Baseball is a tough game

As a sports fan, everyone wants to see their team do well. It has an even bigger impact when that team is right in your town and you have been a season ticket holder and one of the biggest fans of the team since their inception back in 1993. The team, and it’s players take on an even bigger role once you really begin to get to know the players as real people and not just as the guys on the field, getting paid to play a kids game. Once you begin to open your house to these players each summer, there is no going back to being only a casual fan again.
Before the beginning of the 2008 baseball season, the Sioux City Explorers of the independent American Association traded a dependable first baseman to the Chico Outlaws of the Golden League for a pitcher that had put up decent numbers in his career but nothing outstanding. Plus, the Golden League is not as high of a level as the American Association and you never know how the pitcher will be able to adapt to the tougher league.
The pitcher that came to Sioux City that year was Nick Singleton and he immediately began to show that he was an outstanding pitcher. With any run support at all, he would have been the top pitcher in the league. Even without the help of his team, he was near the league lead in innings pitched, strike outs, and earned run average. Even more important to my family is about a month into the season; Nick moved in with us and instantly became a true part of our family.
As the season went on, Nick continued to be a major part of our family, and he also went on to dominate the league. At the end of the season, he was named Right Handed Pitcher of the year in the league, becoming the first player staying with us to win an award. Nick returned for the 2009 season however instead of staying with us, he shared a house with a few other players. He still came over for a meal occasionally and did his laundry here. We saw him at every home game and my son continued to wear the replica jersey that said “Singleton’s little bro” on back with Nick’s number 17. Even though he wasn’t with us, he continued to be family and still is today.
Now as nice of a story as this makes, the most important thing about the game of baseball at this level continues to be winning. That is why I was torn today when I received word from the team’s general manager that Nick, along with pitcher Tyler Meigs, had been traded to the Gary-Southshore Railcats of the Northern League for three pitchers.
This was tough for my family to hear. As I had mentioned, Nick was like family. Plus, Tyler had been at the house nearly every night last summer playing video games with the player that we had staying with us for the majority of the season. However, the three pitchers that the team received in return all put up outstanding numbers for a Gary team that has been in the league championship series the last couple of years, losing to the Fargo-Morehead RedHawks last season.
Baseball is of course a game and the players change all season long. This isn’t the first time we have lost a player who was very near and dear to our family. It isn’t easy but we all know by now that is how the system works, we can’t change it, we can only adapt. All we can do at this point is call Nick and wish him the best as he heads off to the Chicago area next summer.

An Idiots Introduction to Volleyball

I would like to be the first to admit that I know very little about the sport of volleyball. Is this unusual? Is it real popular? Of course, it is a rather bad thing for me to admit since I have spent the last three days working 4 games per day at the NAIA National Volleyball Championship in Sioux City, IA.
Maybe I do know more than I give myself credit for but before I started working the games last year, I had never attended a match. I am proud of myself that I am starting to pick up on the rules and am now very good at recognizing an amazing play. It helps that the quality of volleyball has been outstanding this week.
The biggest issue I have though is with some of the rules that involve the net. I am not sure I understand why some times they can touch the net and cross the white line and other times they can’t. Even more confusing is the signals the officials use when they make one of those calls. I decided it was time to end the confusing and use the internet to solve all of my questions.
After a quick Google search, I found my way to volleyball.com and was thrilled at what I found. At this wonderful site, I found everything from an officials signal chart to an explanation on the official score book. I was also able to finally find out what PAVO is since I keep hearing about it over and over again.
Even though I am a relative novice to the game, I will admit that I am very impressed by the ability of these athletes and the condition they must be in. I have never seen anyone other than a wrestler roll on the floor and be back on their feet ready for action that quickly. These women are ready to sacrifice their body by diving anywhere for a loose ball. I wish that some of the basketball teams I had coached over the years had been so aggressive. Now, if someone could just teach me the proper pronunciation of Libero, I would be all set.

When adding a photo, I was looking for one that your faithful blogger happened to be in but the only ones I am in, I am not able to use without purchasing. Sorry.

Battle of the Phones

As a parent, I remember watching the Island of Misfit Toys at Christmas time with Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer with my kids. It wasn’t one of my favorite shows, and the animation is better than that from those older shows which was pretty cheesy, but it was still something I had to watch every year. The Miser Brothers Christmas was another one I watched every holiday season.
I have to say I was a little surprised when I saw a commercial for it the other day and saw an Apple I-Phone on the island. I will admit I started laughing when I realized it was a Verizon Wireless commercial making fun of AT&T’s spotty 3G coverage.
This has lead to quite a battle now Verizon has their map commercials all over television and AT&T now has commercials talking about how their coverage is better than Verizon’s. Although I know from my own personal experience that I had horrible coverage in Valley City on my trip up there with my AT&T phone.
The most foolish part is that AT&T filed a lawsuit against Verizon claiming that the map commercials are misleading. In my profession, I deal with cell phone and especially data service coverage multiple times a day. We have Sprint, Verizon, and AT&T phones all over the country and we have fewer coverage issues with Verizon than we do with any other company.
These ads are correct in that Verizon has much better 3G coverage across the country than they AT&T does. AT&T, in their commercials, focuses only on coverage which to me is even more misleading because they do not tell you that certain services may not be available on your phone if you are in the majority of the coverage zones around the country. Verizon has countered that this lawsuit is nothing but a stunt by AT&T to gain more exposure to shoppers in this critical holiday season.
This is all very reminiscent of the battle between AT&T and MCI, as well as Sprint, for long distance customers back in the 1980’s and 90’s. There were lawsuits, false advertisements, as well as misleading commercials all over the industry. This goes to prove that no matter how big of a difference there is with the phones, the marketing and demand for market share will never change.

To the Winners Go the Spoils. Or Porkchops

Can a pig really be a prize? In my opinion, I would think only if it is something that can be turned into pork chops or ham and thrown on the grill to watch the game. However, this Saturday in Iowa City, there will be two teams fighting over a pig. The Hawkeyes of Iowa will want to keep it on their side of the field while the Golden Gophers of Minnesota want nothing better than to carry it across to their fans and their side of Kinnick Stadium.
The whole tradition dates back to 1935 and the two governors having a bet of a prize hog from their state being given to the governor of the winning state. Minnesota won that year and the Iowa governor personally walked a pig into the Minnesota governor’s office. The pig was affectionately named Floyd in honor of the Minnesota governor. Rosedale was the name of the farm that produced Floyd. Oddly enough, Floyd is not the only famous pig from that farm. The pig BlueBoy from the Will Rodgers movie State Fair also came from Rosedale Farms near Fort Dodge, IA.
I was lucky enough one time to witness the battle for the bronze pig. The Golden Gophers had won three straight games heading into that beautiful November day back in 2001. On this day, it was all Hawkeyes and it was amazing to watch those players run at full speed all the way to the Minnesota bench to haul that statue back home where they felt it belong.
It seems that nearly every game in the Big 10 is for some type of traveling trophy. The Purdue Cannon is given to the winner of Illinois v Purdue. Michigan and Minnesota play for the Little Brown Jug. Indiana and Purdue play for the Old Oaken Bucket. Next to the brass pig, perhaps the strangest one of all though is the Old Brass Spittoon given to the winner of Indiana and Michigan State.
This game is a true rivalry game and it is always played last in the season. Records don’t matter as a season can be salvaged with a win in this game. The fans will be battling each other nearly as much as the players will. This will be a great game. Why not celebrate it with a great pig.

One Strong Little Man

One week ago tonight, I sat at this computer and shared with the world the joyous news of the birth of my son. I wrote about how amazing it was to share the news and pictures immediately. Unfortunately, I discovered a few short days later how bad news can be spread just as quickly.
All of the parents from a 3rd grade football team made up of boys who attend the catholic elementary schools spread out across Sioux City received an email about one of the boys who played on that team this fall. This email told the story of Jacob Nichol and how on Friday afternoon, doctors at Children’s Hospital in Omaha, NE found a tumor bigger than a golf ball pressing up against Jacob’s brainstem and surgery would be done on Saturday.
The news was shocking and of course very hard on Jacob’s classmates which my son happens to be. Jacob is a friend to everyone in the class and had been in school on Thursday, now they suddenly had no idea when they would see him again.
Luckily, Jacob’s parents began using Care Pages. This is a website that people suffering from diseases and their families can share updates about how everything is going. Plus, friends and families of these patients can post messages of encouragement and hope. It is a very touching site.
Every member of the 3rd grade class spent time on Monday posting a special personal note to Jacob. The school has started doing fundraisers, including “Nickels for Nichol’s” and two of the boys who share a birthday in late November have invited both 3rd grade classes to their party and have requested that instead of gifts, a donation be made to the Nichol’s family.
The best news in all of this is that Jacob is doing very well. An MRI has shown that the surgery successfully removed all of the cancer. Jacob is hurting but is starting to be able to eat through a feeding tube although he is confused why he is not able to talk or move. The type of tumor that was found was one that did not require another surgery and more tests done. This is one very strong and amazing boy and what turned out as a sad and scaring email, has turned into a Caring Page of hope and recovery.

A Miracle in My World

16 years, 10 months, 2 1 days, which is also 6,169 days. That is how many days separate December 12th, 1992 and November 2nd, 2009. For me both of those days are special, along with September 19th, 1994, October 25, 2000, and May 24th 2005. These are the days that my children were born. The dates mentioned at the beginning though are special because they were the first and the last. It is hard to believe how fast time has gone and how much has changed since that day back in December of 1992.
My oldest son Ryan was born very early on a Saturday. That night, my company that I was working for way back then was having our Christmas party and I had to take a roll of film to a store and had it developed in order to stop by the party and show off pictures. This time, I took pictures immediatly with my cell phone and my digital camera. Within 15 minutes after Rhett was born, I had photos sent to friends and family from my phone. Within an hour, there were photos being sent out by email and an album at Walgreens.
The most amazing part though was being able to share the photos on Facebook. Within that first hour, my sister had taken the photos I had emailed her and placed them on both my wall and my wife’s wall. I would have posted them myself but the hospital blocked the site to keep employees from using it while working.
Later that night I had made the photos into an album on Facebook. I had shared it not only with my friends but also those that don’t have Facebook but were still able to access my album. Even tonight, I added more pictures as another album. Of course my new profile photo is a picture of all of my kids.
It is amazing how much easier it is to brag and show off the latest arrival to the family. I have carried a flash drive to people’s desk to show them pictures. Plus I have many photos on my cell phone that I am very happy to show to anyone who asks. My boss had a picture of him hanging on my wall when I came back to work. None of this was possible back in 1992.
This is one situation where technology has definitely made it easier on the parents. Now I am anxious to find out if technology has made the rest of the work of raising a baby any easier.

When a playoff game is not really a playoff game

Congratulations, you have qualified for post season football in Iowa. No, you are not in the playoffs. Only those who win this first game are actually in the playoffs. This is actually a sub-state game. No, the host school doesn’t get to keep the gate that is all going to the state high school athletic association. Of course there will some good games. After all, the second place team in one district will be playing the third place team from a different district. Yes that does also mean that the first place team will be playing the fourth place team from those same districts. This was the fate of the Panthers of Creston High School.
The Panthers, making their first post season appearance since 2005, faced a tough opponent in the defending Class 3A champions, the Crusaders of Bishop Heelan High School. These two teams did have one common opponent this year. Both teams played the Harlan Cyclones this season. Heelan lost 24-6 at Harlan in a non-district match while the Panthers lost 44-0 in district play. That was the Crusaders only loss of the season. Creston entered the contest with a 5-4 record.
Perhaps the best way to explain how this game went is to tell you that the fourth quarter of the game was played mainly by freshman while Creston kept their varsity in the majority of the game. This game was complete domination by the Crusaders as is shown in this video from the Sioux City Journal. The Crusaders came out on top of this game 66-2.
Now I have to admit, my oldest two children are students at Heelan. I go to every sporting event that I can and am a big fan. In the midst of the 38 point second quarter, I was beginning to feel sorry for the fan and players from Creston. The biggest question that comes to mind though is why does the state feel the need for this extra round of playoffs? There are a couple of ways to look at this.
Firs t of all, for those that support this decision, this gives twice as many boys in Iowa the chance to participate in post season play. While this game and a few others came out very ugly, this scoreboard shows that there were some close games as well. In the District 1 vs. District 8 matchup that took place in this part of the state, two of the third place teams beat the second place teams on the road. The first to fourth place matchups were another story.
For those that do not support this round of football post season play, it is another way for the state athletic association to pick up money. They keep the vast majority of the money from the gates. While attendance was down a little bit from the regular season, it was still a descent crowd in Sioux City. Also, this means that if a team advances to the state quarterfinals, they will play four games in two weeks time with the last regular season game on Friday, October 23rd, the Sub-state game on Wednesday, October 28th, the first round playoff game on Monday, November 2nd, and the quarterfinal game on Friday, November 6th.
For those boys that lost this first game, yes it may be crushing, but at least they can say they participated.