17 Days to Opening Day

Opening Day 2008 for the Timber Rattlers is April 3. That is 17 days from today. This off-season, the countdown will be based on books. Each day between now and Opening Day 2008, I will pick a random book out of my library and excerpt a passage off the page number corresponding with the number of days remaining to the first pitch of the new season. I will try not to repeat a book during the countdown.

Today’s book is Rogue Warrior: Green Team by Richard Marcinko and John Weisman.

So the supreme CINC gave us his blessing, although he refused to sign a national-security finding in the matter. Well, I could see his point. It’s not the kind of mission where you want to leave a paper trail. In fact, the political aspects of this assignment were lose/lose, so far as SNO and I were concerned. If I screwed up, the White House would jettison CNO – maybe even court martial him. If I succeeded, only CNO and the president would know what I’d done. There were no medals in this for me or my men, only the knowledge that we were doing what we were born to do, for the country we loved so much.

Put today’s excerpt in a baseball context.