By Howard Wilkinson
The Cincinnati Enquirer

The Reds could lose on a bright and sunny Opening Day Monday, but the 42,122 fans who filled Great American Ball Park could not.

PHOTO GALLERIES

• At the ballpark • Opening Day Parade

For the 128th time, Reds Opening Day was a celebration, an unofficial holiday unique in all of baseball, where kids by the thousands skip school, white-shirted office workers loosen their neckties and play hooky from the daily grind, and even a 7-4 loss by the home team couldn't dampen fans' spirits.

"It is the best day of the year; I wait for this all winter long," said Al Pinner, a 47-year-old Reds fan from Edgewood, Ky. "You can't beat this."

A cloudless sky and glorious sunshine filled the ballpark for the second opener in Great American's history, even though the 45-degree game-time temperature had some of the fans in the upper deck huddled in blankets.

There was, of course, pageantry galore, from Vice President Dick Cheney throwing out the first pitch (a floater to catcher Jason Larue that probably would have been called a high strike), to a flyover of four Marine F-18 fighters.

There was time, too, for a tinge of sadness.

There was a short video tribute to Dernell Stenson, the young Reds outfielder who was killed in Arizona during the offseason. And Monday was the first Opening Day in many a year without former Reds owner Marge Schott, who died March 2.

Before the game, Reds management played a video tribute to Schott showing her the way most Reds fans remember her - planting big kisses on the cheeks of players, waving to the crowds at the Findlay Market Parade, hugging children and leading her big, friendly St. Bernard, Schottzie, around the Riverfront Stadium Astroturf.

On the scoreboard was a quote from Schott that, for many Reds fans, summed up what the day is all about: "Opening Day is history, honey, and you've got to keep history going."

There was seemingly something for everyone at Monday's Opening Day game. Teenage girls gathered behind home plate before the game and squealed when pop star Nick Lachey, a Cincinnati native, sang the national anthem. He followed country singer Sara Evans, who belted out "God Bless America" as fans waved the tiny American flags they found in their cup-holders.

But what made this Opening Day different from most was the presence of Cheney, who arrived about an hour before the game and stayed for the first four innings.

Fans with tickets in the terrace level, from first base to third base, had to pass through metal detectors to get to their seats, in addition to the usual bag check outside the ballpark's turnstiles. Ten minutes before the game, about 1,000 fans were gathered around the entrance to Section 113 on the third-base side while police searched bags and ran people through the metal detectors.

During the game, though, fans were free to mill around.

Cincinnati Councilman Jim Tarbell walked around in his usual Opening Day costume, the black tuxedo and stovepipe hat he adopted years ago as his tribute to "Peanut Jim" Shelton, the late vendor who roasted peanuts for fans outside Crosley Field.

But the fans were paying just as much attention to Tarbell's companion, Jeff Wehmeier, who was wearing the heavy flannel Reds uniform worn in the early 1950s by his father, Herm Wehmeier, a Reds pitcher.

"As cold as it is, a lot of those guys down there could use a flannel uniform today," said Tarbell, pointing down to the playing field. "But who cares about the weather? It's Opening Day."

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E-mail hwilkinson@enquirer.com