After a long winter of unrelieved bad news, spring has gingerly emerged, and with it, Opening Day. The perennial refreshment of hopes and dreams is a unique element of American culture, one that this year’s election in particular has called into question. Baseball may be just a game, but as former commissioner, Yale president and Renaissance scholar Bart Giamatti reminded us so eloquently, it is also a lesson on life: on leaving home, striving, and returning safely. The lessons the game gives us about hard work, perseverance, friendship and more transcends sports.

Every spring I watch Ron Shelton’s classic movie, Bull Durham, seeing more in its wisdom as I get older. Last year, I wrote an essay looking at Bull Durham through the lens of Dante’s Divine Comedy, as an allegory of man’s journey to put behind him false dreams and reach the paradise of true self-knowledge and its acceptance.

Whether you’re out in the sunshine or tuning in the TV for the first pitch, you might find the essay enjoyable, and you can read it here.