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).