Congrats to Mo! How sweep it is!

Huge congrats to Mo on his 500th save. Getting it against the Mets, after getting his first career RBI was especially fun.

It was Rivera's first career RBI Sunday night that really captured his imagination, coming on the same evening that the 39-year-old closer became the second member of baseball's most prestigious club for closers by recording the final four outs of a 4-2 Yankees victory over the Mets at Citi Field.

"The RBI is the best," Rivera said. "It was my first RBI. It was my 500th save."

Of course, this 500th save came to close out the 3 game sweep against the team that we used to know as the Mets. Now, they look like a minor league affiliate wearing big league laundry.

I almost feel bad for my Mets fans friends, who have to slog thru a terribly injury-riddled stretch. This team is just no good. Errors, mistakes, mediocre pitching, little offense. More errors. The best part of it for me was watching it with my older son, who even said at one point: "We make errors like that in my league". He's nine. Yep, your New York Mets.

As for the sweep, it was certainly nice and fun, but I won't get overly giddy about it. Clearly, this team, as currently constituted, is a mess fundamentally. They have trouble catching and throwing, knowing situations, etc. In other words, a team the Yanks SHOULD sweep. Just as they should have swept the Nationals (but lost 2 of 3). The Mets are, to me, like a kid brother, six years younger than you. Annoying, not a serious threat, wanting to be all tough and cool like you (think you) are, something you can brush aside, yet someone you root for when they face a team you really dislike. I don't hate the Mets. I want them to do well, only if the Yanks aren't, if only to keep the morale around the metro area higher. But, when we sweep them, I delight in the suffering of my Mets fans friends. They take it so personally, so emotionally.

It's wholly different than the RedSox. With the Sox, a sweep is golden. Euphoric. And getting swept is reason to not watch/listen to sports talk radio for a few days. The Sox are the team I take seriously, not the Mets. Losing to the Mets is aggrivating, but losing to the Sox hurts.

Good to get the sweep. Makes Monday a bit more palatable.

Sunset over CitiField

Friday video fun: Foul ball catch

...with a mini-pizza box. Pure luck. And a preview of the next horrible fan-noise-making creation (check out whatever the girl is holding; fans should be eternally prohibited from ever seeing a game live if they use these things).

Now batting...Mo!?!

Don't get hurt. Whew!

Yanks fan relations gets one right

Sure was nice to see this sort of thing done yesterday at Yankee Stadium, following a 5+ hour rain delay:

The New York Yankees announced that they are rewarding all fans with tickets for today's game vs. the Washington Nationals for their patience and support with a free ticket offer. Please note that the Yankees will only accept tickets with valid barcodes for the June 18, 2009, game.

Fans may redeem their valid June 18, 2009, ticket -- regardless of whether it was used to attend the game or not -- for a free Bleachers, Grandstand or Terrace ticket at Yankee Stadium to a non-Premium game this season or a non-Premium game in the 2010 season.

I also heard that they invited all fans in the upper levels to come and sit in the lower level --nooo, not in the moat-- but lower level, since there were only about 10,000 fans at gametime.

That's getting it right.

I'd like to see the team randomly pulling families from the upper to the lower when there are seats available during every game. Might be tough logistically (to say the least), but it'd be a huge PR win, something the Yanks haven't had a lot of this season so far.

In unrelated news, the fine USGA folks at Bethpage State Park gave the middle finger to fans yesterday.

The rain that washed out play at Bethpage Black on Thursday left more than a few people scrambling for Plan B, including the 42,500 fans who had tickets for the day’s action.

Late Thursday, United States Golf Association officials decided to stick with their policy of not refunding or exchanging tickets that were designated for days when rain washed out play. On the event’s Web site, a small notice was posted saying, “Thursday tickets will not be refunded or exchanged.”

Because rain halted the event so early Thursday, and because more rain is expected, association officials met to consider whether to allow people with Thursday tickets to attend another day of the tournament, not unlike what baseball teams do when some games are rained out.

And because there is more rain scheduled, it seems that plus the stupid no-refund policy is having a negative impact on ticket resales for Sunday:

According to FanSnap.com, a Web site that monitors nearly five dozen ticket resellers, the average price of a ticket being offered for sale to Sunday’s play, which for now is the final round, had fallen by 40 percent.

Of the roughly 400 Sunday tickets for sale online Thursday, the average price had fallen to $128.15. Prices have fallen steadily since early April, when the average price hit a high of $220.

Click here to see the NY Times slideshow from the Open. Picture #7 is pretty telling how bad the conditions were for all. Screw the fans, though.

UPDATE: Thanks to Jay at FackYouk for forwarding this update:

The U.S. Golf Association was obviously concerned that ticket-holders Thursday believed they had been left high and dry, and announced this morning that anyone with a Thursday ticket will be allowed to watch whatever golf will be played on Monday.

There is a strong possibility that regulation play will not be finished as scheduled on Sunday because of the delays caused by Thursday's suspension and the likelihood of rain again on Saturday. So the Thursday ticket holders could get to see the finish of the Open. If there is a playoff Monday, they also would be allowed to use Thursday tickets to attend that.

Lunchtime video fun: Things you can't do

Please, I beg you: Try this at home. But do it near a big glass window and have the video running.

Bloggers becoming MSM

Not exactly a "blogger gets a major MSM gig, quits his job" story, but I thought this was at least worth a mention. Wrong sport and not quite a "blogger", but huge congrats to Mike Florio of profootballtalk.com:

I think the next interesting football-related journalistic battle line might be how many clicks NBCSports.com can take away from the field by acquiring profootballtalk.com. Today, NBC will announce it has reached a deal with PFT that will allow the site to exclusively license its content to NBCSports.com. Mike Florio, the dogged founder and writer for the site, is giving up his day job (lawyering) to devote more time to PFT, so NBC could be getting even more valuable content than PFT has been publishing. The move is effective July 1. PFT's best month had 1.7 million unique visitors to the site; that's going to skyrocket now.

1.7 million visitors in a month? Wow. I've heard/read that it takes roughly 1M hits/month to generate enough ad revenue to quit your day job.

Guessing I will be here for some time.

IIATMS Interview: "The 100 Sporting Events You Must See Live"

Over the last nearly 18 months, I've been lucky enough to conduct interviews with some insiders within the game. From an agent (Matt Sosnick), players (Darryl Rasner, Eric Hacker), a former manager/player (Mike Hargrove), a professional writer (Jeff Pearlman), to a current assistant GM (Paul DePodesta). My goal is to bring you interesting perspectives from those in and around the game, people who you might not hear from every day. As always, I hope to continue to be so lucky to do more of these types of interviews.

My latest interview is with Robert Tuchman, founder and president of New York-based TSE Sports & Entertainment, a global leader in sports and entertainment promotion. He's also the Executive VP of the corporate division. In addition to being the leader of an organization responsible for corporate sponsorships and outings, Robert somehow found the time to write the book "The 100 Sporting Events You Must See Live". Click here for the website.

I choose Robert not merely because he wrote a book about the best sporting events to see live, but also because of his story about making it in the sports and entertainment industry.

About Robert Tuchman:

When Robert Tuchman graduated from college, Tuchman was quickly forced to abandon his dream of becoming a sports reporter. Applications to sports programs across the country were ignored and eventually he accepted a position as an investment advisor at Lehman Brothers in New York, followed by a stint Paine Webber.

Still wanting to break into the sports industry, he joined Sports Profiles after reading about them in Entrepreneur, working out of his apartment selling sports magazine advertisements. Quickly realizing that everyone to whom he sold ads wanted the perks (tickets to games or luxury trips to events) more then the ads, he decided to start a business that catered to this niche called Tuchman Sports Enterprises (TSE).

Within two years of working out of that tiny one-bedroom Upper East Side apartment, with one phone and a fax machine, his company was named to the annual Inc. 500 list of America's fastest growing privately held companies and as one of the top 100 promotion agencies by Promo Magazine.

He started TSE with no money and no investors and ended up selling it for millions of dollars to Premiere Global Sports. Last year PGS earned over $70 million dollars in sales. Robert Tuchman now serves as President of that division, still guiding his company in its new form.

So if you are curious about getting started in the sports & entertainment industry, which baseball game is the best event to see live, whether Wrigley is a better experience than Fenway, and dog owners who buy books, please read on and enjoy:

Background questions

• It's About The Money, Stupid: Tell us how you got started in the corporate events business?
  
  Robert Tuchman: I always wanted to work in sports. I left Lehman Brothers after six months on the job after graduating school to follow my passion. Funny enough at the time this move was considered renegade and Lehman was the safe route. Well we all know what happened there!
  


• IIATMS: How did you handle the fears and risks of starting your own business?
  
  RT: I tried to use the energy from those emotions to feed my desire to continue going even when things got very tough. I also realized that I had to get over those fears if I wanted to go after my dreams.
  


• IIATMS: What’s the best lesson you can share?
  
  RT: Persistence is extremely important when starting a business. It’s a marathon so try and take a step forward each day. When you get knocked down, pick yourself off the mat and start again.
  


• IIATMS: What advice could you offer for anyone interested in getting into your line of work?
  
  RT: Try and get in the door anywhere you can in the industry. Even if that means starting as an intern. We have hired many interns over the years. You will also get to see what is going on from the inside and determine where you want to be.
  


• IIATMS: What sort of background would someone ideally like/need to have in order to be successful at your company?
  
  RT: Anyone who brings good energy and a can-do attitude is 95% there.
  


• IIATMS: What’s the greatest misconception about your job?
  
  RT: That I get to hang out at the Super Bowl and the Final Four and have a blast. It's more work then fun, but I do get to have at least a little fun, so I can't really complain.
  


• IIATMS: How many days a year are you on the road? More or less than prior years?
  
  RT: About the same. I would say a week out of the month is on the road.
  


• IIATMS: Has the economy had a major impact on companies’ desires to use frontline sporting events as major schmoozing/relationship-building opportunities?
  
  RT: Certainly. We were hit pretty hard for a few months, but the business is starting to come back, which is nice to see.

Book-related questions

• IIATMS: Have you personally attended every one of the events listed in “The 100 Sporting Events You Must See Live”? How long did it take for you to see them all?
  
  RT: I wish. I am only at about 38. The most I have heard was Lesley Visser and her husband Dick Stockton with around 50. Also Harvey Schiller had close to 50.
  


• IIATMS: If you haven't been to them all, how did you get to your final ranking?
  
  RT: A lot of research and speaking with people who have been to the events. Really just talking with those who have been or worked the events.
  


• IIATMS: It’s difficult not to be a spoiler, but the Masters are your #1 event to see live in our lifetime. What if I am not into golf, watching golf, being around golfing fans wearing visors, etc.?
  
  RT: Funny thing is I am not a big golfer myself. This one is strictly about the venue and its beauty. Its really a magical place.
  
  [IIATMS edit: If anyone from Augusta National happens to wander on by, I'd love to come to the Masters. I just need tickets and access and I'll write up the whole thing. I'm serious. Hootie, email me!]
  


• IIATMS: Number 9 on your list is Redsox/Yanks, at Yankee Stadium. As a Yankee fan, I understand this, but why “at Yankee Stadium”? Why not “at Fenway”? Would this change now given there’s a new Yankee Stadium? [As a parallel, the same goes for #30 Canadiens vs. Maple Leafs at Toronto , but not “at Montreal"]
  
  RT: Yankee fans [IIATMS edit: Don't blame me, Sox fans.]
  


• IIATMS: Number 14 is any Cubs game at Wrigley. Is that really better than the Final Four or The Daytona 500? I haven’t been to all three of these, but it seems the drama of the other two would outweigh “any game” at Wrigley.
  
  RT: Without a doubt there is more energy and excitement at those events but a game at Wrigley sends you back in time. It's an incredible experience.
  


• IIATMS: Speaking of both Fenway and Wrigley, is seeing a game at Wrigley (#14 overall) that much better than seeing a game at Fenway (#55)? Even as a Yankee fan, I love the Fenway experience. And if you have seats on the Monster (which I have had before), that’s about as good an experience as you can get.
  
  RT: Fenway is special. I actually worked there as a security guard one summer so I have been around the park many times. I have not had a chance to sit on the Monster, that seems like an awesome experience.
  
  The Wrigley experience though is more of a time machine event. You really feel like your back at the turn of the century watching baseball. It's as pure to the roots of the sport that I have gotten at the major league level.
  


• IIATMS: Getting back to golf, the US Open sits at #64 on your list. I would have expected it to be higher, given that there tends to be a rowdiness factor that you don’t get at the British Open.
  
  RT: That is true but the British Open, especially when it is played on some of the older European courses is pretty cool. Plus, I had the Masters as number one so I had to give the Europeans something.
  


• IIATMS: Could #1 overall be “Any golf event with Tiger in the Top 5 on Sunday”?
  
  RT: Funny enough, with out a doubt. Tiger has elevated golf and interest in the sport, especially at the Masters, more then anyone. In fact, without Tiger, I don’t think I would have selected the Masters number one.
  


• IIATMS: Westminster Dog Show? At #93? Ahead of Men’s Lacrosse Championship (#95), the College Baseball World Series (#96)? Really?
  
  RT: It's amazing how many people love dogs, and they like to buy books.

About attending any of these events

• IIATMS: What are the best tricks to landing tickets to any of these events if you a) aren’t flush with money, b) not getting tickets from your employer, c) not well connected?
  
  RT: Box office day of is always a possibility. Tickets get held back sometimes or released late so you never know. Companies like gotickets.com are good to buy market value tickets.
  


• IIATMS: What’s the best event to attend if you are: a) looking for rowdiness, b) not looking for rowdiness, c) looking for a unique experience, d) looking to impress a client/partner?
  
  RT:
  a) Hong Kong Sevens
  b) Little League World Series
  c) Nathans Hot Dog Eating Contest
  d) Super Bowl
  


• IIATMS: What are the most accessible events in the US ? Meaning: ease of getting there, ease of getting a ticket, etc.? (Perhaps by region of the US : NorthEast, SouthEast, West, South)
  
  RT:
  NorthEast: Head of the Charles Regatta
  SouthEast: Bayou Classic
  West: UCLA/USC @ Pauley Pavilion
  Midwest: Little 500

Bonus Question:

• IIATMS: Are you hiring? How can someone break into the business with your Company?
  
  RT: Not right now with the downturn, but we will be I am sure pretty soon. Internships are a great way to get your foot in the door.

Please visit Amazon if you are interested in buy the book. It's not merely a ranking; it's also a great travel guide for each of the events. {Disclaimer: I do not make any commission off any sales of the book}

Each Ranked Event contains the following sub-sections: Where, When, Significance, Who attends, History, Notable Athletes/MVPs, Records, Things to know before you go, How to get there, Tickets, Accomodations, On-Site hospitality, Travel packages, Dining.

Thanks again to Robert Tuchman for his time.

Walk-off WTF?

That's about as absurd a way to win/lose a game as I have ever seen.

A walk-off WTF?

Wow.

Sons of famous dads getting drafted

The 2009 versions of "I have a famous dad" belong to:

• Asaad Ali, the youngest son of boxing great Muhammad Ali, drafted in the 40th round
• Michael Yastrzemski, the grandson of Red Sox icon and Baseball Hall of Famer Carl Yastrzemski (by Boston, naturally)
• Gavin McCourt, son of Dodgers owner Frank McCourt, was drafted in the 39th round Thursday by the Boston Red Sox.

Anyone I missed?

Another NYY first: Streaming games online

Hate the team (if you so choose), but respect their vision and acknowledge their execution of their strategy:

The New York Yankees will become the first MLB team to have its games streamed live online within its home market, thanks to a landmark carriage deal YES Network signed with Cablevision earlier this spring.

The streamed games will begin later this season and will be available via subscription to Cablevision’s TV and broadband customers who subscribe to a tier that carries the YES Network, according to several baseball and cable industry sources.

There are many other unknowns at this point, but this could be a major breakthru in the next wave of viewing baseball in your local markets.

Joba's Superfly...or a human lawnmower

This was some play, a flat out flop dive to face-plant himself catch a bunt, then he recovered to nail the runner at 2nd for a great double play.

He wouldn't have made this if he was the 8th inning guy, you know. Just sayin'.

In case you couldn't tell, that was the Geico Play Of The Game. They sponsor that sorta thing.

The wussing of the pitcher

Scenario: The starting pitcher is cruising in total control, 101 pitches thru 8 innings, allowing just three hits and one walk while striking out 6. But because this pitcher is "just" 23 years old, the manager gives him the hook despite a 11-0 lead.

Believe me, I am all for watching the pitch count and innings count for the younger pitchers, but when any pitcher is on cruise control, and the innings/pitches are not high leverage, high stress sort of pitches, it's gotta be OK for the kid to go for the CGSO. What's another 15 or so pitches when he's just throwing fastballs, pitching to contact to get the last 3 outs?

And the best part: Hughes was PISSED to get the hook:

Phil Hughes wanted no part of the handshake that would end his afternoon, not three outs shy of a shutout. But by that time, there also wasn't a whole lot left to prove.
[...]
"He didn't want to shake my hand -- he wanted to go back out," Girardi said. "I said, 'You know what, you're going to have plenty of time to get complete games.' I understood he was disappointed, because he wants a complete game. But we're looking at him long-term, not just this start."

Attaboy. Just wish Girardi let him go back out there. If he struggled, yank him. But give him the chance.

The rebellion of the rich

More fun/shame at the expense of the soldiers minding the moat (emphasis mine):

The combination of food and security collided inside the Stadium Wednesday night. This had nothing to do with high-profile broadcasters or players' wives. This was a rebellion of the rich. In that expensive area downstairs - the one with the empty seats - there are seemingly more waiters and waitresses, serving free food, than there are patrons.

On Wednesday, it got so crazy that the fan-elite started tossing ice cream sandwiches over the moat to peasants sitting in the $400 "cheap" seats. This did not sit well with Toastie security forces, who began scolding their most prized customers. The lecture from security prompted a guy in the rich seats to say: "I paid for this food, I can do with it what I want!"

Yeah, let them eat ice cream (sandwiches).

Wish I saw this live.

Yanks hoppin'

Which comes first, the winning or the loose clubhouse? Does one breed the other? Does it matter?

In yet the latest example of the new pie-in-the-face conviviality that has taken hold with the Yankees this season, Joe Girardi's lads Wednesday night held a Kangaroo Court session. It was their first since 1995 when Wade Boggs was the presiding judge and Buck Showalter was the manager.
[...]
However, Damon says, what can not be underscored is that, for the first time in his four years as a Yankee, this is a fun team to be a part of. Eight-game winning streaks - which the Yankees' became with Wednesday night's 11-4 rout of the Baltimore Orioles - can make a guy feel that way. Whether it translates into the championship that has eluded the Yankees since 2000 is another matter.

Togetherness was what Girardi made a point of in spring training when he arranged that surprise "Day at the Pool Parlor." Say this for Girardi, he recognized what guys like Damon are only now willing to talk openly about: The Yankee clubhouse was a joyless place in the latter years of the Joe Torre regime. Part of it was the personnel - how could anyone find any fun being around Kevin Brown? - but a big part of it was the generation gap that existed between Torre and his players.

I've long said I thought the Yanks were "too corporate". I've been looking at other successful clubs of recent vintage (namely the RedSox) and seeing players who seem to genuinely have fun with each other playing this great game and wonder why the Yanks couldn't do that. I don't blame it solely on Torre, but maybe there's something to the impact of Torre and his more stoic nature. Regardless of the reason, I am really enjoying watching a team get close and have fun. Winning does cure ills, but in a long season like this, I do believe it's important to have that comraderie.

Bill Maddon, the author of the above-linked story, gets it (emphasis mine):

"The rules here are much more family oriented now," said Damon,"and that's why you have free agents wanting to come to New York instead of a low-key place."

Funny, I thought it was the money. But there is no question that CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett, for all the moolah it took to get them to come here, have had a major influence in changing both the personality of the team and the atmosphere in the clubhouse. Same with Nick Swisher, who was grateful to escape Ozzie Guillen's dog house in Chicago and get traded to the Yankees. In spring training, Sabathia took it upon himself to bring several of his new teammates over to Orlando to take in Magic basketball games, and Burnett has instituted the whipped-cream, pie-in-the-face treatment for the heroes of walk-off wins. Swisher, meanwhile, appointed himself the DJ from the moment he came into the clubhouse and, with Girardi's encouragement, the longstanding Yankee music ban was lifted.

Who knows if this change in team personality will actually result in one additional win or not, but it's good to see the team change from boring, hired guns to a group of guys pulling for one another.

I've gotta believe that this sorta thing will be great for ARod, as the guys will have no problem taking him down a peg or two.

"I took an absolute beating," Alex Rodriguez said, before leaving the clubhouse with his young daughter in his arms. "I think I just barely survived."

I am probably definitely making this to be more than it really is, more than it deserves, but I'm guessing if you ask any Yanks fan over the last decade-plus, they will all* tell you it's good to see the team roll forward and try to develop their own legacy instead of trying to shoehorn themselves into the "dynasty Yanks" from 1996-2000.

* Unless you are a crusty curmudgeon like Mike Franscesa or Murray Chass!

Other recent posts relating to the Yanks' "corporate" atmosphere:

• Reader mail: The "corporate" Yanks
• Huff mocks Joba
• All for one....
• Wishing Baldelli well
• The Art of Over-reaction

Vin Scully: Voice of the Yanks?

No really, it was thisclose to happening. Say Scully himself:

"When the Yankees let Mel Allen go in 1964, I got a phone call from the man who they had brought in to run their broadcasting operation, Craig Smith," Vin began. "He had been in charge of the World Series broadcasts forever, so I'd known him about ten years by then. And he asked me if I'd like to come home to New York and become the lead announcer. He offered a very handsome salary, and a long contract.

"Well, I was amazed, as you can imagine. I'd found a wonderful home here in Los Angeles, but remember, this was only seven years after the Dodgers left Brooklyn. I was still a New Yorker through and through. Plus, here was a chance to work again with Red Barber. And recall, too, that this was just before the Yankee dynasty collapsed. As much as Mr. O'Malley had done here and in Brooklyn, the Yankees were still the marquee name in sports. If it had been 1958 or 1959, when I still missed New York so, I would've said yes before he hung up the phone."

"So, I thought long and hard about that one. But I had a young family, and I think we had all just truly adjusted to living here - takes just about seven years, I think - and in the end I turned it down."

Now THAT is one "alternate reality" scenario to make your head spin.

I could watch this play a hundred times

UPDATE: The video was removed from YouTube. My apologies. If I (or you) can find another one, please let me know. Here's a link to the video at MLB.com. They won't let users share/embed it, though. Dumb move, MLBAM. Why not let your best customers share your product?

Sure Gardner was out, but what an amazing play. If you didn't see it, here's the video (sorry, the audio is not aligned with the video):

I can't get over how gorgeous this was, from the aggressiveness of Gardner to the presence and awareness of Mauer, the luck of the pitcher behind-the-backing the ball to Mauer, not to mention the awesome physicality of Mauer's play and the near swim move by Gardner.

Dontchya just love stuff like this?

I can't imagine what this kid must have felt like, only to get in the game wearing someone else's jersey!

The strangeness of the day began at 12:45 p.m. ET, when O'Day was at home in Panama City Beach, Fla., and got a call from his agent, who said the Rangers had claimed him on waivers and were calling him up to the big league roster. O'Day had just been designated for assignment by the Mets this week.

Rushing to the nearest airport, O'Day boarded a flight to Memphis and then transferred to a flight heading to Toronto, to join the Rangers.

O'Day got off the plane in Toronto at about the same time the Rangers' game was in the eighth inning -- 9:45 p.m.

"The travel secretary was texting me back and forth," said O'Day. "The original plan was to go to the hotel, but he said, 'Go to the field, we might need you.'"

Sure enough, as the Rangers' bullpen was running out of arms in the extra-inning affair, O'Day's services were needed. The right-handed reliever arrived at the ballpark during the 10th inning of the contest, when he found out the team did not have a jersey made for him.

While on the road, the club's equipment manager usually carries around the jerseys of several players who could possibly get called up, and of course, O'Day was not one of those players. So O'Day was forced to don the jersey of Kason Gabbard -- who is currently with Triple-A Oklahoma City.
[...]
O'Day was brought into the game with two runners on base in the 11th inning, and had his first encounter with his manager, Ron Washington, on the Rogers Centre mound.
[...]
Millar's confusion didn't last long though, as he drove a pitch from O'Day into the left-center-field gap, giving the Jays a walk-off victory and bringing an end to the pitcher's turbulent day.

IIATMS on XM

In case any of you were listening to MLB on XM around 8am today, yep, that was me on the radio!

Scott Graham and Buck Martinez were chatting about the "Embarrassment of the Rich" posting (how cool is that?) so I decided to call. They took my call and we chatted for a few minutes about the posting.

I'm fighting the early stages of a chest "thing" so I'm not quite sure how I sounded, but it was fun.

Oh, the form is perfect!

Again, my apologies about the lack of posts today (Monday). I'm in the midst of a very busy stretch, but when I can get to some writing, I'll be here. Expect more Tuesday morning.


In the meanwhile, my little one's first t-ball game was this past Sunday. Notice the perfectly executed hook slide (of course, there was no throw to the plate, but I still like it):


PS: Big props to my wife for nailing that picture.