It's Time for Men to put away Childish Games

As the title says.... "It's time for men to put away childish games" ever so eloquently stated by the coach in North Dallas Forty an old Peter Gent novel & adapted movie starring Nick Nolte.

My standard answer... "Not yet baby...not yet"... Hence the story of my latest interest, mens softball... Let me explain... A few months back, I had heard thru the grapevine at the restaurant, that Steve Katz, one half of my "exalted monster leaders" at work and the sole owner at Katz's Deli Restaurant, a very popular New York style deli in town, (Steve you owe $20 bucks, this blog gets read by many...... 4 people at current count), had sponsored a team in the Jewish Community Center of Woodbridge Sunday morning mens league... Well, good for him...

In week two, he came to me, and asked if I could play softball on the upcoming Sunday. Obviously he had heard the legendary stories of my Little league success when I was 10 years old, that.. or they really had no one else to ask...

It's an old story... check back in an earlier blog....

Now I wear number 26, it's because of my birthday, you see I was born on July 4th... just kidding, I was born on the 26th of November.. a great day... Thanksgiving..

Anyhoot we somehow beat the number 1 seed on the final week of the season and earn ourselves a bye for the first game of the playoffs...

My wife Diana, surprised me and showed up at the game... no big deal right?? Well, considering it's a form of torture for her to get in her car and drive 1.4 miles to the A&P in town I think it was pretty damn nice of her to show up, we live 74 miles away from the field... Of course, I have no added pressure to perform excellence with her in attendance... I've let her down so many times before, she really doesn't expect much.... I had three hard linedrive basehits, two nice plays with the glove, (no... not quite Lou Gehrig type range), and we won, beating the Big Boys team...
Maybe you've heard of them, their right center fielder has a 4 foot long mullet, and John the wearwolf plays third, He's got more hair than Sasquatch!!

We earn the right to play in the CHAMPIONSHIP GAME!! Starting Monday, all I think about is the game... Clean my uniform, brush off the dried dirt from my cleats, wipe off the dirt residue from the laces... I may not play well, but I'll look clean..

Tuesday I'm daydreaming about plays that I hope to make, everyone one of them certain locks for the highlight films...

Wednesday I pose in the mirror going thru my batting stance... Fast, then in slow motion, I can actually see the ball deformed as it ricochets off my bat...

Thursday.. I make a conscientious effort to eat better this week so I am properly nourished for the game. So no extra pepperoni on the pizza for me today...

Friday... the anticipation is building, getting my game face on, yelled at my servers today for forgetting coasters with the customers beers... Stay away from me... I'm getting into a zone...

Saturday... I'm on edge, looking for a beef... I'm soooo ready for the game tomorrow....

Sunday morning at 4am, I awake, I hear a thunderstorm brewing... I mutter to myself... "The God's are with us"....

Sunday morning at 6am, the window has few droplets but I see sunshine... Ohhh what a glorious day it will be....

Sunday morning at 7am, I check the clock, 45 minutes of sleep before I get up....

Sunday morning at 8am.. "SHIT.. I'm late"... now I gotta hurry, getting up, quick shower, (nobody likes a dirty ballplayer)... hit Dunkin Donuts for that coffee I really need... Drive to the field.... Ummmm... there's nobody there..... but... where...... Did they move the game and not tell me? No... it can't be.... YES... it's been called because of rain...


ARRRGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH... I can't go another whole week with this type of anixety... Can't we play an hour later??

NO.. the game is now scheduled for Sunday 9am August 3rd....

I gotta admit... it's a little anti-climatic at this point... I was hoping this week we'd get to go to the Hartford Capital and meet the Govenor or something.... I don't know... maybe a team photo for The Sporting News??.. Nothing too big, maybe a plaque in Cooperstown.... Ok maybe that's a bit of a stretch... But no... no game and now we have to wait....

As the week goes on, I find out Warren (The other half of the Exalted Monster Leaders)... is going to Myrtle with Steve "Steinbrenner" Katz so he won't be there. Jamie, our cleanup hitter and right center fielder will be at Cape Cod with his family, (obviously he doesn't have his priorities in order), and we may be missing more...

Oh well... maybe if we win I can get a trophy to put next to my 1971 Orange Little League trophy and three bowling trophies I got in 1974-1976...

I don't know... matter a team jacket with the team and league logo.... What is our league logo, a bagel with a slice of lox?? A knish?? Whatever.....

Okay, I won't bore you again with the weekly prep, but Sunday rolls around and it's truly a beautiful day...
We are the home team... so we take the field first... We get them out 1 2 3.... Our turn to bat... 1 2 3, okay, so both teams are little rusty... It's the second inning they tag us for a few runs... well, actually 12 runs... But hey, it's only the second inning right?? We're up now..... 1 2 3.... That's ok, plenty of time to come back... it's softball, it's not over yet....

We hold them to 10 more runs... it should have been 15 but we sneak out of the inning down by 25.... In our half of the inning, we claw and fight back with a monster rally.... we score 3 runs...

Well, you get the drift here, right??? we go one to lose a somewhat respectable 28 to 16... We do our obligatory handshakes on the field, and we watch as the team photo is taken.... Why are they smiling.... ???

It's time to think about next year, Mark our team captain hugs me and thanks me for playing and asks me back for next year... Yeah, barring a seizure or a coronary.... I'll be there...

So in closing..... I must admit..... it's NOT time for men to put away childish games... not yet anyway!!!