"It's great to be young and a Yankee."

"Here's a thought that ought to bring a smile to baseball fans. This was the last Sunday without a baseball game to watch until Nov. 7."

-my buddy K.J.

Excellently put, Hanna. Simply masterful.

So the Olympics are over, and barring half a hockey game I watched with Casey, I think I saw about a total of 18 seconds of it. Actually there was one night when I was slated to watch the Olympics with my buddy Matt, but it turned out the only event I like to watch is also the only event he doesn't like to watch. Soo..Olympics were replaced with rampant Family Guy quoting. A worthy exchange, in my opinion.

I do know that there was a really exciting hockey game last night, mostly because I have never seen such homogeny among FB statuses since November 4, 2008. I can't wrap my head around the Olympics, it's too close to baseball season, I need my faculties about me as I prepare to embark on the most maddening and head-spinning 7 months of the year.

But, as KJ astutely notes, this is the last weekend of nonbaseball. And what a weekend it was. Like last weekend, it featured a good 10 hours of beer pong playing. The snow on Friday lended itself to aggressive snowball undertakings (which actually was more of a spectator sport for me, since my arm is somewhere in between Johnny Damon and Chuck Knoblauch.)

AND, on Sunday, I GOT A HAMSTER.

Named Crazy Yankee Hamster.

"Crazy" for short.

(Which, by the way, has already caused problems. As me and my sister are heading across town to bring CYH to his new home, we're talking about being in the cab with Crazy, etc, and for some reason, the cab driver thinks we're talking about him. And starts yelling at us for being rude and calling him Crazy. And even orders us to get out of the cab, like, in the middle of Central Park. First of all, you're being a little overly sensitive and paranoid. Second of all, if we WERE talking about you, you're not making a great case for yourself not being crazy. If I got mad at every person who called me crazy, I'd be a giant angerball of apopletic rage.)

Mom: How was your weekend?
CYC: Good. I got a hamster.
Mom: Oh, great. You've lost your mind.
CYC: Thanks.
...pause...
Mom: This doesn't count as giving me a grandchild, just so you know.

Mo hasn't formally met him yet, but I think he knows something's up since me and Laur were in my room for a good hour setting the little guy up. When we came out, we were just like, "um no big, we weren't doing anything in there, just folding laundry. Don't worry about it, Mo." (It was mildly amusing though when Mo goes straight for the giant empty "My First Hamster Cage" box, as if to say, "oh, um, so what's this then?")

In more relevant Yankee news...

ON WEDNESDAY I CAN WATCH A BASEBALL GAME THAT ISN'T A DVR-ED 2009 GAME AND/OR A YANKEE CLASSIC!!!!

Yankees vs Pirates, at Steinbrenner field, 1:05 3/3/10.

Girardi and pitching coach Dave Eiland finalized mapping out the first 11 games of the Grapefruit League slate, tabbing Chad Gaudin to throw the first pitch of Wednesday's exhibition opener against the Pirates at 1:05 p.m. ET, a game that will be broadcast on MLB.TV.
Fifth-starter hopefuls Sergio Mitre and Alfredo Aceves will also pitch in the Yankees' first game of the spring, throwing approximately 35 pitches or two innings. That sets up ace CC Sabathia to match against the Phillies' Roy Halladay at 1:05 p.m. on Thursday in Clearwater, Fla., also available on MLB.TV.

Love it. Chad Gaudin throws the first pitch of Yankee baseball. The arbitrariness of it all is terrific. Isn't he still undefeated or something? WAHOOOOO!!!!

Then CC gets the ball against the Phillies on Thursday. Oh my God, I'm so happy my head might fall off. I can't believe it's finally back. This is amazing.

AND THEN NEXT WEEK I'M FLORIDA BOUND!

Life's good.

Oh, and I did start another painting. A much, much smaller scale. 9x12 oil painting of A-Rod touching the "I thank the good Lord for making me a Yankee" sign.