Playing for a Living

A friend of mine called me on my way to work this week; she was ecstatic because she was going to guide a kayak trip down Shem Creek and she couldn’t believe her great luck. They were going to pay her! If I could have one wish for this friend it would be that she could do this every day of her life. She has survived cancer TWICE and knows the value of living in the Lowcountry and all its’ splendor. I have to admit, while I was happy for her, I was challenged to head back into my office and my second week of budget hell.

I have given a lot of thought to what it takes to make a living ‘playing’ since our phone call. There were several baseball players sitting around my dinner table the other night and of course the majority of our conversation was about ‘playing’. I looked at each of them and considered the cost they were paying to play. One of them came in on crutches, one had both his ankles taped so thick they looked like casts, one’s knees were swollen and hurting and the other one had numerous screws and a plate in his wrist. All of this stemming from the game they love to ‘play’. Is it really ‘playing’ when they spend hours of every day in the batting cage trying to perfect their swing? They practice on the field in the sweltering heat and the bitter cold to try and field a ball coming at them at 100 miles an hour without making an error. Do you think they call it playtime when they are spending countless hours in the weight room lifting and resisting and then sitting in ice baths? They run, run, and run to steal, advance, and hope to score. Really, is it playing?

The next time someone tells me how lucky these boys are to be ‘playing ball’ I am going to say no, there isn’t any luck involved. It really is about the work and sacrifice they are willing to make (when no one is watching) for the three hour performance where they are judged if they miss the 95 MPH fastball, if the ball takes a bad hop and they aren’t able to field it, or if they are thrown out at the plate after running as fast as they can to try and score. My ‘budget hell’ requires me to sit at a desk for eight hours a day which I am pretty sure doesn’t come close to comparing to their ‘game playing’ prep. And if any one of them is fortunate enough to make a living ‘playing’ in the major leagues it won’t be because they GOT LUCKY.

The Cougars turned in a magnificent performance this weekend and won all three against Wofford. It was kind of tough for me to watch because there are several guys on the Wofford team that I have watched grow up and while I definitely wanted the College to win I also wanted those boys to have great games. I have to say John Cornely looked terrific on the mound Sunday for Wofford.

Several shout outs are in order this week:

David Peterson couldn’t have given his visiting parents a better performance (they are here from California and made the trip last year when his pitching rotation got changed and they never got to see him pitch) he threw a shut out complete game-that was awesome.

Joey Bergman-grand slam-was that for your grandad Joey (here from Rhode Island) sweet, as your dad would say.

Christian Powell struck out eight batters on Friday night-incredible.

And I guess I can’t publish one of these without mentioning Matt Leeds again I know I sound like a broken record but the kid is killing the ball.  I find myself expecting him to hit a homerun every at bat, which I admit, is just wrong.  It looks like the SoCon agrees with me because he was just named Player of the Week.  Way to go Matt!

We are playing a huge cross-town rival this Tuesday, The Citadel at Joe Riley Stadium at 6:00. Come out to the game and cheer on the Cougars. The Citadel always hosts a ton of fans. Let’s show them we support out team too.

See you at the field.

(Photos I took at the Blue Angels air show this weekend-it was awesome).

Going to Bat for Mack

So today we aren’t going to talk about baseball. I want you to stop what you are doing and think for a moment, what YOU would do if the person you loved most in life (your little baby) just stopped walking one day. You had no idea why. You took him to the doctor and it took a while but finally they found out the reason-----he had leukemia. What would you do? You would fight for his life. You would spend every single penny you could find on getting him treatment. You would spend several months in a hospital sitting next to him trying to ease his suffering. You would research every possible case to find a treatment to prolong his life and increase his quality of living. This is what Laura Ann Shieder does every day for her son Mack and now we are going to help. We are trying to organize a day that the baseball family can come together and help this little boy and his family. We are “Going to Bat for Mack”. Please, please stay tuned to this blog and my facebook for more information. When we get the date set bring your entire family to the field, buy a shirt, make a donation and say a prayer for little Mack Shieder. We are going to “Go to Bat for Mack” and help him win his battle.

Be grateful for the blessings in your life. Tell your family you love them. But more than anything know that baseball is such a small thing in the big picture unless we can do ‘Big Things’ through the game. Now let’s “Go to Bat for Mack.”

Blessings on Easter

When I got up this morning I knew it was going to be a perfect day. Don’t ask me how but I’m sure it had something to do with not needing a quilt on the bed last night and the smell of coffee already wafting down the hall and my sweet pup’s wet nose waiting patiently on the bed for a pat on the head. All those things can bring so much pleasure to me before I ever even step a foot on the floor. I laid there thinking about the games we had already played and the game coming up and how tough every win has been and how hard the boys are working. It made me so prideful as I reflected on yesterday and all the great things that happened in that game. Greg Blake was just incredible at the plate powering ball after ball over the fence. It was beautiful, and how great was it when Kobly Epley laced one out and his mamma was sitting there with her grandbaby in her lap and couldn’t stand up – I stood taller for you Janet because I know what it meant to you for him to hit that homerun. And for the entire Leeds family to be in town to see Matt’s great weekend performance and Knox, and Schiller, and Brittle, and Huttie’s families all there for their games and to see what really great players they all are.

Do you ever have to pinch yourself and say is this really real? I know it sounds corny but this morning I again said I am going to really focus on living in the moment. Maybe I am getting weird(er) as I get old(er) (and oh yeah you better not let me find out who issued that happy birthday message at the field or bad things will happen-you should know me well enough to know that I hate being singled out like that) but I swear I keep thinking about how important it is to make sure I FEEL what is happening. I don’t want to worry about what game I am going to on Wednesday when I’m at Sunday’s game because I want to see and feel and be ‘in’ every moment. I wanted to see Rob’s face today when he came home and the pitcher barked back at him, I want to hear the crazy words that Chris Campbell can come up with when he is heckling. Today was the best Chris when you said ‘Hey Pitch, I’ve seen a snake with a better arm than you.” Now that is good stuff. Do you have a book of those one liners because I certainly haven’t ever heard them before? I want to be able to hear the grunting sound the pitcher makes when he comes slamming off the mound but more than anything I want to be in the moment my son makes a great play. I don’t know if there is a way to describe what it feels like when a mother is watching an amazing thing happen at the hands of her son but I am going to try and recap it here:

High fly ball comes soaring through the air to the outfield, it is right center, I watch the ball, I watch Cole, and I have a moment of uncertainty that the ball is uncatchable. Then I look back at him and he is running like a wild animal as fast as his legs will carry him, it’s still coming and he is still going and then he projects himself-how he knows when the right second is to leave the ground I will never know but he is laid out flying through the air with arms fully extended, I steal one more look at the ball as it lands in his glove before he slams into the ground. I realize I have been holding my breath the entire time and it is now ok to exhale because he gets up and starts off the field. With this catch he garnered the third out of the inning and kept GA Southern from going ahead. The stands went wild. This was truly one of the catches of his life and worthy of an ESPN highlight. This is the way it read in the post game notes ‘Rakar caught a ball in center field to end the inning’.

See how much value there is to living in the moment. You just can’t get it from the game notes or from someone telling you about it. You have to see it and feel it yourself. I want to hold my breath and almost cry sometimes because I am so filled up with pride for my son. So when people say to me – you are crazy for going to all these games I just smile and think- you don’t know what it feels like to catch a fly ball at the fence to save the game and I do.

We swept GA Southern 3-0

Wednesday we head to USC

See you at the field.