Well, as I’m sure you all have noticed, the days are getting longer and the temperatures are rising as we near the month of June, which means one thing — the 2003 baseball season is in full swing. Now is the time when first place teams prove whether they are contenders or pretenders, and hitters with hot starts find out whether they have what it takes to keep it up all season.

Who cares, right?

Anymore, most people don’t, and I, a fan of almost all of the major sports, used to be one of them.

I can remember growing up and having a dream of playing baseball when I got older, just like a lot of kids my age. Any time I had a little bit of money, I would spend it on a pack of baseball cards, eat the rock hard gum and hope to get a card of one of my favorite players like Kirby Puckett or Nolan Ryan.

Any chance I got, I would stay up late on those summer nights to watch a game on television, regardless of who was playing.

But then I grew up, and as most kids do, I quit buying baseball cards and didn’t care who won the World Series anymore, especially after the 1994 strike.

To me, the sport became boring.

The same teams dominated every year, and, even with the addition of four more teams to the playoffs, teams with a small payroll had little or no chance at even winning a playoff series. I mean, wouldn’t it get boring being a Braves or Yankees fan? Complaining about your team is half the fun of being a fan. Aside from the McGwire/Sosa home run race in 1998 and Cal Ripken’s consecutive games played record, baseball in the 1990s had lost its luster.

Then everything about baseball changed to me at the beginning of the new century. Baseball actually became worth watching. Even though those damn Yankees won the World Series for the third straight time in 2000, at least the idea of their “Subway Series” against the Mets was eye-catching.

It was during the last two seasons I actually began getting back into the sport. I don’t know if it was because it was a new millennium, or because I came to college and started watching Sportscenter about six times a day, but baseball became cool to me again for several reasons:

Barry Bonds

Arguably one of the best hitters in the history of the game and probably the best all-around player of all time, Bonds is in his 18th year as a pro and is still the scariest hitter in the game. He can do it all — steal, field and change the game with one swing of the bat, and he’s only a couple of months away from turning 39.

Bonds has won the National League Most Valuable Player award an unprecedented five times and is on the verge of becoming the first ever member of the 500 home run/500 stolen base club. To give you a little perspective, he’s also the only one in the 400/400 club. Hank Aaron’s home run record is also in reach for Bonds. With 625 to date, he only needs 131 to break that mark. A few more years at his current clip should put him past Aaron, but I can still see him whacking 40 dingers a year when he’s 50. Okay, maybe 30.

The changing of the guard

While the Yankees and the Braves continue to dominate their divisions, new teams have finally proved that they can play in the league, too. Teams that were close to being moved or even dissolved only a couple of years ago have become playoff contenders.

The Minnesota Twins, the closest thing Iowans have for a home team, made the playoffs last year for the first time since they won one of the greatest World Series of all time in 1991. This, coming only a year after they were nearly eliminated from baseball completely.

The Anaheim Angels snuck into the playoffs last year and were not supposed to even put up a fight against the mighty Yankees in the first round, but they defied all the odds and went on to win the World Series against a very good and favored Giants team, despite Barry’s superhuman efforts.

Emergence of new talent

Although there are still a few veterans who continue to put up their Hall of Fame numbers, new, young faces have emerged as some of the best players in the game.

While the 1990s were the years of Griffey, Thomas and McGwire, the new millennium has yielded new superstars with names like Pujols, Soriano, and Ichiro. Pitchers are also starting to be able to dominate at a young age. Guys like Barry Zito, Mark Prior and Kerry Wood have defied the old adage that young pitchers have to wait to be great starters.

The Yankees haven’t won the World Series for two years!

Although the Bronx Bombers still have the highest payroll in the big leagues, they were finally dethroned by Luis Gonzalez and the Diamondbacks in the 2001 World Series and failed to even win a playoff series last season. The Yanks are likely to win their division again over the cursed Red Sox, but I see another playoff exit for the boys in pinstripes. If the last couple of years have proved anything, it’s that even all of owner George Steinbrenner’s money can’t buy one thing — team chemistry.