What Used To Be Your Playground?

"Used to be..." A walk down memory lane with the NCAA Tournament and Opening Day.

If you ever want to really draw a harsh line in the sand around “Adulthood,” think of a cherished period of time from your childhood — say, dew-encased summer evenings — and then consider what you’re doing on those same periods as an adult. (“Cleaning up vomit of a young child,” for example.) It really jams the ol’ knife of realism in your spleen.

I just came across one of my own today: as ever, MLB Opening Day and the NCAA Championship are on the same day. (The Masters starts on Thursday; I could care less about golf, but that’s one of those things where you’re always checking the ol’ phone on Sunday to see the leaderboard.)

When I was a young lad on the rough-and-tumble streets of Manhattan’s Upper East Side,