Weekend update

I woke up early this morning, six am again. I am not sure what is up with that. I must be getting old. The next thing you know I will be eating supper at 4:30 and hitting the cafeteria circuit. Oh no, I hate bingo.

The baseball team won last night 9-1. We are now 4-4. I was glad to see the boys recover from our humiliating loss in the last game (16-2?). The boy played fine, he struggled at the plate, but put the ball in play every time. Speaking of baseball, I want to tell you a funny story. I am not making fun of this kid, I just think it is funny. This is the stuff you have to deal with when you coach kids.

I have a boy on my team who is not very good. In fact he is by far the worse player on the team (probably in the whole league). He has not played baseball for several years. To put it in perspective it was quite possible a Clinton was President the last time he played. I admire his courage to play now, but with 13-15 year olds, on a regular diamond, it is kind of dangerous to have someone with no clue playing. But he tries hard. Since day one this kid has bugged me to pitch. At this point most of the good pitchers have been playing for 8-9 years and pitching for at least five or six years at least. We have lead-offs and steals and you have to know what you are doing. Anyway I gave in to his pestering and let him throw a few balls to me from the mound the other day before the game. In more than 30 pitches from both the wind up and the stretch, he threw ONE strike. Most pitches were so wild I could not reach them or stop them. I should point out I am a former catcher. So we go back to the dugout. He asks if he is going to get to pitch later in the game. I tell him I have some really good pitchers and that he should really concentrate on hitting and fielding. I tell him 14 is pretty late to learn how to pitch. He says he understands, but do I think he will get to pitch later on in the season. I am brutal honest and tell him there is no chance he will pitch this year. He asks if he should keep practicing pitching at home. I just sigh and tell him absolutely. I am sure I have not done the story justice, but if you could see how truly lacking in even the most basic fundamentals this guy is...Last night he did not run with bases loaded. A ground ball was hit. He ran a few steps to second but came back to first because, and I quote, "If I ran I would have been out." I still have to tell him which is right and left fields. Life is an adventure.

I have a copy of Full Metal Jacket gifted me for Father's Day waiting to be put into the DVD player this morning. Go forth and and enjoy your weekend.