30 Days to Opening Day

Opening Day 2008 for the Timber Rattlers is April 3. That is 30 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 was not random. It was selected due to the passing of a Wisconsin legend. His departure shocked all of us in the state. He will be missed. I am, of course, talking about Lake Geneva, Wisconsin resident E. Gary Gygax, the man who developed Dungeons & Dragons. Did you think I meant someone else?

The excerpt is from page 30 of Dragons of Spring Dawning, a Dragonlance novel. I would have gone with page 30 from the Dungeon Master's Guide, the Monster Manual, or the Player's Handbook, but I seem to have, um, misplaced them during one of my last campai...er, moves.

Suddenly the dragon was in trouble. A gust of wind hit him, then another. Skie's wings beat frantically as gust after gust pummeled him. The hail drummed upon his head and threatened to tear through the leathery wings. Only the supreme will of his master kept Skie from fleeing this perilous storm and flying to the safety of calmer skies.

Tanis saw Kitara gesture furiously toward Berem. He saw Skie make a valiant effort to fly closer to the helmsman.

Then a gust of wind hit the ship. A wave broke over them. Water cascaded around them, foaming white, knocking men off their feet and sending them skidding across the deck. The ship listed. Everyone grabbed what they could -- ropes, netting, anything -- to keep from being washed overboard.

Put today's excerpt in a baseball context.