11/31/07
Softball: The Malleable Calculus of Rotation
Dear People,
Jeff W's team barely staved off my own, 22-19, but in fairness, the actual score was 22-19*, with that asterisk being the size of a giant Bavarian iguana. I know that sounds like sour grapes or bitter melon or Kung Pau chicken or whatever.
Yet the reality is that in his zeal to crush my side, Jeff inadvertently or unconsciously or perhaps consciously while secretly giggling decided to "modify" our community's time-honored rotator rule, in which, generally speaking, one player on an 11-person team rotates to all positions, thereby assuring that every other every player sits out once, but ONLY once. This, of course, assures the broad sweep of aerobic justice for all individual players as well as the two teams as a whole, and while I'm not one to overstate my case, I think we all know that this is what the Lord himself both craves and expects.
That being said, you can imagine my horror when I discovered in the 8th that only Anthony the Capeman and Steve "America's Songster" Seskin had been continuously rotated, and only between catcher and sitting on the bench! Tony's solid credentials in the outfield have already been established, so this made no practical sense to me, but even Jeff’s spare use of the Seskinator seemed counterintuitive. Oh sure, he isn’t the “best” fielder out there, and his throwing arm is perhaps more “fragile” than most.
Moreover, I suppose it’s true that from a purely tactical perspective, Steve’s probably not in the top half of the community pool, or the top 80%, or if one really analyzed it, even in the top 99.7%. Fair enough. But what Jeff obviously didn’t understand (aside from the rule of aerobic law) is that when Steve Seskin is out there on defense, his mere presence brings such powerful moral inspiration that it’s as if the team he’s playing on is suddenly 37% more capable! I get chills just doing the math.
Of course, let’s not kid ourselves. I think we can all agree that if Jeff had followed the rotator rule with a smidgen more vigor, my team would not have lost 22-19, but would have actually won, 38-22. And therefore there will be a game at Codronices this Sunday at 11AM, IF I get enough commits by this Friday morning…Ray
1/31/06
Softball: The Nature of Bandwagons
Dear People,
There will be a game at Codornices this Sunday at 11AM, and of now, it is full. As always, please let me know me ASAP if you committed and need to cancel, and feel free to contact me later if you are looking for reopened slots.
This week’s field fee is just $3, and that includes a post-game press conference in which I will officially announce my decision to establish a Presidential Exploratory Committee...Raymond 845-7552
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