.

Commentators aside, I was positively giddy to have baseball back. My only disappointment was the weather. Part of the fun of spring training games is seeing baseball being played on a bright sunlit day. Yesterday's Nationals-Mets game had that. Today's Pirate game was downright dreary. Oh well.

As you would expect, the pitchers dominated most of the proceedings. Kip Wells looked a bit rough, but I think that could be blamed on the raw weather. The other pitchers kept the Yankee bats pretty quiet. The Bucs' bats were not much better, but it was fun to see Nate McLouth and Brad Eldred get a look.

Baseball is back. Life is good.