Greetings from the greatest city on Earth. There. I said it. With apologies to the Big Apple, La-la Land, the City by the Bay, and the towns of Chi and Bean, noplace beats the Mile High City, and I wish I had appreciated it more during the five years that I lived here (1995-2000), when I spent way too much time complaining about all the snow (I pretty much hate snow). While this wasn’t home for me, of all the places I have lived, it was the one place where I felt the most AT home. A LARGE percentage of the population here (at least two-thirds) moved here from some other part of the country, with a lot of them from the South like me. At one time, and this might still be true, it had the highest per capita percentage of college grads of any city in America. And then, there is this other thing … there are three women who I will always consider the loves of my life. Two of them, I dated while living here, and while I am no longer in contact with either one, I often think of them when I am in town. I hope they are doing well, and I’m sure they went farther in life than they ever could have if they had stayed with me. My daughter, who is 16, can’t stand it here, but I think that’s just an example of familiarity breeding contempt, as she has lived in Colorado continuously since she was four months old. She can’t wait to graduate high school, at which point she plans to go to college out of state and never return. One day, though, she’ll look back and appreciate this place for what it is. Seven years after leaving for Cincinnati and my first real beat job, I know I do. … Oh, one other personal note, and then I promise I’ll keep it baseball-related the rest of the night. Congrats to my cousin, Joe Wilson, who is getting married this weekend to a fellow U.S. Marine named Emily (I am embarrassed to say I never got her last name) in her hometown of Thackerville, Okla. Sorry I can’t be there for the nuptials, but I wish them both the best — and I also thank them both, from the bottom of my heart, for their service to country.