Cougars: 04/2016

With my cholesterol skyrocketing over the last couple years, my doctor gave me some suggestions. The first was that I change to a completely vegan diet. Also, he suggested I watch the documentary, Forks over Knives, which is a film that advocates a plant-based diet.

My suboptimal cholesterol surprised me because I was not overweight, already eating a (somewhat) balanced diet and exercised almost daily. It turns out that high cholesterol literally runs in my blood. (Thanks, McGuire family!)

After three months of veganism, my cholesterol plummeted. I was sold!

I started researching different types of plant-based nutrition to substitute my former fare. I also wondered if I could apply this wholesomeness to other parts of my life, particularly the Cougars.

With a few of our most cherished Cougar teammates unable to play some or all of this season, we needed to improve the health of our lineup.

So I searched Amazon for a self-help book and found the solution with Kale and Coffee: A Renegade’s Guide to Health, Happiness, and Longevity.

This was it! All the Cougars needed to remain vigorous were Kale and Coffee (or Coffey, in our case).

The addition of these two ingredients to the Cougar defense proved to be a recipe for success last night as we prevailed 7-2 over Templeton Rye (a less than healthy choice to be sure).

At 3B, Toby Coffey played strong and took a jolt that woke him up more than any caffeine ever could as a baserunner plowed into him.

Kale Schnettler thrived in the cool temperature and did not wilt when making a spinning catch at short center.

On a chilly opening night of our 9th season, the Cougars jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead in the first inning with hits by Boom, Fort, and Rads. We were scoreless in the second and third innings despite sweet hits by Philthy and Ski. In the top of the fourth inning, the Rye guys pushed a couple of runs across the plate to tie it up 2-2. In our half of that inning, hits by Fort, Rads, Martini, Joker, JD, and Li’l Rads gave us 4 more to make the score 6-2. We added another in the sixth with hits by Fort and Rads to make it 7-2. With Bobi’s excellent leadership and positioning, our defense was pretty flawless especially with a couple nice plays by Pastor Ted. Flandog and Diamond Dave were on the sidelines for this one but crucial to our bench success.

If we lose any other Cougars to the sidelines, I have Kenny Quinoa and Bobby Broccoli ready to go.

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We had most of the 2016 Cougars last night. Not pictured are Diddy, Hogs, Presch, JOx, Watrous, Stabber and Trouter.