Reds Baseball Is Back: What Opening Day Means To Me As a Cincinnati Sports Fan

CINCINNATI -- In the Queen City, we celebrate Christmas twice a year: December 25th and Reds Opening Day.

There isn't another city that does Opening Day like Cincinnati. The build up to it is palpable, a sign that spring and warm weather are ahead following another long cold Winter.

Opening Day itself is for family and friends to get together to begin another baseball season. It's the first day of a routine coming back into our lives, with us planning our days around the Reds games. The Reds games act as a familiar friend coming back into our lives, a friend we can go to 162 times over the next six months for three hours to distract us from our daily lives.

It's the community of Cincinnati coming together that's my favorite part of Opening Day. The way thousands of Reds fans crowd the streets downtown near The Holy Grail and other bars at The Banks is truly amazing. Fans of all ages love lining the streets throughout downtown for the Findlay Market Opening Day Parade, seeing their favorite Reds mascots and players walk and ride in style.

My grandmother went to high school at Walnut Hills in Cincinnati. She tells me that on Opening Day, school would start an hour early and end an hour early. That way, kids who wanted to go to Opening Day could go.

I will admit that I missed school one year to go to Opening Day. Then again, I was a senior at Springboro High School and couldn't wait to move on to the University of Cincinnati. The festivities are worth missing school for a holiday that only comes once a year.

All of the festivities are a lead-up to the highlight of Opening Day, which is the Opening Day ball game. Tom Verducci said it best years ago when he described Opening Day as the first of 162 chapters in the baseball season. It's the beginning of a new season with new numbers being accumulated, all the twists and turns that come with a six-month season and the ups and downs along the way.

Opening Day is a day of optimism. It's a feeling that this could be our year. Regardless of what happened the year before or the weaknesses on the roster going into this season, there's an optimistic feeling that this team can be a playoff contender and make the postseason. That's how I feel about this Reds team, led by new manager Terry Francona.

You know what else I love about Opening Day?

Welcoming back the Reds broadcasters into our daily lives. There's nothing better than being able to turn on the TV and listen to John Sadak, Barry Larkin, Chris Welsh, Brian Giesenschlag, Sam LeCure, Jim Day and Annie Sabo. I also love the feeling of being able to get in my car, roll the windows down- or pop open the sunroof- and turn on 700WLW and hear Tommy Thrall and Jeff Brantley. "The Cowboy" has an unmistakable southern accent describing the game that can't be found anywhere else. A former co-worker of mine once told me he always learns something listening to Brantley. That's the sign of a great baseball broadcaster.

We know a thing or two about food in Cincinnati. In particular, we know a thing or two about chili, pizza and ribs. There's something different about digging into a cheese coney from Skyline on Opening Day, taking a bite into a slice of LaRosa's pizza smothered with cheese and that iconic pizza sauce or going all in on a slab of ribs from the undisputed ribs king Montgomery Inn.

The foods we love come back into our lives in more abundance as the weather warms and the scenery on The Banks awakens from another long cold Winter. There's nothing like settling in at Great American Ball Park with a Kahn's hot dog with sauerkraut—even though Nathan's is my favorite hot dog brand. A hot dog at a Reds game is as synonymous as a pina colada by the pool in July.

The Reds are the oldest team in professional Baseball, making Opening Day in Cincinnati mean more than anywhere else in Major League Baseball.

Baseball is way of life in Cincinnati. Even as Joe Burrow, Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins have made the Bengals the most popular team in Cincinnati, the Reds still hold a special place in the heart of Queen City sports fans. There's nothing like going to a Reds game in the summer, whether it be on a Tuesday night with the sun setting or on a Saturday afternoon with blue skies and bright sunshine.

Great American Ball Park is a place for the community of Cincinnati to come together. That's what Baseball, which can be viewed as a metaphor for life, is about in Cincinnati; bringing the community together to root root for the Redlegs.

Opening Day is the first of 162 days over the next six months we get to root for the Redlegs. With Francona, a two-time World Series winning manager, leading this young and talented ball club, optimism is high. I'm always a glass-half-full Cincinnati sports fan, and it feels different going into this season with the Reds.

Today is a return to normalcy in our lives as sports fans in Cincinnati, knowing that on most days over the next six months we can set aside three hours to watch Reds games with our families and the Reds broadcasters who, in a way, have become our friends.

Even though I'll be in Indianapolis this weekend covering the Kentucky Wildcats, I made sure there was a Skyline Chili I can go to to celebrate Opening Day.

Wherever you are on Opening Day, I hope you enjoy being a part of the great community of Reds fans, eati all of your favorite foods from your favorite Cincinnati staples and relish the familiar feeling of having Reds Baseball back in our daily lives.

Opening day in Cincinnati is the most underrated sports event in the country.

Somehow, it gets better every year. See you all on Thursday morning. pic.twitter.com/OCFHEkyhU2
— THEStateOfCincinnati (@TheStateOfCincy) March 26, 2025