Softball - Game 1

For the second time in my adult life, I have resurrected my baseball career cut short in 5th grade.  The first was in 2006, when I played center field for the Nottingham Thieves of the British University League.  I classified myself in more of the "moneyball" category of player - my value was not so much measured in batting average (.000), RBI total (0), or hits (0), but rather in walks and runs scored, as well as what Ron Gardenhire would classify as "battling my tail off."  I also ranked highly in what I'll refer to as "defensive perseverance," i.e., when the ball skips off my glove and hits me in the chest, leaving a black and blue welt, I quickly picked said ball up and relayed it to the infield.

The Notts team was fun to play with; a random assortment of international students from baseball playing countries studying abroad and British cricketeers turned ballplayers.  Although the post-practice pub stop was always a primary goal, everyone was excited about playing the game, and trying hard.  Although I was not very skilled, I went to every practice, and tried very hard.  My spur of the moment decision to join the far more competitive baseball team over the less competitive softball team was a great one, and it turned out to be one of the things I remember most about Notts.

Anyways, last night I played center field for the Christus Victor Lutheran Church "God Squad" in the Apple Valley rec softball league: bronze division.  It was an, ah, slightly different experience. 

Imagine, if you will, a group of approximately 18 people, of which I would estimate 2/3 are middle aged men and women, in various states of fitness, most of which probably haven't picked up a ball or swung a bat in 20 years.  There was a lot of light jogging to get fly balls skipping to the fence in the outfield, a lot of grounders through the legs, etc.  I probably shouldn't judge - I dropped a fly ball that popped in and out of my glove - I'm going to blame it on the fact that my glove isn't completely broken in yet. 

One woman literally didn't realize that you play softball while wearing a glove, and wasn't aware that as the catcher, she was supposed to cover home plate if a runner was coming in to score...

Now, I don't want to give the impression that this was not fun - it was.  But, I've historically been a pretty serious person - I get serious about the things I'm interested in and passionate about.  In high school, it was mock trial, in college, it was trombone.  In law school - geez, it was probably just surviving law school.  Moral of the story - when I heard there was a church softball team, I immediately signed up, and got serious.  Perhaps too serious than bronze division beer league softball calls for...

I may or may not have purchased new baseball clothes.  I might have also acquired a brand new 12 and 3/4 inch Rawlings "Gold Glove Gamer" outfielders glove, model GG601G with the "trap-eze" pocket.  And it's also possible I've forced my girlfriend to play catch with me and throw me fly balls in Minnehaha Park.  There is the potential for a future trip to a batting cage to work on hitting.

Point being, it's hard for me to do something I'm excited about "just for fun."  It's just in my nature - I always wanted to be the best trombone player, to get the best grades, or be the best beer-league softball player.  Of course, that's not realistic - I'm not a very good softball player, but I want to be.  So, we will see how this season goes.  Hopefully we will get better, and hopefully I will get to play more (due to the size of the roster, I only got to bat twice in the course of two games last night).

In any event, it will be a lively summer of Friday night softball...  When you start out the season with back to back mercy rule losses, there's nowhere to go but up.

NLT Project, Week 1

My hopes of blogging every day were dashed - some of the highlights of week one.

- John Williams, Soundtrack to Star Wars: A New Hope
- Duke Ellington, The Carnegie Hall Concerts: 1943
- John McAndrew, Like We Were Made of Gold
- Sufjan Stevens, The Avalanche
- Keane, Hopes and Fears
- Led Zeppelin, Mothership
- Luciano Pavarotti & Berlin Philharmonic, Berlioz: Requiem
- Frederick Fennel & Eastman Wind Ensemble, Grainger, Persichetti, and Others
- The Who, The Ultimate Collection

NLT Project - Day 2

Day 2 is getting real folks. Check it. - Tears for Fears, Greatest Hits (feel like I'm in a John Hughes movie - or at least heading to 80's prom) - The Allman Brothers Band, Live at Stony Brook - Herbie Hancock, Head Hunters (of course I've heard "Chameleon," but never got much farther...) - Keane, Hopes and Fears (man, can't get enough - where have I been since 2004!)

The Never Listened To Project - Day 1

Hello internet,

I am embarking on a bold quest - a journey into the unknown. And no, I am not going to the northern Twin Cities suburbs. I am aiming to listen to all of the heretofore unlistened to music in my iTunes library. I was astonished to discovery the other day that my iTunes contains nearly 10 days worth of unlistened to material!

I'm trying to listen to at least one or two albums from the "unlistened" list per day, and I thought it would be fun if I documented what I listen to. So, to kick things off, here are some of a few nuggets from the past few days.

- Aretha Franklin, Greatest Hits
- John Mellencamp, Greatest Hits ("Hurts So Good" - excellent song)
- Keane, Under the Iron Sea
- Daft Punk, Homework
- Luther College Jazz Orchestra, 2006 Spring Concert (I forgot I had a solo on "Wyrgly," it actually is pretty good)
- Robert Johnson, Genius of the Blues
- Tallis Scholars, Lamenta (lamentations composed by Thomas Tallis and other medieval composers)
- Don Ellis, Live in India
- John Mayer, Room for Squares

Stay tuned for more sonic adventures - it could get explicit. I know there are a few Disney soundtracks hiding in there somewhere...

Opening Day 2012

"Great is baseball, the national tonic, the revival of hope, the restorer of confidence."

- The Sporting News, c. 1930's


Well Timberwolves, it's been a fun winter. I'll catch you again in the fall, ACL's all healed, energy back up, the anticipation higher still, floppy haired Spaniards a'leaping and my BFF hitting the treys. Looking forward to my new perch in section 236, row K.

Wild - sorry, I just don't care, but do me a favor - try not to depress my girlfriend so much next year.

Vikings - yeah, I really don't care.

When you're a baseball fan, the seasons don't transition from summer to fall, winter to spring. They go from your team playing its last game, a period of anticipation, the first spring workout, and then tomorrow - opening day. It would be cliche to reference the old adage - this is our year, we're going to win the pennant for sure - but it's too accurate to pass up. Even for those teams with no hope of championship glory (quite realistically the 2012 Twins), opening day always references renewal.

No other sport, nay, no other social institution, embraces opening day with such conviction and meaning as baseball. Perhaps it is because, over the course of 162 games and over a century of tradition, baseball is woven into the fabric of our consciousness. For a baseball fan, opening day is more than a holiday, it's one of the best days of the year.

I find that the baseball fan, as pessimistic as one can be crunching sabermetrics or critiquing why the manager didn't put pull the starter in the 7th, the baseball fan is at heart an optimist. We always want to believe that the odds can be broken, that our team can put together a streak and do something special. And why not? There's no clock to inhibit the game, theoretically, if not for an arbitrarily fixed fence, the playing field goes on an infinite distance. Baseball lends itself to romanticism, to romantics.



Unquestionably, the best thing to do in Minneapolis in the summer is spend an afternoon or evening at Target Field, hotdog in one hand, beer in the other - even better now that the Twins have Surly and Fulton.... After all, as Humphrey Bogart wisely observed, a hot dog at the ballpark beats roast beef at the Ritz. I wholeheartedly agree. Sure, the modern ballpark has many wiles to distract you from the game (exhibit a - that acid trippy monstrosity in Miami and the electric green outfield walls), but the game never loses its fascination.

It may very well be a rough year - our pitching is terrifying, one of our two best players has been concussed for a year and a half - but that doesn't matter now. Right now, we're winning the World Series.