I remember when opening day meant I could watch a Phillies home game on TV. That was a treat because few home games were televised aside from Sunday games. I would be glued to the TV for the entire game watching the likes of Schmidt, Bowa and Luzinski play their hearts out.

I remember when the front office could be counted on to bring in the key players needed to compete for a division title. Whether it was Richie Hebner, Bake McBride or Pete Rose, that key cog was always right around the corner. Salary never came into play, just ask Pete Rose.

I remember when the Phillies uniform wasn’t so boring. The bright blue road jersey and the fancy “P” on the hat. That was before the trend became “going back to the past.” Every team now has to have an old style uniform. Gone are the bright colors of the Astros and the A’s as they have been replaced with the drab whites and grays of the 1950s. Now the sole interest of the teams is marketing their logo and making money from it.

I remember when Randy Lerch hit two homeruns in one game, Larry Bowa hit a game winning grand slam and Mike Schmidt wore a Ramona Africa wig. I remember when the catcher wasn’t expected to his 20 homeruns in order to have a good season. I remember when defense was more important at the key positions than offense. I remember when it was said that “Water covers three quarters of the Earth and Garry Maddox covers the other quarter.”

And I remember when my mother and father tucked me in at night. When I was younger, someone told me, “the more things change, the more they stay the same.” I think it was a quote from a song, but don’t hold me to that. The point to this story is this. Baseball was a different game 20 to 30 years ago. It’s important for all of us to realize this and not to expect things to be the same way they were back then.

Today, we know about bloated contracts, steroids, no-trade clauses, salary dumps and many other things that we didn’t hear about back then. It is the state of the game today and if we are to enjoy baseball, we have to deal with it. Enjoy the game for what it is. It’s not the be all end all in life, it’s just entertainment. Not much different than a Tom Cruise movie, except the Phillies best days aren’t behind them unlike Mr. Cruise.

With opening day just hours away, I’m trying to put all of the ugliness behind and focus on the Phillies and their defense of the NL East title. And 20 years from now, I hope to be able to say, “I remember when the Phillies were the 2008 World Champions.”

You can read more from Swamilee at www.swamilee.com and Swamilee’s blog at http://www.courierpostonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?plckPersonaPage=PersonaBlog&plckUserId=807d4e025e4d4fbea4debd4e9ad54635&U=807d4e025e4d4fbea4debd4e9ad54635&plckScript=personaScript&plckController=PersonaBlog&plckElementId=personaDest&category=PluckPersona