Tag Archives: Baseball

Baseball, Apple Pie and Chevrolet

And law suits:

MANCHESTER TOWNSHIP, N.J. – A New Jersey woman who was struck in the face with a baseballat a Little League game is suing the young catcher who threw it.

Elizabeth Lloyd is seeking more than $150,000 in damages to cover medical costs stemming from the incident at a Manchester Little League game two years ago. She’s also seeking an undefined amount for pain and suffering.

Lloyd was sitting at a picnic table near a fenced-in bullpen when she was hit with the ball.

Catcher Matthew Migliaccio was 11 years old at the time and was warming up a pitcher.

The lawsuit filed April 24 alleges Migliaccio’s errant throw was intentional and reckless, “assaulted and battered” Lloyd and caused “severe, painful and permanent” injuries.

A second count alleges Migliaccio’s actions were negligent and careless through “engaging in inappropriate physical and/or sporting activity” near Lloyd. She continues to suffer pain and anguish, incur medical expenses and has been unable to carry out her usual duties and activities, the lawsuit says.

And Lloyd’s husband, in a third count, is suing for the loss of “services, society and consortium” of his wife. They’ve demanded a jury trial.

What kind of special hell must we live in before people just wake up and slap those around us into reality?

The Separation of Church And Sports

We are mostly a peaceful society.  And in those cases where our nation does wage war, most of us have little danger of facing any chance at combat.  The age of the “warrior” is mostly over.

I have always thought that it’s in our DNA to wage that war, however.  I think that in our DNA is the warrior, the defender of our “tribe”.  It’s what explains the “atic” in “fan”.  It takes the mild and meek long haired dude in the office and turns him into the illogical screaming fool who lives and [mostly] dies with the Vikings and the Twins. It’s that thing within us that can only be explained by a long standing evolutionary thing.

And when humans reach into their inner nether regions to grasp and channel this “yawlp” it shouldn’t be a surprise when we find another, strangely similar concept:

God.

And so it is that I don’t understand the conflict:

Tim Tebow is an N.F.L. quarterback, and Tim Tebow is an outspoken Christian. And while quarterback controversies are almost as common as quarterbacks, who play perhaps the most scrutinized position in American sports, what has erupted around Tebow this season is altogether different.

At the intersection of faith and football, the fervor that surrounds both Tebow’s beliefs and his struggles in his second season for the Denver Broncos has escalated into a full-blown national debate over religion and its place in sports.

I guess I get the idea that the religious guys are the soft spoken gentle soul.  Characteristics not usually associated with the battle that is sports.  I remember when Gary Gaetti found God.  He was never the same player again.  So I get that aspect of it.

But I don’t understand the mockery of it all.  If a players obtains his inspiration from God, or from a desire to be the best or from wanting to bang Jessica Simpson, who cares?  In fact, the idea that warriors took to the field in defense of their god is a history as long as the history of war.

I don’t see religion and sports as contradictions.  I see them as complimentary forces.

Middle Class Thoughts

I just went upstairs to change clothes; I’m going to mow the lawn.

When I came down, my son had paused the Cubs game so that he could go to the bathroom.

My son is 5.

When I was 5 I didn’t have cable, couldn’t watch Cubs games and certainly had to wait until they changed sides to take a leak.

I think life is like baseball. Which makes it pretty hard to day that we don’t have it way WAY better today than we did 37 years ago.

Baseball Was Better Yesterday Than It Is Today

Harmon Killebrew

1936 – 2011

This one’s tough:

Harmon Clayton Killebrew, an iconic Minnesota Twin known for his prodigious home runs and humble demeanor, passed away Tuesday morning at his Scottsdale, Ariz., home at the age of 74 after a nearly five-month battle with esophageal cancer.

I’m sure it’s urban myth, but a favorite back home is the story of a reporter speaking with Killer during the height of the steroids controversy.  The young man asked Killebrew how many home runs he could hit if he were playing today?  Killebrew kinda looked past the reporter, pondered the question for a second, sighed and said, “Well, I think I could hit 15, probably a few more if I was lucky.”

“15!?!”,  responded the reporter?  “Only 15?  Are the pitchers that tough today?  You just don’t think you could hit ’em?”

Killer kinda grinned at the reporter “Son, theyre no tougher today than when I was YOUR age.  But you have to know, I’m 65!”

Damn!

RIP Mr. Killebrew