Author Archives: Tales From The Bleachers

Apr 05 2024
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Baseball

Everything Is Possible

“Opening day. All you have to do is say the words and you feel the shutters thrown wide, the room air out, the light pour in. In baseball, no other day is so pure with possibility. No scores yet, no losses, no blame or disappointment. No hangover, at least until the game’s over.” This quote, from Mary Schmich, Pulitzer Prize winning columnist at the Chicago Tribune, says it all. At least to me – and to baseball lovers everywhere.

Today is April 5, 2024 – and while the country is buzzing in anticipation of Monday’s eclipse, in the world of baseball all that matters is – IT’S BASEBALL SEASON! The now annual right of passage here in Colorado is, of course, the Colorado Rockies home opener…a day that my husband and friends have made an annual celebration of possibility, shenanigans, and generally a day to embrace the outlook of a pure optimist! (Let’s set aside the fact that the Rockies have already sort of blown the optimism of any sort of possibilities once again this season but HEY, we’re only a week in people! Stay with me here…)

But wait, there’s more! Today also marks OPENING DAY for the Midland Rockhounds! The AA field team for the Oakland A’s, who’s roster includes our son Jack…who, along with his brother Kyle were, of course the inspiration for this blog more than a few years ago. Once again, today, Jack gets to PLAY. BASEBALL. Imagine – run onto the diamond, feel the grass, look up at a blue sky. And we, the sports parents, get to go along for the ride.

How will you step into the day today? There are the things we can choose to carry into each day – a heaviness about the world as it is, the suffering taking place in different parts of the world, anxiety about the future of the planet, perhaps your own personal struggles at the moment. But maybe, today we can all step out of the worry, set down or let go of the heaviness, for a moment. And look up at the blue sky, kick off our shoes and feel the grass under our feet, and just know that every day, if we decide to embrace it, anything is possible. Especially on opening day.

GO ROCKHOUNDS, GO ROCKIES, and forever in our hearts..GO TRIBE! (you can take the girl out of Cleveland…)

PLAY BALL!

Jun 18 2022
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Baseball, Uncategorized

And…we’re back!

The 2019 Collegiate Division one baseball season started strong! We launched the HOTDOGBLOG- Miami U went to playoffs, the USF Dons as well – we charged into the 2020 season with a dedicated fund to travel to college baseball nearly every weekend – with a Senior and and Sophomore healthy and ready to rock. And. Then.

But here we are – 2022. The inspiration for this blog are now college graduates, both with degrees and Magna Cum Laude status and student-athlete accolades. From T-Ball to D1 college, what a ride. But…the ride continues, and you are invited to come along, still. I’m back on the blog. We are still in the bleachers. I remember the first bleachers – a three-row job but then we sat on blankets. Watching dads who just wanted to teach the game to their tots. Not yell, not scream, not throw tantrums. Baggy jerseys, ill-fitting helmets, awkward swings, a little brother who was not technically allowed to approach the T. And here we are today, from seats along first base line in Lansing, Michigan at Jackson Field. Home of the Lansing Lugnuts, high A team for the Oakland A’s, still cheering, still rating hot dogs.

Is this heaven?

Mar 14 2020
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Baseball, Youth Sports

Say It Ain’t So

Just your basic mid-week game. No streaming video today so I clicked on the stats link to follow Kyle and the Redhawks as they take on Penn State at home in Oxford, Ohio. A true field of dreams.

As I clicked from the stats page to my email, to an open document the pings started rolling in on imessage…Kansas has pulled out of the NCAA tourney. Wait, now NCAA has cancelled March madness – THIS is madness. It’s bottom of the 3rd in Miami and the Hawks are down 1-0.

Then a message from Jack…their team bus has turned around mid-trip to Pepperdine for their weekend series. What? The games are off. Kyle’s up in Oxford. A single to right! An alert on twitter: MLB Spring training is cancelled. What? THIS is madness…say it ain’t so!

Click over to the game happening in Oxford – could this be the only baseball game happening in the USA today? Miami pulls ahead in the 5th it’s 3-1 go Redhawks!

Another text from Jack – their college baseball season is suspended. The disbelief, disappointment confusion is palpable even via text message. I click over to twitter – NCAA has cancelled all championships and spring sports. Slowly it becomes clear: this happening – this is the last baseball game. The boys in Oxford have no idea – they’re just playing a ball game.

The seniors have no idea that they quite likely playing the last game of their baseball career.

The last baseball game. You know it’s coming. For those of us on the bleachers and those on the field you know it’s a gift to get to keep playing and watching your kid through high school, then college…maybe you make it to the next level but at some point – it’s the last game. For our part, we thought – well, it’s quite likely this May – maybe they’ll stretch it to the spring tourney. Travel plans are in place to take in as many in person as possible…soak it up, the end will come. Soak it up.

Kyle’s up again, bottom of the 8th – another single! Thank God – because we know what he doesn’t – that was likely his last at bat. Because this is not just a mid-week game. This is the twilight zone, this is no longer baseball season, no longer college basketball tourney season, no longer spring training season – it’s “Corona Virus season.” Kyle’s waved home! Miami stretches the lead to 4-1!

The heartache is real, it’s physical. These athletes – these kids – have not known a day without thinking about their sport. It’s a workout, a practice, hitting, planning meals, fitting in homework, sleep, social life – it ALL revolves around the game. The beautiful game. The last game.

Miami wins! Final 5-1! Game 1 of a 3 game series, that won’t be played out. As I gaze at the final on the stats page I can see it in my mind’s eye as clear as it was last week – the team is high-fiving, criss-crossing the pitchers mound shaking the other team’s hands, then, routine as ever, heading to the outfield to hear from coach. It’s the post-game talk they could have not imagined. The one they are not ready to hear. The one they will never be ready to hear. How do you tell them? How can you prepare for the last game?

I click off the screen. A short while later my phone rings and Kyle’s image pops up. Please, please say it ain’t so.

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Mar 08 2020
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Baseball, food

HOT DOG BLOG II: Goodwin Field Cal State Fullerton

HOT DOG 2 – Road trip 2 on the season and excitement is high! Expectations: same! The main event: USF v. Cal State. Great series, great fans, great kid. The hot dog? Another disappointment. 😩 Bland at best. These dogs looked to be on a roller. We’re finessing this system as we go – future dogs will be limited to onions, mustard, onions and relish – but this dog cried out for some oomph – so we did add jalapenos – but even then – blah. We found the sun in SoCal but nothing heartwarming about the Titan dog.

The park is Goodwin Field, home of the Cal State Fullerton Titans.

Wiener rating: 🌭

Price: $6

Color: decent

Taste: bland

Texture: mushy

Snap: lame

Bun: ends stale – inconsistent

Boring, boring boring. This dog also seemed too small for the bun, but here at the Hot Dog Blog we insist size doesn’t matter. See you at the next stop baseball fans…Oxford, Ohio.

Feb 29 2020
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Baseball, college baseball, Fan fun, food

The Hot Dog Blog 1: Olsen Field at Bluebell Park

Welcome to the hot dog blog 🌭!  A new feature here at Tales From The Bleachers because (obvious alert) no visit to a baseball park, stadium or field would be complete without a hot dog am I right? So as we travel the 2020 college baseball circuit following the #Miamiredhawks and #SanFranciscoDons this season, we’ll also be putting the dogs to the test. I won’t take this space to suggest HOW you should eat your dog (no ketchup!) but rather provide a public service should you find yourself at any of the friendly confines we have the privilege of visiting this season. Our opinion is really all that matters, because it’s our hot dog blog – but we’d love to hear from you if you have a winner, a can’t miss combo of condiments, a ball field dog that is not to be missed.

We have parameters – I mean we’re not out here winging it – here they are:

  • Price
  • Color
  • Taste
  • Texture
  • Snap
  • Bun quality

Outstanding experiences awarded weiner rating from 1-5 with five suggesting it’s worth a visit 🌭🌭🌭🌭🌭. If our experience is pure sadness, one dog: 🌭. Hold on to your buns, here we go…

HOT DOG 1

The park is Olsen Field at Bluebell Park. Home of the Texas A&M Aggies, College Station Texas.

Wiener rating: 🌭

 

 

Price: $7

Color: brownish

Taste: old

Texture: dry

Snap: result of oldness

Bun: stale

Comments: The Aggies are really phoning this in. This dog seemed to be brought out from the (very late) night before. I mean is this what passes for a hot dog in the pork-loving, bbq-bragging lone star state? You should be ashamed of yourselves. Suggestion: spend as much time on your hot dogs as your fans spend prepping to  heckle the visiting team.

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Feb 22 2020
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Uncategorized

Fanatics

Fanaticism as Wikipedia defines (from the Latin adverb fānāticē (fren-fānāticus; enthusiastic, ecstatic; raging, fanatical, furious)[1]) is a belief or behavior involving uncritical zeal or with an obsessive enthusiasm. The fanatic displays very strict standards and little tolerance for contrary ideas or opinions. Tõnu Lehtsaar has defined the term fanaticism as “the pursuit or defense of something in an extreme and passionate way that goes beyond normality.”

Hey, we all need to express ourselves – when it comes to our sports teams, we don a ball cap with their logo. Maybe going all in with a t-shirt and sweatshirt as well. We are united in our support and want to express our allegiance and connect with like-minded parents, siblings, school-mates, friends and strangers. It’s a great feeling to “find your tribe.” But the extreme fanatic’s singular focus takes it beyond self-expression. And there are few areas of our modern lives that brings out the fanatics quite like sports. Having said that, I have never really experienced or observed intense fanaticism related to the sport of baseball. Football, of course. Hockey, absolutely – and while never personally experiencing a professional, international football (soccer) game, obviously wild fanaticism rules the day. But the “beautiful game” is more often associated with laid back, slow-pace appreciation and a leisurely way to spend an afternoon. Well, not in Texas my friends…

Game one at the home of the SEC conference Aggie’s was, for our mid-american conference neck of the woods – a blow-out. From the get-go we knew their highly ranked – likely first round draft pitcher was no match for our boys. But I’m getting ahead of myself. My first impression of the robust student-section was “wow!” Just witnessing this kind of fan support for college baseball was awesome. I haven’t seen that sort of energy on display in many college parks during the regular season. As the game got rolling it was clear these fans had done the work – bubble machines perfectly coordinated upon a run. The humiliation of the ball count as we cringe through consecutive walks: “ball 6, ball 6, ball 6…ball 7, ball 7, ball 7… The sea of outreached arms with fingers fluttering on strike 2… But what was most impressive is the heckling. These fans don’t just know the opposing players names, they scour social media for details and tidbits about their girlfriends, their majors, their hometowns then taunt, laugh, scream. It’s extraordinary. It’s intense. It’s fanatical.

IMHO it was all very admirable in support of the sport of baseball…until it became obnoxious. As the score became more like a football score…8-0, 9-0, 10-1….15-1 you kind of think, okay, maybe letting up a bit won’t hurt. Nope. Worse, the team/coaches still taking aggressive base running approach fueling the fan base. For me, it crossed over and became not about supporting the team, but taking on that bully tone. Can we just stick with the mellow, beautiful pace of the game and give it the old college cheer for our boys? Not here. Not in Texas. Like everything there I guess it’s true: it’s bigger in Texas – and if you’re not going to go big, well – go home. Onward…see you in Cali soon readers!

Feb 15 2020
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Here we go…

 

I remember starting this blog when my boys were playing little league baseball. Inspired isn’t quite the word – it was more that I was compelled to share the crazy underbelly of insanity of youth sports. At the time my boys were playing three sports, and it was prior to the internet frenzy of outrageously bad behavior among parents and coaches. Back then – the periodic outburst among and between coaches and parents was fairly uncommon – at least for us. Over the course of their athletic seasons from grade school to junior high to high school to college selection we lived and observed the slow unraveling of appropriate behavior, respect and boundaries from season to season. At the same time we were living through the evolution of youth sports – this transition from “kids playing sports to PLAY sports” to the “youth athlete as specialist” – with options and choices shrinking for kids. Passion and fun slowly giving way to more serious competition and grooming for the next level. So with that as the backdrop – I thought it would be a fun idea to record the ride, but maybe share some lessons and knowledge with other parents, or just entertain a bit. I mean on balance, even as the world of kids sports was evolving…it was and is – an absolute blast.

Alas, like so many with the grand idea of starting a blog because the world needs to know…my posts became fewer and farther between. Even though I filled a file folder and notebook with fun, crazy and emotional drafts, the urgency of the message slowly faded. Well…here we are. It’s February 14th 2020 and those little leaguers opened their respective 5th and 3rd division one college season today! For me and their dad – it’s the last season we’ll have two boys playing college baseball – so we’ve scheduled the dog sitters, reserved our flights, hotel rooms, pulled out all our Redhawks and Dons gear and are off on a marathon of college baseball this Spring!

I’d love it if you would come along with us for a few more Tales from the Bleachers. We’ll travel back to the wooden bleachers at “K&E” little league field, to the metal ones at the Chatfield High Chargers’ diamond – I’ll regale with past and present visits to the million dollar baseball facility in Oxford Ohio, to the sweeping views of the San Francisco skyline from the Dons’ friendly confines. So many tales to share, and I’m just as curious as you about where this spring will take us (and the boys.) First stop: College Station TX where the Redhawks take on the formidable Texas A&M Aggies.

Here we go!

Mar 12 2019
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Life lessons, What I've learned

The Leap

I’m a business owner. A small-business owner. A woman-small-business owner. Every year my business partner and I reflect on how we got here (props to Talking Heads…) We were both earning a good salary, living life without too many bumps or bruises. What was that impulse? Mutual outrage.

I was 38 with two small boys, and a husband in the process of changing careers via start-ups. My naiveté and impatience overshadowed the fact that I was basically the sole breadwinner. And my now-business partner and I had a dynamic that allowed us to amp up our annoyance at the incompetence (or so we thought) and dysfunction that surrounded us at our previous firm. In our view the workflow was cumbersome and the pressure to scream through a project and move to the next was inherently flawed. What if we were able to just dig in and really invest in our clients. Give them honest counsel? Tell them when an idea stunk and was doomed to fail? Hmm, it might actually be more “fun.” Wouldn’t they see the value in our partnership? See we were better than a competitor that just treated their business as a commodity? A few industry veterans suggested no. That volume is where profit is realized. Get efficient, close a sale, hand the project off to the internal staff, move on to the next sale and repeat.

Despite that advice…we launched Boom 15 years ago. Our philosophy? “Fewer clients, more personal attention.” If that sounds familiar, you must be a Jerry Maguire fan…remember the “memo”? It was called “The Things We Think and Do Not Say: The Future of Our Business” and got him fired. Well — we didn’t get fired, but walked away from a pretty good gig to try to do it better. And…I think we’ve succeeded. The business of media relations and content placement (broadcast PR), has been, is and will keep on evolving. In fact, our “keep it simple” business model allowed us to weather the effects of the 2008 recession on marketing agencies pretty well. There was no term “virtual office” then, but that’s what we had created simply to do away with unnecessary overhead. We tapped the talent we had worked with and for years. No one was cutting their teeth on the business. Everyone was treated as a professional. And something funny happened the first week we were official: two of the biggest consumer brands in the country came to us for help. Both client contacts happened to be women who knew us personally, how we operated, and how we had treated them. We were off and running.

I write this in hopes to inspire you — if you have long been dreaming, thinking, imagining what your thing might be, if you’re ready to cut the chord — it doesn’t have to be some crazy leap. Maybe it’s just the simple reality that you can do it a little better. Maybe a little smaller, but a little better. Technology, industry evolution aside — people are still people and want to be considered, listened to, and supported.

For our part, we can’t control the demands of marketers, objectives, and analytics, but as long as we stay focused on the principal that inspired us to go it on our own…I’m confident we’ll keep on keepin’ on. A small aside: as evidence of the work and the payoffs, we recently had the honor of working to support the first responders during the Carolina floods and California fires via @musicforrelief — and were flattered to be recognized among other much bigger players (CAA, Universal, Waner Music Group…) — it’s work like this that feeds that idea we hatched (borrowed…) 15 years ago. Onward!

You can check out more of the cool stuff we get to work on and just a few of the many messages we care about here.

Nov 15 2018
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Uncategorized

I Started a Blog and Here Are All of Them

So 12 years later…

Should have, could have, would have – right? This blog COULD HAVE BEEN SOMETHING! I wrote ideas and funny topics and stories on scraps of paper that were to be great blogs, filed them, planned to schedule the releases manually..pre-hootsuite!…Tales about life as a parent, about life as a parent observing kids, about parents observing crazy parents observing youth sports, of the dynamics of high school sports boosters and crazy high school parents and coaches, oh and then college sports, the kids, raising them, blah, blah, blah. This was sort of before twitter and the FB – wow it could have been big! But here we are. I’m 50 something and the kids are 20 something. So many stories, so much “if I knew then what I know now” sort of stuff. But.

But – that is how life is lived. Hopefully we’re all too busy to document, selfie, post it because we’re living it. But. At the core if the idea for tales from the bleachers – it was to observe and try to extract some logic or learning from this trip as it was taken. But. Today for some reason it’s all very clear to me – the path, how to navigate it, how to advise and lead if you are:

  • teen girl
  • teen boy
  • genX/boomers/sandwiching

so. you’re welcome.

Teens (boys and girls):

  • Wash with soap in the shape of a bar
  • Use the deodorant version on your armpits AND your face (can’t beat that drying factor to beat the acne)
  • …unless you have noxema. then use that!
  • Moisturize with – whatever is as close to natural as possible like baby oil (not natural) or coconut oil or vaseline (not natural.)  Unless you used noxema, then you’re good to go.
  • Stop messing with your eyebrows.
  • Hang around with people who make you laugh, and who you feel comfortable trying to make laugh.
  • Keep most of your clothes off the floor and in a closet or a drawer folded in some way. Hang on to this habit.
  • Walk the dog now and then.
  • Brush your tongue.

My Gen

  • Respect your parents. They were the last generation to raise a generation that are likely to exceed their parents’ “success.” And they did it without tracking us on a phone – they relied on the streetlights and one unlocked window in the house that you thought you were sneaking in but it was really so that you didn’t wake them up when you were drunk.
  • Know that there is no need to actually, probably, exceed their “success” because…all that extra crap will just be crap your kids have to give away or throw away…you know – later.
  • Fucking chill and take a breath and enjoy your kids’ need to explore and find what they love – especially because you’ve told them they can do “anything they set their minds to”
  • Wash your face with a cheap bar of soap (or noxema) and moisturize with baby oil or nothing (esp if you used noxema)
  • Walk the dog now and then.
Nov 27 2017
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Life lessons, Uncategorized, Youth Sports Image

Tears of an Athlete

There’s no crying in baseball. And in football…

Watching Paxton Lynch in tears on the sidelines yesterday during the Broncos/Raiders game tore at my heartstrings. It immediately transported me back to those games my own kids played in that ended in tears or grappling with tears, hours of silence and retreats to their bedrooms to try to reconcile their emotions. My kids are of the male type which adds another layer to the agony of defeat. Let’s face it, when we see a female group of athletes letting their emotions run over we don’t blink an eye. When their male counterparts can’t keep the intense emotion from literally overflowing, there’s a level of judgement. Regardless of the age or gender or level of the athlete, the pressure and emotion associated with playing a sport is real, it’s intense, and it deserves a little space and a little respect. Here are the three occasions where we grappled with the tears of an athlete:

THE LAST GAME. For most youth athletes, this is the last game of their senior season. More often than not it ends on a loss, not a win. For those select few the reality that their time as an athlete has likely come to an end is overshadowed by the hoist of a championship trophy. But for the majority, it’s the stark reality: this is the last time I’ll play a game with these guys. I remember when my oldest was a sophomore in high school and was invited to dress for a varsity playoff game. They lost. When Kyle met us in the parking lot he was pie-eyed. The first words out of his mouth were “I’ve never seen that many guys crying.” Then he said: “I have about 16 more football games in my whole life.” The last game is tough. The majority won’t play an organized sport again and the loss of that last game, the loss of that team bond, the brotherhood or sisterhood of team sports – it’s tough. The tears need to flow.

THE MIGHTY CASEY STRIKES OUT. If your kid was ever the hero of the game, the day they can’t deliver in that same pressure situation is a day for a good cry. The amount of pressure we (the collective we: parents, coaches, other parents…) put on our youth athletes today – and the amount of pressure they put on themselves is completely out of control. But it’s real. When they get in the car, when they arrive home after that loss and believe they let their team down – give them space, let them wallow, pout, shut off for a bit. And make no mistake, it can be almost as hard for a parent to watch their kid go through this. But, it’s part of life – we fall, we get up…my kids are the young men they are because they had to grapple with these disappointments. “First world disappointments” for sure, but it’s all relative in my book. But p.s. after a reasonable amount of time of wallowing – be the parent and help them snap out of it.

SEASON ENDING INJURY. Whether a youth athlete, a high school or college student-athlete, or a professional, the shock and frustration of an injury that takes them out for the season is more than a disappointment. Their mindset for months has likely been homed in on the next season. They’ve practiced, trained, and looked forward to this day, this time. A recent study showed a positive association between a healthy life outlook and an event to look forward to. Having something in the future that we rely on has a physical effect on us. For the athlete, this sudden shift is truly an emotionally catastrophic turn of events. Yesterday, a highly regarded QB tried to endure not only a poor performance on the field, but then a season and possibly career ending injury. His entire life up to this point had been preparing him for this day – only to come crushing down. Yes, he is a highly paid professional. Yes there are worse things that can happen to a person and in fact are happening to humans every day on the planet. But in that moment, in that world, tears flow. Let them.

 

 

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