Thursday, June 28, 2007

Here we go...

Basketball camp at Rose Hulman this weekend. We're taking two or three teams, which means I'm in charge of the JV team. By myself. My first official coaching on my own. That's intimidating... Fortunately, it doesn't really matter--this is just for development of the kids, and winning and losing isn't that important (in fact, you could say that about JV in general), but it's kind of weird to think this is my first time "on my own."

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Stadium Etiquette

What is the appropriate behavior in a baseball stadium when you'd like to talk to a professional player? Let me set up the scenario for you...

I was in Washington watching the Tigers play the Nationals. The Tigers #5 pitcher is Chad Durbin, who is the brother of my last small group co-leader my last year in Bloomington. She and I are really close. Of course, I've never met Chad, and as far as I know he has no idea who I am. But, I've kind of kept track of his time in the majors as kind of an adopted friend--plus, it's really cool to say you know a professional baseball player.

So, I'm at the stadium during batting practice, by the wall, and I'm close to where Chad is playing catch. So, is it appropriate to yell out his name? I don't want to yell out his sister's name and explain the connection because he may not want a bunch of random fan's his sister's name. Plus, I'm really shy. Well, as it turns out, he starts walking away from the wall while still playing catch, and then goes behind second to collect some batted balls. Thus, that opportunity was missed.

But there was another. He had pitched the night before (6 innings, 1 run) and so was interviewed by the Detroit TV people, right in front of their dugout. At this point, I had moved close to the dugout. So, I watched them do the interview, and when Chad finished, he turned and ran into the dugout while the TV guy was still talking. So again, so I yell at him, potentially messing up what goes on during the TV spot, or do I just let him go?

Ultimately, my shyness and not trying to mess things up won out, but I'm not sure I could have done much different. Thoughts?

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

I'll take scary for 40, Alex

I'm in charge of little kids camp today. Very intimidating. Coach is going to be gone for a day, so it's me and one varsity player in charge of a bunch of soon-to-be 6th-9th graders.

Now, one of the advantages of being JV coach is that you aren't in charge of your own practices. You practice with the varsity, so the head coach is in charge. For today, that no longer applies--it's all me. Maybe they'll find out I don't know what I'm talking about....

Sunday, June 10, 2007

Let's screw the Cubs!

Maybe I should blame this on the stupid billy-goat....

Let me set the stage. On Friday, Alfonso Soriano hit 3 HRs (actually, in his first three at-bats, after seeing a total of 5 pitches). On Saturday, in his first at bat, Tim Hudson throws high and inside, hitting him. That was clearly not intentional. Both teams got warned, which was annoying, but it was over and done with, more or less. Or so we thought. By the way, the Cubs starter only went 1 2/3 innings yesterday--this will be relevant here soon.

So, fast forward to tonight's game. With two outs in the first inning, the Cubs pitcher (Ted Lilly) hit Edgar Rentaria (not nearly their best hitter or two) high and tight. Lilly got ejected. Are you kidding me!?!? The ump is miked, so we get to hear his comments. First off, he threw out Lilly immediately. When Lou Piniella asked, the ump said he "knew" Lilly threw at him, and he "knew" this was going to happen before the game. So the umpire went into the game looking to throw out someone. So, once again, the Cubs bullpen has to throw a ton of innings. Even after being warned yesterday, the Braves hit another batter and the pitcher wasn't ejected, because it "wasn't intentional" (for the record, it wasn't). This, however, must have been clearly intentional.

Oh yeah, two pitches after being hit, Renteria stole second (btw: he was out, assuming Fontenot didn't drop the ball--they never showed on the replay), sliding in incredibly late with a pop-up slide, giving the Cubs second baseman a nice forearm on his way up. That, of course, was good clean baseball and not intentional at all and doesn't warrant an ejection.

Good thing this isn't basketball season--I'd have a technical by now.

Wednesday, June 06, 2007

Indiana Basketball

Apparently there's a new transfer from Florida in the (Sullivan) area. He came to basketball camp or open gym with Coach. One of his first comments: Man, basketball is a lot harder here.

That's right, baby--it doesn't get better than Indiana basketball!

Tuesday, June 05, 2007

Sectionals

Golf season is officially over. We had sectionals yesterday (in the rain and mugginess and occassional deluges), and as a surprise to no one, we did not advance. The main reason for this is putting. Now, the greens were very large and very rolly (is that a word?), making for some hard, long putts, but I want to give you an idea how bad our putting actually was.

When computing par, you are given two putts for hole, which means you "should" take 36 putts per round. In a normal 18-hole round, I try for 30 putts (6 2-putt pars, 6 2-putt bogeys, and 6 1-putt bogeys). Maybe a little ambitious, but I don't think that much.

How was my team's putting? Well, our #1 golfer had 41 putts. Yes, that's a 4 in front. Our #2 had 43 putts, including a 4-putt. Our #3 lost count, but he only had 2 1-putts and thought he had more 3-putts than 2-putts, so that's at least 43 putts. Our #4 didn't seem to be struggling as bad with his putting, but every time I watched him he 3-putt (so I stopped watching). So, my golf for 18 holes is 30 putts, and (possibly) no one on my team broke 40 putts. That's superior coaching right there...