2/26/02

Softball: A Fond Farewell to One of Ours


Dear People,

Last week was another excellent game, in which my team, alas, lost 15-10. For this email, though, I would like to skip the usual shtick in order to inform the community of something very sad that I announced to those who were there on Sunday.

Michael Laundauer, who was a semi-regular player for about three years, died of a heart attack on February 16th. He didn’t play much in the last several months because he spent most of his time with his new wife, Steffi, but I’m sure even those of you who just show up intermittently would recognize him. He was a friendly red-headed guy in his late 40s who occasionally came out with his kids. He had a very cool and dry sense of humor, which always goes far in my book.

I found out early last week, but for whatever reason, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to say anything through this medium. Steffi told me there was going to be an informal and small memorial gathering Sunday morning, but she said that he would have preferred that we continue to play. He was not one for funerals. So I accepted that, and decided to organize the game, but since then I’ve also decided that I do want to acknowledge his passing here.

Since this weekend, I’ve learned a couple things I said on Sunday that I need to revise:

1) He was 48, not 44.

2) There will be another memorial service in May, but it will be near Lake Tahoe, where his parents live.

For those who are interested, there are two (not so clear) pictures of
Michael on the softball website:

http://www.eslnotes.com/ray/photos/pages/07.htm

http://www.eslnotes.com/ray/photos/pages/12.htm
[Mike’s on the left; Jeremy, happily, is still very much with us]

I was pretty sure that I had written about him at least one time, and indeed, I found a decent narrative in which I subject him to my typical abuse. And since I’m a militant agnostic ("I don’t know and neither do you"), I have no idea if Mike is now looking down on us, but I’d like to think that if he were, he’d be happy to see that we’re all reviewing his dubious exploits at first base…

http://www.eslnotes.com/ray/011602.html
[Relevant narration starts on the second full paragraph]

So may there be lots of softball wherever he is, and because life goes on, there will be a game at Codornices next Sunday at 11, IF I get enough commits by Friday morning….Raymond



2/28/03:

Softball: Another Unisyllabic Gem

Dear People,

There will be a game at Codornices this Sunday at 11AM, and as of now, there are still three slots left.

Please bring $2 for the field, which for this week only includes a complete tune up, coolant flush and lube, and I’m not saying that just because I happen to think "lube" is a perfectly appropriate word which sounds really nasty…Raymond

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