FanHouse Opening Day

On Deck is FanHouse's look at the day's most intriguing matchups

Florida Marlins (0-0) vs. New York Mets (0-0) - 4:10PM Est.

Let me just start off the first On Deck of the season by pointing out that it's extremely difficult to pick only three games on Opening Day. Every game you look at on the schedule is deserving of a spot here today, but I can only pick three. We'll start off in Miami where the Mets look to put the collapse of 2007 behind them starting today, and they'll be turning to the crown jewel of their offseason to get it done. Johan Santana will be making his first start as a member of the Mets, and the Marlins are hoping to spoil the party. Of course, for the Marlins, they're starting a season without Dontrelle Willis on the mound, and Miguel Cabrera at third for the first time since 2005. They still have Hanley Ramirez, though, so not all hope is lost. Taking the ball for the Marlins this afternoon is Mark Hendrickson, who may in fact be the worst Opening Day starter in the history of baseball. Oh, and let's not forget, these two teams got into a bit of a brouhaha during the final days of the season last year. So there may still be some scores to settle out there today.

If you are sitting at work, and one would assume you are, since it's a Monday, you might be wondering two things. First you may be wondering why your boss is such a blankity blank and won't let you off of work early to watch baseball. And secondly, you may be wondering how in the mess you're going to get your fill of baseball related information with only this simple little computer in front of you.

Sure, you can get the stats vis a vis some live scoreboard. And sure, you can watch on MLBTV (assuming you have your own office). But you know what that computer can't do for you? It can't describe the pure poetry and endless quality of Opening Day 2008. Plus, everyone knows those gametrackers are always faulty anyway.

That's where your buddies at MLB FanHouse come in. We're going to be live blogging these Opening Day games like our lives depended on it. Once the game gets near, you'll be able to swing by here and grab all the relevant links for whatever game you're looking for. Need a recap from the first three innings? We got you. Or you can just jump in live with whoever is covering the game you're looking for. Enjoy.

Score one for the Bayou Bengals. It has been announced that LSU will play Mississippi State in a rare early season SEC league match to kick off the 2007 season. LSU coach Les 'The Hat' Miles can be seen to the right celebrating with one of the moves from Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' video. To the surprise of nobody the game will be televised on ESPN Thursday August 30.

ESPN notes that this "continues a tradition" - started last year. Oy.

The Bulldogs were woeful in a 15-0 shutout loss to South Carolina in last year's opener. The game's MVP was Gamecock punter Ryan Succop which says about all you need to know for how that game went. Both starting quarterbacks were knocked out of action early leaving hapless backups to carry already pedestrian offenses through the remaining game action. The game's real drama was in the supposed confiscation of MSU's famous cowbells. Of little surprise many fans snuck the devices into the stadium making a mockery of the policy.

Although without the services of departed quarterback JaMarcus Russell, LSU is a strong favorite to win in a romp here. At least we can save the date, so to speak. I'm just going to pretend there aren't well over six more months until college football. Because if I knew that to be true I'd cry in misery. And I'm not in the mood for misery.

Anyhoo ... the reasoning escapes me at the moment, but those kickoff classic type games were eliminated a year or two ago, robbing college football fans of some great early season shows. Off the top of my head I remember Penn State's Curtis Enis torching the USC defense a while back, I remember the wild Cal/Kansas State shootout that the Bears lost but signaled something positive for the Jeff Tedford era. I remember Reggie Bush scoring three touchdowns against Virginia Tech in a game that catapulted him onto the national stage.

It'd be nice to have that type of game back. Y'know, compelling national matchups and all? Early season battle of titans. This is nice but it's just another SEC league game played out three weeks premature.

Until the fun games return it's LSU/Mississippi State starting the season off with more of a whimper than a bang. But I'll take it, it's football. Just around the corner. Riiiiiight.