simonzelotes

I think there's always going to be a somewhat different approach to youth sports between men and women,and I think that's a good thing,really...I'll be sitting with the dads,and you'll hear all the moms a-hootin' and a-hollerin' cuz' their little Johnnie made it to first base when the catcher dropped strike three,and the dad's all p.o.ed because little Johnnie didn't swing the bat like he's been trying to teach him all this time... I remember a young man,about 10,standing at home plate,in his stance,bat cocked and ready to swing and suddenly started peeing his pants,wetting the batter's box...We all tried to act nonchalant,but everybody knew what happened...I've wondered if that kid is going to grow up one day and be a great motivational speaker,addressing his audience: "Hey,what are you afraid of?..What could possibly embarrass you more than I was that day at the batter's box?"...

....there's a day coming,when you're gonna be with me in paradise,and then it just fits like a hand in a glove,and WORKS!...with a mathematical exactness and scientific precision....and you don't have to run around...with your eyes closed...make a fool out of yourself...How many would YOU say were crucified with the Lord Jesus?..My Bible tells me FOUR!....One for the money,two for the show,three to get ready and four to go...This is the reason they were so sad,you see...Well,I guess we better get back to the Word...

A classic example as to why women should stay the hell out of sports and just mind the snackbar....Oops!...Crap!..How do I edit this thing?....Who taught us to go by first thought,anyway?... Really,I think you're a great mom,excie(even if Mackie doesn't)but he will soon get over the tears...If he can pitch,he's obviously a good athlete,and I'm sure he'll be playing in other key positions...Like Tom said giving his arm some time off will be beneficial in the long haul... I do think the league is a bit anal about the rules,being as they're only 10 year olds...I mean,all baseball is serious,and every game matters,as long as it's kept in the context that it is a game...Baseball is also a great leveler,or equalizer....One game does not ruin a season,or one season a career...I think versatility is one of the great qualities of a true ballplayer because baseball is a very versatile game...Your son will have this work to his advantage,...trust me... It does sound like the league prez could have been more forthright from the beginning,and saved you a lot of grief,but unfortunately,Dale Carnegie is not required reading for the organizers of youth baseball...People get power hungry in youth sports...Coaches...umps....parents...and sometimes the kids...Sports are emotional....That's what's good about them....That's also what's bad about them...Your boy will move along just fine...Just make sure you do ;)-->...

Fellowshipper,you make it home yet?....Bless the rest of you peoples...

Well,it's still nine-something here....You guys got it all wrong... Well,....I don't know who did the believing,...but I certainly didn't do the praying....Fellowman blows into town with his chillens and hillbilly pickup truck on his way to see Mickey Rat and Donald Disney...So we goes out for lunch and shipper has a Samuel Adams for the first time..Oh,and they're having a contest there....Order a Sam Adams,fill out a card,and if you're lucky,...or have the faith of a blind man planting a good mustard seed,they draw your name,you get to sit in a new Lazy-Boy recliner during the NCAA final and get your food and drinks for free and take the new Lazy-Boy home...Well guess who's itinerant wow-rover,here today-gone today's name get's drawn?...So fellowman will be back here Monday,so I could watch him in my chair watching Illinois beat North Carolina...As Leon Spinx would say, "God's my main man!"...

I believe the deep dish pizza place you're referring to Hap,was theSilo....I'm pretty sure it's no longer there... I remember all those names,some I knew more than others...But I was tripped out for a year or so back then....

I don't know,Tuttle,...but the blind guy was laid there daily....Lucky guy...

Take me out to the ballgame..Dawgs and cervaisa...And after the stRangers lose,Tom,you'll feel like those two guys on the road to Emmaus..."Did not our hearts burn within us...?"

Keilbasa is Polish sausage,you Okie... Go ahead and persecute me for misspelling dollop,Excie...See how you are?...I wouldn't be so paranoid if you weren't out to get me....Ask Dopp or Doop if he thinks I duped you into spelling dollop:dollap,like a dope...

...Can't get enough of your love,baby.... I read that story,and I'm hypothesizing a few things,myself...Like maybe Barry's conscience is getting to him...He's in a no-win situation,now...If he breaks the career homerun record,he'll get booed,knowing within himself he cheated to do it...Plus if he keeps playing,he'll increase his chances of getting caught using steroids and removing all doubt....Or,as Pirate suggests,he quits using them,goes back to being a 185 pound 41-year-old and can't hit the ball out of the park with the same frequency and doesn't reach the record... Maybe he can live with beating McGwire's record....a fellow 'roid's user....But Aaron's?....A guy who dealt with more racism than Bonds will ever imagine,a hero who did it cleanly... This may be the most diplomatic way for Bonds to gracefully bow out of this mess..Take time off to heal an injury,even the whole year...By the following year you're a year older and decide to hang 'em up for good,and the public understands...The hr record doesn't get broken,so he stops getting hounded about using steroids,past and current..He won't have to worry about perjuring himself...And he'll be able to look Hank Aaron and every Yankee fan in the eye...

I'm ok.You're ok..... What poppycock.... Well Easter's coming up,and I'm going to give you my recipe for my Easter meal,which I've eaten nearly every Easter Sunday since I was a kid...I find it even tastier than the delicious hot meal I enjoyed with the Tuttles... Slice up a couple of the colored easter eggs and throw them into a large cereal bowl. Add in a large handful of diced ham. Slice and add one decent length of keilbasa. Add a large enough dollap of horseradish so your eyes water and nose burns with every bite. Pour cold buttermilk over the entire concoction,sit in your favorite chair,tune in King of Kings or some other religious movie,and dig in...

Well,it's like Rocky told me the other day,Rafael Palmeiro did not take steroids,but he was pitching other performance enhancing drugs... Good points made here all around,but I have to agree with George about 'tell that to the kids'..It's common knowledge at my kid's school that some of the senior athletes are on steroids...Many highschool ballplayers have visions of making it to the pros...Why do you think they all own wooden bats?.... This isn't about athletes being role models....This is about athletes outlining their formula for success:learn the fundamentals,practice and take plenty of steroids...BTW,StayedTooLong,they were illegal at the time Bonds and McGwire were alleged to have used them...

I didn't see that,Tom,but I was talking to another pitcher's dad about some of the same stuff today...I don't think you can legislate overzealous dad's living vicariously through their sons trying to push them to the next level and outdoing their peers...Even at the youth level there's plenty of time and games for the kid's to show what they got,and I think a lot of parents and coaches do these kids a disservice by pushing them at 12,13 to try to get an edge on their competition... My son plays year-round ball,but doesn't do alot of pitching in the off-season...mainly infielding...But I guess the upside is,(and I don't know if anybody really knows exactly when a kid is throwing too many pitches,or is too young to throw a curveball)that most kids will not go on to play major league ball,and if they throw their arm out,usually it just means that they can't pitch any more,and they know in themselves that they pushed themselves to their limit...We had two kids at our school that required arm surgery,but one of them wasn't even a pitcher...Sometimes,it's just a risk you take,like in dirt-biking,skateboarding,girl-chasing....

No,Laleo,I am not John Lynn... But I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night....

Hi,again Dovey...What's your boy up to now?...Last year you mentioned something about him playing in highschool and other tournaments...Is he still hitting the cover off the ball?

Thanks,Laleo... There you go again,asking the tough questions :)-->...They are questions I enjoy answering,but on the internet I tend to be more careful with my wording so it doesn't come out sounding real stupid,...for all to see,...day after day,week after week,until the thread ends up in the archives somewhere(I guess that's one difference between the internet and real-life)... In thinking about what you,or Belle or MJ said,I realize I am interacting with genuine people here,who are posting their real thoughts and ideals,oftentimes,their most intimate one's...And believe it or not,I take that pretty seriously...If I seem overly cynical about the cultishness of this site,one need only look at the two-thousand-and-something posts below my handle to see that I am also wearing the shoe.... I think,when "cult" is used here the focus tends to be on the "controller",i.e.,TWI,whereas I tend to think more about the "controllees",myself included...Which goes back to what I said about learning more about myself...Laying aside the social aspect of GS for a minute,do you think whatever voids,or deficiencies,we had in our lives that caused us to whip out the checkbook and buy the way's product,even if it was merely a sense of belonging somewhere,are still lurking somewhere in our beings that caused us to join greasespot?...Even if Pawtucket doesn't require us to put 'God' at the top of our posts,or to post daily,do we still require ourselves to belong to a group,even if it's a much less demanding group? As far as weighing real-life gathering places with here,the sex is definitely better in real-life.....Wait-I didn't just say that,did I?...Well,I didn't mean to... This place,or any other forum,for that matter,can quite easily become a crutch,and we can find our real-world social skills diminishing...Here,we can butt into any conversation of our choosing without saying "excuse me"...Why is it so much easier to be open with people we know so little about,other than maybe their handle,but we have such a difficult time getting past the small talk with people we interact with in real-life on a regular basis?...Is it because the people are better here,or does the limited mode of communication and the safety of our anonymity appropiate our living with our social 'hangups'?...When you think about it,the rewards are limited on a forum such as this...I mean,((((Laleo)))),((((Belle)))),((((Pawtucket)))),((((Simon))))is not quite the same as a real live group-hug :D-->.... I suppose there are times when a forum such as this is all the socializing we have room for...Then again,it isn't as though you've got an ex-wayfer living on every street corner either,to chat about things we chat about here,either...I'm wondering if all this is answering Moddishwasher's original question...

Thank you,Mstar... Dick died much too young... Well,I'm happy as a pig in slop....My boy's been mired in a bad hitting slump,still batting leadoff,but his timing's been off...Today we were playing our arch-rivals,tied 10-10 in extra innings,and he smoked a two out walk-off gapper...Tomorrow,he'll be pitching for varsity,so he's good to be around again... I know the feeling about the Red Sox this year....The way you're describing them sounds more like Rocky's attitude in the first fight w/ Mr. T... That's what happened to the '85 Bears...They should have won about three or four Super Bowls,but lost their focus...They say the hardest thing to do in sports is to repeat as champs....We'll see... I've been too busy to really go to any spring baseball out here...I read about it,but I tend to get more in the know when the season gets underway...I love when the first hitting and pitching statistics shows up in the Sunday sports page,after like 10 games into the season...Some guy will already have seven homers and 15 rbi's so you project in your mind(lessee,at this rate,over a 162 game schedule,he should end up with 113 homers and 243 rbi's)... I'm a little leary of getting too excited about the Cubbies this year until they show me something...They should have been in the playoffs last year...I don't want to go through that disappointment again,but I know I'll still be watching....

Well,I gotta ask,are the amount of posts in general going down?...If so,it's probably because the size of TWI is decreasing,so this ex-cult site would have less ex-cultists to draw from... I don't think GS in itself,as far as rules and moderators and such,would be the reason people stop or slow down on their posting...Things have a way of running out their course...There seems to be a lot more TWI II people here,which I find,I don't have as much in common with...'About The Way' topics,that deal in the post-nineties era,may pique my interest,but don't leave me much to contribute... And I suppose,while the intent of greasespot may be to get the real inside story about the TWI,we may end up getting the real inside story about our own selves...Truthfully,I think I discovered more about myself here than I did about the way.... People stopping,or slowing down on their posting should actually be expected,and regarded as a good thing,unless we want greasespot to be more cultish :)--> than it already is...After all,once you've exorcized the way demons out of your brain,the discussions can become old hat... I am also(Bullinger) weighing the social value of an internet forum versus real-life gathering places...I imagine I'm not the only one(Lennon)...

Gotta check in to my other favorite tread...Real life and real baseball takes it's toll... I'm kinda letting the 'roids story play itself out...Baseball will prevail over this,but it was getting too goddamn popular and corporate,anyway...Hopefully,I good scandal will drive off some of the fair-weather,star-struck fans that contribute to the high ticket prices... I don't think there'll be any asterisks and such,but the cat is already out of the bag,and as long as this generation of baseball fan is alive,the nineties up to the odd-fives will be remembered as the era of ballooned numbers inflated by steroids...Hopefully,a lot more highschool and college kids will abstain from taking them to get their shot at getting noticed...Like the young girl who becomes anorexic,or boulemic,jeopardizing their long-term health for a chance as a big-time model...I'm more concerned with the impressionable kids getting started on steroids...to hell with the pro players...they should know better... The 'mantle' has officially changed in my household...Instead of me giving my son pointers at the batting cage on hitting,he's now giving me hitting instructions..I impressed him the other day,smacking the 70 mph pitches with authority(well,at least for me,anyway)...I told him I oughta join an adult baseball league...He said,"Why don't you then,instead of just talking about it?"...That punk....Who is he to talk to me that way?....Hmmmm

Hi,you'nzall, Just checkin' in to let you know I haven't been crucified,or gotten Alzheimer's and forgotten my way,or gone out WOW II in TWI III,or joined the Sunset Corpse with our dear,departed brother,Clarence,God rest his soul... I want to be sure when the roll is called up yonder I'll be there(I'll be there)...

Does anybody here speak in tongues while they're posting?....

Welcome back,mstar....Highschool baseball is starting now,the kids are having fun,the dark winter of the 'no baseball soul' is purt near over....

Now,now....keep my truck outa this....Let's try and be a little more sensitive around here,shall we?

Ya got me there....10% of nuthin' is still nuthin'...

Linda,...Please try not to be so sensible....or I may end up joining your cult....