The overhand right-Dad,Showtime and a nod to a past great

The overhand right returns after a long hiatus with some observations from the world of boxing..


We'll start with a few words on the joke that was the Showtime/Golden Boy card from Brooklyn shortly,but I wanted to say thanks for the all nice emails,tweets and messages on Facebook about yesterday's post about my dad.
It is always nice to have people like your work,but here I get a special kick out of people liking the non-sports posts.
Thanks again for spreading the word on that for me,it was truly appreciated.

As far as Dad goes,he managed to talk the hospital in releasing him today.
It was a day earlier than they really wanted to,but he has a way about him sometimes that allows him to get his way.
Now the wait is on for the return of the tests that will tell the tale of whether this is a short term issues that surgery has resolved or has the long term war just begun?
Thanks for the wishes and prayers,those too are appreciated...

The Showtime card from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn was simply put a sad joke on boxing.
Danny Garcia's second round knockout over undersized and outgunned Rod Salka was a disgrace.
Now first,allow me to say this,Non-title fights go back as far as I can remember and I vividly remember WBC Featherweight Champion Juan LaPorte dropping a decision to clubfighter Gerald Hayes in the mid 80's,so these aren't always gimmes,but Gerald Hayes was likely a top 25-30 fighter,so Hayes putting all together on one night could happen.
Rod Salka on his best day wasn't top 100 and against the best junior welterweight in the world,you could see that this was a mismatch.
Shame on Showtime for agreeing to this farce.

The co-main was a little better,if only understandable as Lamont Peterson stopped Edgar Santana in the 10th to keep his IBF Jr.Welterweight belt.
Santana,while being more qualified than Rod Salka,was still untested against world class fighters and it showed.
I could live with this as a showcase bout for a Garcia-Peterson bout,if anyone was clamoring for that fight.
Yes,Peterson owns the only belt that Garcia didn't,but his third round KO at the hands of Lucas Matthysse and the subsequent Matthysse close decision loss to Garcia devalued Peterson's title until he proved otherwise.
The Santana win and his previous defense over the qualified Dierry Jean haven't quite done that,so I'm happy that Garcia-Peterson might happen to unify all the belts,but Garcia is the true champion and I'm not sure anyone is really excited about the bout.

When premium cable (HBO and Showtime) show such dreck,they show a disrespect for the paying customer and hurt the game and their boxing program.
HBO and Showtime customers pay for the programming that they provide and many (me included) have their channel just for boxing.
To have such a card is disrespectful to their consumers and the sport.
This card would have not been any better had it been televised on Fox Sports 1 (a GBP Partner),but it would have been understandable due to the lesser rights fees that would have been paid.
2014 has been a bad year in boxing,Last Saturday night,it got worse....

We wrap up with a few words on the 32nd anniversary of the car wreck that cost the great Salvador Sanchez his life in the midst of a great 126 pound title reign.
Sanchez's biggest win over Wilfredo Gomez is shown above,but the wreck cost boxing so much-a move up in weight that could have seen an eventual match vs the great Alexis Arguello,but especially the match that never was Sanchez and his nine defenses of the WBC belt against Panama's Eusebio Pedroza and his 19 defenses of the WBA title in the days of just two ruling organizations.
What a great fighter and what a loss for our sport.
Look for a Forgotten Superstars down the road on Salvador Sanchez.

Dealing with Dad's changes

Today was an interesting day for me and quite enlightening in some ways.
Enlightening to the point of life-changing.

What could have happened?
Well, it started by me turning down the chance to go to Aberdeen with Derreck and Brad.
I would have liked to have gone, but I hadn't had a chance to go to see Dad in the hospital yet and I felt that I should stay close to home in case anyone (my mom and grandmother) needed me.
My brother was at work and so was Cherie, so I thought someone should be around if things were needed.

It worked out because Cal Ripken was there and I would have been forced with a choice of lowering my principles (to improve my collection) or standing tall on them and having people think I'm a jerk (what else is new?)
But today, I realized something-  my father is getting older and therefore I am too.

The toughest guy I've ever met and the man that raised me complained that he was sick.
The man that almost cut his finger off and reported to work anyway was saying that he wasn't well.
Finally,he said he just didn't care about anything, one way or the other.
It finally struck home that my father wasn't the imposing person of days gone by, rather he was just another not very well older person.
I knew my dad had reached a certain age, but I had never thought of him as I saw him today.
Dad had some heart issues a few years back, but he was still working, not retired and I hadn't gotten as close to him as I am today, so seeing him in the hospital for the first time didn't hit home as this time did.

It's sometimes a wakeup call when you realize your parents are mortal and age like everyone else.
If they are aging, that means you are too and that can be more of a realization than muscle pulls and backaches ever bring to the table.
Time wins over all of us, but it's still stunning when it actually hits home.
So now what?
Well, in one way, nothing has changed-I'm still a middle-aged man with a father that is getting even older, but in one way, yesterday changed me dramatically.
I realized my father is human and as silly as it sounds, I might have never truly realized that before.
When you put people on the pedestal for whatever reason (and the reasons do vary) it's jarring to realize that they are people with problems and issues like anyone else.
The passing of Robin Williams should show an example of that.

Dad was grumpy, growling, wishing people would leave him alone and even told me that he wasn't going to be good company because of the pain.
He complained the hospital television sucked (No MLB or MASN, so no games) and we talked a little about the terrific end to the PGA Tournament "It wasn't terrific to me, I don't like McElroy"
Both of us are Phil Mickelson fans, so we chatted a bit about Phil's future and how many more chances at majors he might have before he again said he wasn't going to be good company because he felt sick.
I told him that I'd leave whenever he wished, but for now, I just wanted to be near,if he needed me.
I silently read a book (those that know me know that a book always accompanies me on nearly all occasions) as I sat near a window with the shade pulled down.
I bet in 45 minutes, those initial words were all that we spoke until my mom came in.
It didn't take him long to wake up then or to resume his grumbling as their bickering volleyed back and forth, so I left shortly thereafter, the silence broken.
The drive home was filled with some of the thoughts that I'm typing now, but even more thoughts too.
What happens when this is over? What happens when it's me in the bed and Ryan and Rachel looking at me that way?
Do my children look at me in the manner that I always looked at him?
Do they think I'm human?
The questions really made me wonder and only a few existed that I had answers for.
One cannot really know what someone else thinks for the most part, Can they?

Now what?
Well, I'll continue the process of being a better son and family member.
I've come a long way in the last two years, I think anyway, and I want to continue to grow, but I also want to get to know this fellow that I visited in the hospital even better.
You see, now he's a person just like me and that might open things up more than I could have imagined.
All the autographs in the world couldn't give me the realization that I discovered and yesterday would have been a good time (I still don't care much about Cal Ripken :)  with my friends, but I did just fine without a single drop of ink hitting a baseball card.
Some things are simply more important.

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!!!

Graphing Disillusionment

Different things have arisen in the hobby that I have so much fun in and suddenly I find myself questioning a future in the hobby.

I'm not going to get into things in detail,but one of my close friends is upset and therefore I'm upset.
Every hobby has its issues,if you do something socially,these things can happen,but when it starts to bother the friends that you have made,then it's time to reevaluate.

So I did overnight.
I thought about the bad things of our hobby.
People that are rude,have a negative opinion about what we do,make things tougher on getting things finished etc are all bad things.
And some of the hobby has a certain degree of bad acting ranging from the business of sports all the way to the interaction between collectors,but I suppose any hobby that involves other people has some of that.

When you think of that,it's easy to feel disillusioned.
However,then you have to measure the good and there's where things clear up.
I have made so many great friends,seen so many things,met so many people that I never would have before and gotten to do more than watch games on my couch (anything that gets a fat man moving is a good thing) and none of those would have happened without baseball and this crazy hobby.

I coached for ten years and I feel overall that it was a positive experience (Bet the lovely Cherie doesn't quite see it that way),I made one of my best friends that way,but it had so much negative parts too.
I don't look at graphing that way.
Other than the occasional idiot (and more often than not,they are amusing more than infuriating),I don't have a ton of negative things to write about.

All things considered,it's a pretty neat thing that I participate in.
People have come and people have left the hobby,but I think I'll stick around for a while....

Q and A

Time for a little feature that we call Q and A in a very imaginatively name for the feature.
It basically takes the occasional question that we get in an email or a conversation and I get to stretch it into a post!

We start with this-
Shawn,
Why do you never seem to be at work?

Well,it does seem that way at times,but I work plenty.
I just happen to work at an agency that allows to use one's personal leave as they see fit.
Since I roll up a tremendous amount of hours from September to April,I choose to use them a lot during baseball season.\
Don't worry,I've got an eleven day in a row run coming up,so don't be too jealous...

Shawn,
                                               What happened to some of the trips that you planned for graphing this year?

This one is some of my own doing and the other was a calculated decision.
I decided to pass on the LPGA this year because I really didn't want to do it alone,since it was new to me and that is what it looked like it was going to be.
I decided to roll that money into New Orleans Saints training camp and that was a go until two things happened.
One was I was told of the restrictions doing the camp (no bags,nothing that was concealed even to carry items in) and that a meet the team session was the way to go.
The problem was that was not announced until late and I wasn't able to get to go on that date.
Then I was in the 11 day work run along with other commitments and I just decided to wait until next year since the Saints have signed a three year deal to open camp in West Virginia.
I hope to do both events next year!

Shawn,
            What's with the sudden interest in golf?

I wouldn't say that it's sudden,but I would say that it has grown.
I've always said that major tournament golf ranks near the top of my must watch television list (especially the Masters),but I've grown quite fond of the LPGA in the last few years,especially on weeks that my favorite male players are taking the week off of the PGA and Champions tour.
The best thing about watching golf (like baseball) is that you can watch and do other things (like work on this for example) without missing a lot of the telecast.
I quite enjoy it...

Shawn,
           Who do you like for the Browns starting QB job-Brian Hoyer or Johnny Manziel?

This is my second most asked question.
Simply put-Hoyer for now.
Hoyer deserves the chance to start unless Manziel beats him out decisively.
Manziel's off the field issues are besides the point-Hoyer is the starter to give Manziel a chance to develop even if that decision only lasts a few weeks....

Shawn,
            Do you forgive LeBron James for leaving now that he is back?

My most asked question by far!
Yes,I forgive,but not forget.
I'll forget,if he spends the rest of his career with the Wine and Gold.
He made a decision and he regretted it,despite winning those titles with Miami.
Everyone deserves a second chance-especially when he might to deliver a long awaited title to the most suffering fan base in the nation...

Hope you enjoyed this.
If you have other questions,toss them to me,I might take care of them here....
         

Matt Cain done for the season

Matt Cain will be missed by both the San Francisco Giants and the Akron Rubber Ducks (my fantasy league team) as Cain will miss the remainder of the 2014 season with elbow surgery.

Cain has bone chips in his elbow that need to be cleaned up and have affected his numbers (2-7 4.18 ERA) from their normal statistics.
The good news is that bone chips are an easier operation than other elbow injuries and the recovery time is expected to be just three months,so the righthander should be ready to go for the 2015 spring training season.
Cain really hadn't pitched much worse than 2013 (8-10 4.00 ERA),but the elbow issues had taken their toll on Cain's much vaunted durability and as a result ended the season.

The big question becomes what will Brian Sabean and the Giants and do about the sudden hole in the rotation on a team that already is not a great hitting team with other holes to fill?
With a farm system that has little immediate help available to the point of bringing up two players from AA Richmond (Matt Duffy and Jarrett Parker) rather than AAA Fresno,will the Giants play the hand and see how it falls?
Or will Sabean roll out the one top trading chip he has in Richmond righty Kyle Crick in order for reinforcements for the present?
That didn't work out so well in moving Zach Wheeler (boy,could they use him now!) for Carlos Beltran,but worked out very well in adding Hunter Pence from the Phillies.

If it was me,unless it was a player that is signed for at least next season.I'd stand pat in making big deals.
I realize that the Giants need help,but with little help on the horizon from impact prospects,I think they should keep what they have for now....

Rained out in Jamestown

Yep.
The picture says it all as Ryan and I drove over four hours to reach Jamestown, New York, and then watched as a massive thunderstorm smashed the area just before the gates opened.
The net result was the Lowell Spinners and Jamestown Jammers were rained out and we were on our way home.

The company was good though and I had a blast spending time with Ryan and I hope he did as well.
The scenery was interesting as we wound our way through various forests and small villages that I've never been to before, but nothing overly stimulating.

Jamestown didn't seem to have much interest in their team as we drove through various (though not all) part of town, I didn't see one Jammers sign, ad, etc.
It was like the team didn't even exist.
Even the Suns do more than that!
Before the rain started about thirty mins before the gates opened, we tried to find something to do and just continued to come up empty on the places even miles away.
No Wal-Marts, Targets, etc and not even tons of places to grab a drink to pass the time.
There was a Tim Horton's as Ryan Siebert tipped me off on, but otherwise almost desolate.
I might not pick on dull Hagerstown for a little while!

We pulled into the parking lot and saw about six cars, no line (as in zero people), neither of the two ticket windows open, just three employees standing inside the gates.
They must have had the radar ready because the sky opened and you saw Lowell players running for the clubhouse.
After sitting in the car as the rain pummeled the car, things remained status quo and when it got to five of six, we walked to the gates-none open, so we walked to the side of the field and walked into the office to ask the status of the game.
The game hadn't been called yet, so we are escorted to the team store, which had terrific prices.
I bought a hat and the girls at home each a shirt and talked about the move of the team.
The fellow that was there with us told us that it wasn't a done deal and that it could be the Jammers or Batavia or Auburn to move to Morgantown WV for the 2015 season.
I still think it will be the Jammers, but I understand why they didn't acknowledge anything.
After all, Hagerstown came right out and said goodbye and look at their wonderful attendance numbers.

Russell Dietrick Stadium is on the campus of Jamestown Community College and even though I didn't get to see the game, I liked the covered grandstand and it was sort of a cross between Hagerstown's Muni (the cover) and the more oval-shaped grandstand of the Potomac stadium.
It also made me think a little of Bowman Field in Williamsport PA where the locker rooms are part of the outer ring and the players have to cross the concourse by the fans to reach the field.
I bet I could have cleaned up as far as graphing goes in that alignment!

The team allowed us to walk around the stadium to take pictures and here was the one big regret of the day for me was when we asked to go to the team store, I didn't bring my briefcase because I figured I'd have to get tickets to get back in for the game.
When we walked up to the grandstand almost the entire team of Lowell was sitting in the stands.
I could have gotten almost all my cards signed then and there.
Bad luck.
I spoke to a few of them and asked if any had played for Greenville and saw the Muni.
One spoke up and said he had and said "pretty comparable to here".
After about five minutes, the guys must have gotten a text that said game called, because they all leaped up and went back to the locker room.
It was still raining and the rain intensified as the players waited for the bus and that helped my decision to not ask them to sign as they waited.
I just didn't want to gamble on rain messing the cards up.

Long drive home filled with rain and good conversation, although we drove by the Altoona park, who must have avoided the rain and managed to get their game in against Richmond.
It's too bad that the New York/Penn League is moving out of the small city/old-time ballpark situations.
Towns like Oneonta NY, Jamestown, and Batavia NY simply aren't big enough towns to keep teams anymore without building new parks and the desire to do so (or just as likely the money) are not enough to keep those towns baseball heritage alive.
So we move onto bigger population areas with brand new (and nice) stadiums that make more money, which is understandable, but I have to feel that we are losing something for days gone by.
The rookie and short-season leagues are made for small towns to help the youngest players get their feet wet as pros, I would hate to totally lose that altogether in the quest for big profits.

I didn't see one pitch thrown on a day devoted to baseball, but I still had a great time spending the day with Ryan.
Nine hours in the car round trip seems like a long time on paper, but it was not in real-time.
It was like a step back in time as we talked, laughed, looked back, and yet forward on the same day.
Great experience without the end result and I hope to make another road trip with Ryan soon and maybe even before the end of the season with some luck...

I'll have some more pictures as I get them from Ryan to add to this post.