BONUS BLOG: The Grisslie Award Banquet

INTRO:

Hey!  Happy 200th edition of the BLOG. 
And so ends another Grisslie season. 

This one was interesting to say the least.  We had our second consecutive +.500 season which also makes 3 out of the last 4. 

We started with a 12-5 win over the Dusty Cleats in a game that felt as competitive as last year's finals.  Both teams were in great form for a cold night on May 1st.  I remember walking off the field and telling Rob that I could see both teams back in the finals again.  It was that good a game.  Then our next game, against the Hurtin' Units would see us score 17 runs in a victory.  Who would have known that this would be our highest offensive output of the season (tied later against the Tap Masters). 

The Grisslies looked good with our 2-0 record beating last years finalist and a team that had been a nemesis for a couple of years.  Then the wheels came off.   Losses to the Red Dogs,Tap Masters, Dog Catchers and Dislocated Joints saw us fall to 2-4 before we eked out a win in the rematch against the Dog Catchers.  We would split the next two, losing to the Hot Tub Woody's and beating the Rusty Rebels to sit at 4-5 in the middle of June.

Opening day, the Rocket's Red Glare!

We seemed to be heading back in the right direction.  We weren't really scoring well, but our defense was back to playing under 10 runs a game.  Things looked good.  Then we had our second 4 game stretch without a win.  First was our first of two ties this year against the Lucky Stiffs (12-12),  a 12-9 loss to the Brew Jays, our second 1 run loss to the Red Dogs (8-7) and an thorough pasting at the hands of the Dodge City Rounders (18-14).  Don't let the score fool you, the Rounders napped through the last 3 innings.

A very despondent team sitting in 14th place out of 15 teams on July 3rd.  7th in defense, 12th in offence, 12th in +/-.  Not good.

Then the magic kicked in.  First a win against the Hot Tub Woody's (14-6) WITH Chuck Cragg in the line up, followed by victories over; Gruesome Devils (8-6), Hurtin' Units (9-5), Beer Bros. (12-9), Tap Masters (17-1), Dislocated Joints (10-7), Banshees (12-4), and Dusty Cleats (13-9).   Eight consecutive wins saw us rocket up the standings from 14th to 4th place by August 10th.  We were still mathematically alive for 1st place and only a point behind the two second place clubs.     

The last 3 games saw a loss against the Gruesome Devils (7-3) and a shellacking from Beer Bros. (21-6) surround a 15-15 with the Lucky Stiffs.  Ultimately we'd finish in the 6th spot overall, not a bad come back from 14th. 

It was a year of streaks for us for sure.  Two 4 game winless streaks, a 3 game winless streak, a 2 game winning streak and a 10 game winning streak accounted for 23 of our 24 games.  Here's hoping for one more winning streak in September!
The Grisslie Awards Banquet:

The Grisslies had their 4th annual awards banquet on Thursday August 23rd.  lets look at some previous winners before we critique this years crop.

2010:

• The "clean language in front of kids award" - Danny Chiasson
• The "very nearly awake award" - Brett Mabee
• The "Hang 10 - pool party shorts award" - Cal Steeves
• The "running up Piero's A** award"  - Kevin Boston
• The "super spy versatility award" - Simon Smith
• The "Ingo Bartens award" - Ingo Bartens
• The "John Deere Award" - Tim Osmond.
• The "Cy Young and Attendance award" - Rob Farah
• The "MVP / Sand Angels award" - Piero Del Greco
• The "Anger Management PHD award" - Dave Argue
• The "Fan Support / Fan Attendance Award" - Sue Farah
• The "You actually kind of scare me award" - Bev Steeves
• The "This could have been yours award" - Michelle Farah

2011

• The John Deere Award -  This has nothing to do with this man having been spotted around town from time to time on a tractor.  This award is all about SPEED.  Because, as you know, nothing runs like a Deere!  The 2011 winner of the John Deere Award is Jerry Muirhead! 
• The Everybody Loves Raymond Award - You'll often hear this man saying, "I love you man".  To which other people will usually reply, "Thanks".  Then he'll say, "No, really, I love you man".  The winner of the Everybody Loves Raymond Award goes to, Robert Farah!  
• The Kool & The Gang award - Goes to none other than Gord Robertson!  Why?  Isn't it obvious that when Gord is around its always Celebration Time?  Come on! 
• The "Living Proof of Evolution" Award -  This is a special award usually given to the hairiest man on the team.  We decided this year to widen the qualifying criteria so that other primate factors could be including, such as grunting and knuckle dragging.  In a close race, it was ultimately the silver back gorilla hands of Bob Smith that won out! 
• The Raisin Award - This award goes Jim "Mickey" Mannell.  The Mick spent a lot of time catching this year, then moved to 1st when Gord failed there and really lifted the confidence of the team.  And, he's been hitting line drives all year.  He also has continued to volunteer his field maintenance services for our tournaments which has been a lifesaver for all of us.  Mickey get the Raisin Award, because he's the most deserving of a Raisin pay! 
• The Come Back Player Of The Year - Dave "Don't Call Me Terry" Doucette's return to the league has been epic.  Hitting at a near .700 clip, through a foot injury and keeping Rob under control as pitcher was monumental! 
• The Center of the Universe Award - Rob Farah has had a long run with this award, but this year we decided to change it up a bit.  Dave "the contradiction" Argue has played, second, short, and both centre field positions...a definition of strength up the middle. 
• The TSX award  -  Sometimes the best deal is the deal you never made.  In celebration of trades, the TSX award goes to Sir, Robert Hayward, "the master of mayhem"!  Keep trying Robbie.   
• The Better Way / Red Rocket Award - In recognition of his versatility at high levels between the infield and outfield and his amazingly blinding speed, this award goes to Jim "Catfish" Hunter! 
• The Sybil award  - In recognition of his split personality, this award goes to "For Those About To Rock", Bill Sallustio.  For those that don't know, Bill is kind of a regular guy in real in real life, but more like Andrew Dice Clay on email.   
• The Andre Dawson Rookie of the year Award  -  Andre Dawson, had a rocket arm, ridiculous speed, hit for average and hit for power during his rookie season with the Montreal Expos.  Despite that, this award goes to Stephane Simard! 
• The Alcoholics Anonymous Award - AA is a brilliant program that I don't mean to disparage in any way.  One of its great successes is the engagement of their participant's sponsors.  And one of the Grisslies biggest successes is the participation of their sponsor, Cogveyor and Timmy "Two Beer" Osmond.  (Thanks Tim!) 
• The Jock Award - Goes to Sue-Z-Q Farah who is the living embodiment of an Athletic Supporter. 
• The Necro Fasciitis Award - Goes to Michelle-a-bration Farah who is more than 2 1/2 times a 10lb bag of potatoes smaller than she was at the season's start!  Congrats, you're doing awesome! 
• The Yatch Club Award - Goes to Lynn Robertson and this really has no nautical connotation.  Mostly.  The award is reference to the big anchor (Gord) that she has to lug around with her all the time! 
• The CNIB Award for Outstanding Communication - Can only go to Cathy Smith, who not only prints out the emails that we send, but also changes them to large fonts for Bob and helps pronounce the "big words".  Outstanding!    
• The GrisView Award - Going to the person representing the Grisslie attitude and spirtit, Doug Dwyer! (Thanks Robbie!)

2012

The moment you've been waiting for!  A lot of thought and research went into this, the votes were tallied and put into a hermetically (not hermaphrodite as Rob says) sealed envelop to be released at the Grisslies awards banquet.  This was all under the watchful eye of the accounting firm Woody, Woody and Pecker.  The banquet was held for the 3rd consecutive year at congenial and hospitable hideaway; C.W. Coops.

The Tropicana Award:  Rick Cudnik is the proud recipient of the Tropicana Orange Juice Award!  Tropicana is the 1st name in juice and so is Ricky-Bobby.  If you think he hit those 6 out of the park blasts on rugged good looks alone, we'll....you be wrong.

The Piero Del Greco Versatility Award:  Dave Argue almost did over the course of the season what the legend Del Greco did in a single game, play every position.  Dave played Short, Center Field, Second Base and Pitched and did them all fantastic.      

Rookie of The Year:  It was a close race for a while, but Jeff Sagert pulled it out in the end.  In some ways we're not the easiest club to adapt to and you did a great job with the ball and the shenanigans.

The Everybody Loves Somebody Sometime Award:  So one night I'm at Farah's pretty early in the year and Terry Doucet is over.  We're talking about our clubs and I say, "I never really knew Gary Basso before this year and I'm pretty impressed."  Terry says, "yeah...except...".   I say, "except what?"  He replies, "except he has an eerie resemblance to Dean Martin".

The, are you 42 or 62? Award:  Art Sagert plays the game as hard as anyone.  Almost Polny hard.  He slides into bases that guys 20 years younger never would.  He goes first to third when guys 20 years younger would hesitate.  He makes sliding catches that guys 20 year younger wouldn't get a glove on.  Great season Art and great ball leadership.

The Ancient Chinese Secret Award:  Lance Horgan had a scare a couple of weeks back.  He got home and didn't have his wedding ring.  He spent the morning of the next day in the Keogh outfield looking there and in the dug out, all over the park.  He texted me and called Rob.  I called the Legion and had them on alert.  Then he found it while doing his laundry. 

The 2012;19 but 20 in 2013 Award:  Robert Farah, Esq started the first game of the season with a strike against the Dusty Cleats.  in game 20, 19 games later he opened with ball 1 against the Banshees for the first time this year.  A new Grisslie record has been established starting 19 consecutive games with Strike one!  He'll be shooting for 20 in 2013.    

The Tommy John Award:  The season started with Bobby V. playing 1st base.  He couldn't lift his arm all the way let alone throw.  He couldn't even do the pre-inning throw arounds.  Then he played a little at 2nd and threw underhand to 1st. Then we were in a pinch one night and I asked him to play right field.  On a ground ball I hustled out for the cut off trying to save his arm and his throw damn near took my head off.  The surgery was a success!

The Mr. Grisslie Award: Dave Doucette has really improved his baseball skills and has bounced around a few positions.  The hitting has been consistent too.  But Dave "gets" the whole Grisslie mystic.  He's quiet about it but he's been a huge contributor for us in getting the banner, business cards, bottle tags, note pads and schedules.   He's a Grisslie through and through

The Charlie Hustle Award:  This goes without saying.  Charlie O'Leary had a .554 average on 31 hits at the time I wrote this. He missed 6 games which mean those 31 hits came in 17 games.  Which is damn close to 2 on base per game.  There aren't many 12's that can do that.  Further, there aren't many people who get nearly half their hit by pressuring the other team into quick plays like he does.  Chuckles hasn't given up on a play once this year.   

The Not Again Award:  Last year I wrote a song about Bob Smith called Me and Bobby's Bum Knee.  I waited and waited to use it and as soon as I did, he hurt his knee.  I vowed when he came back there there would be no mention of Bob in the BLOG.  No JINX this year!!!  Well it turns out that I wasn't the jinx after all.  Get healthy and see you in the playoffs Bobby!

Week 17: Review

Scheduling Note:

I know many of you have been following the Daily Standings updates on the BLOG.  Just to let you know that I'm on vacation that daily standings WILL NOT appear on Monday night.  They will return after Tuesday's games net week.  

The Rob Hayward Update

Former Grisslie, past league champ, current Brew Jays and (most importantly) 3 time "Most Sportsman Like Player" as voted by his peers, incurred a serious injury to his arm this month.  I know many of have as talked to Rob directly and are aware of his status, but many others have expressed genuine concern but are trying to catch up from second hand information or rumour.  I asked Rob this week if he would be okay if I shared the content of an email update from him to inform the league of his well being.  In typical Rob fashion, the reply was, "No problem Dougie".  This info is from Rob directly. 

"Just giving you an update. Specialist appointment yesterday revealed 3 fractures and nerve damage. doctor made arrangements to do surgery this morning,went in at 10 a.m and came to about 1.pm about 2hours or so in surgery. doc said it went good he repaired the nerve, put in 5 pins to repair the fractures and while he was in there he found 2 torn ligaments that he fixed also. follow up and more x-rays in 2 weeks, talk to you soon"

There you have it.  Rob has continued to attend Brew Jays games, which should be a surprise to no one, so if you see him, say hi and give him your best. 

Other injuries

We have a couple of other season ending injuries, numerous out 'til the playoffs injuries and plenty more day - to - day hurts.  However, I don't have permission from people to talk about that and, of course, have the utmost respect everyones privacy on their medical conditions.

TOT Tournament

Based on the stats for traffic on the BLOG I suspect there is a contingent that just looks for the stats on the weekend.  Therefore I'm rerunning the message from Jeff Dancey from last week's T.O.T Tournament.

 A Message From Jeff Dancey

Our 32nd Annual (yes the tournament has been running longer than the league!) SPN Tournament is in the books and by all accounts (even though the financials aren’t settled) it was another successful year!  Congratulations to our local teams, The Tailgators, for winning the 40E division (they won two round robin games against MENS E teams!!), The Rusty Rebels for making the finals in the 50E division, and to Jimmer’s Squirtin Units for winning the FUN division.

These tournaments don’t happen without A LOT of hard work and support from many people and while it’s impossible for me to recognize all, there were a few standouts that I would like to identify whom did WAY MORE than their $20 worth:

Andy Gee – Food Manager extraordinaire, present and accounted for all weekend long.

John Stiff – Bar Guru and SPN pick-up resource.

Doug Dwyer – Put the FUN in the F division and for the first time ever I didn’t have a single issue to deal with from there.

Carol-Ann RH – jumped behind the bar whenever needed and was a great  Gatekeeper, too!!

Jason Bowers – another very common face behind the bar

Steve ``Whateveryouneed`` Ross – produced awesome scoreboard sheets and then did a bit of everything else on top

Sue `Meatgirl` Farah – Foodland`s finest is one of TOT`s very best supporters

Wayne ``the iceman`` Caldwell – our ice costs were ZERO and his tournament knowledge base was invaluable…again

Jamie ``da Prez`` McClean – backed up everyone, everywhere, anytime…he truly was THE FIXER.

I know I am missing a pile of people and hopefully you will all hear about them and be able to give them at least a pat on the back.  For those of you that were away for the weekend, or had family obligations, or just didn't make it over to Coventry, I encourage you to say `Thank you` to all of these folks – they saved you $20.

Cheers All!!

Danceman

INDIVIDUAL STATS

The numbers in the .800 club have dwindled to 3.  The season is over for Rick who will finish at .823, Scotty Barton will as well.  With a couple of games left Kevin can move either way.  We lost Clayton Avery out of the .800 group this week, but there is still a chance for him and few others to get back in.

No these are not the Dodge City Rounders team stats.  If hitting is contagious, these guys are sick.

Wow.  The Mason, Peters, Fry connection is daunting. 

It'll take until the last official week of the season for someone to break through the 100AB level.  I don't think my 97 will last in the top 10, we might 10 over 100 this  year

Apparently I can't sort.  Oh well, it was a rough night.  Besides, I like Richard.  Scott Mason is leading the rookie charge and at this point it will take a slip for Peter Holmann to catch him.  Handley and Butler shouldn't be on this list based on ABs, but that's fine. If you're a Steelers fan you need the odd break. 

Congratulations to Rick, John and Rick.  Fantastic years guys hitting 200+ points over last year!  And two of you still have a chance to increase.  When the season finishes I do a list of everyone who went up. 

Roger and Al continue to lead this charge, but Mason and Keogh got their names in the mix at .500 or better too.

 Again with the Roger!  Obviously Mike Olliffe snuck through my filter.  Roger, Brad and Jamie are the only ones who score on 70% or better of their hits. 

Closed

 Closed

 Closed

 Brad Wadden????  Cliff Joseph????  Dennis Short???? What the hell is going on here!  Hahahaha.  Nice to see Cliff striking the ball well.  Dennis you'll have to take with a grain of salt as his numbers are artificially inflated having played the Grisslies on Thursday.

 Closed

 Closed

  Closed

 Scott's 17 runs ties team mate Al Fry with the most scored in any quarter. 

TEAM STATS

I think this pretty clearly defines who you should be worried about with the playoffs around the corner, but you folks can decide. 

Each team's 1st half record. 

Each team's 2nd half record.  The "CUR" column simply indicates where the team is in the regular league standings.

 You can find more on this one in the "Daily Standings" tab above. 

 And we'll finish with our good old league standings. 

  

Game 24: Dude, where's my bike?

INTRO

I love this gig.  Even though it pays very little; well.....actually it pays nothing, its still a great gig.  If something happens stupid or funny people are dying to tell me and have me write about it.  Its a blessing; its a curse.  For the vast majority of what I hear, while I love the stories, they are just too offside to use.  I love it even more when people incriminate themselves because they can't deny the humour of a situation.  But when you get those ones that's in your wheel-house you latch on.

You know how I often say that "everything you're about to read is true" but really I'm full of crap?  Well, this time it IS completely true.  I'll let you know when I get to the full of crap part.

So our very true story starts with Craig Escott.  Don't worry if you don't recognize that name, because most of the league knows him as Dude.  And a handful of people know him as Dube.  More on that later.  If you're having trouble putting a name to the face, he looks a lot like this guy:

Hmmm....probably not the best picture.  He also looks a lot like this guy:

That was a pic from last years Dodge City squad.  We learned a fair bit about Dude last year.  He was victimized by the Grisslies during Rookie night.  That was a fun game.  He played in a Ms. America style sash and a tiara.  It was funny, he went with it.  His shirt said Dude so everyone called him that.  Soon no one seemed to remember that his name was actually Craig.  That is, unless you were the guy doing the stats and was couldn't find Dude anywhere on the stats pages!

So fast forward to this year.  Dude gets drafted onto Randy and Larry's Dog Catcher squad and fills out his form to order his shirt.  Now as far as I know from Paul Piellusch, we had no errors in printers this year.  The truth of the matter is we had "no complaints", but we did have one error.  A one letter error.  "Dude" on Dude's his shirt came back as "Dube".

Dude saw the humour in it and didn't say anything and played on.  Very cool.  So for me, he was no longer just "Dude"; he became,

 

As a ball player, he's a great guy to play with and tough to play against.  He has more power than you think and can burn you.  I'm not saying he's "Piero" good, but he's in the neighborhood.  A good sport and improving on the field.

Fast forward to this past weekend's T.O.T tournament, and by the way, we're still in the completely true part of the story.  I played an early game on Saturday then watched the next game on C1.  I meandered to the pavilion around 12:30-1pm and I see Dude working the BBQ.  I say "Dude" (because that's his name) "how's it going, are you having a good weekend?"  We chat for a couple of minutes and I move on.

I watch another game, I chat with people, I get hungry around 3:30 and think I'll get a burger with Dave Argue's famous shaker of hot sauce on it.  Who's working the BBQ?  Dude!  So I say, "Dude" (because that's his name) "this is a long shift, buddy.  Do you need someone to cover you?"  He says he's good, he's having a fun time and he wants to stay.  I say okay but remind him that the Grisslie shift starts at 4:30 and if he wants us to start early to just holler.

At 4:30 I go back and who's STILL on the BBQ? Dude!  So I get the sanitary gloves out and say, "Dude," (because that's his name) "your shift is over brother, I'll take over".  He says, "no, seriously I'm good.  I'm meeting people, I'm chatting, I've redesigned the workflow for the BBQ to make it more efficient, I want to stay".  I tell him, "Dude", (because that's his name), "its too long man, you need a break".  He insists on staying.

So I go see Andy Gee.  I say "Andy", (because that's his name) "just so you know, Dude, "(because that's his name) "doesn't want off the grill and its our shift.  But I'm close by if he changes his mind or passes out".  Andy says, "cool" or "right on" or "righteous" (one of those Andy-ish phrases).  I go and buy Dude a beer and thank him for working extra and I go back and watch more ball.  At some point (6:30ish) they shut down the grill and Dude is finally done!

At some point I leave.

Now, Sunday morning, again I'm there for an early game.  Who do I see in the parking lot?  Dude!  He's walking to his car with an expression between upset and glum.  I say, "Dude," (because that's his name), "what's the problem?".  He explains that he can't find his bicycle.  After a brief discussion I find out that he responsibly took his bike to the diamond on Saturday knowing full well that he'd be drinking and had intended to drive it home.  However he ended up getting a ride and left the bike behind the pavilion.  He went back Sunday morning to pick it up and not only was it not where he left it, but it was nowhere to be found.

I said "Dude", (because that's his name), "I'm sure no one would steal it.  Give me your phone number and I'll check around.  I'll bet one of the guys who stayed until the end saw it and put it somewhere safe"

So again, I play a game, again I watch another and its after noon before I realize that I've done nothing about the bike.  I see Jeff Dancey and ask him if he saw it when he was closing up on Saturday night.  I describe the bike, much like the picture below.  He said that he was there for the open and others closed but he'd help me look around.  We walked around pavilion and all the side buildings, and even did a cursory look in the long grass behind the buildings.  Nothing.  Then I noticed the locked trailer between C3 & C2.  I asked if he had a key.  He said no, but Jamie did.  But Jamie was playing a game.

So again, I watched a game, I had a pint, I chatted, I forgot about the bike.  At some point I see Jamie and explained the bike situation and asked if he saw it or maybe put it in the locker.  He says "no" to both but says he's happy to check the locker again.  We look.  No bike.

I'm thinking I should text Dude (because that's his name) and give him the bad news, but I watch the Tailgators final instead.

I have a pint.  Maybe a burger.  Think I should probably text Dude, (because that's his name) but instead watch the fun division final with Wayne Bickford and Dave Fleming.  Good conversation, very entertaining. We solved many world and local issues during that game.

I go to Farah's, rehash the weekend, go home, go to sleep.

Monday, halfway through the day I realize that I didn't contact Dude, so I send him a text.  Here's exactly what I wrote;  "Dude" (because that's his name) "Any luck on the bike?  I asked everyone who was there late on Sat and several recalled seeing it but had no idea where it went.  I looked around but nothing".

The reply (and we're still in the true part of this story) "Thx a lot, I found it in my shed.  I woke up at 6am thinking I left it there (Coventry).  Ya think my wife would tell me we brought it home.  As soon as she mentioned it I remembered.  To much to drink".

Hilarious! Hammered, the good sense not drive, forgetting the bike came home in the truck, going back to look for it, calling out the search party and the best part, "ya think my wife would tell me...."  Ahhhh, I'm still howling.

Now entering the full of crap part of this BLOG

So the bright side is what DIDN'T happen to the bike, or to Dude!

 He could have found his bike here!

He could have ended up like this guy

     Or woken up in Coventry WITH his bike!

 Or Done like this Dude (not his real name) and tried to ride this bike home!

Now that's just the bike, then there's the drinking part.  WEIRD and WACKY stuff can happen when you're hammered.  Now I'm not saying Dude was ripped, but he did forget his bike was home (although that's his wife's fault, technically)....but I've seen these things happen under the influence.  

Dude could have started dancing!

Dude could have fallen asleep in the Coventry washroom.

Dude could have fallen asleep and been victimized by some prankster like Coxy or Chiasson.

Or by Mabee or Armstrong who have unlimited supplies of duct tape.

Just better hope all four of them don't gang up on you or this could happen.  

Remember, if you drink, don't drive.  That's smart.  But if you drink and get a ride, leave yourself a note on the kitchen table about where your bike is!

The SPEECH 

Wednesday night on the Donini Deck. 

Me:  How's it going?  Can you believe our season ends tomorrow?
Rob: I know...its a bummer.  But I'm trying to look at the bright side.  I'm hurt, Bob's hurt, you're hurt, Dave's hurt, maybe we can all heal up a bit before the playoffs. 
Me:  That's a good way of looking at it.  Hey, what are you eating there?
Rob:  Oysters....love these things.  Want some?
Me:  Ummmm, no.  I think I'll stay away from aphrodisiacs while on the Donini deck.
Rob:  Why, are you afraid of curly hair?
Me:  What?  Its not A-F-R-O ... nevermind.
Rob: Nevermind what? Let me reverberate, do you want some oysters? 
Me:  Are you trying to say reiterate?
Rob: I think you're hungry
Me: Why do you say that?
Rob: Because you're watching me eat like I was a hawk. 
Me: Like you were a hawk?  Don't you mean watching you like a hawk?
Rob: That's stupid, hawks don't eat oysters. 
Me: Right.  So do you think we're good for the playoffs?  Any defensive moves we should consider?  Do you think we're set with the batting order?
Rob: I don't think there's anything that sticks out a sore throat.  I think we're good. 
Me: Okay, you're doing this on purpose again aren't you?
Rob: What?
Me: The spoonerisms, the malapropisms. 
Rob: Mala-what?  Spoona-who?  Are you making up words and trying to trick me?
Me: Look, the lineup, are you cool?
Rob: Cool as a harbour. 
Me: Cucumber.  Its "cool as a cucumber".
Rob: Well that's just stupid  What's cool about cucumber sitting in the garden all day in the hot sun?  The harbour has cold ocean water  You could freeze to death at the harbour!  I'm sticking with cool as a harbour, it makes way more sense. 
Me: Okay, I'm not changing the lineup. Do you have something special planned for the last song of the year?
Rob: Do I!!!  You're going to love this.  I've used Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" to subtly predict that we'll be 2 time champions!  Clever, eh?
Me: Oh dear.
Rob: What now?
Me: Don't you think that the other teams might be offended and start gunning for us?
Rob: How will they know?  I thought only our team read this BLOG?
Me: Oh dear.   

Well, as per usual, Robert did a solid job with the song.  Music found ===> HERE.  I hope everyone realizes this supposed to funny, not poking the bear....or the Red Dog .... whatever the case may be. 

Don't Stop Believing

Just a small town team

Throwing balls like laser beams

We play the late night game

Scoring everywhere

Just a country boy

The other teams he will exploit

They play the late night game

Scoring everywhere

A pitcher in a smokey room

A smell of wine and cheap cologne

For a smile he'll strikeout the side

He goes on and on and on and on

Opponents waiting

Up and down the lineup card

Their batters are searching

In the night

Park lights, people

Playoffs always have emotion

Strikeouts, somewhere in the night

Workin' hard to get my fill

Everybody wants a thrill

Payin' anything to throw the ball

Just one more time

Grisslies win

Others will lose

The Wild were born to sing the blues

Oh, we'll be two time champions

It goes on and on and on and on

Opponents waiting

Up and down the lineup card

Their batters are searching

In the night

Park lights, people

Playoffs always have emotion

Strikeouts, somewhere in the night

Don't stop believing

Grisslies will be winning

Park lights, people

Don't stop believin'

Hold on

Streetlights, people

The GAME



I'm sure someone smarter or more balanced than me could find positives form that game.  It probably wasn't the best time to have our worst game of the year.  We got bad every bad hop.  We didn't get any close calls.  As a team we didn't hit.  When we did no one was one.  We threw terribily.  When we did throw well we couldn't catch.  Cut off's were forgotten, all the little things that we normally do to contain games and make them respectable didn't occur. 

 

No excuses about who was missing, it was just a bad, bad game. 

 

The only good news I can think of is that we completely shut down Dennis Pendlebury and Steve Ross.  Dennis never reached base and Steve made it to 3rd base seemingly every inning, but I don't recall him crossing the plate once. 

 

On offense most our "decent" looking nights were really from forcing out team mates.  The only exceptions are Rick Cudnik and Jeff Sagert who both hit the ball well. 

 

Its over, 12-10-2 final record.  2 and 1/2 weeks to heal and then playoffs.  A great year, but it would been better if this game happened in game #1 instead of game #24. 

GAME 23: Already?

T.O.T Tournament

A Message From Jeff Dancey:

Our 32nd Annual (yes the tournament has been running longer than the league!) SPN Tournament is in the books and by all accounts (even though the financials aren’t settled) it was another successful year!  Congratulations to our local teams, The Tailgators, for winning the 40E division (they won two round robin games against MENS E teams!!), The Rusty Rebels for making the finals in the 50E division, and to Jimmer’s Squirtin Units for winning the FUN division.

These tournaments don’t happen without A LOT of hard work and support from many people and while it’s impossible for me to recognize all, there were a few standouts that I would like to identify whom did WAY MORE than their $20 worth:

Andy Gee – Food Manager extraordinaire, present and accounted for all weekend long.

John Stiff – Bar Guru and SPN pick-up resource.

Doug Dwyer – Put the FUN in the F division and for the first time ever I didn’t have a single issue to deal with from there.

Carol-Ann RH – jumped behind the bar whenever needed and was a great  Gatekeeper, too!!

Jason Bowers – another very common face behind the bar

Steve ``Whateveryouneed`` Ross – produced awesome scoreboard sheets and then did a bit of everything else on top

Sue `Meatgirl` Farah – Foodland`s finest is one of TOT`s very best supporters

Wayne ``the iceman`` Caldwell – our ice costs were ZERO and his tournament knowledge base was invaluable…again

Jamie ``da Prez`` McClean – backed up everyone, everywhere, anytime…he truly was THE FIXER.

I know I am missing a pile of people and hopefully you will all hear about them and be able to give them at least a pat on the back.  For those of you that were away for the weekend, or had family obligations, or just didn`t make it over to Coventry, I encourage you to say `Thank you` to all of these folks – they saved you $20.

Cheers All!!

Danceman

  

Ain't that the truth.

When you're finished figuring out that sign you can join me in some stats....

INTRO

It was a little busy with a weekend tournament....so this is just the weekend stats BLOG.  An update on our league statistics through last week will follow on this page.  An update on team stats, and up to the moment standings including today's games can be found ====> HERE.

The normal Grisslie post game BLOG will be a day or two away.  You see, sometimes BLOGs are just figments of my overactive imagination and sometimes they are based on actual events.  When the actual events happen too close to a BLOG date I can push it out to a later week.  But I'm running out of weeks so I need a delay.  Hopefully it'll be worthwhile.

STATS

The .800 group remains at 4 player.  Scott Barton is unchanged as he continues to recover from injury.  Hopefully he's back for playoffs!  Clayton Avery dropped a bit from .839 to .810, And Kevin Moon and Rick Cudnik both went up.  Moon from .815 to .826 and Cudnk from .810 to .815. 

Moon has been red hot for awhile....but you'd have to look long and hard for a guy hotter than Scott Mason right now.  He's a blistering 18 for his last 19!  Nice run Scott!!!

I'm hoping to start the Power Rankings earlier next year, it seems to be a nice little trending tool.  Oh, this just in:  The Brew Jays are pretty good!  Okay, so we don't need this chart to identify the obvious, but there are some small movements that jump out.  Like the Beer Bros. for instance.  They are the only team to leap ahead in each of the last two weeks and they are starting to look like a playoff team to be reckoned with. 

As outlined above, Scott is ripping the ball.  Nice way to end the season!

2 Brew Jays, 2 Dodge City Rounders, 3 Red Dogs, 1 Tap Master, 1 Beer Bros., and one Rusty Rebel.  Its probably not a coincidence that these represent the top 6 run producing teams in the league.

I have 2 games and will be batting at the bottom of the order with my twisted ankle, so I'm not going to reach 100.  Jens has 3 games left and should get to at least 103.  Jerry has 3 left as well and should hit at least 100.  It should come down to Jerry and Jens ... one big offensive game could make the difference.

Now this is interesting!  Its totally possible that the guys at the top could slump and the guys at the bottom could get hot ... the bottom of this list are some of the better hitters in the league.  However, I think I would draw the line on this one after the top 3.  Doucet and Wynnyk have both had terrific years, but they only have 2 games left compared to the top 3 who have 3 games.  Jens and Bob have done great too, but hits back with 3 to play and 5 guys to pass is a tall order.  Hardly impossible, but tough. 

So a battle of the Scotty team mates with Tim Schrank thrown in, all with 3 games.  The hottest right now is Mason but all three have had great streaks through the year.  Not much to pick between in this one. 

I've had more fun tracking this one than any other stat .... Ricky Cudnik is on the verge of joining Hjelholt and Tessier with increases of +200 over last season.  Actually, If you look at the names, you have almost all the rankings in there....that would make a pretty damned good team!

With Jason Chiovitti out (hopefully back for the playoffs) this is looking like a 2 horse race.  Scott and Peter Holmann.  Peter hit .773 in the 1st 1/4 of the season; 700 in the 2nd quarter, .800 in the 3rd quarter and .846 so far in the 4th quarter.  Both clubs have 3 games left, should be a good finish!

Interesting to see Brian and Cal on this list considering their clubs are near the bottom offensively. 

After building a lead, Roger has some company with Scott and Al right on his tail.  And I wouldn't count out Phil or Rob either.  Runs are funny, one huge game came make a difference and all of these guys are capable of 5 run nights.