Opening Day 2009 Ceremony At Yankee Stadium - What To Expect

There have been whispers for a while about a super-secret ceremony prior to the home opener at the new Yankee Stadium on Thursday afternoon. Unfortunately, no moles have stepped forward to leak information about the festivities, but we can tell you that the Yankees are opening the gates at 10 AM and asking for fans to "be in their seats by noon."

Here at NSI, we find it hard to get excited for the hyped-up Opening Day ceremony. The Yankees played this song and dance at last year's All-Star game, Old Timer's Day, and at the final home game. There are only so many times you can parade out all of the living ex-Yankees and keep our interest.

Lets just hope they don't awkwardly send those cheesy look-a-likes in old school uniforms out there again, or worse, do some sort of corny ceremony involving the ghosts from the old Yankee Stadium. A simple nod to the past, maybe get Larsen and Yogi out there for the first pitch and we'll be happy.

As for us, we'll be watching on MLB.com's gameday live. It should be riveting.