It happens every spring

Sure signs of signs are upon us.

It's staying lighter out longer, even without arguing over daylight saving time.

Locally Dairy Castle is open again, ushering in a flurry of activity destined to last until nearly Thanksgiving.

And Donald Trump recently saw his shadow, predicting six more weeks of political cold fronts on the election scene.

Technically spring 2016 begins a month from now, on March 20, coinciding this year with Palm Sunday.

But theoretically it really begins when you hear those sweet, sweet words from Florida and Arizona: Pitchers and catchers have reported to spring training.

All you have to do is hear those words and your olfactory senses take over. Yep, the boys are back in town.

You can smell that unmistakable fragrance of a new leather baseball glove. Who can refrain from sticking their hand inside it and burying their nose in the pocket?

Yes, I love the smell of neat's-foot oil in the morning.

Baseball, isn't it really the only sport where your senses clearly take you back to your youth? Back to those glory days. Back to spring and summer.

Football and basketball don't conjure up the smell of fall or winter.

Sure a new leather football has a nice fragrance to it, and a brand new basketball certainly has that sweet tactile feel. But they just aren't baseball in the purest sense.

You know. The fragrant smell of the leather. The look and the feel of brand new horsehide baseballs. The sense you can even smell the wood burning when your square up a baseball just right off the bat.

Ah, the sweet, sweet fragrance of spring ...

Can't you just smell that Bazooka bubblegum right now?

Yep, the boys are back in town.