The Monday Softball Diary - 5

Tuesday – Game Cancelled
Thursday – Hawks – 16 FLAMES – 14
Sunday – Doubleheader Rained Out

As you can see from the above, it was a pretty crappy week for softball. Out of a possible 4 games, we got to play one. And we LOST the one game we DID play. However, here’s a good joke:

A woman walks into a psychiatrist’s office and says, “I’m a teepee, I’m a wigwam, I’m a teepee, I’m a wigwam.” The psychiatrist says, “Lady, you’ve got to calm down. You’re two tents.”

What in the name of Lucifer’s Left Tit does that have to do with softball? On Tuesday, the City of Boston got my softball week off to a miserable start by handing out duplicate permits for the field we were scheduled to play on. There were tents on our field, so no ball.

On Thursday, we actually got to play a game, but we lost. We should have won, but I say that every time we lose by only one or two runs, so just give me a dope slap and we’ll move on.

We were up 14 – 9 going into the final inning, gave them 7 runs and then couldn’t score in our half. We had the tying runs on second and third, but that’s as far as they got. Oh, well. I was the DH, so not only didn’t we win, I didn’t even get much exercise out of the deal. I singled to lead off the game, grounded to second later, and then was lifted for another player in the 4th inning. I burned more calories trying to stay warm on the sidelines than I did in the game itself.

That puts the Flames record at 1 – 2, with both losses by a combined total of 3 runs. We have a pretty good team there. I think we’ll be OK. There should be some playoffs in our future, if we don’t keep shooting ourselves in the foot.

Insofar as the Bombers are concerned, just a rainout to report. I hate rainouts. I understand them, but I still hate them. Unless somebody’s building an ark and gathering animals two by two, I’d rather play.

Because of the vagaries of our Sunday schedule, this will leave us with no games for more than a month and thus winless until at least mid-June. Here’s our schedule as it now stands:

May 6th – We had our openers and lost both.
May 13th – Off, Mothers Day.
May 20th – Rained out.
May 27th – Off, Memorial Day Weekend.
June 3rd – Bye week (It’s a 9-team league, so each team has one bye scheduled.)
June 10th – We get to play again, IF it doesn’t rain.

So, that’s 35 days between Sunday games.

These rainouts and unscheduled off days ruin my planned conditioning and weight. As I’ve mentioned before, I lost 15 pounds before the season. Since I hate just about any other form of exercise, I count on playing to keep me at a good weight throughout the summer and into fall. When I lose the chance to play in 3 out of 4 games during a week, I’m likely to gain a couple of pounds. Also, at my age whatever good I accomplish via exercise is more quickly lost, so the inactivity will tend to make the next game more painful than it otherwise might have been. It sucks all around.

It certainly doesn’t help my mental state, either. I use these games as an emotional outlet. If I have a particularly tough work week, playing ball 3 or 4 times evens out the stress and makes me a nicer person to be with. I’m likely to have a short fuse from now until Tuesday, when the Flames are scheduled again. I sure hope we get to play.

That’s all for today – just a bunch of bitching and moaning. Sorry! Tomorrow I’ll talk about postage, The Preakness, magazines, subways and game shows. Oh, Boy! See if you can keep your breath bated until then.