Finally!

One hundred and seventy-one days. Four thousand, one hundred and twenty hours. Two hundred, forty-seven thousand, two hundred and thirty-five minutes. Fourteen million, eight hundred and thirty-four thousand, one hundred seconds.

But it has felt like forever.

The world has continued to spin, to be sure. Heroes have risen, as they always do. Cities have tumbled as the ebb and flow of time dictates they must. The passion of new love has ripped through the atmosphere like a rocket, white hot in its endless intensity...while old flames have flickered, slowly fading away, dissolving noiselessly into space and time. Children have laughed, dreamers have dreamed.

And they have dreamed of this day.

For today, my friends, is a day of celebration. A day to bask in all that is good, and in what could be again.

Chad Ryan Billingsley is back.

It has been over five months since we last saw the pride of Defiance, Ohio (that's right, Defiance, Ohio...symbolism alert, nerds). And oh, what an empty five months it has been. Fingers twitching with anticipation as the clock slows, each second creating its own eternity. Waking in a cold sweat, counting the hours and minutes. Scribbling days off the calendar, erasing the past, marching triumphantly towards the day when #58 is back on the mound and back in our lives.

Well my friends, that day is today. And for you Chad, a poem, and a wish that your first start be as rewarding to you as your mere existence is to all of us.

I predict thirty strikeouts.

Rejoice!


With awe on their faces
They come in quick paces
To see the man in blue

Their wonder will stay
For every fifth day
He stands again, so true

A sight to behold
He waits, ever bold
And fells his foes on cue

A sight to be seen
Down at the ravine,
The darling man in blue.