Podcast:Back from Hiatus

Back from Podcast hiatus with thanks,some political talk,IFL and fantasy football talk with why teams are always looking for bullpen help at the trade deadline....

It's an IFL World that we live in....

IFL Weekend (Yes,Caps needed) is always the best weekend of the year for me.
Not only does this weekend mean the beginning of the football season,but it means a non-stop 48 hour frenzy of hanging with my buddies and spending time with my oldest friends.

Battlin' Bob,Corey,Greg,Jeff and Ryan have been the core friends of mine for years and even though I've made great friends in the graphing world,you can never get away from the friends that know you best.
Derreck,Brad,Kendall,Bill,Tracy and Mike have all become terrific friends and I have a great time with them,but there is always a special bond with your original friends.
Think about a close knit group of college buddies or childhood friends,they may come and go from your life,but when you see each other,it seems like you are able to seamlessly move right back in form.
It's not that it's always better friends etc,it's just the people that know you longest and have more memories of you than anyone else.

I may spend more time on the graphing circuit in the summer now than with the IFL guys and I'm sure that occasionally they might feel neglected,but they should never feel shifted aside for the other group.
I really wish that I could get the two groups to interact more,but things might be best as they are-with plenty of good friends on both sides.

We finally accomplished the next step in the league this year as we entered year 15 of the history books-the move that I've always wanted- holding the draft in a setting that befits it-a hotel conference room.
Lots of space to spread out, places to go for our smoking members and lobby space to get away for a private trade negotiation-in other words,it has that baseball winter meetings feel that I've always wanted for the league.
It wasn't universally loved by everyone,especially when it meant tossing in more bucks to the league,but once you walked into the room and saw everything,it changed quickly!
I know I enjoyed my league hosting the draft and Corey enjoyed his many years as well,but as the league transitioned into more local owners,the time of having the draft in an owner's home had passed and it was time for a new page in the annuals of the IFL.

I'm not going to bore you with details of who did what and when at the draft.
I've always thought that fantasy sports leagues rank right there with pictures of children/grandchildren and pets as things that are terrific for the people involved,but a terrible bore for everyone else!
What I will say is this-a great time with one's pals and I think this is the way that it will be for quite a while,I'd tell you about it,but I might have to look at a cat picture in return!

The Sunday after the draft is a day for league members and other friends of mine to bring their wives and families to enjoy great food,play some "big ball" (remember this post?) and of course talk IFL.
One trade did get done on this day that usually just sees talk,so that was pretty great and the big ball game was fun despite a 6-5 loss.
I didn't pitch for the first time ever,I messed up my left calf running through a thunderstorm at the Muni last month and it really hasn't healed totally since.
As I am gradually becoming old and infirm,I need to take better care of myself,so I settled for playing first,although the old man still dove and rolled on the ground to make a nice play in the field (lefthanded,mind you),so the mind is still willing even if the body isn't always able to respond in kind.
We also made plans to start back up fantasy sports leagues in the winter-last year was the first year without a basketball or hockey league and I missed the league and camaraderie,so hockey had more support,but I think a basketball league might get started as well,even if the teams are few...

I missed a few of my friends this year that couldn't make it,but my mom and dad most of all.
Mom makes my favorite potato salad in the world,but my dad is in the hospital right now and mom cannot drive yet,so all things considered they sat this one out.
They were missed though and I'm hoping that they will be back next year!

All and all,IFL Weekend is a getting back to basics weekend,where we put things right with our friends,have a great time and act young again for a weekend.
I think Battlin' Bob put it best when he said "We really need to get off our asses and do this more than once or twice a year getting together".
Bob's right and we have already planned to have fun as a group for the opening day of the NFL season!

Thanks again to all the owners,helpers (Corey's mom Chris especially),wives and everyone that help make this weekend as great as it is!
Can't wait for 2015!!!

The Big Ball universe

Now,I would bet that most of you are wondering what the title means and what this will be about.
Well, it will cover the game that I spent the most time playing as a kid and yes,I likely played this more than baseball,although I played tons of that including the occasional pickup game against future major leaguer Mike Draper,more than football and even basketball,where you had to travel to face decent competition,most of which was WAY out of my league including a few games against future NBAer and N.C State Wolfpack great Rodney Monroe.

The Big Ball

Nope,it was Big Ball,so named because of the ball used-those .99 cent colored "Play Balls" that you still find for roughly the same price in any department store,grocery or just about anywhere else in the country.The game was pretty simple,just like baseball (including real bats!,none of the plastic junk in the league),except that you can throw the ball at the opponent that is off base and if the ball hits them,it is an out.
The ball is easy to hit so most anyone can play,yet it is difficult to hit far and sometimes tough to catch as the ball flutters like a knuckleball to the fielders.It really is a game that almost anyone can have fun with and even limited skill players can do passably.

This comes to mind after a return to the game just the other night at 42 years old and what a blast!
Different from the old days at mom and dads though where leagues were played in two different "stadiums",the game the other night was on a actual diamond although the bases were shortened of course.
The second stadium as a kid was kinda like old Three Rivers Stadium-plenty of space and super antiseptic.We had to move deeper into the yard because my dad wanted to start planting trees.
I wonder if he regrets that 25+ years later as the place looks like a commercial for Arbor Day now!
Between the open spaces and uphill outfield,it just wasn't the same as we laid picnic benches out for the outfield "wall" and home runs became a rarity.
I wish we still had the stats that we kept (believe it or not) as I would bet that I went from close to a hundred homers a year to maybe ten just with the stadium move.

But the first field is the one that most remember that played BB,a Frisbee for first base,an embedded rock for second and a tree stump for third and a park that we called little Fenway.
Little Fenway was most noted for the odd dimensions and the "Red Monster" for the house next door and its red shingles that loomed for the big ball power hitter in right center to right field.
Oh,you could smack them out to left,which sent the ball flying into the neighbors yard,but it was tougher having to battle lower hanging branches and you needed more of a Dick Allen rising line drive shot to take it out to left.
But the Red Monster had none of that and a ball smacked off the Monster was an automatic homer and a shot off the roof was looked at as the moonshots that used to be bounced off the roof at Tiger Stadium.
As silly as it sounds,it was kinda majestic seeing this big colored orb soar high through the air for a homer,despite every intention by my parents to keep the ball away from the neighbors area by calling balls hit into the yard or the Monster an out,that one never seemed to stick around much.One other interesting point was the constant changing of MLB batting helmets for players.We had most of the leagues helmets from getting them at Oriole games and used them all the time-I still have the Yellow Pirate one that I wore most often.

I had great fun the other night and I still have pretty control with the BB and even struck out a few batters as the strikeout is a prized possession in Big Ball!
Big Ball was a summer staple for years for me and I could post several more of these,if I wanted to (Cant you tell this is a slow day?)
Every once in a while,you really can still be young again,even if just for a few hours.