The pregame was entertaining. The white doves of baseball were back - I always like them. Fly, doves of baseball, fly...

Ron Cey, Steve Garvey and Bill Russell were honored in the first-pitch ceremony. (Davey Lopes participated via videotape.) I found this sort of melancholy - I feel somehow that all of these members of That 70s Infield are somehow estranged from the team. RussellÕs firing, GarveyÕs number being reissued after it had been held back for so long ... I donÕt know. I guess when it comes down to it, my favorite player from that era is still Reggie Smith. So maybe itÕs just me.

The parachutists were very cool. They come in super-fast - it absolutely looks like their legs will snap seconds before they land. However, they were all able to maneuver themselves into a glide of a landing, and only one of the bunch even stumbled.

The flyover wasnÕt the best - our intrepid armed forces aircraft kept an unusually safe altitude over the stadium. But later, the plane that originally ferreted the parachutists came out of nowhere and emerged inches above the right-field stadium lights like Jaws.

For a home opener, as opposed to a true season opener, it was a good show.