SPECIAL REPORT: Help The Kids Play

HELP THE KIDS PLAY

The easiest way to get lost in the shuffle is to allow yourself to be lost in the shuffle. The world is a busy place and we meet each day with many urgent and often conflicting priorities. For many people, there is the struggle between “do we work to live or; do we live to work”. We need to work to sustain ourselves and our families, but is our work so all encompassing that we miss out in spending time with the very people we are trying to support? It’s just one of life’s daily complexities.

Now add to that, job loss, overwhelming bills, unexpected expenses, cut back hours, a roller coaster economy or general anxiety over making ends meet. Imagine sitting down with your son or daughter and saying, “I’m sorry, but we just can’t afford to do swimming lessons this year” or “we’ll look at what we can do about hockey next season”. These are real situations and conversations that too many parents face.

These problems are not unique to our town or region. It would be very easy to allow this to be one of those lost in the shuffle moments and deem the situation to be too vast to tackle. You could be lost in the shuffle; or, you could be Ed Hopkins and pledge to make a difference.

As Ed describes it, the genesis of his idea was less ‘lightning bolt’ and more ‘dimmer switch working its way to the high setting’. Ed’s idea to help those in needs started with a relatively off the cuff conversation with Larry Turner in November of 2006. As Ed recalled the chat he said “we all enjoy playing ball in Tottenham, maybe we should donate money to kids where their parents are not financially able have them play”. It was just a simple statement and Larry replied, "Good idea, maybe we should do that". In the coming weeks, conversations around that simple idea morphed into planning sessions which turned into strategy meetings with family and close friends which quickly brought Ed to the precipice of diving in with both feet; or slowly moving back from the edge of the cliff.

Ed describes it this way, “some time had gone by and nothing of substance had really happened. A month later my son was visiting from Memphis and we talked about it over dinner and after hearing about this great idea and that his dad was not moving to make it happened, he reach in his pocket, pulled out $100.00 US and without saying it out loud, he laid down the challenge to get this off the ground. I have never been known to back down from any challenge my son throws at me so I resolved on that night to make it happen. With lots of help it has turn out to be a great success.”

In very short order, the Help The Kids Play (HTKP) program has become a smash success and there is great pride in the 168 members of the Tottenham Oldtimers Slow Pitch League because one of their own made this happen!

In 2007 HTKP was able spend $2000.00 and contribute to nine (9) children playing in sports that they would have otherwise missed out on. It was a great start! From that beginning to today, the HTKP program has raised in excess of $15,000.00 and helped 73 children participate in local sports! That is making a difference on a significant scale.

While there has been organization and leadership around this program, it is a true grass-roots initiative. There are private donations that are accepted, but no less than 85% of the total financial contribution comes from an annual baseball tournament held in Tottenham at Coventry Park. That weekend of activities has grown over the years much like the program has. This year (July 9th-11th) will see an oldtimers mens division, a young timers division and a ladies division. Additionally, there will be an “all star” game between the young timers and old timers and alumni game featuring past members of the old timers league and home running hitting contest.

But those are just the scheduled events. This doesn’t speak to the weekend of family fun spent at the park, the kids playing, the food, and the camaraderie. As the profile and awareness of the event has grown, more and more people have invited friends from elsewhere to play in the tournament. The theory being that “if my participation can help a child, then bringing others will only help more”.

When asked why he participates in the weekend tournament, Kevin Boston, Treasure of the Tottenham Oldtimer’s League said, “it’s a worthy cause for the long-term development of our community. Raising money to help children play sports within the community is important to the social and physical well-being of those individuals.”

The needs of children are something that should be and is at the forefront of the thoughts of many recreational ballplayers and that is a major reason why the participation rate is as strong as it is. Being on the ground floor as a participant in the weekend as well as financial contributor through entry fees and food and beverage sales, makes everyone keenly aware of those that may need assistance. The, ‘that’s too bad’ mentality quickly changes into a ‘how can I help’ mindset. Chris Ross, President of the Tottenham Oldtimer League offered this insight, “"The Help The Kids Play program has inspired me to reach out to families that I think could benefit from this initiative.” The view is from a different lens. A lens that now offers a way to overcome challenges that prevent children from partaking in what should be a right of all youth. Sports.

While this is a very real feel-good community endeavour, the participants give willingly of their time and money knowing full well that they will never know the beneficiaries of the program. The program itself is run with strictest of privacy for the sake of anonymity of applicants. Only one committee will ever know the name of the applicant. The approved contribution from HTKP can cover any or all of enrolment, equipment or other sports related expenses.

The link to this year’s HTKP tournament is www.tottenhamoldtimers.ca/HTKP.html

Please visit the site. Please enter a team if you can. Please join an existing entry if you cannot get enough people together to form a complete team. If you are unable to play for whatever reason, bring your kids for a hot dog and watch the alumni game. Have a cold drink and watch the all star game. Bring a friend and see the Ladies, Men’s or Young men’s finals.

Become a vital contributor to an exceptionally worthy cause. Enjoy your role in making your community a better place. Don’t allow yourself to be lost in the shuffle.

GAME 10 - I Want To Be An Oldtimers Star

Intro

There are certain things that you just take for granted until you play on the same team with a guy.  Lets take Cal for instance.  When I met Cal last year (mostly at tournaments) I thought he was a little flashy with the shorts and hat thing that he had going on.  I also thought that his personality didn't fit the clothes.  He seemed pretty intense for a guy with Hawaiian shorts.  

I was wrong. 

Its not that Cal's is intense, its that he's bloody deep.  I guess that's where he got the nickname Yoda.  Well, that and the height. Another thing about Cal is that he's funny.  I don't mean HaHa funny, I mean side-splitting funny! Now, he wouldn't submit to an interview, but he did tell me that he was doing amateur night at Yuk Yuk's in Barrie last Thursday and invited me to the show to check it out.  He claimed that I would learn everything that I needed at the show.  So, being the intrepid reporter that I am, I headed to Barrie and checked it out! 

CAL

Cal took the stage in his normal funky Cal attire and grabbed the mic like he owned it.  He stared out the crowd with those piercing freaky eyes and said nothing.  Not a sound.  The crowd was immediately uncomfortable with the silence and they began to get restless.  As the seconds tic'd by, the restlessness became unease.  As the seconds became minutes, they got belligerent and started to boo. 

Cal spoke confidently in the Mic and with his booming anchorman voice and said, "Why are there interstate highways in Hawaii?".  The booing stopped and there were a few chuckles.  He started to pace back and forth across the stage with a couple of fingers to his temple, reminiscent of Columbo.  He suddenly stopped and said, "Do vehicles that travel at the speed of light need headlights?".  The chuckles turned to nervous laughter.  The pacing started again; slower this time but he stopped again quickly, "How come airlines give everyone a flotation device when all we really want is a parachute?".  Now people were openly laughing and slapping their knees and Cal's pace picked up as he responded to his rapt audience. 

"If nothing sticks to Teflon, how do they attach it to the pan?"

Pause.

"How does the guy who drives the snowplow get to work?"

Pause.

"Why isn't phonetic spelled like it sounds?"

Then they started coming out rapid fire as Cal had now slide into his groove.

"How is it that 'fat chance' and 'slim chance' mean the same thing?"
"Do you need a silencer if you shoot a mime?"
"Why is their braille on the keypad of a drive through ATM?"
"If you asked a Librarian where the self help books were, would she tell you?  Or would that defeat the purpose?"
"If you ate Pasta and Antipasti, would they cancel each other out and leave you hungry?"
"If you were scared to death twice, would you be 75% dead or 100% dead?"
"If you spin an oriental person around 7 times with a blindfold on, will he become disoriented?"
"Why in the name of the sweet baby Jesus did they put an "S" in 'lisp'?"
"What would happen if you put a chameleon in a mirrored box?"
"My aunt once asked me why I was wearing an antennae to her wedding.  I told her that I was hoping for a better reception".
"If a vegetable goes into a coma, is it called a 'person'?"
"When sign makers go on strike to they hire scabs to make their "on strike" posters?"
"Can anyone explain why they're called apartments when they are obviously all struck together?"
"Why is it called a 'near-miss' when you DON'T his something?  Wouldn't that be a near hit?"
"I went to the thesaurus and looked up 'synonym'.  Nothing came up. 
"Want to stay awake all night?  Think about this.  Was the orange named after the colour or was the colour named after the fruit?"
"I went to the store and bought dehydrated water.  I couldn't figure out what to add". 
"Is it true that cannibals don't eat clowns because they taste funny?"
"What was the 'greatest thing' before sliced bread was invented?
"If sunflower oil comes from sunflowers and corn oil comes from corn, where does baby oil come from?"
"Why do Kamikaze pilots wear helmets?"
"If a planes 'black box' is indestructible, why don't they make the whole plane out of the stuff?"
"Why isn't palindrome" spelled the same forward and backward?"

Exhausted, Cal crashed to the floor in a jumbled mass of Hawaiian flowers. 

The crowd tipped their waiters and tried the veal.

The Speech

Rob had a request to "rock out" a little bit, but keeping in line with his efforts to keep the music fairly recognizable he opted for Rock Star by Nickleback.  I got to say, Rob once again surprised me when he was able to belt this out with that raspy pseudo grunge voice that came out of no where.  As usual, you can click the name of the song to get the tune if you aren't familiar with it. 

ROCK STAR

I'm through with standing in line
For the clubhouse beer
It's like the bottom of the seventh
And I'm never gonna fear
This season hasn't turned out
Quite the way I want it to be

(Tell me what you want)

I want a brand new bat
And a big plate of spare ribs
And a bathroom I can play baseball in
And a king size tub big enough
For all the Grisslies

(So what you need?)

I'll need so run fast like I’ve got no limit
And a big black glove with some crazy glue in it
Gonna join the home run club
And go deep at coventry

(Been there, done that)

I want some cover-up to hide my scars
My own star on the Tottenham Boulevard
Somewhere between Matt Foerster and
Mark Doyle is fine by me

(So how you gonna do it?)

I'm gonna trade this life for fortune and fame
I'd even cut my hair and change my name

'Cause we all just wanna be OldTimers Stars
And live in hilltop trailers driving a beat up dodge
The girls just laugh and the drugs are for our kneesprescription
We'll don’t stay skinny 'cause we just have to eat
And we'll hang out in the coolest bars
In the Legion branch number 329
Every good ball player's
Gonna wind up there
Every beer belly guy
With that receding hair

Hey hey I wanna be an oldtimers star
Hey hey I wanna be an oldtimers star

I wanna be great like Doris without the tassels
Hire eight body guards that help me not sprain my ankles
Sign a couple autographs
So I can eat my meals for free

(I'll have the quesadilla on the house)

I'm gonna dress myself
With the out of date fashion
Get a front door key to the Mac’s Milk in town
Now that its open 24 hours that key’s become useless for me

(So how you gonna do it?)

I'm gonna trade this life for fortune and fame
I'd even cut my hair and change my name

'Cause we all just wanna be OldTimers Stars
And live in hilltop trailers driving a beat up dodge
The girls just laugh and the drugs are for our knees
We'll don’t stay skinny 'cause we just have to eat
And we'll hang out in the coolest bars
In the Legion branch number 329
Every good ball player's
Gonna wind up there
Every beer belly guy
With that receding hair

Hey hey I wanna be an oldtimers star
Hey hey I wanna be an oldtimers star

The Game


Yes, the game. I think the game can be summed up in one word.  UGH.

First, I don't want this to come of as any kind of put down of The Hurtin' Units because they were full value for the win; however, we played really poorly. 

After a really nice run of 6 games where everything was close and even our losses had energy and enthusiuasm, we completely failed to get out of the gate last night.  We played defense great at times and other times, not so much.  We had a few guys hit great and the rest, not so much. 

Typically this Grissilies gives up a big inning a kind of claws its way back in.  Last night we did the first part according to script but giving up six runs in the first, but there weren't any claws on offense.  We more 'pawed' our way back and that isn't going to get you too far.

Even picking up Mark Doyle as a sub didn't seem to help.  In fact, I think we negatively impacted Mark's at bats as he went 2 for 4.

Don't get me wrong, there were some highlights in the loss, but you'll have to go to the Donini Three Stars page to check it out! 

Our record is not 4-6 and we've got a couple of weeks to think about it before our next game.  The good news is that the break give Cal some more recovery without missing games! 

We're only three games away from the half-way portion of the season and I'm trying to figure out how that's even possible? 

Any way, as you can tell, our 7th inning rally fell short in large part due to our blogger who went 1-4 and couldn't seem to find a way to get a ball passed Jerry who apparently has more gold gloves than Greg Maddux. 

Next up for the Grisslies are the Lucky Stiffs who are flirting with the top of the standings!

GAME 9 - Bad

The Intro

This is going to be short. Okay, so we all know that I don't do "short" very well, as Paul Piellusch reminded me this week. This is a two game week for the Grisslies and they are back to back on Tuesday and Wednesday. For those of you who don't know how the BLOG indexing works, every time I post a new entry, the previous editions are still available on the side bar on the right. However the most recent one is the one that pops up on the front page.

We play again tonight so I will post another tomorrow morning. After I post tomorrow's I will be immediately posting a special report on the Help The Kids Play program. So, tomorrow, if you're looking for the game BLOG (weather permitting) check the side bar for GAME 10 - I Want To Be An OldTimers Star. On the front page will be the special report. If there happens to be no game because of the pending storm, you will see it next week. I've probably made it more complicated than it needed to be. For those of you looking for comedy, check back tomorrow when we'll be back to being moderately funny.

So, considering that this is only going to be up for a day, I just wanted to give you a really brief summary of some stats from BLOG that I find interesting as well as try and illicit some support.

First, the stats around the BLOG this year have shocked me! Last year, BLOG pages were loaded 3,395 times. I thought that was pretty cool. This year there have been 2,666 page loads and we're only a 1/3 of the way through the season! There have been over 800 page loads each of the last two weeks which tells me that people have been receptive to the format changes in the BLOG. Additionally, the BLOG has been referenced by PCs from London, Newmarket, Kenosha (Wisconsin) and Mount View (California). Its strange how these things work. Enough about stats.

If anyone is still reading, I'm appealing for help in two areas.....

1) Subject matter. I've pretty much exhausted making fun of Mark Doyle and Danny Chiasson. If anyone would like to nominate a new victim subject for an upcoming BLOG and perhaps supply a tiny little bit of background dirt information I would be SO very grateful! You can post to the BLOG comment section or email me at dwyerdouglas@gmail.com
2) I've been notified by Rob Farah that he is running low on songs. I know, the supply of songs seems endless, but he has pretty specific criteria. While Rob is pretty flexible (he can put his ankle behind his ear), his is pretty insistent that the song NOT be obscure. He's pretty much looking for top 40 stuff anytime over the last 30 years that people can recall of tune of pretty quickly. Again, please forward your suggestions to the BLOG comment section or email me at dwyerdouglas@gmail.com and I'll forward to Rob.
3) If anyone has any ideas for POLLS that are moderately offensive but not completely offside, please let me know via the above contact coordinates.

Sorry for this lame edition, check back tomorrow and we'll be back to normal!?!?!

THE SPEECH

Rob has struggled a little (just a little) with the last two losses. Not for any other reason than 2/3 of our team has played great. Just for clarity, that doesn't refer to people as much as phases of the game. If you break the game into the 3 phases of pitching, defense and offense, we've been better than good in the first two. Clearly, when Rob pulled everyone together before the Rusty Rebel game and started moon walking, his goal was to rally and inspire!!! (The tune can be found by clicking the song title).

BAD

Your butt is mine, the Griss are gonna bite
Its face to face, under the Coventry lights
I'm telling you, about how I feel
Gonna get inside your head, We’ll score at will
(Come On, Come On, Lay It On Me All Right...)
I'm Giving You, strikes one through three
You’ll be sitting on your duff, ‘except maybe Steve Grenkie . . .
I'm telling you, your team’s heading south
I know your game, what you're about

Well they say the sky's the limit
And to me that's really true
But my friend you have seen nothing
Just wait 'til the Gris break through . . .

‘Cause the Gris are bad, we’re bad-
Come On (Bad Bad-Really, Really Bad)
You Know We’re Bad, We’re Bad-
You Know It (Bad Bad-Really, Really Bad)
You Know We’re Bad, We’re Bad-
Come On, You Know (Bad Bad-Really, Really Bad)
And The Whole League Has To Answer Right Now
Just To Tell You Once Again, Who's Bad . . .

The Word Is Out, we’re fielding strong
and I’m gonna lock you up, in the pitching zone
Your shifty eyes, gonna make you fly to right
So Listen Up, Simon snags them all night,
I know my talks not cheap, My back is covered by Dan
And Dave the contradiction, Has soft hands

Well they say the sky's the limit
And to me that's really true
But my friend you have seen nothing
Just wait 'til the Gris break through . . .

‘Cause the Gris are bad, we’re bad-
Come On (Bad Bad-Really, Really Bad)
You Know We’re Bad, We’re Bad-
You Know It (Bad Bad-Really, Really Bad)
You Know We’re Bad, We’re Bad-
Come On, You Know (Bad Bad-Really, Really Bad)
And The Whole League Has To Answer Right Now
Just To Tell You Once Again, Who's Bad . . .

We can win again tomorrow
We can charge up to 1st place
If You Don't Like What I'm Saying'
Then why don’t you say it Mabee’s face…

‘Cause the Gris are bad, we’re bad-
Come On (Bad Bad-Really, Really Bad)
You Know We’re Bad, We’re Bad-
You Know It (Bad Bad-Really, Really Bad)
You Know We’re Bad, We’re Bad-
Come On, You Know (Bad Bad-Really, Really Bad)
And The Whole League Has To Answer Right Now
Just To Tell You Once Again, Who's Bad . . .

The GAME

The team finally responded to Rob's speech with enthusiasm!

With a new batting lineup that featured Brett Mabee leading off, the Grisslies rolled to 5 runs in the 1st inning after only giving up one run to the Rebels in the top of the first. The Grisslies first inning was highlighted by Danny Chiasson's inside the park grand-slam home run!

The game looked to be in control early but the Rebels found their bats and ended up scoring 13 runs by the end of the 4th.

The Grisslies defense locked down at that point and we headed to the bottom of the 6th inning with the Rebels up by as score of 13-5. I'll admit that that it looked a little grim for our Grisslie heroes at that point, but the team put together a great 6th inning scoring six runs and cutting the lead to 13-11.

As the Grisslies took the field for the top of the seventh, the mantra was "no more runs". before the first pitch was thrown, Rob Farah turned to face the defense from the pitching mound and repeated the lines from his speech, "The Word Is Out, we’re fielding strong, and I’m gonna lock you up, in the pitching zone". This gave the team new found energy and 3 batters later the Grisslies were off the field and ready to try and hit for the win.

In the bottom of the seventh, the Grisslies had 3 consecutive singles from Dwyer, Tracey and Argue to load the bases. Chiasson followed with a hit to drive in the Grisslies 12th and 13th runs to tie the game before Farah hit a single to plate the winning run.

It was an awe inspiring come from behind win that left the team elated! The only down part of the evening was potential MVP Cal Steeves pulled groin. It looks like the Grisslies could be without Cal for some time as he was in an awful lot of pain. Hopefully the rub down from Piero will help, but I'm suspecting that it might be late in the season before we see our everyday center fielder again.

The final score was Grisslies 14, Rusty Rebels 13.

Be sure to check the other BLOG pages and check back tomorrow!

Cheers.

NOTE:

The special report for the Help The Kids Play program (Thursday Morning) can be found in the following locations.

www.tottenhamoldtimers.blogspot.com
www.hurtinunits.blogspot.com
www.tottenhamoldtimers.ca
www.madhunt.ca
also it should be available in print in the Tottenham Times, but in unsure if it will be this week or next.

Please encourage people to read and participate in a great cause!

OTHER NOTES:

What happened to the batman commentary?
Congratulations to Danny Chiasson for coming from behind (you know what I mean) and winning the poll. "If sarcasm was money, who would be rich". You narrowly held off Gary Cox with 45% of the vote. Well done!

GAME 8 - More Than Our Fielding

Pre-Pre-Intro
A hearty congratulations to the Farah clan on the birth of the newest Grisslie, Cohen Robert Farah; born last night at 9:18 and coming into the world at 7lbs & 6ozs. 

Pre-intro
A note to whomever is writing the batman commentary at the end of the blogs:   "keep it up!  Very funny stuff!!"

Intro
There has been a little negative feedback for The Blog. I know, I too am in a complete state of shock! Apparently some people, Lame Old Soul Eating Rebellion Starters, (or LOSERS for short) seem to think that there has been a disproportionate amount of ink between our two rookies. Apparently “The Losers” think there needs to be more about Greg and less about Tim.

For the record (this was written after game 6), Tim and Greg both were mentioned in 3 BLOGS each and the game 7 edition was primarily about Timmy "two beer". So it was close. However, to make “The Losers” happy, we will be dedicating the remainder of this BLOG to Greg in a Get-to-know-Greggy kinda way.

So, to that end, The BLOG did a little rapid fire question and answer session with Tim, errr, Greg. The rules around this were very simple. The BLOG would ask a question and Tim, oops, Greg would reply with the first thing that came into his mind. It went a little something like this…..

The BLOG: Okay, this is to give people a little insight into you Tim, sorry, Greg, are you ready to go?
GREG: Ready and can I just say that I'm really excited about the opportunity. 

The BLOG: Sure, great…1st question, what are your favourite songs?
GREG: Tough one off the start eh?  I'll give you my top five.  "Eyes without a face - Billy Idol", “Eye of the Tiger – by Survivor”, “Brown – eyed girl” Van Morrison, “Eyes of a stranger” by the Payolas and, uh, probably “Eye in the Sky by the Alan Parsons Project”.

The BLOG: Nice, favourite bands?
GREG: Naked Eyes, 3rd Eye Blind and the Black Eyed Peas.  Oh, and REM.

The BLOG:  Do you know what REM stands for?
GREG:  Rapid Eye Movement.  What?  Do you think I'm new?

The BLOG:  Well, yeah.  You're a rookie.  So, is there any truth that you ran for town office a few years back. 
GREG:  Its true, yes.  But I pulled out before the election.  I couldn't stand being in the public eye.

The BLOG: Favourite Actress?
GREG: Faye Dunnaway. She was in the “Eyes of Laura Mars”

The BLOG:  What is your favourite food?
GREG:  A medium rare Rib-eye steak!  I can almost taste it!

The BLOG: Who do you admire most in the league Tottenham Oldtimers League?
GREG: Obviously, The Man, The Myth, The Legend, Pete Shmagola.

The BLOG:  If you could be any movie character, who would it be?
GREG:  In my minds eye, I've always seen myself as an Indiana Jones type.

The BLOG:  What is the best concert that you've ever seen live?
GREG:  About 10 years ago I had a chance to see Ray Charles.  It was AWESOME.  I think Stevie Wonder opened for him. 
The BLOG:  Did you see that here?
GREG:  No, Vancouver...I came back on the Red Eye.

The BLOG: So what do you think of the League so far?
GREG:  At first it was hard not knowing many people, but now I'm seeing it through a different lens.

The BLOG: Whats your favourite beer?
GREG:  Cornea
The BLOG:  Did you say Cornea?
GREG:  No man, Corona!

The BLOG: What place would like to visit that you’ve never been to before.
GREG: Probably I-raq or I-ran.

The BLOG: What’s your favourite baseball team?
GREG: Other than the Grisslies?

The BLOG: Yes
GREG: The Pittsburgh Pirates, I dig the way the Pirate looks in the logo - you know, with the eye patch and all.

The BLOG: What’s your favourite book?
GREG: That would have to be “Eye of the needle” by Ken Follett.  Its a WWII spy classic!

The BLOG: Favourite Rap Artist?
GREG: Lisa “left eye” Lopes from TLC. Too bad about her car accident though.

The BLOG: Favourite movie?
GREG: Golden eye, I’m a huge Bond fan.  Although Eagle Eye was good adventure flick too. 

The BLOG:  What is your favourite girls name?
GREG:  Definitely Iris.

The BLOG:  What was your favourite memory from your school days?
GREG:  Generally, just being a pupil.

The BLOG:  If money was no object and you could do whatever you wanted for a living, what career would you like to have.
GREG:  I've always thought that it would be cool to be a Private Eye.

The BLOG: And finally, what’s your favourite hockey team?
GREG: The Carolina Hurricane.

The BLOG: Really? That’s a bit of a departure from your theme.
GREG: Theme?

The BLOG: Yes, everything else has some kind of “eye” relationship to it.
GREG: So do the Hurricane.

The BLOG: How so?
GREG: A Hurricane only has one eye.

The BLOG: Wow! I didn’t see that coming!
GREG: Hey, is that a vision joke? That’s not funny!

POSTSCRIPT:  Shortly after this went to print, The BLOG leaned that Greg had lost an eye in a freak hockey accident.  It is not the intention of The BLOG to call attention to these issues, but what can we say, we just ask the questions, Greg answered them!

The Speech

Despite the Grisslies dip back below the .500 mark, they are 3-1 in their last four games and that success has all be centered around defense.  Overall, they are only scoring an average of one more run a game since they were 0-3, but the defense has improved by more than 15 runs per game!  I guess that turn around with the gloves led Rob to his latest speech.  Click on the song title to read along!  (To the tune of More Than A Feeling by Boston)

MORE THAN OUR FIELDING

I looked out to right field and the sun was gone
Pounded my glove to start my game
I lost myself in a familiar sound
I closed my eyes and I slipped away

It's more than our fielding (more than our fielding)
When I see that old ball put into play (more than our fielding)
And I begin chilling (more than our fielding)
'till I see Cal put the fly ball away
I see Cal put the fly ball away

So many Grisslies have come and gone
Their faces fade as the years go by
Yet this year’s defense has really got it all
as clear as the moon in the Keogh sky

It's more than our fielding (more than our fielding)
When I see that old ball put into play (more than our fielding)
And I begin chilling (more than our fielding)
'till I see Tim turn a sweet double play
I see Tim turn a sweet double play

When I'm tired and I’m feeling old
I remember Ingo, making the play of the day
and I think of Radar, going deep in the hole
Seeing this defense is like watching ballet
Like watching ballet

It's more than our fielding (more than our fielding)
When I see that old ball put into play (more than our fielding)
I begin chilling (more than our fielding)
Even though Piero is still dancing Reggae
Piero is still dancing Reggae

The Game

Last night saw the return of two Grisslie demons.  The first was The Wild.  Last years champions are surely a different team, but they looked similar to the team that eliminated us in the semi-finals last year.  The second was the return of The Fonz.  Tito continued to torture the Grisslies giving up only 3 runs through 7. 

In all honesty, last nights game was pretty lethargic.  After trading early runs, The Wild rolled a seven in the third inning.  Every hit that inning, although hit hard, seemed to be one step to far away from Grisslie defenders.  The Wild were full value for the inning, and from that point forward it was pretty much shut down defense from both sides.

That being said, there weren't a lot of 'high-light' defensive plays.  However, Chuck Cragg did his hoover routine at short (albeit he couldn't throw out the speedy Rob Farah on a routine ground ball).  Maybe it was the late start, or the fact that The Wild had played the night before as well, but it seemed like everyone was running in quick sand last night. 

The Grisslies will be challenged next week with games against the Rusty Rebels and the Hurtin' Units.   

The final was 9-3. 

GAME 7 – TIM

The Intro

Everyone has heard the stories about elite athletes acting a little surly. From Maradona to Mario Lemieux to Barry Bonds to Vince Carter to Terrell Owens, there have always been the tales of the extraordinary athlete who thinks they are better than everyone else.

Our league is sadly not immune to such petulant behavior. Rest assured, we have ours as well.

In completely unrelated news, Danny Chiasson was kind enough to submit to an exclusive interview with "THE BLOG".  Its rare to get some quality one on one time with one of the leagues best players and we at The BLOG consider ourselves to be very fortunate.

BLOG:  Hey, Danny.  Thanks for taking the time today.  Do you have any objectives for today's interview?  Any special messages that you want to convey?
DANNY:  I don't usually read the papers during the season because I hate to be distracted from my game. But that being said, I know how this works.  I know the BLOG misrepresents what people say and tries to make them look foolish...and that ain't gonna happen to me. 

BLOG:  Well, that kind of hurts Danny.
DANNY:  Hey, I just call them like I see them.

BLOG:  Like Roman?
DANNY:  No, like the opposite of Roman! 

BLOG:  Hmmm, one line in and already attacking umpires.  And you were worried about being misrepresented?
DANNY:  Hey,  he who lives by the sword doesn't bring a knife to a gunfight.

BLOG:  Whoa!  I think you're mixing your metaphors there Danny boy. 
DANNY:  Yeah I do it on purpose. 

BLOG:  Really?  That could be an interesting thread.  When did the mixed metaphor thing start happening?
DANNY:  When we were kids, my 3rd grade teacher used to tell us all the time, "pair off in threes, line up in a circle and sort yourselves alphabetically by height". 

BLOG:  (LOL) - That's pretty funny. 
DANNY:  Yeah, it wasn't funny when 2 kids died trying to do it. 

BLOG:  I see.  So you picked up on it and kept it going?
DANNY:  Well, a Leopard can't change his stripes can he?

BLOG:  No, I suppose not.  So, do you have any nicknames?
DANNY:  I have a few, most notably "Woody".  But I've been thinking of getting a new one.  I'm kicking around a few right now. 

BLOG:  Care to share what they might be?
DANNY:  Well, I'm toying with "Captain Awesome". 

BLOG:  That's kind of self-aggrandizing isn't it?
DANNY:  You know, you're not the only one with a vocabulary buddy!  You think you're so smart because you know "words".  Well I know what aggrandizing means and I most definitely CAN NOT move things with my mind!  However, I think that "Captain Awesome" kind of catches the whole awesomeness of my .... awesomeness.

BLOG:  Awesome
DANNY:  Awesome-R actually, but whatever.  I'm ambidextrous.

BLOG:  You can throw with both hands?
DANNY:  No, I mean, like - "I don't care" or "whatever", you know?

BLOG:  Oh, you mean ambivalent, not ambidextrous.
DANNY:  Right!  You can take that to the bank and smoke it!

BLOG:  That third grade teacher left a lasting impression!
DANNY:  Why do you say that?

BLOG:  You're still mixing metaphors. 
DANNY:  Its not rocket surgery, but it does take some practise. 


THE SPEECH

This was a last minute re-write as Rob was concerned about one of our rookies, Tim.  Tim goes by the nicknames of "two beer Timmy", "Don't call me Donny" and "Run through the bag Tim".  Some of you may know that Tim has been having a bit of a struggle lately. This correspondence between Tim and Rob is 100% accurate (with the exception of a couple of words that needed to be changed for the sake of rhyming.)  The tune for this one is to Eminim's STAN!

TIM

Chorus:

My beer’s gone warm I'm wondering why I,
Flied out to left at all
The evening rain messed up the infield.
and I can't see the ball
And even if I could it'd all be gray,
Flat on my face I would fall,
It reminds me, that I play so bad,
Play so bad..

Dear Rob, I’m swinging the bat hard but they ain’t fallin’,
I set my feet, tap my cleats, and the batting gloves, I got ‘em.
I always take a strike like you said, just like your buddy Bartens,
There probably was a problem with my back swing or something
Sometimes I think my practice swings are too sloppy when I swing them
but anyways; whatever, I need some help? Man, I’ve got no power!
I’m swinging hard Rob, I can’t swing it no harder,
Do I need to slow down some? Maybe I need a swing Doctor?
I nicknamed my bat Tommy.
Probably because my bat’s blind, deaf and dumb, sorry
I just get upset that I never see second base and the hits aren’t comin’
I know you probably hear this every day, but I'm your biggest fan
I even dig the underhand pitches that you throw to Pie-Man
I got a room full of your posters and your pictures man
I like the way you hit up a ruckus too, that stuff is phat
Anyways, I need some help Rob, hit me back,
just to chat, truly yours, trying not to be grim,
This is Tim

Chorus:
My beer’s gone warm I'm wondering why I,
Flied out to left at all
The evening rain messed up the infield.
and I can't see the ball
And even if I could it'd all be gray,
On my face I would fall,
It reminds me, that I play so bad,
Play so bad..

Dear Tim, I meant to write you sooner but I just been busy
You said that your swing is in trouble? How bad is it?
I think that giving your bat a nickname is phat,
But you gotta commit to it and write the nickname in marker inside your cap.

And don't think that I would say that stuff intentionally just to diss you.
You’re thinking too much Tim….it something we all tend to do.
I say just empty your mind at the plate dog,
c'mon - how messed up is you?
You got some issues Tim, I think you need some swing counseling
to help your rear from bouncing off the walls when you get down some
And what's this stuff about batting gloves?
This is the old timers league dude, lose the mitts before you get shoved.
I really think you and your bat need each other
or maybe you just need to treat it better
I hope you get to read this letter, I just hope it reaches you in time
before you hurt your swing, I think that you'll be doin’ just fine
if you relax a little, I'm glad I inspire you but Tim
why are you so sad? Try to understand, that I do want you as a fan
I just don't want to see you mess up your hits
I seen this one bit on the news a couple weeks ago that made me sick
Some dude was drunk and swung his bat into a tree
Wrapped it right around the trunk, Cops knew it wasn’t done by a kid
and around the bat was baseball tape, with the guy’s name written on the blue trim,
Come to think about, his name was.. it was you
Damn!

The Game

In my humble opinion there are two ways to approach this game.



1.  We can be depressed that we lost.


2.  We can admit that we had one bad inning on defense and move on.

We lost the game 10-6; however we gave up one 6 run inning where everything went wrong.  I'm not going to call anyone out, because it wouldn't be sporting.  But some of our most sure handed people unfortunately had
errors in the same inning and the rest of us failed to pick them up.

Despite the fact that we only scored six runs we had a lot of hits and a TON of force outs.  I'm not positive on the count but I believe that there were force outs at second base in every inning but one and there were two double plays against us.

This is a great opportunity for the Grisslies to dust themselves off and get back on the beam.  There were a lot of very good defensive plays from Simon, Danny, Rob and Kevin to take forward into our next game.

Of note, Randy Hipkin pitched a great game and Neil Pendlebury was his usual vacuum self in the outfield. Murray Saunders hit well and all of the Dog Catchers lamented Jim Rouleau not being there.   Randy was seen toasting Jim later in the club house saying, "I didn't think we could pull it off without our Heart and Soul, but we made it through".  Its great to have the support of your team mates!!!

GAME 6 – Liquor Case

The Intro


Okay…I finally got to the BLOG from last week! Having reread it, I could have done a better job. Alas, I’m a busy guy!

Anyway, seeing as I got so much negative feedback last year when I did top ten lists, I thought I’d fill this section with a list (of sorts).

So this list is a bit of gamble, only being 5 games into the season at the time of writing, but I’m going to attempt to match the personalities of this year’s edition of the Grisslies with song titles. Sure that’s tough enough on its own, but I’m gonna step it up a notch and not just pick songs, but dance songs!

1) Dave Argue - “Vogue”, by Madonna. Who doesn’t think of Dave when you hear the line “I know a place where you can get away, It's called a dance floor, and here's what it's for”.

2) Ingo Bartens - “Everybody Dance Now” by C&C Music Factory. Yep, I was sold the first time I heard him Karaoke to this “And I'm here to combine beats and lyrics, To make you shake your pants take a chance”

3) Kevin Boston - “Getting Jiggy Wit it” by Will Smith. These are actual lyrics, “Bring it. Whoo! Unh, unh, unh, unh. Hoo cah cah. Hah hah, hah hah. Bicka bicka bow bow bow, bicka bow bow bump bump. What, what, what, what. Hah hah hah hah. Unh”. Now admit it, who hasn’t had that EXACT same conversation in the Legion with Radar?

4) Danny Chaisson - “I’m Too Sexy” by Right Said Fred. Whenever I see Danny doing his ‘Danny Style’ in the outfield, I’m reminded of the line “I'm too sexy for my shirt too sexy for my shirt, So sexy it hurts”. It’s not easy being Danny.

5) Piero Del Greco - You gotta kick it a little old school for Piero because he actually was one of the ‘club kids’ at Paparazzi back in the day. Although I could go with Wang Chung, Morris Day and the Time or Herbie Hancock, I’m going to go with “Low Rider” by WAR. This is the line I keep hearing with he drives by in his fancy monster truck, “Low rider drives a little slower, Low rider is a real goer.” Questions?

6) Doug Dwyer - “Poison” by Bel Biv Devoe”.

7) Rob Farah - “Le Freak” by Chic. If you haven’t had the pleasure of watching Rob spin around on his deck on a Friday night singing, “All that pressure got you down, Has your head spinning all around, Feel the rhythm, check the ride Come on along and have a real good time”.

8) Brett Mabee - Yeah, I think Brett might actually beat me up one of these days so I better pick a good one. How about “I love the Nightlife” by Alicia Bridges? Its kinda his theme song really, “I love the nightlife, I got to boogie, on the disco ‘round.” I gotta find those dance pictures from last year’s gala banquet!

9) Tim Osmond - Obviously, Puppy Love by Donny Osmond. Clearly the lyrics, “I cry each night my tears for you, My tears are all in vain” are nothing short of classic. You might not think of this as a true dance song, but perhaps you haven’t heard the extended reggae remix with Dean Beck Ford! Tell me you can’t get your groove on to that tune!

10)Simon Smith – “Love Song” by Sky. Not to be confused with “Love Song” by The Cure. You’ll immediately recognize the lyrics, “We think he's alive but the flies make me wonders why, It's never ending Pile I'm raking”. They remind me of how lonely Simon looked in Right Field last Monday. Poor guy.

11)Calvin Steeves - “Situation” by Yaz from the the upstairs at Eric’s album. Yes, album. This is from when music was ONLY available on plastic and AM radio. “I remember only for an hour, Move right through me can you feel the power, I don’t know what’s going on, It scares me but it won’t take long. Cal can ‘break dance’ to this which will be a treat to watch later in the summer.

12)Greg Tracey - Greg, Greg, Greg. You leave yourself open when you miss games! We are 1-0 when Greg is away. For Greg, the Go-G0’s classic, “Vacation”. “Vacation, All I ever wanted. Vacation, Had to get away”.

Poke Her Face

I wanna hit em' like they do in Skydome please
Sorry, “the Rogers Centre”, same crap but different name (I love it)
Luck and intuition nail the ball the outfielders will part
And the ball I’ve struck will go straight up the heart

Oh, oh, oh, oh, ohhhh, oh-oh-e-oh-oh-oh
I'll nail my shot, show them what we’ve got
Oh, oh, oh, oh, ohhhh, oh-oh-e-oh-oh-oh,
We hit our shot, we know it won’t be caught

Now open my,
Now open my,
Now open my, liquor case
(We’ve got some for everybody)

Now open my,
Now open my,
Now open my, liquor case
(We’ve got some for everybody)

L-L-L-Liquor case, L-L-Liquor case(Mum mum mum mah)
L-L-L-Liquor case, L-L-Liquor case(Mum mum mum mah)

Dave and Brett on the corners, what a hard pair they will be
With Simon you can gun it over hard you will see (He gloves it)
In the place of Danny’s right arm they’ve put a gun
And baby when Timmy wipes the outfield, its rough, but that’s the fun,

Oh, oh, oh, oh, ohhhh, oh-oh-e-oh-oh-oh
I'll nail my shot, show them what we’ve got
Oh, oh, oh, oh, ohhhh, oh-oh-e-oh-oh-oh,
We hit our shot, we know it won’t be caught

Now open my,
Now open my,
Now open my, liquor case
(We’ve got some for everybody)

Now open my,
Now open my,
Now open my,
liquor case
(We’ve got some for everybody)

L-L-L-Liquor case, L-L-Liquor case(Mum mum mum mah)
L-L-L-Liquor case, L-L-Liquor case

I won't tell you I’ll just glove you
You’re out, does it bug you?
Cause I'm bluffin' and your huffin
I'm not lying I'm just sayin’ from Keogh park you will be running
Just like a Del Greco with a banjo
You will be anxious for the clubhouse
I promise this, promise this
The Gris will win and that’s not bogus.

Then you’ll
Open my,
Now open my,
Now open my, liquor case
(We’ve got some for everybody)

Now open my,
Now open my,
Now open my, liquor case
(We’ve got some for everybody)

L-L-L-Liquor case, L-L-Liquor case(Mum mum mum mah)
L-L-L-Liquor case, L-L-Liquor case

The Game

And for the second game in a row....what a game it was!

We had 2 players get three hits, 2 player get 2 hits and everyone else had one.  The big offensive hero of the night was Ingo Bartens who had 3 hits as well as driving in 3 runs.   On a night you score only seven runs total, Ingo was HUGE part of the offense.


Then there was the defense.  The defense was (admitedly) not qute as crisp as last week, but it was killer overall.  There probably aren't more than 2 or 3 plays that we'd like to have do-overs with as a team.  Again, the outfield and infield defense seem to have a really good chemistry.

Tim and Radar connected well over the middle on several exchanges and Dave was rock solid, particularly on one liner that damn near killed him!  Danny made couple of 'gunslinger' style catches with his glove at his hip that had the fans 'ouwing' and 'awing'.

We headed out to play defense in the bottom of the seventh inning with a 7-6 lead.  The first batter hit a screamer to left that Greg made a fine catch on.  The next batter grounded back to Rob who threw to Ingo at 1st for the out.  Rob then went 0-2 on the next batter and after two attempts to strike him out on long pitches, he gave him one to hit.  A fairly routine ground out to second ended the game and presevered the win!

Its easy to be proud of this team on rookie night!  Oh, yes it was rookie night.  Greg and Tim were great sports!  Although there was no lipstick, we did have a wig and a pair of pink sunglasses! 

And for those of you who are curious, the rookies held up their end of the bargain from all sides!  They bought their rookie night pitcher after the game!  The dressed appropriately and most importantly contributed to the game! The only concern (which I'll admit that Radar brought up) was that Tim looked a little 'too' comfortable in the wig!

See you Thursday when the Grisslies try to inch above the .500 mark!!!!

GAME 5 – Head Over Heels

The Intro





My BLOGS keep getting derailed.





Honestly Mark…did you think I wouldn’t find out? You should have just told me and it would have been a ‘one liner’ in the BLOG…instead of this!





For those of you who don’t know, Mark Doyle is currently a key cog in the Rusty Rebels drive for a championship. In his past life he was known as Marky Mark, lead singer of the Funky Bunch (MUSIC LINK) and of course prior to that he was an underwear model for Calvin Klein.





FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: Chuck Cragg, Kevin Boston, Mark Doyle (Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch)



Webster’s (that’s a dictionary) defines savant as a person who displays remarkable aptitude in some limited field, usually involving memory.



I (not a dictionary) define savant as Mark Doyle.



Mark is the kind of guy who loves to give you tid-bits of information. Not only that, he delivers them in a way that combines the understated Cliff Claven (Cheers) and a quasi Jack Nicolson (You can’t handle the truth) type of passion. In Mark’s defense, he is almost always right. I probably shouldn’t even say ‘almost’.

However, while I’m sure he’s been wrong on occasion, I just don’t have the energy to prove it. PLUS the guy will go to the ends of the freakin’ earth to prove he’s right.

We were in the Legion one night and he was saying how he hit 2 homers a triple and a double against the Grisslies last year. I said that I didn’t remember us giving up 2 homers to the same player in a single game. Mark starts rocking back and forth and his eyes glaze over while he chants “two homers, two homers.”

Sure enough, he comes back a week later with the actual game sheet just to prove he was right. Honestly there’s no end.

SOOOOO….where exactly am I going with this? Not the first time I've heard that question!

I was in the legion Monday night after the Grisslies impressive win and Marky-Mark sits down at our table. It’s the usual baseball conversation that eventually morphs into another session of Mark’s fun facts. Things like, “only one person has ever captained two different teams to a Stanley cup and his name was Mark”, “the average human head weights 8 pounds”, “the DNA of a panda bear is more closely related to a raccoon than an actual bear”, “sleeping naked is a good way to lose weight”, you know, Mark stuff. I’m waiting for the Rain-man-esque “15 minutes until Wapner” chant to start when Mark catches me off guard with this gem…

“Did you know that the hardest part of a person’s skull is the forehead”? And he proceeds to tell us about a pitcher who was hit by a line drive in the forehead, picked up the ball and made the out AND finished the game. It wasn’t worth arguing because a) he was probably right and b) he would go to any length to prove it. For the record, while this BLOG is generally full of half-truths, this conversation actually happened as described, without a word of a lie.

And like an episode of Seinfeld, where Jerry dates a girl who works out with Elaine and knows a guy who hired George and is now making mittens with Kramer and Frank Costanza, but Jerry started making jokes about it in a club and the business went under; this is where this little story comes full circle.

The very next night (Tuesday June 1st – for the record) Marky-Mark set out to “prove his point”. With the potential winning run on base in the bottom 7th a fly ball was hit between Mark and Cliff (Tucker, I’m presuming). Mark broke on a dead run for the ball. Now he doesn’t run as fast as he used to, but he can still go pretty well. He [claims to have] called for the ball. At the precise moment that the ball hit his glove he went face first into Cliff’s….

Wait for it….

Dramatic pause….

Cliff’s FOREHEAD!!!

Mark is right AGAIN. The forehead IS the strongest part of the skull. Cliff was apparently slightly dazed, but otherwise unhurt. Mark? 3-4 hours in the emergency room, 6 stitches inside his mouth, 3 stitches outside his mouth and probably a grade 3 concussion.

Oh. Don’t let me forget to mention that he held the ball. The doctor was quite impressed with that.

15 minutes until Wapner!



The Pre-Game

In light of recent events, Rob decided to scrap his planned pregame song “All you need’s a Glove” by the Beattles and switched to a Mark Doyle tribute song. This is sung to the tune of Head Over Heels by Tears for Fears. Click the song title for the music.

Head Over Heels

I wanted to field the ball all alone, And forget about bad weather

It’s a tradition I can trace to my childhood days

I’m looking for attention

Please keep your distance, “it’s mine”, all the way, No need for persuasion

I'm lost in admiration, another catch in the clutch

Oh, the game’s on the line, and this ball, this ball’s all mine

Then, something happens and I'm head over heels

I never found out until I woke up on the field

Something happens and I'm head over heels

I held the ball, I held the ball

I didn’t, didn’t, didn’t throw it away (Throw it away...Throw it away...)

I made a fine catch no doubt about that (yeah), Another ball that I captured

I used to think I could only hit, now I know my defense is all class

Yes, Yes, Yes, I have some ambitions, oh (What's the matter with that...)

My mother and my brother used to watch me dive in the air

(Nothing ever changes when you're acting your age)

And dreaming I'm a Blue Jay

(Nothing matters when you feel like a player)

It's not hard to be man when you’ve got a rocket for an arm

(Nothing ever changes when you're acting your age)

Oh, I feel so…

Then, something happens and I'm head over heels

I never found out till I came to in the field

Something happens and I'm head over heels,

I held the ball, I held the ball

I didn’t, didn’t, didn’t throw it away (Throw it away...Throw it away...)

And this is my four leaf clover

Cliff’s forehead is hard, My face is swollen,

this is my four leaf clover



The Game

I think that last night was my 40th game with the Grisslies & in my very humble opinion it was the best one I've been involved with.



The Grisslies won 9-3 but that's only part of the story. On a night when nine of eleven bats really weren't working, everyone had a great game.



Simon had a great night at the plate as did Danny who hit one out and nearly had two.



But defense was the big story. Rob pitched a stellar game with 6 shutout innings. Our infield rotation was excellent with Radar, Dave & Brett contributing at 2nd, 3rd, Short & 1st.



Piero had his first inning of the year in the field playing 1st base. He had a tough chance on the first batter which he played flawlessly for the out. (trapping the mouse)



The Grisslies turned 4 double plays in the game. There were double plays in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 7th innings. The play in the 3rd was on a flyout to Danny who then nailed the tagging runner going to third.



Cal had another solid game defensively and Ingo may have had the play of the night with catching a foul ball behind the tree along the fence in left field.



In the 6th inning the Grisslies scored seven runs. It was a night when there were a lot of "1 for 3", and most of the "1's" came in the 6th. The Grisslies were able to string together a whack of singles and none was bigger than Ingo's 2 out opposite field hit that plated the 5th and 6th runs of the inning. That took the score from 6-3 to 8-3 and gave us a little breathing room.

So, circle September 13th on your calendars for the Grisslie v. Dusty Cleats rematch. If its half as fun as last night's game, it will be a blast!!!

GAME 4 – I Got A New Glove

The Intro

We have two games this week. Because of that I had a somewhat shorter BLOG “in the can” and ready to go for Monday’s game. It was kind of funny, although it probably would have pissed off Brett a bit. But you know Brett. Truthfully, I’ve got a lot going on right now with my work life, personal life, maintaining multiple homes, baseball, the BLOG and my new Home Improvement show that’s starting soon on the LIFE network. I just wanted a little no-brainer BLOG for this week.

Then, the wheels came off.

So, I believe in God, but I wouldn’t consider myself a particularly religious man. However, this past Friday night I was visited by an angel. Yeah, don’t worry, I’m not going to go all “loaves and fishes” on you. I’m not trying to talk anyone into anything; I’m just saying what happened to me. If it helps you, that’s great. If it doesn’t, then it cost you nothing.

So Friday night, I’m on the Farah’s driveway swigging back a few wobbly pops. I can hear special guest Murry Saunders in my ear talking about potatoes and then everything around me goes kind of hazy. I couldn’t focus visually on anything except that tunnel of perfect clarity that was in front me. I started walking toward the tunnel…I sensed it was leading me to the back yard, but I couldn’t say for sure. Then, a silhouette appeared in the middle of the tunnel. I couldn’t make out any features, but it was definitely the outline of an angel. That much I knew. Oh, and the angel was wearing a baseball hat. The angel had a voice that was sort of detached from its body. I know its mouth wasn’t moving, but I could hear the words in my head.

Angel: “A wise man knows that he is weakest…when he thinks himself strong”.


Me: “That’s deep. How come you’re glowing?”


Angel: “You are not ready to face a great opponent until you have vanquished the opponent

within yourself”.


Me: “That’s clever…why are you handing me that baseball glove? Should I use it?”


Angel: “To learn my teachings, I must first teach you – how to learn”.


Me: “That’s interesting how you do that, really. But about the glove…”


Angel: “He who questions training, only trains himself to ask questions”.


Me: “Okay, I think I’m following, but seriously the glove..”


Angel: “When you feel good about what’s on the outside; you will feel good about the inside”.


Me: “So….I should use the glove?”


Angel: “To use your power in the conflict ahead; you must first have power over that which conflicts you”.


Me: “Yeah…you may have lost me on that one. So, I’m conflicted by my defense? The new glove is the answer? You’re killing me here!”


Angel: “If you don’t master your frustration…”.


Me: “What? Then frustration will be my master??? Yeah, I’m TOTALLY getting this now! Its pretty formulaic.”


Angel: “If you doubt your lesson; it will not lessen the doubt”.


Then ***BAM***, the blurriness goes away as does the tunnel of clarity and the silhouetted angel in the baseball cap.



What DOESN’T go away is the glove that I’m holding.


I was like I was holding the Holy Grail. Well, if the Holy Grail was made of the most supple, padded, comfortable, form fitting calves leather known to man. Another man may have begrudged a calf being used for this artistry. I, on the other hand, thanked God for making cows that in turn made thousands of generations of calves until the perfect one was born to make THIS glove.


Yes, he moves in mysterious ways.

The Pre-Game


I’ve never done a BLOG that’s ‘all about me’; but neither have I ever been visited by an angel. So…cut me a little slack on this one. Click the song title for music as usual & apologies in advance to Huey Lewis and the News.

I Got A New Glove

I got a new glove,
One that won't make me sick
One that won't make me drop fly balls
Or make me catch, worse than a hick

I got a new glove
One that won't hurt my head
One that pulls line drives from the sky
And brings my game back from the dead

One that won't make me nervous
Wondering what to do
One that scoops up sinking liners from the tops of shoes
Yeah, from the tops of shoes

I got a new glove
One that came from an angel
One that will work in the clutch
And never cause me ill

I got a new glove One that won't go away
One that won't keep me up all night
Wondering how I failed to make the play

One that won't make me nervous
Wondering what to do
One that scoops up sinking liners from the tops of shoes
Yeah, from the tops of shoes

I got a new glove
One that does what it should
One that won't make me feel too bad
One that will always make me feel so good

I got a new glove
One with no doubt
One that won't make me miss too much
Or make my face wear a pout

One that won't make me Nervous
Wondering what to do
One that scooops up sinking liners from the tops of shoes
Yeah...from the tops of shoes.

The Game

Winning DOES NOT suck!!!

The Grisslies scored six in the 1st inning and never looked back. Everyone contributed at the plate with Brett, Piero and Cal all having perfect nights at the plate. Our worst hitting performance of the night was 2/4. We were clicking big time!

Defensively, this felt a lot more like Grisslie ball. We had a few “coulda-shoulda-woulda” moments, but for the most part it was solid. There are some questions about Tim “don’t call me Donny” Osmond as he spent an inordinate amount of time on his back in the outfield.

Tim on the Right (no left) (no right) (nevermind)

My new glove seemed to give the entire team a new found confidence. They responded well and came off of 3 consecutive losses like the troopers they are! Next up will be the Dusty Cleats on Thursday. Although the Cleats are 0-2, their run differential is only 2. They’ve lost two one run games. Now that’s tough! They’ll be loaded for bear and ready for us.
See you all again on Friday morn