Showing posts with label Kickball. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kickball. Show all posts
Thursday, April 26, 2018
2018 and Still Kicking!
After another long winter the time has finally come! We are back at it as of last week with our Spring Season. I'm still playing. We're still crushing it. Our league is massive. 28 teams and over 525 players. A little nutty but it's nice to finally get some decent weather and get back out there. Play ball!
Tuesday, November 7, 2017
2017 Recap
My bad, I didn't update you at all on how the spring/summer/and fall culminated for me and the Ballz Deep crew.
Let's see..
We finished Spring season 8-3, losing in the Semi Finals.
We finished Summer season 8-1, losing our first game in the playoffs :(
We finished Fall season 9-2, again losing in the Semi Finals.
At 25-6 overall, this was my most successful year as far as winning went. I'm still annoyed to not have pushed thru to the championship but I feel really good about our squad going forward.
As far as my numbers go I did great pitching and decent kicking. I started using more of a high bounce pitch and it turned out to be super effective against all the kickers as long as the umpire gave me the correct strike zone :)
I pitched 119 2/3rd innings this year allowing only 57 runs. 0.48 runs an inning, with a 2.858 RA/6 inning. Our defense got better and better over the year and will continue to improve next year.
I kicked at a .490 average which wasn't super spectacular with 12 rbis, 6 runs, and 1 home run. The team kicked at a .599 average overall. Wow.
My focus now is to resume a training program to shed some of weight I've still yet to lose since this injury and just improve the overall strength of these legs. I haven't gotten back to distance running yet and I'd still like to.
I still think about the leg but didn't as much during games as the year went on. I laughed earlier this week while walking, thinking, is this how I walked before? I can't remember what it was like to walk normal. Maybe I am walking normal. Who knows.
Let's see..
We finished Spring season 8-3, losing in the Semi Finals.
We finished Summer season 8-1, losing our first game in the playoffs :(
We finished Fall season 9-2, again losing in the Semi Finals.
At 25-6 overall, this was my most successful year as far as winning went. I'm still annoyed to not have pushed thru to the championship but I feel really good about our squad going forward.
As far as my numbers go I did great pitching and decent kicking. I started using more of a high bounce pitch and it turned out to be super effective against all the kickers as long as the umpire gave me the correct strike zone :)
I pitched 119 2/3rd innings this year allowing only 57 runs. 0.48 runs an inning, with a 2.858 RA/6 inning. Our defense got better and better over the year and will continue to improve next year.
I kicked at a .490 average which wasn't super spectacular with 12 rbis, 6 runs, and 1 home run. The team kicked at a .599 average overall. Wow.
My focus now is to resume a training program to shed some of weight I've still yet to lose since this injury and just improve the overall strength of these legs. I haven't gotten back to distance running yet and I'd still like to.
I still think about the leg but didn't as much during games as the year went on. I laughed earlier this week while walking, thinking, is this how I walked before? I can't remember what it was like to walk normal. Maybe I am walking normal. Who knows.
Wednesday, May 17, 2017
Shutout City
We held Get It In scoreless to win 4-0 this week. Our defense is on point. Two shutouts in a row. Tonight we'll go for number 3 as we face Kickerbockers. Season is going great so far. We've risen to #3 overall in the league and I don't expect us to lose any of the remaining 4 games during the regular season. Our 6 rookies are doing well and we're going to keep our foot on the pedal until we face off against one of these tougher teams. So far so good.
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| Spring standings thru 4 games |
Friday, May 5, 2017
Three Games In
A little tardy on the recaps here but after 3 games we are 2-1 on the season!
Was able to shake off a little rust during that preseason game. Got an inning of work in rolling and two plate appearances. Rounded the bases once I got on the first time and got pushed to home a little bit by the baserunner behind me but I got there and scored and that was nice.
First official game back we were missing a third of our squad while we attempted to acclimate 6 rookies and 2 new players to our team. So it was interesting. In retrospect our first opponent on the schedule could potentially of been our toughest game of the regular season. They had an adequate pitcher (zing Rob), a solid SS, and a monster catcher. The catcher gobbled up all our bunts and swallowed us whole. There was a few questionable calls at first but had we been in the field we would have wanted them too. I got into trouble a couple times with deep pitch counts and runners on base. I even walked two kickers, though I don't mind when they are good kickers since it limits the damage. The dagger came in the top of the 5th with bases loaded and a left foot kicker placing it just right on the right field line sneaking past the right fielder. The ball was relayed in and I chucked it towards home and got the kicker out saving the grand slam, but we were in trouble being down 5-0 by then. Our attempt to rally sputtered before it started and we lost 5-0. It's tough when you are down but kickball is a funny sport. Sometimes all a team needs is one big inning. Our opponents got one but we weren't able to. We'll likely have to face them again in the playoffs. Losing that game put us at 5-2 lifetime against Menace. First time I lost to them.
Game two a week later was against more of a casual team, Manatee. It hurt to not color any bubbles in week 1 but everything changed right away in this game as we scored 6 runs in the bottom of the 1st. The field we played on was annoying. I swear that there was a tiny bump right at the exact spot that I typically throw the ball at during a pitch. It was super windy too. I had to make an adjustment to just get it in play and my defense held. Unfortunately our game started late so we only got 5 innings in. The game was over 9-4 but Manatee wanted to field again and let us kick for fun. Okay. So we scored 6 more runs as darkness invaded. I went 1-2 in the game, getting on base with a bunt (something I don't plan to do all the time but when the opportunity presents itself). Brendan was annoyed he was last in the kicking order but hey, it rotates. Was great to get that first W and to color in all those bubbles. The new players were adjusting and learning quick as to where they needed to be in the field and what was expected of them on offense.
Last night was our third game of the season against Home Run or Bust. A mild friendly rivalry with this team has always existed going back to when they used to be the "Times Union" team with Lisset. At least I'm pretty sure most of those players that still play are on this team now but what do I know. Terri and Chris (Big Daddy) are fun to play against and I hope they feel the same way about us. Though they didn't seem to be having all that much fun at the end of the game when we skunked them 7-0. Brendan got bumped up in the order and had himself a day getting 6 RBIs on 2 kicks including a grand slam whopper in the 3rd. There was a catch he made in the field that I can't adequately describe in words but I'll note it here so that those that saw it can remember it via this trigger. It was one of those, WTF is he doing catches, but he caught it. Alex pitched 1 scoreless and I pitched 5. Had a couple player scratches during the game that forced me to make some managerial adjustments but all was well. I again went 1-2 with a bunt single and unfortunately like a dumb ass I over stepped my self and tried to get from 2nd to 3rd on a wild play where the ball went askew after getting the other baserunner out at 3rd. Thought I could make it and knew within 3 steps that I very much could not. Tried to get back but it was too late. Should of stayed at second. I made an over the shoulder catch for the last out and that was that. 2-1 on the season with 9 runs against.
Was able to shake off a little rust during that preseason game. Got an inning of work in rolling and two plate appearances. Rounded the bases once I got on the first time and got pushed to home a little bit by the baserunner behind me but I got there and scored and that was nice.
First official game back we were missing a third of our squad while we attempted to acclimate 6 rookies and 2 new players to our team. So it was interesting. In retrospect our first opponent on the schedule could potentially of been our toughest game of the regular season. They had an adequate pitcher (zing Rob), a solid SS, and a monster catcher. The catcher gobbled up all our bunts and swallowed us whole. There was a few questionable calls at first but had we been in the field we would have wanted them too. I got into trouble a couple times with deep pitch counts and runners on base. I even walked two kickers, though I don't mind when they are good kickers since it limits the damage. The dagger came in the top of the 5th with bases loaded and a left foot kicker placing it just right on the right field line sneaking past the right fielder. The ball was relayed in and I chucked it towards home and got the kicker out saving the grand slam, but we were in trouble being down 5-0 by then. Our attempt to rally sputtered before it started and we lost 5-0. It's tough when you are down but kickball is a funny sport. Sometimes all a team needs is one big inning. Our opponents got one but we weren't able to. We'll likely have to face them again in the playoffs. Losing that game put us at 5-2 lifetime against Menace. First time I lost to them.
Game two a week later was against more of a casual team, Manatee. It hurt to not color any bubbles in week 1 but everything changed right away in this game as we scored 6 runs in the bottom of the 1st. The field we played on was annoying. I swear that there was a tiny bump right at the exact spot that I typically throw the ball at during a pitch. It was super windy too. I had to make an adjustment to just get it in play and my defense held. Unfortunately our game started late so we only got 5 innings in. The game was over 9-4 but Manatee wanted to field again and let us kick for fun. Okay. So we scored 6 more runs as darkness invaded. I went 1-2 in the game, getting on base with a bunt (something I don't plan to do all the time but when the opportunity presents itself). Brendan was annoyed he was last in the kicking order but hey, it rotates. Was great to get that first W and to color in all those bubbles. The new players were adjusting and learning quick as to where they needed to be in the field and what was expected of them on offense.
Last night was our third game of the season against Home Run or Bust. A mild friendly rivalry with this team has always existed going back to when they used to be the "Times Union" team with Lisset. At least I'm pretty sure most of those players that still play are on this team now but what do I know. Terri and Chris (Big Daddy) are fun to play against and I hope they feel the same way about us. Though they didn't seem to be having all that much fun at the end of the game when we skunked them 7-0. Brendan got bumped up in the order and had himself a day getting 6 RBIs on 2 kicks including a grand slam whopper in the 3rd. There was a catch he made in the field that I can't adequately describe in words but I'll note it here so that those that saw it can remember it via this trigger. It was one of those, WTF is he doing catches, but he caught it. Alex pitched 1 scoreless and I pitched 5. Had a couple player scratches during the game that forced me to make some managerial adjustments but all was well. I again went 1-2 with a bunt single and unfortunately like a dumb ass I over stepped my self and tried to get from 2nd to 3rd on a wild play where the ball went askew after getting the other baserunner out at 3rd. Thought I could make it and knew within 3 steps that I very much could not. Tried to get back but it was too late. Should of stayed at second. I made an over the shoulder catch for the last out and that was that. 2-1 on the season with 9 runs against.
Wednesday, April 19, 2017
Spring 2017 Schedule
The preseason pickup game went relatively well. I played an inning at first (I hate playing first base!) and got to pitch an inning. We did 5 out innings so I got a decent amount of work in. I even got to pitch against Jay (from my team). Almost got him to foul out. I kicked twice and neither attempts were all that pretty but I got on base twice and scored so that happened. Was definitely a bit sore after the game but that's just gonna be the deal. Got to get used to the new new.
We finally got the schedule this week and here it is. Won't lie. I was hoping we'd get a new team for the first week but we're scheduled against three veteran teams to start the season. All good. Ain't no rest for the best. I'm excited about our new players and looking forward to finally starting this!
We finally got the schedule this week and here it is. Won't lie. I was hoping we'd get a new team for the first week but we're scheduled against three veteran teams to start the season. All good. Ain't no rest for the best. I'm excited about our new players and looking forward to finally starting this!
Thursday, April 13, 2017
Preseason
We're having some warmup practice pick up kickball action tonight and it'll be unofficially/officially my first action since going down.. Let's do this!
Thursday, April 6, 2017
So it's been a minute
Hi everyone! Apologies for a lack of updates over the last year. Everything has been going good. Still feels awkward at times. It's an ongoing adjustment. Been walking a lot and running a fair amount. About to kick things into high gear and really blast off.
Running -- The hardest thing about getting back into half marathon shape is getting back into a regular routine. I've been doing 2 mile runs but only a couple times a week. I'm still looking at getting back to where I was and I am going to schedule myself for a half marathon this fall so I'll really need to upgrade my training real soon here to stay on pace. I'll be doing the corporate challenge for the first time next month. That's only a 3.5 mile race. I did do a Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving day last fall in Delmar for my first actual race back. My pace is super slow these days but that's okay. It's all about the duration and distance at this point for me.
Kickball -- Being a spectator last year was tough. It was great to hang out with my friends but by the time the Fall season wrapped up I was ready to be done with the watching and ready for the rolling. But here we are, on the cusp of a new season. I've got a fully loaded team of 20 people and spring season starts on 4/20. My goal is to wrap little recaps of our games and how I felt to keep this blog updated moving forward. I'm just excited to start and get back to rolling the ball again. It's been 623 days since I rolled it!! I never even took the field the day I got injured since it was the top of the 1st inning.
Anyway, just wanted to chime in and let you know I plan to update this some more this summer moving forward. Even if no one reads it, that's okay. It'll be good for me! Cheers everybody.. and it's okay to ask me how the knee feels even if I laugh at how many times I get asked. It's topical.
Running -- The hardest thing about getting back into half marathon shape is getting back into a regular routine. I've been doing 2 mile runs but only a couple times a week. I'm still looking at getting back to where I was and I am going to schedule myself for a half marathon this fall so I'll really need to upgrade my training real soon here to stay on pace. I'll be doing the corporate challenge for the first time next month. That's only a 3.5 mile race. I did do a Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving day last fall in Delmar for my first actual race back. My pace is super slow these days but that's okay. It's all about the duration and distance at this point for me.
Kickball -- Being a spectator last year was tough. It was great to hang out with my friends but by the time the Fall season wrapped up I was ready to be done with the watching and ready for the rolling. But here we are, on the cusp of a new season. I've got a fully loaded team of 20 people and spring season starts on 4/20. My goal is to wrap little recaps of our games and how I felt to keep this blog updated moving forward. I'm just excited to start and get back to rolling the ball again. It's been 623 days since I rolled it!! I never even took the field the day I got injured since it was the top of the 1st inning.
Anyway, just wanted to chime in and let you know I plan to update this some more this summer moving forward. Even if no one reads it, that's okay. It'll be good for me! Cheers everybody.. and it's okay to ask me how the knee feels even if I laugh at how many times I get asked. It's topical.
Wednesday, September 23, 2015
First Week Of Recovery
Been a minute since I've posted so let me see if I can bring us up to speed. In my last post I talked about the surgery and how weird that experience was. Now let me see if I can appropriately recap the past ten days...
The first couple days after surgery were definitely the worst. I didn't put many steps on the fitbit meter the day after surgery! I spent most of the day on the couch. Oh, but I did go in for a followup with the doctor. We got our first look at it under the bandages. And it didn't look all that bad all things considered. The doctor did confirm that I had some meniscus repair and that I wouldn't be able to put weight on my leg for four weeks. We asked about driving and he said that I could when I was feeling able to. He also drained some blood out of the knee cause it was pretty swollen and felt super tight. Flexion was a bit difficult and I had quite a ways to go with that, but I was able to straighten it and that was a great place to already be at. If you can't straighten your leg after this surgery they basically have to do the surgery again. That'd be awful! After the appointment we were on our merry way back home to rest, feeling a little bit better.
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| First look day after! |
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| So pretty! |
On Sunday I was able to keep my podcast on schedule, publishing episode 19. I used a bunch of songs that referenced doctors and knees, haha. I had planned to return back to work on Monday but by Sunday night I didn't feel quite ready to return. I emailed my boss and asked for a couple more days to recover. I did work from home on Monday and was able to get caught up on some of my work. I took Tuesday off. On Tuesday I remember thinking that the previous 5 days or so just slipped by, even though I had spent 98% of that time on the couch. It was time to get out of the house! By this point I had weened off the painkillers. I believe I had 1 at night Monday and Tuesday but other than it not feeling super awesome, it felt alright. Still pretty tight. Earlier in the day on Tuesday I went out to see how it would feel driving. The leg was a bit ginger but I drove around the neighborhood a bit. Driving wasn't all that bad so I planned on driving to work the next day. Wednesday morning I woke up and drove into work. No problems.
The first day back at work was a bit rough. Playing catch up never is fun. We have a lot going on. I felt super tired about half way through the day but was able to, somehow, power thru the day. My oldest started Kindergarten the day before surgery and since she's right next to where I work, I get to pick her up. I managed to crutch into the school to pick her up that day and every day since.
On Thursday I had another post-op followup with the doctor to remove the staples. The doctor again reiterated that I needed to keep using the sticks for another three weeks and that he would see me again on October 8th. (basically the day I am counting down to now). The knee was still swollen but he said that it was looking good and that I was doing great so far. It felt great to get the staples out. I had been looking forward to it for a few days at this point!
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| No more staples! |
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| Let's Party! |
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| Hanging with The Box! |
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| With some of my favorite people from other teams! -- Terri is hilarious! |
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Thursday, September 3, 2015
Playoffs!
Kickball playoffs start tonight. This will be tough to watch too :) We managed to finish the season at 6-3 (2-3 after my injury) to hold onto the #6 seed.
We face Faces Loaded @ 6:30pm tonight in Lincoln Park. The lineup is locked and loaded and we are looking forward to our rematch. We won 15-5 when we played them previously this season and it was the last full game I was able to play.
If we are able to squeak past Faces Loaded, we will once again (in all likelihood) face off again against There's No Crying In Kickball. They knocked us out of the Spring playoffs (and are the Spring season champions) and beat us in a closely contested match up a few weeks ago. Assuming we win our first game and they win theirs, we will hope to finally knock them down a peg.
If we are able to win both games, we will advance to the semifinals next Thursday. If that's the case I am giving myself about a 2% chance of even making it to the game as I will be a day removed from surgery and not very interested in moving at all. But I'm not ruling it out. Let's hope The Box wins so I have to think about it all week.
There's no clear cut favorite here. Loaded Faces is good but not that good. Dr*nk again got lucky against us last week when we were missing 11 players. Crying is good. Menace's defense is really good and they score in bunches. son of a pitch can beat anyone. Wham Bam has two great pitchers. Can't count out Home Run or BUST. Balldozers is a solid team from the limited number of times I've seen them in action. Manatee and Whi$key are better than their records. Let's do this!
Wish I could play, but I can't so I'm looking forward to seeing how it all shakes out. Someone better tell me how it goes next week man.
Click to expand these....
We face Faces Loaded @ 6:30pm tonight in Lincoln Park. The lineup is locked and loaded and we are looking forward to our rematch. We won 15-5 when we played them previously this season and it was the last full game I was able to play.
If we are able to squeak past Faces Loaded, we will once again (in all likelihood) face off again against There's No Crying In Kickball. They knocked us out of the Spring playoffs (and are the Spring season champions) and beat us in a closely contested match up a few weeks ago. Assuming we win our first game and they win theirs, we will hope to finally knock them down a peg.
If we are able to win both games, we will advance to the semifinals next Thursday. If that's the case I am giving myself about a 2% chance of even making it to the game as I will be a day removed from surgery and not very interested in moving at all. But I'm not ruling it out. Let's hope The Box wins so I have to think about it all week.
There's no clear cut favorite here. Loaded Faces is good but not that good. Dr*nk again got lucky against us last week when we were missing 11 players. Crying is good. Menace's defense is really good and they score in bunches. son of a pitch can beat anyone. Wham Bam has two great pitchers. Can't count out Home Run or BUST. Balldozers is a solid team from the limited number of times I've seen them in action. Manatee and Whi$key are better than their records. Let's do this!
Wish I could play, but I can't so I'm looking forward to seeing how it all shakes out. Someone better tell me how it goes next week man.
Click to expand these....
Saturday, August 22, 2015
Wham Bam Right In The Box
I'll keep this short cause no one wants to read a 20 page kickball game write up!
This week's matchup vs Wham Bam Thank You Clam was a game I had been looking forward to all season. We love playing against Clam, especially when we beat them. It had been a while. Alan was missing from the game but their two headed pitching monster of Rich & Hank were both there. As long as Jesse made it to our game, I had planned to let him roll the entire thing. Wham Bam was undefeated this season. Heck, they were undefeated last season. The only game they lost was the Spring championships.
Craig somehow won the rock paper scissors. We held serve and kept them scoreless in the first. Jimmy lead off and got on base. Mike bunted and got thrown out at first. Jimmy got to third and the defense attempted to make a play. The ball scattered into left field and he got up and got home. 1-0.
The score stayed 1-0 until the top of the 4th. With 1 out and runners on 1st and 3rd Wham Bam popped up to Jesse at the mound and he reacted and tried to get the runner at first out before she could get back to the base. The ball got her square in the back and it was close, but she had already gotten back. The runner on third scored as a result. It was a close play and he knew the run was on him. 1-1.
In the bottom of the 4th Alex lead off and got on base. Jimmy and Mike followed and got on base. Bases loaded. No outs. Steve showed that he was human by ripping the ball to the monster and getting out. A couple feet to the left or right and that would have been two runs! The impressive part of the play was Alex not leaving third and getting tagged out as a result of the play. Alex received 2 box points on the spot for not leaving the base and not getting out. Craig knocked in Alex on the next play and we were up 2-1.
Jesse and the defense played two more great innings and we ended up winning 2-1. Jimmy played the full game at catcher as well. They both could have used a break during that game but sometimes you gotta just ride your horses to water instead of bringing water to your horses.
We hung for quite a bit after the game and our team made appearances at both bars. I've been able to crutch walk as of this week which has been interesting and I'll be writing a post about that soon, (I'm trying to play catch up here!). All in all, I put 3.5 miles on the fitbit thursday. It was a good day! And we Wham Bam'd Them Right In The Box.
This week's matchup vs Wham Bam Thank You Clam was a game I had been looking forward to all season. We love playing against Clam, especially when we beat them. It had been a while. Alan was missing from the game but their two headed pitching monster of Rich & Hank were both there. As long as Jesse made it to our game, I had planned to let him roll the entire thing. Wham Bam was undefeated this season. Heck, they were undefeated last season. The only game they lost was the Spring championships.
Craig somehow won the rock paper scissors. We held serve and kept them scoreless in the first. Jimmy lead off and got on base. Mike bunted and got thrown out at first. Jimmy got to third and the defense attempted to make a play. The ball scattered into left field and he got up and got home. 1-0.
The score stayed 1-0 until the top of the 4th. With 1 out and runners on 1st and 3rd Wham Bam popped up to Jesse at the mound and he reacted and tried to get the runner at first out before she could get back to the base. The ball got her square in the back and it was close, but she had already gotten back. The runner on third scored as a result. It was a close play and he knew the run was on him. 1-1.
In the bottom of the 4th Alex lead off and got on base. Jimmy and Mike followed and got on base. Bases loaded. No outs. Steve showed that he was human by ripping the ball to the monster and getting out. A couple feet to the left or right and that would have been two runs! The impressive part of the play was Alex not leaving third and getting tagged out as a result of the play. Alex received 2 box points on the spot for not leaving the base and not getting out. Craig knocked in Alex on the next play and we were up 2-1.
Jesse and the defense played two more great innings and we ended up winning 2-1. Jimmy played the full game at catcher as well. They both could have used a break during that game but sometimes you gotta just ride your horses to water instead of bringing water to your horses.
We hung for quite a bit after the game and our team made appearances at both bars. I've been able to crutch walk as of this week which has been interesting and I'll be writing a post about that soon, (I'm trying to play catch up here!). All in all, I put 3.5 miles on the fitbit thursday. It was a good day! And we Wham Bam'd Them Right In The Box.
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| Miss Daisy at the wheel |
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| Steph and Joel loving it |
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| Alex trying to figure out the Box Point to Ball Point conversion. |
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| Jimmy & Jay celebrating the Box success |
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| Chris and Jesse after Jesse superb outing! |
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| The Box @ lionheart! |
Friday, August 14, 2015
The Box's Resolve
I had hoped to write a different story this morning, but we came up short in our much anticipated rematch against the team that knocked us out of last season's playoffs and went on to win the Spring League. However, not without some drama!
Yesterday was a beautiful day for kickball. I parked in a handicap spot and click clacked my way over to the field. Jennie and Brendan helped me with my chair and crutches while I shimmied down that hill. We watched Menance and Ballhawks play and listened to Ballhawks's terrible music. The sun was shining. The weather was sweet. Like everything else it made me want to move my dancing feet. Oh wait, that's Bob Marley, and not what Ballhawks were playing. I'll just leave it at that. We assembled and were ready for our rematch against There's No Crying In Kickball.
I lost the rock paper scissors to Anthony as he did not respect Craig's authoritah. His regular catcher Pat wasn't there so he took over catching duties and left the pitching to Muscles. Flash backing to when we lost in Spring to this team, I was mighty impressed Anthony's arm didn't fall off when he pitched 19 innings to lead his team to a Spring League victory. I would have liked to win Spring of course, but I wasn't sad that I didn't pitch 19 that day.
Anyway, we lead off the game but didn't put anything on the board. They scored 1 in the bottom of the first. Craig had told me earlier in the week that his shoulder didn't feel right after his Tuesday night game. He didn't look too comfortable out there but wanted the ball in his hands. Know the feeling. The second inning went scoreless as Jesse rolled it in there nice and tight.
We broke through in the top of the 3rd as Dave crossed the plate on a Mike Silver RBI. Cool, tie game. In the bottom of the third the wheels fell off our wagon. The walls of our pool collapsed. The tetris pieces came too fast. The grinds got all up in the fresh coffee. The blue screen of death shut your computer down before you could save your term paper. The phone stopped charging. Craig walked a couple girls and was clearly struggling with his shoulder. Crying started scoring runs. We got risky in the field on a play where the ball dropped into left center and then our defense started throwing the ball around, allowing baserunners to advance even further. Things got a bit ugly there. We managed to scrape out a few outs but the damage was done. Crying put up 5 and now we were down 6-1. Craig's day pitching was done as he was clearly in pain.
The next two innings went scoreless thanks to great defense and great pitching from Jesse. It's great to have Jesse back. We got on base a couple times but weren't able to get one across the plate. We had to take an automatic out at the end of our lineup due to only having three girls (you need four).
Sarah R lead off the top of the sixth and got on base. Steve got on base after. Craig popped out. Alex got on and pushed Sarah across home. Ercan got on and Steve scored. Still only 1 out but now we are only down 6-3. Jimmy sacrificed allowing Alex to score. 6-4, 2 outs. Dave safely reached base. Jay safely reached base. Mike Dengler safely reached base and Ercan scored. 6-5! Oh right, Jay and Dengler both got walked as Muscles started having issues finding the strike zone. When Dengler got walked, which allowed a run, Muscles got super pissed about the ball calls at Rob (Menace) who was reffing. I guess that was the drama part I promised. Anthony took over pitching and got Silver to pop out ending the game and securing the Crying win. We shook hands and congratulated them on their victory.
Afterward, many of us went to Cafe to hang for a bit. Thanks Steph for driving me to the door (and back to my car after!). It was super great to hang for a bit. Cafe was crutchable enough. Topics of conversation included, rotated, and weren't limited to things like Fall league, Box Soccer team, Chris wanting another blog post, how close we came in our game today and how much we wanted to win that one, Jay being all sad faced, dirtyness and the lack of dirtyness, knee machines, apple being the devil, fried green beans, when the next party is going to be, who are we playing next week, and a bunch of other things. Harrison even joined us for a bit. It was great to hang for a bit!
That's all I got. We showed resolve. We can come back from being down. We've got the undefeated Wham Bam next week so that should be interesting. It still sucks not being able to play but being able to hang with my friends makes it manageable.
I managed to log 2 miles on the fitbit yesterday and that seemed like an accomplishment, even though 5-8 used to be the normal. This is the new normal. Other than this kickball recap the week went fine. Had a couple far away meetings but I'm getting a little more used to dragging myself around. We're going camping this weekend so that should be interesting. And I've got that follow up appointment Monday morning which is all I've been waiting for since getting the MRI done on the 3rd.
At this point, I just want to have a game plan so I can start attacking this. This will get tougher before it gets easier. That's my expectation. Sooner I get there, the sooner I can get past.
Thanks for checking in. I know everything doesn't revolve around me. But inside my giant head, to me, this is all a pretty drastic thing. I expect to have to click clack crutch for several more weeks but I can't wait until the day comes where I don't have to. Obviously. Someday that day will come, until then, you'll hear me coming from a ways away. In my case at least, the thunder comes before the lightning.
Have a great weekend! Let's hang out again real soon!
Yesterday was a beautiful day for kickball. I parked in a handicap spot and click clacked my way over to the field. Jennie and Brendan helped me with my chair and crutches while I shimmied down that hill. We watched Menance and Ballhawks play and listened to Ballhawks's terrible music. The sun was shining. The weather was sweet. Like everything else it made me want to move my dancing feet. Oh wait, that's Bob Marley, and not what Ballhawks were playing. I'll just leave it at that. We assembled and were ready for our rematch against There's No Crying In Kickball.
I lost the rock paper scissors to Anthony as he did not respect Craig's authoritah. His regular catcher Pat wasn't there so he took over catching duties and left the pitching to Muscles. Flash backing to when we lost in Spring to this team, I was mighty impressed Anthony's arm didn't fall off when he pitched 19 innings to lead his team to a Spring League victory. I would have liked to win Spring of course, but I wasn't sad that I didn't pitch 19 that day.
Anyway, we lead off the game but didn't put anything on the board. They scored 1 in the bottom of the first. Craig had told me earlier in the week that his shoulder didn't feel right after his Tuesday night game. He didn't look too comfortable out there but wanted the ball in his hands. Know the feeling. The second inning went scoreless as Jesse rolled it in there nice and tight.
We broke through in the top of the 3rd as Dave crossed the plate on a Mike Silver RBI. Cool, tie game. In the bottom of the third the wheels fell off our wagon. The walls of our pool collapsed. The tetris pieces came too fast. The grinds got all up in the fresh coffee. The blue screen of death shut your computer down before you could save your term paper. The phone stopped charging. Craig walked a couple girls and was clearly struggling with his shoulder. Crying started scoring runs. We got risky in the field on a play where the ball dropped into left center and then our defense started throwing the ball around, allowing baserunners to advance even further. Things got a bit ugly there. We managed to scrape out a few outs but the damage was done. Crying put up 5 and now we were down 6-1. Craig's day pitching was done as he was clearly in pain.
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| "Don't take my picture" - Craig |
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| Ercan makes a great play! And she's out! |
Afterward, many of us went to Cafe to hang for a bit. Thanks Steph for driving me to the door (and back to my car after!). It was super great to hang for a bit. Cafe was crutchable enough. Topics of conversation included, rotated, and weren't limited to things like Fall league, Box Soccer team, Chris wanting another blog post, how close we came in our game today and how much we wanted to win that one, Jay being all sad faced, dirtyness and the lack of dirtyness, knee machines, apple being the devil, fried green beans, when the next party is going to be, who are we playing next week, and a bunch of other things. Harrison even joined us for a bit. It was great to hang for a bit!
 |
| The Box! |
I managed to log 2 miles on the fitbit yesterday and that seemed like an accomplishment, even though 5-8 used to be the normal. This is the new normal. Other than this kickball recap the week went fine. Had a couple far away meetings but I'm getting a little more used to dragging myself around. We're going camping this weekend so that should be interesting. And I've got that follow up appointment Monday morning which is all I've been waiting for since getting the MRI done on the 3rd.
At this point, I just want to have a game plan so I can start attacking this. This will get tougher before it gets easier. That's my expectation. Sooner I get there, the sooner I can get past.
Thanks for checking in. I know everything doesn't revolve around me. But inside my giant head, to me, this is all a pretty drastic thing. I expect to have to click clack crutch for several more weeks but I can't wait until the day comes where I don't have to. Obviously. Someday that day will come, until then, you'll hear me coming from a ways away. In my case at least, the thunder comes before the lightning.
Have a great weekend! Let's hang out again real soon!
Sunday, August 9, 2015
It's a Walk Off!
After a tiring journey to that far away place for an afternoon meeting I regained some stamina and drove down to Lincoln Park after work. I shimmied down the hill while Ercan carried my chair. Some of my favorite people from other teams came over and checked on me. Their support means a lot to me. We're one big kickball family.
My team, like always, began to slowly assimilate as we were about to face off against the team that runs the league, All About That Base. Scouting report like always with them is to be mindful of the base runners and don't kick it to Elyse in left field :). They will keep running. It's best to get the ball back to the pitcher and force the play to stop! It only looked like they had 4 players from their original squad, but still.
They won the rock paper scissors and elected to be the away team like always. The game started out slow. My other main pitcher was unavailable for the game. My main monster/shortstop player was also unavailable due to injury. We just got word earlier in the day that the other girl on my team that got knee bonked by a bulldozer girl in the game before the game I got hurt, found out her diagnose. Torn ACL & MCL. Ouch! We're not having great luck this season in the injury department!
Craig took over pitching and pitched fantastic. Earlier in the day he officially became our team's co-captain which is something I certainly needed to suss out sooner than later. He's fully capable, able, and willing which were my three conditions. I've got faith in him to keep the ship afloat and on taget.
All About That Base's lead off runners got on base each time they were up but he managed to pitch out of those jams every time. It stunk not being able to go out there and throw but I was happy to give Craig the opportunity to roll, an opportunity he always clamors for when he plays for my team and I subsequently hog all the innings. Ha. He's fully capable throwing it. He might not have the corkscrew english I put on my pitch, but he's got the bounce which can be trickier to kick anyway.
The game was tied 1-1 for many innings. We play 6 inning games. In the bottom of the 6th we were unable to break thru. In the bottom of the 7th we were unable to break thru. If we are still tied after 8 innings we go to a kick off. A kick off is where one player kicks from home plate, and the closest kick to second base wins the game. Let's not do that. I believe our team has only had to do that once or twice since I've played.
In the bottom of the 8th, Steve Rodway (batting .826 this season) lead off and got on base. Craig kicked a moon ball to the pitcher for the first out. Jay got on base but got hung up on the base paths when Frank kicked and ended up out at second. With two outs, Steve on third, Frank on first, Alex came to the plate. Get a kick Alex. Just get a kick. Alex poked it into right field and that was that! We won!! Walk off style!!
The win felt good. It was much needed for our team. There was a couple B.S. calls and I may have ran my mouth a tiny bit but it all worked out in the end. There was an obstruction call at first base made against us at one point and not called the same way against the other team. I know these things happen and I can relate since I ref a lot, but it did feel annoying that it wasn't called consistently.
Craig pitched all 8 innings and only allowed 1 run. Frank and Steve do what they do and got on base nearly every time they were up. Alex went 3-3 and delivered the timely hit at the end. Dave and Steve played a great two headed monster at short/monster. Only one ball dropped due to 'lack of calling it' which is how they scored the only run. All in all, a good game for us to get back to our winning ways and show us that we can do this without some of our key players. I was proud :) Elyse even dropped one in the outfield and I've never seen that in my 6 years playing WAKA Kickball!
After the game my team enjoyed watching and videoing me scooting backwards up the hill. Hey at least I can still make people happy with my infectiously awesome attitude about life! Most of my team went to celebrate at Cafe Hollywood. I went home. I'm not quite ready for that full crutchlife out and about on the town and I hadn't yet got my handicap parking permit for my car.
It was great to get out and see everybody even if I had to just watch. This is what I do now, I recap our games. Lol. Even if the walk off win was more of a scoot off for me, it felt really good to win!
My team, like always, began to slowly assimilate as we were about to face off against the team that runs the league, All About That Base. Scouting report like always with them is to be mindful of the base runners and don't kick it to Elyse in left field :). They will keep running. It's best to get the ball back to the pitcher and force the play to stop! It only looked like they had 4 players from their original squad, but still.
They won the rock paper scissors and elected to be the away team like always. The game started out slow. My other main pitcher was unavailable for the game. My main monster/shortstop player was also unavailable due to injury. We just got word earlier in the day that the other girl on my team that got knee bonked by a bulldozer girl in the game before the game I got hurt, found out her diagnose. Torn ACL & MCL. Ouch! We're not having great luck this season in the injury department!
Craig took over pitching and pitched fantastic. Earlier in the day he officially became our team's co-captain which is something I certainly needed to suss out sooner than later. He's fully capable, able, and willing which were my three conditions. I've got faith in him to keep the ship afloat and on taget.
All About That Base's lead off runners got on base each time they were up but he managed to pitch out of those jams every time. It stunk not being able to go out there and throw but I was happy to give Craig the opportunity to roll, an opportunity he always clamors for when he plays for my team and I subsequently hog all the innings. Ha. He's fully capable throwing it. He might not have the corkscrew english I put on my pitch, but he's got the bounce which can be trickier to kick anyway.
The game was tied 1-1 for many innings. We play 6 inning games. In the bottom of the 6th we were unable to break thru. In the bottom of the 7th we were unable to break thru. If we are still tied after 8 innings we go to a kick off. A kick off is where one player kicks from home plate, and the closest kick to second base wins the game. Let's not do that. I believe our team has only had to do that once or twice since I've played.
In the bottom of the 8th, Steve Rodway (batting .826 this season) lead off and got on base. Craig kicked a moon ball to the pitcher for the first out. Jay got on base but got hung up on the base paths when Frank kicked and ended up out at second. With two outs, Steve on third, Frank on first, Alex came to the plate. Get a kick Alex. Just get a kick. Alex poked it into right field and that was that! We won!! Walk off style!!
The win felt good. It was much needed for our team. There was a couple B.S. calls and I may have ran my mouth a tiny bit but it all worked out in the end. There was an obstruction call at first base made against us at one point and not called the same way against the other team. I know these things happen and I can relate since I ref a lot, but it did feel annoying that it wasn't called consistently.
Craig pitched all 8 innings and only allowed 1 run. Frank and Steve do what they do and got on base nearly every time they were up. Alex went 3-3 and delivered the timely hit at the end. Dave and Steve played a great two headed monster at short/monster. Only one ball dropped due to 'lack of calling it' which is how they scored the only run. All in all, a good game for us to get back to our winning ways and show us that we can do this without some of our key players. I was proud :) Elyse even dropped one in the outfield and I've never seen that in my 6 years playing WAKA Kickball!
After the game my team enjoyed watching and videoing me scooting backwards up the hill. Hey at least I can still make people happy with my infectiously awesome attitude about life! Most of my team went to celebrate at Cafe Hollywood. I went home. I'm not quite ready for that full crutchlife out and about on the town and I hadn't yet got my handicap parking permit for my car.
It was great to get out and see everybody even if I had to just watch. This is what I do now, I recap our games. Lol. Even if the walk off win was more of a scoot off for me, it felt really good to win!
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| The Box celebrates victory! |
Thursday, August 6, 2015
The DL
The week has been going by relatively smoothly as I await my follow up appointment. I'm getting slightly better with the crutches and have been doing a good chunk of reading.
Tonight will be interesting as I'll have my first kickball game on the disabled list. I still haven't figured out who will assume some of my captain duties but hopefully after tonight someone will volunteer. I plan to get to the games and set my lineups, but there could very likely be a point where I physically can not. I'm more concerned about how I will shimmy down the short hill to get to the actual field tonight than setting a perfect lineup. Should be interesting. I'll probably end up asking that all our games get moved to Field 5 so I don't have to do go very far after this week. Maybe.
We play the team that runs the league tonight. They're beatable but only if we limit our mistakes. I've got plenty of back up players to take over for me. Perhaps my team can rally the rest of the season, the old fashion way, and win it all for the disabled captain. That'd be just great, if we win this season, and I don't even get to play. Oh well, I'd still be happy, even if my heart is just not into it right now. We've got a lot of work to do to get to that point. First things first.
Tuesday, August 4, 2015
I Should Have Stayed At Third
Hindsight is everything. If we had the knowledge we have now of course we would make slight and major adjustments over the course of our individual histories. Sometimes life chooses for you. My most drasticly failed worst decision occurred Thursday when I decided to round third and try to score from first on an infield bunt on the second play of the game.
I wasn't sure if Sarah R was safe or not but I was already on third base when they had the ball near first. Never hesitated. You've got to be aggressive. We've been on fire this season scoring runs. I have been scoring every time I've been on base. My slightly younger and/or much faster teammates that have been batting lead off were unavailable so I put myself in that role. I even took four balls to walk to first.
My team's bench was on the third base line and I'm sure they all told me to stay. But there was a chance! I saw it. I went for it. And there came the ball, moments before reaching the box.
I jumped to try to maneuver around it. I thought maybe I could pull off some ballerina shit in the air and it would miss me. Before I was able to display my air-matrix abilities, I had already landed. I immediately said "Fuck" in a tone I never heard myself say before.
I'm doing my best to try to misremember exactly how that felt as I landed on the ground with my body trajectory towards home plate and I'm guessing my foot facing towards first. It felt like the knee just wobbled to the side. I never heard a pop. The ball hit my back left leg right before I landed adding insult to injury as I tumble bumbled out at home!
I got up and tried to shake it off. Joe Steak Madey looked right at me and said "You just tore your ACL". I tried to walk it off. I tried to jog a tiny bit. I walked over to my team and it gave out and put me on the ground. I still wanted to play but it did not feel right. I began icing it immediately. I tried standing up a few innings later and again fell. It never exactly hurt, but I could not stand. I knew something was wrong. I tried not to freak out. I texted my wife. I watched my team give up a pile of runs. I couldn't pitch. I could barely lead. We rally'd but never enough to come back. We lost our first game of the season. I tried to get up to shake hands with the other team, and felt the wobble and fell. I shimmied out on my butt, apologized to our opponents for not being able to go and congratulated them on their victory.
Here's the thing. I would have gone for home 10 times out of 10 in that situation. I tried to catch them sleeping. I made them make a play. And a play, they did make. Sarah turned out to be safe at first. Me, out.
I would want any of my quicker teammates to go for home in that situation too. The jump and lack of grace is the part I would have done over. It's funny. Trying to jump to dodge a tag out has never worked for me. The ball always hits me.
I should have stayed at third, but I didn't. And because of that split second decision, my life has been forever altered! But anyway! It happened and that's that!
Sarah R drove me and my stick shift car home and her sister Katie followed. Katie recommended I go to Bone & Joint the following day. I iced and elevated it for the remainder of the night and fell asleep to the trio of Analyze This, Analyze That, and Twins on Netflix. I had no clue how I was going to make it to my meeting at 9:30am the following morning all the way in Building 1's basement when I worked in Building 3. I certainly didn't own crutches or a motorized cart. I figured I would see how it felt in the morning and go from there. Spoiler, it didn't feel better in the morning.
I decided to start this journal as something I can reflect on to mark my progress. I'll use this as my outlet to talk about what's going on so I don't have to talk about it all the time elsewhere. I'll do my best to keep going with it. I like writing, won't claim I'm any good at it, but here's something I can write about.
I wasn't sure if Sarah R was safe or not but I was already on third base when they had the ball near first. Never hesitated. You've got to be aggressive. We've been on fire this season scoring runs. I have been scoring every time I've been on base. My slightly younger and/or much faster teammates that have been batting lead off were unavailable so I put myself in that role. I even took four balls to walk to first.
My team's bench was on the third base line and I'm sure they all told me to stay. But there was a chance! I saw it. I went for it. And there came the ball, moments before reaching the box.
I jumped to try to maneuver around it. I thought maybe I could pull off some ballerina shit in the air and it would miss me. Before I was able to display my air-matrix abilities, I had already landed. I immediately said "Fuck" in a tone I never heard myself say before.
I'm doing my best to try to misremember exactly how that felt as I landed on the ground with my body trajectory towards home plate and I'm guessing my foot facing towards first. It felt like the knee just wobbled to the side. I never heard a pop. The ball hit my back left leg right before I landed adding insult to injury as I tumble bumbled out at home!
I got up and tried to shake it off. Joe Steak Madey looked right at me and said "You just tore your ACL". I tried to walk it off. I tried to jog a tiny bit. I walked over to my team and it gave out and put me on the ground. I still wanted to play but it did not feel right. I began icing it immediately. I tried standing up a few innings later and again fell. It never exactly hurt, but I could not stand. I knew something was wrong. I tried not to freak out. I texted my wife. I watched my team give up a pile of runs. I couldn't pitch. I could barely lead. We rally'd but never enough to come back. We lost our first game of the season. I tried to get up to shake hands with the other team, and felt the wobble and fell. I shimmied out on my butt, apologized to our opponents for not being able to go and congratulated them on their victory.
Here's the thing. I would have gone for home 10 times out of 10 in that situation. I tried to catch them sleeping. I made them make a play. And a play, they did make. Sarah turned out to be safe at first. Me, out.
I would want any of my quicker teammates to go for home in that situation too. The jump and lack of grace is the part I would have done over. It's funny. Trying to jump to dodge a tag out has never worked for me. The ball always hits me.
I should have stayed at third, but I didn't. And because of that split second decision, my life has been forever altered! But anyway! It happened and that's that!
Sarah R drove me and my stick shift car home and her sister Katie followed. Katie recommended I go to Bone & Joint the following day. I iced and elevated it for the remainder of the night and fell asleep to the trio of Analyze This, Analyze That, and Twins on Netflix. I had no clue how I was going to make it to my meeting at 9:30am the following morning all the way in Building 1's basement when I worked in Building 3. I certainly didn't own crutches or a motorized cart. I figured I would see how it felt in the morning and go from there. Spoiler, it didn't feel better in the morning.
I decided to start this journal as something I can reflect on to mark my progress. I'll use this as my outlet to talk about what's going on so I don't have to talk about it all the time elsewhere. I'll do my best to keep going with it. I like writing, won't claim I'm any good at it, but here's something I can write about.
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| Not a pretty sight! And the definition of doing it wrong! |
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