It has come to the point where I feel that in order to keep the material on this website sharp, I need to do some in-depth investigative work. Not just crunching numbers on a spreadsheet, but getting out there and experiencing things first-hand. So for you, my phaithful readers, I am going to make a big sacrifice…In March, I will be making two trips southward. One will be to attend several spring training baseball games. The second will be to play six rounds of golf in North Carolina in four days.
Yes, I know it could be too much of a sacrifice for any one man to handle, but I feel up to the challenge. However before I can declare myself fit for duty, some training, preparation, and simulation are in order.
As for golf, my game has become rusty after months of inactivity. It’s difficult to practice in the winter months, but I have tried to be creative. For instance, for a couple of weeks, there has been a large pile of snow piled next to my driveway. If you are creative, it can become a practice sand trap [no need to rake it either, just come back the next day and it has melted smooth again].
In the laptop/messenger bag I carry to work everyday, I have stashed an aid to train my swing to stay on plane. The device is basically a grip with a laser on the end, so you can visualize the path your swing is taking while indoors. Have a couple of free minutes and out it comes. Watch your eyes, do not stare directly at it. Putting and chipping on carpet are other exercises [I wish I had some old shag carpet to simulate shots out of the rough].
On the last spring training trip we made, my friend Chip -- who is one quarter albino -- became a little ill on the first evening there. It seems as if a few hours in the sun eating hot dogs, bags of peanuts, and drinking beer before we were able to eat dinner did not sit well with him. That evening, before the entree could even be delivered to our table, he vomited in the door pocket of the Jeep Liberty we had rented. With my other friends keys in the pocket.
While it’s been a relatively mild winter here in the Delaware Valley, it has still been cold and gray more often than not, and so fearing that the same thing could happen to me that happened to my friend, I feel the need to prepare myself for watching baseball in the sun all day too. One idea I have is to sit in a chair with half a dozen lamps hovering overhead while popping the top on multiple Lagers, drinking them out of big cheap plastic cups. Maybe I'll even eat peanuts and throw the shells on the floor. Another idea is to wear flip-flops, just to get the hang of it again…You can’t just put those things on and start walking you know, you might end up looking as agile as Gold Glove winner Bobby Abreu going back for a long fly ball on the warning track.
I’m also need to work on my concentration skills for our games of “pass the hat”. For the uninitiated, during an at-bat, a participant holds a hat containing monetary donations from all of the participants and if the batter gets on base, the holder of the hat wins the pot…if on the other hand, the batter fails to reach base, the holder must make another donation and pass the hat along to the next participant. You see, if you concentrate real hard, the outcome usually goes your way, especially if you have had several beers, which ironically, makes it harder to concentrate.
I know what you are thinking, this sounds like a lot of work. But darn it, I have to stay sharp.
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Speaking of...
...My friend Chip...I emailed him the link to the movie trailer for Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky-Bobby [via The 700 Level], and his reply was, "To be honest, I may be looking forward to this more than anything else this year." This from a guy who is set to be a father for the first time in less than a few weeks.
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By the way...
I wanted to keep today's post on the light side, I've been throwing a lot of heavy numbers around here lately. But, I do want to touch on a couple of things from yesterday's post on the inefficiency/efficiency of the Phillies offense.
First off, thanks to all who had compliments and stimulating comments. Secondly, in no way, shape, or form did I mean to imply that the Phillies have a poor offense. Nothing could be further from the case. But the way I see it, if Tiger Woods feels the need to tinker with his swing after winning four majors in a row, then the Phillies could stand to tweak the offense a bit.
Finally, probably the best comment yesterday came from Chris, not in regards to the Phillies offense, but to the whole Harry Kalas brouhaha.
