Softball: Unbroken (The City vs. Us, One More Time)
Dear People,
My team beat back Paul Fine's in a see-sawing paragon of competitive aerobic rigor as it's meant to be, 27-25. Of course, it should be noted upfront that the very fact that this epic battle took place at all was a credit to both our tolerance and sagacity as a recreational folk, for once again, the Department of Parks and Wreck has so shamelessly dissed us that I still tremble to the marrow of my spleen when I ponder how fragile liberty truly is. Indeed, we arrived to find San Pablo Park sliced brutally in two by a ghastly chain-link fence, and as much as we wanted to ignore it, the fact is that it so perfectly evoked the Berlin Wall that its very trajectory through semi-deep left field was now a stark and taunting symbol of Berkeley's depraved Euclidean indifference to those of our unaffiliated ilk. In any case, for an eerily prophetic point of reference, see D. K. Slater's seminal 1755 treatise Architecture, Land and Problems of the Bozo State.
The point is that we're a resourceful lot by both birth and temperament, and thus rather than throw a communal hissy-fit before resorting to the less territorially expansive pastimes of aphid-trapping or all-nude croquet, we instead agreed to a work-around in which balls hit over this hideous monstrosity would be considered garden-variety home runs. Frankly, I would've felt unclean and even salacious if I had homered this way, which I guess is why I didn't do it. Yet Zac did it twice (skank that he is), and Brandon, Donny and Chris Fure all added four-baggers of their own. Now, since both the Zacster and Brandy-boy were trapped on Paulie's side, this means that a majority of these blasts were not only unseemly, but they were, in the end, performed in the service of an utterly failed cause. Coincidence? I honestly don't know.
What I do know is that each side played with a certain clarity of bat-swinging prowess, and yet as captain, the Paulinator went 0 for 6 at the plate, whereas I personally displayed a more robust vision of leadership by going 1 for 6 (thanks to a scrappy little 4th-inning single to the dead zone between the mound and 3rd). Now look, I'm not saying that this in itself explains my side's ultimate 2-run triumph, but when it comes to case studies in comparatively feckless management, it's clearly proven that nothing is more inspiring than sucking less on the margins. And therefore there will be a game at San Pablo #2 this Sunday at 11, IF I get enough commits by this Friday morning . . . Raymond
1/15/15
Softball: The Verdanhood
Dear People,
There will be a game at San Pablo #2 this Sunday at 11 and as of now it's already full. As always, please let me know ASAP if you committed and need to cancel, and if you still want in, feel free to get on the wait list or contact me later for news of reopened slots.
Please bring $4 for the field, which for this week only includes a rare post-match crawling tour of the bot flies, zombie ants and silverfish of San Pablo's magnificent outfield grasses . . . Raymond 845-7552