All posts tagged spring training

A Day In The Life Of A New Little Leaguer

By | April 16, 2010 | Baseball | 4 Comments

atticus little league 2

We signed our oldest up for Little League in February and promptly forgot all about it because well, it was February. Our first practice wasn’t until April and life just got in the way.

Saturday, April 10, was our first game and my son was excited. He’d been to a couple of practices and knew he was going to be great.

The day dawned bright and sunshiny and 33 degrees. Do you know what a bunch of 6-year-old little boys do when it’s 33 degrees outside and they have to stand around the infield waiting for someone to hit the ball? They shiver and complain about how cold they are. At least that’s what my 6-year-old does.

The team we played against were hitters. They hit the ball often and since in-fielding is an acquired skill, they scored quite a few runs. But our boys weren’t to be discouraged. They played their positions. They ran after balls and they swung their bats. They even made some great plays at first, third and by catching a foul ball at home plate.

They did their darnedest to stop the ball even if it meant falling, tripping or getting hit by the ball.

The improvement from the beginning of the game to the end was remarkable. I can’t wait to see how they develop over the season.

… for me love is often in the toughness and the hardness, it’s in the discipline and the competition, it’s in the risk-taking and getting shot down and getting up again. I grow because I’m forced to grow by others who care enough to to compete with me – Michael Gurian

This is the quote I keep running through my head when I see all those little boys out there playing and competing. Not that they are losing, but they are growing every time they compete, win or lose.

team photo

Photos – Patricia Honea

Jamie Moyer – Is He Too Old To Start?

By | March 20, 2010 | Baseball | Comments Off

Philadelphia-Phillies-Photo-Day-old-Jamie-moyer

I don’t know if he’s too old to pitch at 47, but Jamie Moyer is not too old to help out the younger guys on the team. So should he be the driving force or the guiding hand?

Only time will tell. The Phillies have yet to decide if the 5th starting pitcher will be RHP Kyle Kendrick or LHP Moyer.

Kendrick was born in 1984 which also happened to be Moyer’s first year in the professional circuit.

Should Moyer step aside and let the younger starter have his chance?

P.S. It’s been all March Madness at my house and I needed a break.

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Year 1 for the Cubs

By | March 9, 2010 | Baseball | 4 Comments

It is March, which means as a baseball fan, it is time for spring training and getting ready for the upcoming season. As a Chicago Cubs fan, it also means optimism and thoughts of a World Series because one game has yet to be played, which means we’re still in the hunt!

This year the Cubs are under new ownership. They are no longer owned by the Tribune Company and are now owned by the Ricketts family. And to commemorate that, they have started a marketing campaign across the City called “Year 1”.

The idea of the campaign is to let us fans know that the new ownership is focused on winning and bringing the World Series (and championship) to Wrigley Field. That, from this point forward, it is a new era.

ondeckWell, as a Cubs fan, and a marketing person, I think that it is all well and good. It is a catchy campaign. But this is the CUBS we are talking about. The lovable losers. It has been over 100 years since they have won a championship. New marketing campaigns aren’t going to win us any games.

The Cubs don’t really need to woo fans. We have Wrigley Field. The games sell out every day in the summer, regardless of how the team is doing. People go for the atmosphere. Our season ticket waiting list is like 40,000 people deep. I know. I’m like number 28,837 on the list, and I signed up over three years ago. They have continually raised ticket prices every year and yet, it doesn’t matter. They are never hurting for revenue. We are a sports town with a drinking problem!

My question is, though, what happens next year? Or what happens in Year 17? Are we going to keep this up until we win a championship? How silly are you going to look when you don’t win the World Series this year? And what about the last 100-plus years the team has been in existence? Those years, which included some great teams and Hall of Famers, mean nothing? Isn’t that a knock to the storied history of this franchise? Aren’t you basically saying that everything that happened before this year is crap?

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And boom goes the dynamite

By | February 9, 2009 | Baseball | 2 Comments

“No.”

That’s a pretty cut-and-dry, definitive statement by Alex Rodriguez, affectionately and forever known in Boston as A-Roid. It was his answer to Katie Couric when asked by the “once perky” anchor during a 2007 interview on CBS, “For the record, have you ever used steroids, Human Growth Hormone or any other performance-enhancing substance?”

“No,” Rodriguez replied tersely.

Turns out that’s not altogether true. Actually it’s not true at all. There is zero truth in that one word so often spoken by my two-year-old daughter. So, he lied to America’s favorite second-favorite third-favorite a network anchor about using performance-enhancing drugs during the season in which he was named AL MVP and ran away with the home run title. So what has been billed as pure talent; as raw devotion to the game got a boost from time-to-time…over three seasons. Hmm, that ain’t so pure or raw.

Now I’ll ask this question (actually a few questions): will A-Roid (I have to do this, I am contractually obligated by birth – sue me) be run out on a rail now that he has openly admitted to using? Is his HoF lock now in jeopardy? Do we just agree that Hank Aaron is the home run champion, close that book and be done with it? Does Rodriguez have the same amount of scorn heaped on him as Barry (still no info there)? McGwire (never proven)? Canseco (gloriously out of the roid closet, syringes in hand)? Clemens (still in question)? Sosa (never proven)? Giambi admitted the error of his ways to the baseball gods and Bud Selig and was subsequently welcomed back, but then again, he appears to be a nice guy. A-Roid? I’m not sure even his dog likes him.

I was listening to WFAN on my way home yesterday (comedy gold to a Bostonian). Now, admittedly I am a homer when it comes to Boston sports having lived and breathed it for nearly all of my 41 years. But, listening to the callers yesterday I was struck by how quickly, fervently and vocally many of them came to A-Roid’s defense when a year ago they were burning Clemens in effigy in the Bronx based on the still-disputed testimony of the somewhat creepy (who keeps syringes and gauze?) Brian McNamee within days of the Mitchell Report. Now that’s he’s admitted to cheating – and that’s what it is, let’s not have any illusions – when will New Yorkers start throwing syringes at dart boards with A-Roid’s face tacked to them?

In the grand scheme of things, I’m happy I don’t have to explain any of this crap to my kids. I honestly could not care less that A-Roid was using whatever he was using. I do love that he just took every ounce of wind from the Yankees’ sails regarding their off-season and that Spring Training will be a media circus – woo-hoo! Repeat after me: Scha-den-freude. I also love that it will be great fodder for the bleacher dawgs at Fenway – that Madonna cheer last season was nothing compared to what’s coming.

Speaking of: Is there any way any of this can be blamed on Madonna?

D’oh!!

By | March 22, 2007 | Baseball | 1 Comment

Tony LaRussa, manager of (MY) St Louis Cardinals, was found asleep at the wheel of his SUV and charged with a DUI…

Gives whole new meaning to the term “passing the bar,” doesn’t it?

And yes, there is a mug shot…

Rats…

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