And like a puff of smoke, it is gone.
I am now 1,800 miles from my former town, having landed safely in a suburb of Denver. My 11 y/o son is now 180 miles from his former town, starting his second and last week of sleepaway camp in Massachusetts. But we were hot and heavy into our summer travel season not that long ago. Allow me to update you.
When we last chatted, my team was 3-1 in its summer league. We had a let-down loss to our big rival (the team we whooped in our spring league final) early in the summer season. I decided not to put the foot on the gas that game. The kids were spent after many high-stress games. But besides (and after) that game, we were the Big Pun of our league, crushing a lot. A LOT. We finished our summer regular season 10-1. In our ten wins, we outscored our opponents by a combined score of 138-55. And we weren't being mercenaries. I flipped our lineup against weaker teams, every kid pitched at least once and we moved kids around in the field.
We won a share of our regular season title, which meant a t-shirt. But I wanted gold from a playoff title. And I wanted a front-loaded playoff schedule b/c my kid and I were leaving town. That meant a quick first-round playoff game. We tried to avoid using our strong pitchers. We were tied 3-3 after one inning. I put my kid in to pitch in the second. He throws strikes, but does not throw hard. It was his second time pitching that season. He managed to go five innings. He threw 4/4/8 pitches in the 4th/5th/6th innings. Great stuff and a 15-5 win for us.
That win sent us to the semis on Thurs 7/22. I knew the semis would be my kid's last game, b/c of sleepaway camp. He was devastated. He became close friends with many teammates, and realized he would likely never see most of them again. Tough.
My team came to play that day, despite only having nine kids available. We laid the smack down in a 14-2 win. I had visions of subbing out my kid with two outs in the last inning, allowing him to jog off while parents cheered. But with nine kids, that was not an option. The game ended, my kids started celebrating and I hugged my son in the infield (we were the away team, so we played D while the home team got their last licks). He looked at me and asked if that was his last game with his team. I sadly told him it was. And he started crying. And it got dusty for Dad as well. He helped take us to the finals, but would not be there to help us win it. An assistant snapped this shot, which shows off the Ripken patch that means so much to the kids.
So yeah, it's been tough. I helped schedule the summer league championship game I couldn't attend. The opponent was our rival, the team we whooped in the spring final, but lost to in the summer league. They pushed the game date back to make sure their ace was rested, which confirmed I couldn't coach, even without my kid there. On Wednesday night, while my wife and I were struggling through Indiana traffic on our way to a South Bend hotel, she loaded the game on an app, and we followed it pitch-by-pitch, real time. Technology is neat.
The assistant running the show that night followed my instructions with pitching and the lineup. My kids were tied 2-2 after four innings, but pulled it out at the end, winning 5-2. That means one more trophy for my kid, which I hope eases the pain of losing friends. At the end of the day, I just hope this experience builds his confidence and skills and allows him to make some new friends in a new state. It's a gut-punch to me to realize my baseball coaching might be over (after a 27-6 season across all competition), but it could not have ended better. And my son and I will have stories from an epic bonding experience we can share the rest of our lives.
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30 comments:
that picture is a keeper - you guys will remember that for a long time.
Well done TR. That photo got me slightly verklempt.
We got our youngest back on Saturday after four weeks at Charlotte Ballet summer intensive. Watching him perform got me in the feels.
He made great strides and broadened his interests beyond ballet for the first time, but covid protocols limited his ability to make friends like he did in previous years.
He was in a 'lunch pod' with three younger boys, two he couldn't stand and one who was too shy to interact. We're glad to have him home.
Nicely done TR. I'm sure you'll find your way to a mile high dugout.
is that a euphemism?
I see your mile-high dugout (where your ace throws a one-hitter)...
https://ryot.com/product/super-magnetic-dugout-with-one-hitter/
Along those lines, I just looked up a joint called Rolling Fatties. It's a burrito place in Western Maine where I'm hoping to feed next weekend.
There is a vintage clothes shop in Boulder called Heady Bauer. Pretty strong name.
anyone else’s cat run frantically around their house panicking and spraying wet shit out its ass? or am i the only one who gets to deal with that this evening?
Happy Birthday: Tony Bennett (95), James Hetfield (58), and Spinderella (50). I'd enjoy seeing that trio make a little music.
That’s a great picture. And a good end to a fun recurring post.
Eliot Spitzer watched the press conference on the NYAG Cuomo report and said "I've been vindicated! At least I had consent!"
that motherfucker needs to resign yesterday. or a year ago. so does his scumbag brother.
Not sure what it says that Cuomo essentially skated for signing off on the manipulation of COVID death data and measures that caused 'rona deaths among nursing home patients, but that he might be taken down for sexual harassment.
I get that he's a Dem in a heavy Dem environment, but I defer to Gheorghies who live in and are familiar with Tri-State area politics and dynamics to provide analysis. And yeah, his brother Chris is a turd who oughta be run out of reporting.
wow! great job TR and son . . . and that's a tough way to end it all. good luck out west!
OBX dave, off the top of my tri-state head, Eliot Spitzer resigned as governor of NY because he frequently used an escort service for sex. Soliciting prostitution is illegal and it's not unfair to expect more from your elected leaders. His codename "Client #9" was zwoman's name on her lowlife mug at the Lower Depths Taproom.
Anthony Weiner survived a sexting scandal and continued serve in the House as NYC's rep. A second sexting scandal involving an underaged girl finally forced him out. Again, he had to break the law to get the hook.
Jim McGreevey resigned as governor of NJ after it was discovered that he appointed his unqualified male lover as his homeland security advisor. At the time, it seemed that his homosexual infidelity was the bigger issue than the nepotism. Today McGreevey's behavior appears presidential, or at least Trumpian. I don't think he broke any laws.
Robert Torricelli was NJ's senator until fishy campaign donations came to light. He withdrew his campaign and the Democrats dug Frank Lautenberg out of mothballs to be our senator again. I don't recall the outcome with Torricelli but breaking the law forced him out.
All of those examples are before 2016 (I think) and the rules have changed. Cuomo appears to have broken some laws and ethical mores so he would be out if this was 2015. Trump survived Ukraine and 1/6 without being impeached. Ralph Northam and Justin Fairfax still hold office in the Old Dominion. I expect Cuomo to try to weather the storm. He isn't resigning.
nathan knight, timberwolf
knightwolf!
My elder daughter the sophomore could move into her college apt as of 8/1, so she waited all the way until the 3rd to head down. I drove down to Columbia with her today. This town... it continues to make me nod my head.
Having a cheap beer in a bar that I enjoyed the last time I was here while “Southern Man” blares on the juke. Good crowd here. Stopped in for a nightcap, but I’m not much info labels... or counting...
I don’t know about U of South Carolina, but Clemson’s off- campus living situation is beyond upscale. I know a rising sophomore who lives in some high-rise with a pool and a beach volleyball court. And in his apartment, each of the three tenants has their own bedroom and bathroom.
Yeah, TR. There are 5 of them in this place, each with their own bedroom and bathroom. Rooftop pool, fancy gym. Don’t know about the beach volleyball. And the bill is comparable to residential rates on-campus. Crazy.
What a fucking ending in The Basketball Tournament final. That was a lot of fun.
Scribblings from a barfly, Columbia, SC edition...
...The town loses a point for its proximity to the ATL and therefore the proliferation of Braves gear on patrons. Cards lose to the Sons of Skip Caray, 6-1. And I rarely root for the Cards. Dammit....
...This bartender won a few points back in a big way. Slid my domestic light bottle down the veneered concrete bar from a good 7-8 feet away. I plucked it when it was still moving. A+, dude...
...Super drunk older couple sidled up next to me. Had my tortoise readers on to see what you cats were writing. Wife announced loudly 5 times while punching my arm that I look just like Elvis Costello. I don’t, thank you, but I appear to be the only person other than these two who gets the reference. Geez. Getting old...
...Classic rock on the juke gets a B-. Bold move playing “Money for Nothing,” which includes the bad word Matt Damon said he said and then said he never said and hoo boy, just when there was a high profile magazine article on how he ducked press deftly, he knots himself to the spit. Anywho, then the witching hour hits and suddenly BTO becomes BTS. Looks like that’s my cue for the check...
...Good night, Columbia. Keep bringing the heat until the next time I’m here. Which still, very tentatively, looks like the Florida game....cheers.
Sounds like Whitney wins tonight. I shuffled boxes, spent money and tried to get the dog motivated for outdoors stuff. He was nonplussed. But I did watch an hour of Anchorman with a bit of wine/sushi. It keeps getting funnier and funnier each time. I was locked in on Carell this viewing. He was a relative nobody when that came out. He is perfect every time he’s on screen.
I’m excited for my first trip to Columbia in November and to share a few with Whitney. High end apartments are pretty standard on big college campuses these days. Every time I go to Gainesville another one has popped up. Sadly, each one takes out an old landmark that gave the town much of its charm. Progress though, I guess.
The latest iteration of the Cocaine Cowboys documentaries is out today on Netflix. It’s a 6 part series and I couldn’t be more pumped to watch.
Hey z, per your answer about Tri-State politics, are you implying that sex-related transgressions by pols are more damaging than garden-variety malfeasance, or that sex stuff gets more traction among media and voters? I'll hang up and listen.
OBX dave, as usual, is smarter than I am and kindly tied things together giving me implied credit. Almost all of the examples I remembered dealt with sex except for Torricelli, and I can't remember what happened to him other than that he had to halt his campaign. So yes, it does appear that sexual misconduct gets more media attention than other malfeasances and it sticks in voters' memory banks more too.
I thought of three other instances: Bill Clinton had all sorts of sex problems but he still got elected and then didn't resign when caught red-handed, and he still gets invited to big events. Al Franken groped a woman and resigned from the Senate. Larry Craig is the only Republican I can recall offhand, he resigned after soliciting sex in an airport men's room.
No one remembers what Whitewater was about. I'm not sure I ever fully understood the Bengazi scandal. I will not forget that Mayor Barry smoked crack, but other than that it's all the sex scandals that stand out.
Anyway, Cuomo isn't resigning. He might be a sociopath. Eleven people came forward. Any normal person would resign in shame, or resign and seek therapy to learn how to act in civil society. To assert that all eleven people misunderstood him is insane.
Hey z, yeah, I think the salacious stuff resonates more with people, but resignation comes down to ego and will (the concept of 'shame' left town a while back).
In your neck of the woods, I remember that Chris Christie caught a lot of grief over the Fort Lee bridge closings, though his underlings were the ones prosecuted, and going to the beach after ordering state beaches closed. But that didn't scuttle him, nor did assigning his friends jobs as monitors for companies he declined to prosecute as state's attorney.
Bob Menendez's moneyed relationship with a donor landed him on trial and got him smacked by a Senate ethics committee, but he remains in office. And I think that Jon Corzine got elected governor, or senator, despite payoffs to his sweetie and later wife.
Don't understand the lack of accountability, or holding elected officials to higher standards.
How could I forget Bridgegate!? Christie might run for president in 2024. Bridget Kelly, one of his aforementioned underlings, won the Republican primary for Bergen County Clerk in June.
Need some advice from any Southwest Airline vets. I have a very good boarding number tmrw for an early morning flight. I can go aisle up front, but that almost ensures somebody will take a middle seat. I can go aisle towards the back to maybe have a free middle seat. I think I am checking a bag, so norush to depart first. Thoughts?
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