Coming Up Roses

At an early age, Julie and I started teaching sportsmanship to Miranda and Charley.  We taught them that it was good to be a spirited competitor as well as a gracious loser.  

It’s hard to be satisfied with losing because everyone naturally wants to be the best. 

Even when our best efforts garner incremental growth or a personal record, we tend to be unhappy if our performance doesn’t get us to the top of the podium. 

However, when it comes to sports, we did our best to teach our offspring that there is more to the game than winning.  

Teamwork, leadership, determination, resiliency, grit, etc… 

The family knows my love for Pete Rose.  He had all those qualities.  

I loved watching him play.  My all-time favorite baseball player.  Aggressive baserunner.  Unrelenting defender.  Tenacious hitter.  Switch hitter and played five positions.  The ultimate utility player.  The ultimate talent stack. 

Charlie Hustle.

When we took a trip to Las Vegas in 2014, I made it a priority to go see the ultimate ballplayer. Pete had a gig in a sports shop where, after the purchase of memorabilia, fans could experience a meet and greet. 

We gladly and excitedly plunked down our dough and sat with the Hit King to talk some baseball. 

After a few minutes of discussion, Pete looked directly at Charley and asked what he loved most about baseball. 

Charley shrugged and said, “I’m not sure; I love all of it.” 

Pete persisted, “C’mon, what is the best thing about the baseball?  There is one thing that’s better than any other part of the game!”  

Perplexed, our parental minds were sure Pete was just about to proclaim that what was best about baseball was the sheer joy of being on the field or some such heartwarming platitude.

Charley again said he loved all of it, “the hitting, the catching, the running…” 

Pete, not satisfied and refusing to take those answers, declared, “Winning!  Winning is the best thing about baseball!  Is it fun when you lose??” 

“No,” said Charley. 

“No, it’s not fun when you lose! That’s why winning is everything!” 

I had forgotten that while Pete has so many qualities to emulate, he is the most competitive person on Earth and losing is not an option. 

We walked away a bit stunned.  In one fell swoop, Pete managed to trash years of carefully crafted parenting, in which we insisted that winning, in fact, wasn’t everything.  The effort-above-results mentality was not part of the Pete Rose playbook.

Putting aside our parenting differences with this legend, the next year when we traveled to Cooperstown, we did our best to celebrate and honor Pete at the shrine he will never enter.

Certainly, we can understand that winning was important to Pete Rose.  After all, when you are being paid to play, then your livelihood depends on your ability to win. 

Of course, the payment structure for softball is reversed.  The Cougars pay for the privilege to grace the Howard Park fields on Tuesdays. 

This begs the question: shouldn’t the goals be reversed, too?  Well, maybe not totally reversed.  We’re not actually trying to lose, of course; and Pete is definitely right that winning is a lot more fun than losing. 

But at this age, it’s a losing strategy if you focus solely on winning. 

Better than our win-loss record, here are some of our highlights of our 3-6 virus season: 

We made the playoffs for the 13^th straight year.  The three games we did win this year were incredibly exciting.  We hit three home runs.  We scored nine runs after two outs in one inning.   We scored 14 runs in a game with over 20 hits.   Pregames became a new tradition.  Postgames remained a crucial component of Cougar Tuesdays. 

We infected the summer with fun. 

What game are you trying to win? 

Lasting friendships and memories have deeper impact than recreational victories.

Pete would bet on the Cougars.  I always bet on the Cougars.  

Even if it gets me banned from the 16-Inch Hall of Fame.

Go Cougars!  See you next season!

Game Recap 

We took the lead and kept it close but the Tappers prevailed.  The last time we faced the Tappers in the playoffs was 2011.  We beat them and went on to win the championship.  Maybe Pete was right about winning...hmmm...

Postscript

Every week during the season I enjoy recapping the thrill of victory or the agony of defeat.  If not for Julie, reading the blog would be a slog.  Shout out to JRads.  She is an editor extraordinaire.

Story Time

It’s been three weeks since the last blog.  Since then, we played the Tappers, we were rained out, and we played Miller Time.

 

So it’s story time.

 

Speaking of time, before we get to the games, let’s have some fun with time courtesy of Miranda.

 

When Miranda was in second grade, her teacher, Mrs. Bourisaw, allowed the kids to go to the bathroom without asking permission.  The only requirement was that the students had to sign out with their name and the time when they left and returned.  One day Miranda found herself in a dilemma.  She really had to go potty, but all the clocks in the room were analog.   She didn’t fully understand the numbers on the clock because the 1 through 12 didn’t correspond to the actual 5-10-15-20, etc. that she was supposed to record.  Miranda’s solution was to hold her full bladder until the top of the hour when she was sure to get the time correct.  Luckily, she made it!  When she returned, she added a couple minutes to the sign out time, and all was well. 

 

Miranda also had a run-in with time years later in college.   On the morning of her very first freshman final, Miranda stirred at 10:30am as the light spilled through a space in the dorm room curtains.  Unfortunately, her Spanish final had started at 10:15am.  She had stayed up most of the night studying and slept right through her alarm.  As she says, she remembered waking up feeling like “something is going on today.”  In her morning haze, she looked at her phone, which showed her the late hour, as well as an email notification from her caring professor. 

 

Heart racing, she flung herself out of the top bunk.  She threw on deodorant because she knew she was going to have to run across campus, and she didn’t want to smell.  With no time to brush her teeth, she took a swig of mouthwash and swished, swirled, and spit it out in the hallway bathroom as she sprinted to class.  Out of breath and embarrassed, she made it to class a half hour late and somehow aced the test and the class. 

 

As Miranda shows us, sometimes you gotta laugh at yourself and have fun when life goes sideways.

 

Nice segue, right?

 

Let’s take time to recap the games.

 

Cougars vs Tappers

Three weeks ago on a rainy Tuesday the Tappers got us 15-2.  We started out the top of the first with a Boom as he beat out an infield single.  Charley hit a sacrifice to the right side moving Boom to third.  Rads beat out an infield single to score Boom.  Martin then crushed the Clincher to right center scoring Rads from first.  Cougars were up 2-0 after the top of the inning.  Then the Tappers scored 15 over the next few innings and we didn’t get another hit.  JD hosted a terrific postgame at the field where we all eased our pain.

 

Cougars vs Miller Time

Last week Miller Time beat us 14-2.  In the first inning, Charley Rads singled between short and third and Scotty Rads hit a single to center moving CRads to third.  Fort had a perfectly placed single to right scoring Chuck and moving SRads to third.  JD laced a liner single to center scoring Rads.  That was the end of our scoring.  We did have some other hit highlights.  In the second inning, Crawdaddy punched a line shot single to left center and Pastor Ted also flattened the ball to left field for a hit.  In the third, Charley Rads walked and Scotty Rads hit a line shot single to center.  In the fourth, JD had a left center liner and Bobi pummeled a hit to center.  In the fifth inning, Boom had a walk and Pastor Ted did it again and hit a rocket to left center. (Teddy was 2-2 and his helping hands and fancy footwork in the field with a couple perfect plays.)  Kate and Tim hosted a fantastic postgame that softened the blow.

 

Each game was only five innings, but the Cougars were together each night for five hours.  Two-hour pregames, one-hour games, and two-hour postgames. 

 

Some teams measure success in wins and losses.  We measure wins by tallying our time together.  

 

 

Smothered, Covered, and Chunked

A Game Summary Served 3 Ways

When we lived in Georgia, I loved going to the local Waffle House where you could order your hashbrowns in a variety of ways:

  Scattered - plain

  Smothered - with sautéed onions

  Covered – with melted cheese

  Chunked – with ham

  Diced – with grilled tomatoes

  Peppered – with jalapeno peppers

  Capped – with grilled mushrooms

  Topped – with chili

  Country – with sausage gravy

There are many ways to tell the story of our game last Tuesday, let’s start with plain and simple.

Scattered:  Cougars lose 12-3 to Braeside Boys.

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Not enough flavor for you?  Try this.

We’ll call it smothered, covered, and chunked:

Martini led the night off with an excellent and diverse beverage and food selection.  The pregame was a victory.

In the top of the first,  Charley Rads walked and then was forced out at second on a ground ball by Scotty Rads.  Fort came up next and sliced a beauty of a ball to right.  Rads was running on the pitch and raced to third while Fort took a huge turn at first, which provoked a throw to the base and enabled Rads to run home for our first tally.

JD led off the top of the second and had a 1-2 count.  The pitcher, ahead in the count, lofted the next pitch to the blue sky.  JD smacked it with all his might to left center and sprinted around the diamond for a leadoff home run!  Li’l with a crushed the Clincher to the left side and Flandog laced a liner to right, but we left them stranded.

JD's Homer! 

In the third, Fort flattened a hard grounder and beat out the throw.  Martini hit a perfectly placed hit into right center putting men on one and two. JD hit another rocket single to load them up.  Joker then pulled a high fly ball to left field and knocked Fort in with a sacrifice fly.

In the fifth Charley walked and in the seventh Martini walked.

Game over.  We scored three and our opponent scored more.

You still can’t get enough Cougars?  Then you want your hashbrowns “all the way,” as they say at Waffle House, which means everything on it.  For that, you can watch the full video below.

After we win our next game, Waffle House should add "Drizzled - syrup" to the hash brown lineup because it will be a sweet victory.

Another postscript this week:

Did you know that FEMA uses a Waffle House Index to determine the severity of a natural disaster?    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waffle_House_Index

Our man Crawdaddy, who used to work for FEMA and now runs the Disaster Services unit for Feeding America, could not make our last game because he has been busy with the derecho recovery in Iowa, wildfires in California, and the storms in Texas and Louisiana.  Let’s be sure to root for him too!

Ok, one more PS - thanks to JRads for helping me finish the blog this week!

Pregame Pre-Suasion

A few years ago I read a book called Pre-Suasion by Robert Cialdini. 

A book reviewer said that it: “Examines the art of effective persuasion to argue that its secret lies in a key moment before messages are delivered, sharing strategies for how to psychologically prepare one's listeners to render them most receptive.”

This book is really about “priming,” which is the idea that decisions are substantially influenced by seemingly trivial items.  Here is an example:

“For instance, the Disabled American Veterans organization reports that its simple mail appeal for donations produces a response rate of about 18 percent. But when the mailing also includes an unsolicited gift (gummed, individualized address labels), the success rate nearly doubles to 35 percent.”

Heading into last Tuesday, the Cougars had a 100% success rate and a 2-0 record for games for which we had a pregame celebration. 

The Cougars recognized this pattern and arrived early to Tuesday’s pregame to properly prime ourselves before the contest.

So how’d we do…did it work?  Read on…

1^st Inning

Titos scored one in the top of the first to take an early lead.

In the bottom of the frame, Boom led us off with a crushed liner right up the middle for a single.  Kev had an infield bouncer and Boom moved swiftly moving to third.  Charley Rads laced a single up the middle scoring Boom to tie it all up.

Cougars 1   Tito’s 1

2^nd Inning

Stellar defense held our opponent to one hit and three outs.

Stellar defense by our opponent held us to a rocket single by Bobi and three outs.

Cougars 1   Tito’s 1

3^rd Inning

The Cougars came out strong and got two quick outs on Tito’s.  Then Tito’s got stronger and scored three runs.

We started the inning down three with some work to do.  Boom led off with a walk and then Kev beat out an infield single.  With two men on and down by three, Charley Rads arrived at the dish.  He took a strike and then took a ball.  Then he took a deep breath and hit the next pitch right on the nose.  All three quick Cougars sped home as we all celebrated Chuck’s second homer of the year, which tied it up.  Tiny Rads was carrying the Cougars on his big back with all four of the Cougar ribbies.

Cougars 4   Tito’s 4

4^th Inning

The first batter for Tito’s pounded a hard-to-handle ball to Charley Rads at third.  Chuck grabbed the ball and threw a blazing hard to handle ball to Li’l Rads at first base.  Charley hit it on the nose again as the ball bounced off Li’l Rads face.  Our first base superstar saw stars but quickly recovered for the next play.  With the runner on first, the next batter hit a grounder to Charley who flipped it to JD at second.  JD clasped the ball tightly, tagged the base, turned swiftly, and cannoned it to Li’l Rads to finish off the double play.  The last batter of the inning hit another grounder to Charley Rads who easily threw it to his uncle at first base for the final out of the inning.   No harm done in the inning.  Well, except to Marc’s nose.

Three more for the Cougars in the bottom of the fourth inning.  Martini pummeled the first pitch to right center for a double.  Bobi mirrored his last at bat and lined a single to left scoring Martini.  Then Li’l mirrored Bobi for another hit to put runners at first and second.  Pastor Ted hit a beauty of a single to center and a great throw got Li’l at second while Bobi went to third.  Boom with another hit, flattened the ball again to score Bobi.  Pastor Ted took third and Boom took second on the play.  Kev finished it off with an infield single scoring Pastor Ted.

Cougars 7   Tito’s 4

5^th Inning

Tito’s fought back and claimed a run.

After two quick outs, Fort got an infield single.  Martini followed with the same but the infielder could not handle the ball or the throw.  Fort’s fancy footwork got him all the way around the bases to score while Martini made it to second.  JD was next and took a walk.  Bobi came up and punched it through third and short for his third hit of the game and his second RBI. 

Cougars 9  Tito’s 4

6^th Inning

Titos had one hit and no runs.

Cougars had hits by Pastor Ted, and Boom but we could not plate them.

Cougars 9  Tito’s 4

7^th Inning

One hit and no runs for our foe in the top of seven.

No need for the Cougars to bat in the bottom of the inning because we had enough runs to win. 

Cougars 9  Tito’s 4

The Cougars have hit upon what seems to be a winning formula as we improved our record to 3-0 for games preceded by a pregame party.

Postscript – we did still have a winning postgame because you could never persuade the Cougars out of that!

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Game Video

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Barrage Montage

On Tuesday night our overwhelmed opponent Old School lost 14-2 to the green camouflaged entourage.  

Let’s pay homage.

The Cougars started the night with a wonderful winning pregame at the Crawdaddy castle.  Before we said bon voyage, Martini laid out his pitching intelligence strategy for the game.  Take a look – for our opponent, it was pure sabotage.

Our scorebook?  Well, let’s just say our opponent did not have the same counterespionage.

Diamond Dave, who kept the scorebook, wasn’t sure if this was a mirage. 

Charley Rads crushes it with this barrage montage!

For on Tuesday night, the Cougars were the best team in the village!

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Full Game Video

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A Homer Homers

Homer.  Simple word.  Lots of meanings.

Homer is a loveable beer-bellied yellow fellow.  Homer’s is a North Shore ice cream shop.  A homer can be a person who is extremely devoted to a favorite team.   

You could call the Cougars homers.  We love donuts and beer, and ice cream, as well as love our 16-inch softball team.   

Of course, homer is also a home run.  A four bagger.  A goner.  A moon shot.  A bomb.  A round tripper.  A long ball.  It’s a time to sing Na Na Hey Hey Goodbye.

The foreshadowing isn’t subtle, so now that you might have an inkling of what happened on Tuesday, let’s get to the highlights.

1^st Inning

Pitches scored one quickly in the first inning and then we shut them down.

We tripled them up in the bottom of the inning.  Boom led off with a walk and Kev doubled down the left field line.  Tiny Rads and Rads had back-to-back sacrifice flies to plate two runs. Martini, doing Martini things, hit a single to shallow left field and never stopped running to second base for a surprise double.  Joker also doubled, this time down the left field line, to score another run.

Cougars 3   Pitches 1

2^nd Inning

Our adversary registered another run.

Cougars matched the pot and raised one.  Bobi poked one between SS and LF to lead off the inning.  Li’l Rads had an infield hit.  Crawdaddy ripped a liner down the left field line.  Boom had a beauty of a hit with a line drive just to the right of second base to right center field to score two.

Cougars 5   Pitches 2

3^rd Inning

We all know that pitchers need to warm up for optimal performance.  What we learned in the third inning is that Pitches also needs to warm up for their optimal performance.  They tallied three in the third by with long bombs landing deep into our territory.  Kev, Boom, Jimmy, and Crawdaddy all achieved their daily steps goal in the outfield.  Boom was an all-pro wide receiver out there in centerfield tracking down balls. One standout play was when Boom turned around and ran at full speed, catching the 16-inch sphere over his shoulder.  Kev had a diving and sliding catch for another important out.  They tallied three, and it would have been more without the great D.

A brown-eyed handsome man led off the bottom of the third.  The team came up with the name Tiny Rads, which reflects that he is the youngest of the three Cougar Rads.  This name belies that he is actually the strongest and fastest Rads on the team.  His baseball teammates have lovingly called him Chuck, which is best appreciated when shouted à la Michael Buffer, “Let’s go Chuuuuuuuuuuuck!”  Well, Chuck jacked the first pitch to left centerfield where it rolled towards the fence.  By the time he was rounding second base, the outfielders were gasping for air and grasping for the ball.  As the ball made its way back to the infield, Rads III had already rounded third and was steps from home.  Oh, wow!  It was celebration time!  No matter what name you call him, Tiny / Chuck / Charley / Charles was now a homerun slugger.  Sing it with me, “Just hit the ball, and touch 'em all, a moment in the sun.  It's-a gone and you can tell that one good-bye.”

Cougars 6    Pitches 5

Relive the excitement of the homer here.  

4^th – 7^th Innings

Pitches was throwing high heat off their bats and scored seven.

Cougars score zero.  We were drained, and the last few innings were tough for us.  As soon as Charley slammed the ball, we jumped for joy and wore ourselves out.  We aren’t used to celebrating many homers in Cougarland.  In Major League Baseball when a player hits his first home run, the entire team gives him the silent treatment- no words, no reaction.  We reacted to Charley but then our bats went silent.

Cougars 6 Pitches 12

If you know anything about the Cougars, you know that when we lose the game, we always win the postgame.

During the game, Charley smashed one and made it home. Similarly, our own award-winning architect, Boom, makes homes a smash, so it was only fitting that we headed to Boom’s house for our postgame.  In the same way we were awed by Charley’s speed around the bags, we were floored by Chad’s knotty pine garage haven complete with TV, couch, bags, ping pong, and a hospitable host.  

In a night highlighted by a homer, we realized that while we are living in this strange odyssey known as the year 2020, the journey is worth the trials and tribulations as long as you have the bonds of family and friends. 

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Game Video

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Thanks to JRads with the huge help on the blog today! 

Blitzed

Teams come and go.  We have certainly learned that in our league.

There have been 24 teams in the Wilmette Park District league since 2008.

Cougars, Chicken Shack (originally The Hitmen), Gullivers, Miller Time, Tito’s, Tappers, Brown Stars, Slaughter House 9, Brew Ha's, SLAM, Keefe, Grandpa's, Chieftains, Old School, Valley Lodge, Misfit Beavers, D-38 Bombers, Maple Avenue Marauders, Geriatric Springers, Timeless, Team He Gone, Old Neighborhood Grill, Ready By Tuesday, Pitches.

Only eight of those teams are currently active.

Longevity is hard. 

In fact, sometimes entire leagues disappear.

Back in 1983, I attended the inaugural Chicago Blitz game at Soldier Field.  

It was certainly exciting to have a new team in town even if Walter Payton was not playing.

Sadly, the Blitz lost that game against the Denver Gold and a couple years later the USFL was gone as well.

This year the Winnetka Park District shut down their 16-inch softball season.  A couple of teams from that league, Braeside Boys and Storm, have joined our Wilbilly league.

We played our inaugural game against the Storm on Tuesday night and got blitzed.

 

The Cougars were shut down for the first three innings while the Storm plated three.  Cougars down 3-0.

In the 4^th inning, we scored two with five straight infield singles by Boom, Tiny Rads, Rads, Martini and JD.  In the bottom of the inning, the Storm tallied two.  Cougars losing 6-2.

In the bottom of the 6^th our opponent scored an extra point to make it seven.  A defensive highlight for the Cougars was a ricocheted laser off Tiny Rads, grabbed by Rads and thrown to Li’l Rads.  Family fielding fun.

As the clock expired, the score looked like a football result- the Storm with a touchdown and the Cougars with a safety.  Cougars lose 7-2.

The Cougars were not down and out.   It was overtime and we ran a go route to the Fort and got blitzed again. 

Losses are unbearable, but whenever the Cougars are together, the night is pure Sweetness.

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GAME VIDEO

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