Discover Or Softball

There's my career and then there's softball. Let's see... The thing that brings in money so we can keep our heads above water and don't starve vs. the thing I do that takes up almost as much time, costs me money, leaves me banged up and sore, and then probably sends half of you scurrying for the exits as soon as I mention it. Which should I write about?

Yeah, you know me by now. It's softball.

But first, since even a dope like me knows I shouldn't totally disregard a chance to improve my standing with one of my employers, I'll tell you where you can find the latest nice thing for which I've received a check. The current issue of Discover (now on newsstands everywhere!) contains an article by yours truly. If you go to the website and scroll down to the "Hot Science" section, you'll see my by-line under "Hot Tech". It's a neat little story about a soccer ball that generates electricity; a real boon for peoples without ready access to electrical power. You'll have to buy the issue to read it, but you'll get lots of other neat stuff to read aside from my piece, so why not splurge a little?

OK, now that I've done my fiduciary duty, we can talk softball.

I'm playing again this year. That should come as no surprise to most of you, I suppose, but I'm 57 and signed up for THREE leagues. The possibilities are as follows: I will either be in the best shape of my life by season's end or I will be dead. I am hoping for the former.

I will be playing a doubleheader every Sunday in Brighton. In another league, I will have a game every Tuesday and Thursday evening in The Fens. Then, just because I figure why not give another bunch of guys in their 20's and 30's a chance to laugh like hell at me, I'll be playing Monday, Wednesday and Friday at M Street in South Boston.

In reality, it's a fairly cheap form of entertainment and exercise. Between all three leagues, I'll get between 55 and 75 games, depending upon how deep we go into the playoffs in each, and the total cost is about $300 (exclusive of gas and parking, the occasional after-game meal, and if some lunkhead slugs me in the chops on a play at the plate, wrecking my implants and putting me into debt forever.)

The first game in The Fens happened last week. We won, 11 - 4, behind a great performance from pitcher Robby Costello. In 5 innings of work, he struck out 9 and gave up zero earned runs. It was my great pleasure to be his catcher that evening. For my part of the offense, I went 1 for 2, also drew a walk, and scored a run. That's about as nice a way to start the season as I could have wanted.

I know about half the team from previous seasons in various leagues around town. The rest of the guys seem like good fellows, too, so I'm sure it will remain fun. For those who care about such things, the team's statistics can be found HERE.

That's about it for now. The Fens league probably continues this Thursday (we lost a couple of games due to NCAA lacrosse playoffs being played on our field, which is owned by Emanuel College), while M Street opens on the 14th and the Sunday league begins on the 18th. By the time September rolls around, I hope to be alive and celebrating a championship or two.

As you know, if you've been coming here for any appreciable length of time, I'll be going into greater detail as the season progresses. If you haven't been coming here for any appreciable length of time, now you've been warned.

Soon, with more better stuff.