Category: Life

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My Little League Experience

The Little League World Series final is today 8/29 with Japan vs Hawaii. Whenever I see the game each year it reminds me of the movie “The Bad News Bears” and my own experience in Little League back when I was 11 to 13 years old.

I played for the GM Red Sox and our coach when I was 12 was Robert Nichols who would later be my Phys Ed teacher in Junior High and even later became a Findlay City Councilman – which I notice he is serving again as a councilman from the 5th Ward.

I played outfield and batted 9th because I was such a great player… NO… I stunk as a hitter. During my “career” I had 2 hits. Just 2 over three years.

Coach Nichols tried to help me be a better hitter. One day during practice he came up to me at home plate and held a ball in his hand.

“I want you to hit this ball out of my hand,” He said.

“What?” I said.

“Take your bat and hit this ball out of my hand.”

“Okay.”

I took my stance and he held the ball on the palm of his hand.

You know where this is going, right?

I took a full power swing at the ball and the bat crashed into Coach Nichols hand completely missing the ball. He immediately started screaming words that I wouldn’t really learn until I got to Junior High. He held his hand and was in intense pain.

“Why did you do that for?” he screamed at me.

“You told me to!” I yelled back.

I so wanted to go home at that point. I figured that was it – kicked out of Little League. I slunk back to the dugout while all the other guys on the team laughed at me.

Coach Nichols paced around for a while shaking out his hand occasionally glaring at me. Then when he calmed down he came to the dug out.

“You’re right I did tell you to hit the ball out of my hand. I should have been more specific about not taking a full swing.” He said and smiled slightly

“I’m sorry…” I said.

“It doesn’t seem broken so I’ll be okay. Get out in the field for some pop fly practice.”

At the next game I hit a walk off grand slam to win the league championship all thanks to Coach Nichols… Sorry I made that last part up. Never happened. I still stunk, played outfield, and batted 9th.

What did happen was I found out I needed glasses.


Me on the GM Red Sox in 1981, year after events in this story. I still stunk.

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First Twitter Argument and Win

I try to avoid arguments on twitter as the 140 character limit isn’t good for the kind of thought out rational arguments I like. Today I got into one by mistake and in the end the person agreed with me so it was a lot of heat for no reason.

This is how it started. A progressive I follow had this to say after the Glenn Beck “rally” farce:

Today, 8-28-10, we witnessed, first hand, the regression of our nation.

The word “regression” threw me off because the whites who fear minorities and change have been around for hundreds of years so the Beck rally was just proof that bigoted whites who hate change exist. So I tweeted:

Beckapoloza wasn’t proof of regression only confirms some white people afraid of change

Then my like minded opponent said:

Sorry but I disagree.The Teaparty is a sign of regression & actively promoting it;feeding off of ignorance & bigotry.

So I needed more than 140 characters to explain myself so I used 3 tweets:

it would be regression if it didn’t exist before but it has always been there under the radar during Bush but open now

Tea Party type people have always been bigots and voted against their best interest in the name of social issues

and the GOP and other conservatives have used the Tea Party types to win office

At first she agreed but then sent:

The regressive state of mind has a political movement now;it’s called the teaparty. Is there no RWNJ around to argue with?

Which I responded:

No argument just your word “regression” threw me thats all I don’t follow nut jobs because I don’t like talking to a brick wall

So she sent a final tweet:

For there to be regression there must have been progression. Definition: http://bit.ly/9PjXq9 You’re wrong, sorry.

It was at that point I just sent a tweet saying:

Okay Cool Thanks

Well I wasn’t wrong. She made my point. For the tea baggers at Beck’s rally to have regressed there had to have been progression. However the bigoted white minority who fear change have always been there. For it to be a regression they would have had to not been bigoted and afraid of change until Beck and his right wing pundits came along.

I don’t think it has gotten worse only more media attention makes it seem it is increasing in volume.

People who attended Beck’s “rally” are those who are the most committed people, who fall for his “Lonesome Rhodes” act. These people never venture outside their Beck bubble to become better informed about the issues. These people also seem to always vote against their own interests and the GOP and cheap labor conservatives like Glenn Beck feed on that.

Sorry twitter friend, I was right.

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Soccer is popular

The 2010 World Cup is taking place in South Africa. The United States men’s national soccer team failed to make it to the quarterfinals but did win its group during group play. Some critics claim that the US should drop out since we haven’t won the tournament and some people claim that soccer isn’t very popular. The critics are wrong.

The men’s team has been stronger since a reorganization took place in the 1990’s. The team failed to qualify for the World Cup from 1954 to 1986. With a majority of players getting experience in top programs in Europe, the team is real close to making it to the quarterfinals on a regular basis. Major League Soccer is providing a steady place for lower level players a chance to move up and a strong fan base that transfer to the national team.

The United States women’s national soccer team has won 2 World Cups since it got started in 1991 and is ranked number 1 by FIFA.

As for soccer not being popular, it has more kids playing than play hockey or football.

Back in the day I played for the Hancock Soccer Association in Findlay. I played through elementary school all the way up to high school. Most of my friends played too.

I was disappointed the national men’s team didn’t make it to the quarterfinals but I thought they still did a decent job in getting a draw with England and winning the group.

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