Youth Sports Post: Spring Sports

With Spring comes spring sports.

My son, Jeremiah, will play baseball. These photos are from practice. We've had one game but Jeremiah didn't play because of grades, alas. We lost. I think he's got those grades up now, so maybe he can help us to our first win this weekend.

Soccer has kicked off as well.

That's Isaiah's sport. Last month he made the FC Spokane U18 team, and will play for them this summer.

As for the high school season, he, too, hasn't played yet because of grades, more's the pity. But he's busted his butt to be eligible, and should be playing this weekend. So far we have a record of 2 and 1, and Isaiah's return, I believe, will help us get firmly on the winning track.

Isaiah did play in a pre-season jamboree, and our team dominated. Isaiah looked very good.

I was surprised to see that last photo of mine on the front page of the Sports section in the local paper.

Actually, it's not mine. It was taken by Al Camp, one of the local sports reporters. I was out there taking photos, and so was he. He came over to talk to me, and give me pointers, so we were standing right next to each other when we shot the same play just a split second apart.

Hats Off To You, Mr. Robinson

Hats off to Jackie Robinson who, on April 15, 1947, broke the baseball color line when the Brooklyn Dodgers started him at first base.

Robinson said, "A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives." Each time I see my sons on the athletic field I am grateful for his courage, and for the impact he is having on their lives 67 years after he walked out onto Ebbets Field. And I hope his example will shape their lives well beyond the athletic field.

Leo Durocher, the Brooklyn manager in 1947, said of Robinson that he was "a Durocher with talent." He greatly admired Robinson, and made it clear to the other players on the Dodgers that he would trade them before tolerating any opposition to Robinson's joining the team. 

Robinson also said, "I'm not concerned with your liking or disliking me...all I ask is that you respect me as a human being." Durocher told us more about what Robinson meant by respect when he said of him, "Ya want a guy that comes to play. This guy didn't just come to play. He come to beat ya. He come to stuff the goddamn bat right up your ass."

I hope my sons will learn from that example as well.

Hats off to you, Mr. Robinson.

1955 Topps Baseball Card

Youth Sports Post: A Busy Spring Continues

Spring Sports: Orientation

Baseball--to the left.

Soccer--to the right.

Spring sky--everywhere you look.

Youth Sports Post: Doubles

There was more baseball today--a doubleheader. Speaking of double, here's an unusual double play. A double rundown. I worked this video up so members of the team could look it up online. It was a definite highlight of their double victory day.

Youth Sports Post: Baseball Season Opener

The latest sign of Spring appeared Thursday: High School baseball.

It was a chilly day, and there was still a little snow left along the backstop.

But there were more signs of Spring: midges from the nearby river swarming in the sun...

And Violet-Green swallows--my first sighting--swarming on the midges.

Jeremiah and the team were visitors at the same nearby town that suffered a loss from our soccer team this week. And they suffered another loss from our baseballers, a shutout that shut down early because of the ten-run rule.

Jeremiah played well. I was proud as could be.

If you want me in the next few weeks, I'll be driving back and forth to baseball and soccer games.

"Baseball" by John Updike

It looks easy from a distance,
easy and lazy, even,
until you stand up to the plate
and see the fastball sailing inside,
an inch from the chin,
or circle in the outfield
straining to get a bead
on a small black dot
a city block or more high,
a dark star that could fall
on your head like a leaden meteor.

The grass, the dirt, the deadly hops
between your feet and overeager glove:
football can be learned,
and basketball finessed, but
there is no hiding from baseball
the fact that some are chosen
and some are not--those whose mitts
feel too left-handed,
who are scared at third base
of the pulled line drive,
and at first base are scared
of the shortstop's wild throw
that stretches you out like a gutted deer.

There is nowhere to hide when the ball's
spotlight swivels your way,
and the chatter around you falls still,
and the mothers on the sidelines,
your own among them, hold their breaths,
and you whiff on a terrible pitch
or in the infield achieve
something with the ball so
ridiculous you blush for years.
It's easy to do. Baseball was
invented in America, where beneath
the good cheer and sly jazz the chance
of failure is everybody's right,
beginning with baseball.

"Baseball" by John Updike, from Endpoint. © Knopf, 2009.

Youth Sports Post: When You're Glad To Have a Son Who Steals

Youth Sports Post: A Celebration of a Great Season

I wasn't the only one to notice that we finally had good weather for baseball on the last day of the season.

It was a glorious day to go out on, sunny and 84 degrees.

It was a double header against a very good team. Jeremiah played center field both games.

We have a young team. We had only one senior to recognize today, and most of the rest, like Jeremiah, are Freshmen. So score-wise we didn't have too much to cheer about. They beat us both games, by lopsided margins. The first game was a shutout, but in the second game we rallied to score 3 runs. We all cheered like crazy for that moral victory.

Between games some of the parents of our team supplied a lunch--for both teams. Nice.

Isaiah was there, sort of, hanging out and wandering around with some of his soccer cronies.

Jeremiah didn't get that home run, nor did he get on base, but he got the bat on the ball a couple of times--also a moral victory against the excellent pitching of the other team.

And he covered center field pretty well, making some good catches. There were plenty of opportunities what with the big bats of the opponents. He almost made a circus catch, running full-tilt for a sky high fly and just getting his glove on the ball before rolling on the ground and coming up empty.

I think everybody had a great day, even the team that "lost." It was more than a game. It was a celebration of a great season of disappointments and triumphs, of working hard and making steady improvement, of going against the odds and never giving up, of overcoming obstacles and doing better than you thought you could, of coming to the end and feeling good, knowing that through it all you had done your best.

Way to go, guys.

Youth Sports Post: Spring Sports Winding Down

Spring sports are winding down. Soccer is over and a double header today will close out the baseball season.

Jeremiah has had his moments on the baseball team. This was his first triple, rounding out a handful of singles and a couple of doubles.

Maybe today he'll get a home run for the cycle. I'll keep my video camera handy just in case.

All Is Go For Launch...

I've been counting down for weeks, and we're almost there. Trout season opens on Saturday. Trout Lake, Brookie Lake, Cutthroat Lake--they'll all be there for the taking.

So I headed down the road this afternoon to do some things I needed to do. I went to the town of Omak, home of the world famous Omak Stampede and Suicide Race. That's where my daughter Lidia and her boyfriend Junior live, so of course I got to spend some time with my grandson Rodrigo Sebastian. RS3 (he's the third to carry the name Rodrigo, so Lidia and Junior call him RS3) just turned three months old. What a great kid. I think he likes me. He's still too young to fish, but if he's like his mother he'll be going along with me before you know it.

Later I stopped by to watch an away game for Jeremiah and the baseball team. The Omak field is in Stampede Park in sight of the Suicide Race hill. We lost pretty bad, but Jeremiah walked twice and got a clean hit, and pitched for an inning and a half. He held his own on the mound, and gets better with each outing. The shades were a nice touch today.

And there was one other thing I needed to do. I stopped at the fly shop inside the Big R store and picked up a few necessities for this Saturday. (I wish we had a locally owned fly shop, but we don't.) I needed floatant, and I always pick up new tippet material in 4X and 5X before the opener. I also needed some hooks for the muddlers I hope to tie before Saturday and throughout the season. And I've been putting off the purchase of a new fly line, but I couldn't put it off any longer. No more kinks!

Just the essentials, and nothing too fancy, so I got away with paying just under $80. Yes, it still seems like a lot of money to me, but compared to all that I'm actually getting for that small investment--pretty much a whole trout season--it's a bargain.

So things are looking good, the final countdown is underway, and all is go for launch...

Youth Sports Post: Baseball Weather

Youth Sports Post: Dream and Dedication

There was a double header on Saturday.

We were there, watching Jeremiah and his teammates sweep their opponents.

Meanwhile, behind us, there was a soccer game going on. Isaiah was there but didn't play. He still doesn't have enough practices in to be eligible. And, as I've pointed out before, his role will be limited because he's still rehabbing from ACL surgery in September.

Every time I glanced behind me the other team was scoring a goal. Knowing Isaiah, I can imagine how excruciating it is for him to have to just sit there on the bench and do nothing to help the team.

The soccer game was long over and the second baseball game was winding down when we started to wonder why Isaiah hadn't joined us yet. I looked over and saw why.

Over and over and over.

Take a dream, add dedication, and there will be no stopping it.

Click for Update: It all pays off.