-so softball begins!-

tonight was the softball season opener! and a heartfelt woo hoo to that. im so excited. good ole softball.

i had today off of work to once again take my dad to the U of M clinic. get this kids...there were snow flurries in the air up there. all i could think was "i have to play softball tonight. knock it off!" apparently god wasnt keen on the deal i tried to make with him...so i will not be keeping my end of said deal. i will continue to say and do nasty things to every neely i come in contact with. it may even be threefold now. that depends on how nice the neelys are to me. if they keep beating me in poker...it may be fourfold.

anyways...on to softball. we had a practice yesterday over in peter town. when i left kato it was mostly to partly sunny and almost 50. in the middle of the drive to peter land it started to rain...and hard. got to the fields...the rain let up a little so we started our practice, only to get hit hard in the face by raining ice pellets. it was very refreshing. i should add to that this was our first and only practice due to the wonderful weather this year. only 4 of us showed up...and it was cold and wet. good times? good times!...good times. (wheres all the global warming talk now al? im starting to think another ice age is coming. (how come they never scare us with the ozone hole anymore?..oh thats right, they were lying to us...remember in the 70's when they were saying we WERE on our way to another ice age? hmmm...maybe, just maybe weather patterns just vary?...just an idea.)

church league started tonight. we lost 17-9. i was 2 for 3 with a home run, a single and a fly out, 2 rbi's and 2 runs scored. (sadly yes, i am going to use my blog to track my stats for the year) it felt so good to be out playing ball. again...woo hoo for softball. next game? thursday night at 6:15 at caswell field number 2. commercial league starts than and there. im playing for the wine cafe again.

anyways. ive been playing softball since high school. so about 14 years now. argh, im old. in my first 13 seasons i probably hit a total of 50 home runs. total. ive always been more of a singles, doubles and triples hitter. id mix in the occasional inside the park home run and the occasional over the fence home run...but they were pretty rare. i always used a 20 or 30 dollar bat and never believed a bat made much of a difference. early last season i was asked to sub for a team in st peter (oops...peterville). a guy on the team had just bought a brand new 300 dollar bat. he talked me into trying it my first at bat. i did. i popped out to the 1st baseman. "nice bat". he demanded i try it again my 2nd at bat. i did. i hit the deepest home run ive ever hit in my life. it was a monster. high and deep. im guessing it cleared the fence by about 50 feet...which would put it roughly at 325. it went so far that people on the opposing team were staring at me in amazement..i was horribly embarrassed circling the bases. (i dont like attention). this may sound like im stroking my own ego. im not. im praising the bat. the bat is worthy. needless to say i bought one of my own the very next day. i used it for about 3/4 of the season. i played 3 nights a week...and 3 tourneys...so, for ABOUT 35 games or so. i hit about 40 home runs with it...i dont remember the exact number. (which is why i want to start tracking my stats here on my blog) kids...the bat DOES make a difference. a huge difference. i wish i would have realized that when i was 18. what fun i wouldve had.

heres the deal...(all this lead up to get to this) i named the bat. this bat has turned me, a guy who rarely hit home runs, into someone who averages over one per game. thats insane...and as i said...im not praising myself. im praising the bat. what did i name the bat?...i named it wonderboy. "why wonderboy?" you ask. well heres why. the classic baseball movie "the natural". robert redford made a bat from a tree that was struck by lightning. he carved the name "wonderboy" into it. god, what a great cheesy movie "the natural" was. havent seen it? shame on you...see it. also theres a tenacious d song called wonderboy. "wonderboy. what is the secret of your power?" goes the chorus. anyways...im realizing the name wonderboy may be fitting, but not all that original. so readers...what should i name my bat? im looking for suggestions as comments. i will than pick some of my own ideas and mix them with your ideas. i will take 5 or so of the ideas and create a poll...the winner will become wonderboys new official name. friends, this may be the most important decision we ever make together. please, think about it. be creative. be original. for gods sake, be passionate. lets come up with the best name we can...and lets name this thing. im waiting patiently for ideas.