I am a huge sports fan.

Nothing beats a Saturday at a college football game and football season will always be the best time of the year. The one time of year that comes close is just starting though.

There is something magical about baseball season that I just cannot put my thumb on. Baseball is called America’s pastime for a reason and even as the game loses some of its popularity with TV audiences, the game will never fade because of its mystic.

I have been a Yankees fan since Derek Jeter graced the cover of SI Kids when I was in elementary school and I couldn’t be more excited for this season with Judge and Stanton creating a terrifying duo in the center of the lineup.

My love of baseball is not only for my Yankees and the MLB though.

Some of my favorite memories from college are weekends spent at Dick Howser Stadium watching the Florida State Seminoles play ball.

For my first two years of college, I lived on campus and my sophomore year I lived really close to the stadium.

Sporting events are free for students at FSU so on a warm spring Saturday when I needed a break from studying or some fresh air, a walk to the stadium and three or four innings were hard to beat.

The student section is supposed to be the right field bleachers, but I’d always find my way to the grandstand and steal an empty seat behind home and soak up some sun and a few innings.

My junior year it all changed though. I got an internship covering FSU sports and suddenly my few innings every couple weeks became attending games almost ever Friday, Saturday and Sunday and some midweek games.

Covering it as media I couldn’t cheer the team on, but it gives you such a different perspective. I even got to know the legendary coach Mike Martin, who will soon be the winningest coach in D1 baseball history.

Last year, I found time to make the trip to Pearl a couple times to catch some Mississippi Braves action.

Some peanuts and maybe the occasional hot dog and I was good for an afternoon. Going to a football game is all about the roar of the crowd and cheering until you go horse.

For me, going to a baseball is almost the exact opposite. Yes, I’ll cheer when my team does well, but baseball is relaxing. Afternoons at a baseball stadium are peaceful and magical and a chance to just leave the world behind, travel back in time and get lost in the game.

I have been watching FSU games while working on Saturdays (baseball makes great background noise while designing newspaper pages unlike football), but I am excited to get to a stadium and feel the sun on my arms and legs, don my baseball cap and take in some innings, because that is what spring is for.

Brandon O’Connor is a staff writer for The Vicksburg Post. You may reach him at brandon.oconnor@vicksburgpost.com.