Chicago Cubs outfielder Nicholas Castellanos has an interesting way of thinking about time. He greets his manager Joe Maddon every day with "Happy Opening Day," because... he cannot prove that it's not. He says no one else can either.
When Castellanos was asked in a postgame interview on Wednesday why he refers to a every day as Opening Day, he fired a question right back at the reporter: "Why is today not Opening Day?"
"Prove to me that it's not," Castellanos added.
The reporter responded by noting the Cubs' record, and asked how it can be opening day when Chicago, and the rest of the league, has played so many games.
"Well that's only if you believe your record, ya know?" he said. The group of reporters, who were awkwardly laughing around a very serious Castellanos, like most of us, probably don't "know."
Nick Castellanos tells Joe Maddon "Happy Opening Day" before every game
— Rick Tarsitano (@RickTarsitano) August 21, 2019
I asked him why
"Prove to me it's not"
"If what has happened is a memory and whats going to happen is a thought, you're taking yourself out of right now. So in that case, every day is Opening Day" @WGNNews pic.twitter.com/Bzn37s2Eiu
Castellanos has clearly put a lot of thought into this way of thinking and in his opinion has an explanation for this sense of time and reality.
"If what has happened is a memory and what's going to happen is a thought, you're taking yourself out of right now. So in that case, every day is Opening Day," he said.
Touché?
This one will take some time to dissect but this way of life is working for the 27-year-old. The mindset is even becoming a slogan for the Cubs, who who tweeted out, "Live every day like it's opening day." A life motto.
Live every day like it's Opening Day.#EverybodyIn pic.twitter.com/hOOSthEL0W
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) August 22, 2019
I'm sure this catch phrase will be on t-shirts soon enough.