Church Softball Week 4

We finally picked up a win this past week. However, no one hit one out due to gale force winds blowing in. Our record now stands at 1-7. No games this week.

It's not what you think!

Hooray Beer!

Can I sue someone for being an idiot?

Josh Hancock's dad has decided to sue the restaurant that kept serving his son drinks on the night he died, the towing company whose truck Hancock plowed into, the tow truck driver, and the poor guy whose car was stalled on the side of the road. If I owned the towing company, I would sue Josh's dad for damages since his son was the idiot who was driving drunk and drove into the tow truck. This guy gets my vote for the "jerk of the year" award.

Snakes on a Plane (almost)!

Authorities in Egypt arrested a man who was trying to bring 700 live snakes on a plane bound for Saudi Arabia. They must allow larger carry on bags in Egypt, because I know there is no way you could fit 700 snakes in a bag that the FAA would approve of.

End of the Road

My team's season came to an end tonight when we were defeated by West Noble, 8-5. West Noble had previously beaten us 11-3 earlier in the season so I was happy that we turned in a better effort this time around. We finished the season with a record of 7-18.

Overall it was a good first season as head coach. We increased the win total from 3 to 7 and also picked up a sectional victory over Angola. Hopefully this season is the beginning of an upward trend for NW Softball. The goal for this season was 6 wins and the goal for next season will be 10 wins.

Win #7

My softball team picked up win number 7 tonight by downing Angola in the first round of the sectional, 12-10. It was one of the longest games I have been involved with spanning almost three hours. Of course, I've only been coaching three years so I'm sure there have been much longer games.

I won over our fans tonight by catching a huge mistake by Angola's coach. He had one of his girls bat after she had been replaced in the lineup twice. In fastpitch, you can re-enter once if you've been taken out but if you come out a second time you cannot come back into the game. We had this happen before and Coach Stauff and I knew that we had to let the girl complete her at bat before alerting the umpire of the mistake. I was hoping the girl would hit a homer, because that would've really taken the wind out of Angola's sails when they realized the girl was out for illegally re-entering the game. However, she just walked so there wasn't quite as much drama. It was the third out of the inning though.

Our record now stands at 7-17 and the John Wooden Magic Number is 13. We play tomorrow at 5:00 against West Noble.

For Erv

Baron Davis' dunk over AK-47.

Win #6

My team picked up our sixth win of the season today defeating Triton, 7-5. We were down 4-1 after the second, but rallied in the middle innings to go up 6-4. The rally started after I was restricted to the dugout by the umpire for arguing a call.

The umpire called my runner out a third when she tried to advance on a passed ball. She was obviously safe, but the ump wasn't in good enough position to see the play. I let him know that he didn't have good position as I walked from the third base coach's box all the way to the first base dugout. I think being restricted to the dugout is one thing the John Wooden of NW Softball never accomplished.

I also decided to be a bigger jerk when I made the umpires restrict Triton's first base coach to the dugout until he changed out of his jeans. Coaches on the field are not allowed to wear denim. Luckily for Triton, the head coach had shorts on under his sweatpants so he let the first base coach put on his sweats.

It was a pretty exciting day at Mattern Field (it hasn't been officially named Mattern Field yet, but give me a couple more years).

John Wooden Magic Number: 14

Church Softball Week 3

The team lost both games again tonight. Our record now stands at 0-6. Mark hit an inside-the-park home run, which gets him a meter on the side of this very blog. Erv came close once again with a shot off the fence. I hit a little better this week. I smacked a triple with the bases loaded in the second game.

Urlacher's Vitamin Water Commercial

Lovie finally figures it out

Lovie has finally decided that it is a good idea to play Devin Hester on the offensive side of the ball. Too bad he didn't do it before the Super Bowl like everyone else said he should. Ok, so maybe I couldn't find an article from anyone besides Jay Mariotti, but I'm pretty sure Jay wasn't the only one begging Lovie to try Hester out on offense last season.

By the way, that is Chuck Norris in the background of the picture helping clear the way for Hester against the Cardinals. I can't believe I missed that when I was watching the game live last fall.

Picture in the paper

We had an Elkhart Truth photographer at the game last night and she got some nice pictures of the team. The best picture was of the head coach! Last time she was in our dugout she had pictures of the Jimtown coach in the paper, but not me. When I saw her last night, I gave her a hard time and said that if she's going to be in my dugout I expect pictures of me to at least show up on the Truth's website.

Church Softball Week 2

No change in the meters. I was especially terrible at the plate and in the field. Erv almost hit his first home run of the year when he hit a towering drive that banged off the fence.

California: Super cool to the homeless

Something you will never see in baseball

Tonight I was once again reminded the difference between coaching mens' and womens' sports. My batter drilled a line drive that tipped off the 3rd baseman's glove, smashed into her forehead, and then somehow flew over the fence. For those of you who have been to our "stadium", the ball hit her in the head and then flew over the part of the fence where the big gate is.

Back to the difference between mens' and womens' sports. The 3rd baseman started crying, which was no surprise, but what happened next was something I hadn't seen before. The shortstop went over to console her injured teammate and then leaned over and kissed her right on the forehead where the ball had hit. For some reason I'm having a hard time imagining Cesar Izturis kissing Aramis Ramirez's head if he gets hit in the face with a ball. No Erv, I will not go kiss Doc's forehead if he gets hit during one of our slow pitch games.

If I was a good coach I would have had my next batter bunt the ball at the 3rd baseman because I doubt she could've fielded the ball through her tears. However, I would've had to walk up to the plate and explain exactly where to bunt the ball, because just the bunt sign from me wouldn't have been enough.

Win #5

My team picked up their fifth win of the season tonight by defeating Bethany Christian, 2-1. Bethany Christian had 9 hits and we had 3 so I feel very fortunate to pick up the "W". I also had a less than stellar night coaching third. I got a runner thrown out at home, didn't send a runner from third on a fly ball, and then got a runner doubled off second by telling her to run on a ball that I thought was going to get down but didn't. In my defense, I didn't send the girl who was tagging up on the fly ball because she's one of my two slowest runner and the girl in center had a cannon for an arm. Anyway, we got the win so I'll learn from my mistakes and move on.

The Chase to Catch the John Wooden of NW Softball Update: 15 wins by the end of the 2009 season to pass him. From now on, the number of wins I need to surpass Mike will be known as the "John Wooden Magic Number".

Spider in the ear

I'm having trouble writing this post because of my Arachnophobia, but I'll manage. A doctor in Oregon made an unusual discovery in the ear of a 9-year old while examining him. I think it's weird of how proud the boy and his mother are of the fact that he had two spiders in his ear. Look how excited he is in the picture.

I will now be wearing ear plugs to bed for the rest of my life.

New job

My reign of terror at NWHS officially ends July 1st. I have been asked to fill the newly created position of "Systems Administrator", which gives me responsibilities corporation-wide instead of just at NW. I'm sad to leave NW, but excited for my new career opportunity. Plus I'll still be helping out the people at NW, I'll just have four other buildings to worry about too.