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.

What Defines Character

Crazy as it seems, I think about this a lot –what defines character. I really want to be that person who people think of as having great character. I know I fail, sometimes miserably, but I still try. I think having great character means different things to different people. To me, it means rising above your circumstances, showing courage and the determination to become more than is expected of you. If you have the quality in your personality to make a person want to be more than they are, they are lucky to know you. I remember watching a movie years ago and hearing Jack Nicolson say “you make me want to be a better man” I thought wow I want to be that girl, or boss, or coach. I just want to do that one small thing that makes a person say I can do better because I know someone expects me to. Character is the one thing we do for ourselves, doesn’t matter who our parents are, doesn’t matter how much money we have, doesn’t matter where we live or what we drive, we own our character and we can have as much or as little as we choose. It’s not something we can tell people we have; we demonstrate it in our actions. This weekend I saw character beyond explanation. A group of young men made me want to be a better person because I saw in them the determination and courage it takes to win things in life and overcome obstacles. We didn’t win and it broke my heart for them but we showed tremendous character.

 
I know I say a lot about Matt Leeds in this blog but for real the kid is going to be an awesome man.  He could barely walk after hurting his knee this weekend and I never knew if he was hit by a pitch or if he fouled a ball off his leg but it was obvious he could hardly make it to first base. They kept him in the lineup and every time he came to bat I said a selfish prayer that he get a homerun so he wouldn’t have to struggle to get around the bases. It was just too hard to watch. He never gave up though, he never stopped competing and he was the one that kept us in the last game. We were down by two and I know it had to hurt him just to swing the bat but he crushed one over the fence to tie the game, hobbled around the bases and fired the team up and back into the game. I don’t think there is a greater thing in life to watch than when a player approaches the plate after a home run but this one was particularly sweet. He showed a lot of character.

All the pitchers worked hard to keep us in the game but when Josh Salay snagged the drive back up the middle and came charging off the mound he showed great character.

So while we may not have won the series this weekend I know I am a better person for having witnessed such great displays of courage and determination. I know if those young men can stay in a game for thirteen innings and keep me believing that they were one hit away from victory it will help us all one day when we are facing a challenge. I believe there are many life lessons in the game of baseball and while we watch these young men compete we can become better people by trying to have better character. Because, at the end of the day, every outfielder is trying to make the best possible outfield catch, every in fielder is trying to make the best throw and every hitter is trying to make the best hit they can and our job is to remember that and be a fan with character. We probably don’t have to tell the pitcher he has to throw strikes because I’m pretty sure that’s what he went out there to do.

I’m sure Georgia Southern will test our character next weekend so come out to the field for our home stand and show our boys you stand behind this team. They are good and tough and deserve to have a great audience watch them

See you at the field.

The Competitive Edge

When my kids were small we played a lot of games and everyone always played to win. A short time after Ted and I started dating he posed the question “don’t you guys do anything for fun?” I didn’t really get it; play a game just for fun-what’s the point. My mother is in her seventies and to this day she gets mad and goes home if she loses two games of Upwords in a row. We had to put an end to our post Thanksgiving football game because we almost had to carry my sister to the hospital when a rocketing pass hit her in the face. We once had a kick ball game that was so intense the ball ended up deflated by a limb in pursuit of the homerun. The worst family competition though was the year my brother was nearly impaled by a plastic lawn chair over a friendly game of musical chairs. These are true stories, if there is one thing we know how to do in this family it is compete. Some of us are fiercer than others but none of us like losing.

I was thinking about ‘the competitive edge’ on Wednesday as player after player came across the plate in our game against Charleston Southern. I don’t even think it was about the game after a while; it was about each individual player competing within himself. At least that is the way it looked to me. Why swing for the fence when you are ahead by ten runs? Why-because you can-and I’m pretty sure a homerun feels good no matter what the score is. And does the third homerun in a single game feel any less significant than the second? I’m going to say I don’t think so but you will have to ask Rob Kral. I’d be willing to guess that now he is going to be trying to get four homeruns in one game because he, like most of the CofC players, is a competitor. They play to win and not just the game; they want it all, the records, the stats, and the retired jersey.

We once had a youth coach that wouldn’t take the field to accept a second place tournament trophy. While that may be excessive he truly made his players believe they could be more than they were. I remember a night when one of Cole’s early teams lost and his coach was reassuring them and saying it was ok and Cole’s dad pulled him aside and said ‘never get comfortable with losing’. At that moment it made me a little mad but I now realize if you are comfortable with losing you are not competing. I know someone who works for a company that only hires retired baseball players for their sales staff. Why-because they never stop competing.

So, in case you are wondering why the score was 28-9 on Wednesday it is because we have a team of competitors. In reality they probably stopped watching the score after we went ahead in the second and were playing to beat their own records.

We’re packed and heading to Western Carolina tomorrow for another weekend of conference play.

Oh yeah and don’t talk to me about basketball right now because I picked a bunch of non-competitors in my bracket and I’m a little testy.

See you at the field.

Variables

Have you ever considered the variables involved in doing your job? The variables in my job are minimal: will I show up to work, will our staff show up to work and will we be able to accomplish the things we need done.

I started thinking about ALL the variables Coach Lee deals with. I haven’t spoken with him about them but these are the variables from ‘my’ perspective:

A player is recruited-variable- does he want to play, are his parents on board. He makes a commitment. The coach checks his position off the list then the player decides to go to another school. Back to zero and start recruiting process over for next player.

All players signed and ready to go-finds out one is academically ineligible. Out for at least one semester-get the line-up card back out.

Got a new line up filled out getting ready to start first game everyone shows up but one guy-uh oh trouble in paradise-player suspended indefinitely because he had a little too much fun on Thursday night. Get the lineup card back out.

Ok, this time everything should be good a new line up on board. Flu runs through entire infield. Get the lineup card back out.

For Real, line up is submitted. Player breaks his leg in wind sprints. Get the lineup card back out.

See where this is going………

Coaching is really not that tough, if you can first, get the player, keep him, maintain his academic eligibility, keep him out of jail, keep him healthy and uninjured, and THEN see if he is coachable.

Once you have all those variables solved you just have to depend on the weather and the umpires.

There are days when I don’t like my job but I sure as heck don’t ever want to be a college coach and I have the utmost respect for them. Coaching isn’t for the weak at heart that is for sure. I just want to say that I think our coaches are doing a great job.

We had three big wins this weekend in Greensboro. I really never got comfortable or felt like we had the game in the bag even though the score seemed a little one sided at times. Rob Kral was firing rockets on Friday night, three homeruns to tie the school record with Jose Rodriguez adding a pair of his own. Every time I looked up it seemed like a Cougar was coming across the plate and we took that game 14-10. Matt Leeds led the way to the victory on Saturday with four RBI’s and a score of 9-2. (For the record, Saturday was a beautiful day in Greensboro and at one point I said to Ted that I couldn’t imagine being any happier than I was at that moment. I truly feel sorry for the people who haven’t experienced a green grassy hill with kids rolling down it at a ball park.) Sunday we squeaked out another victory at 6-5. Peterson looked good on the mound for his first outing after taking a line drive to his leg a couple of weeks ago.

No home games this week as we travel to Charleston Southern mid-week and then to Western Carolina for the weekend.

See you at the field.

I couldn't resist including this picture of what I hope is a future Cougar.  This kid has an arm coach, I'm just saying you might want to keep your eye on him.

Sitting at the Feet of Greatness

One of my favorite assignments is to give my nephews a ride to the ball field.  You never know where the conversation is going to take you but it is always cool to see things from the perspective of a nine and eleven year old.  They are batboys for the Cougars.  They have different favorite players for different reasons but there is no question that in their minds they are sitting at the feet of greatness.  They feel so special and so important and such a 'part of the team'.  I watch for them to run out and retrieve the bats and wonder how long they will be able to do this and still feel 'cool'.  I love that they choose to spend their evenings off of their own baseball practices at our field.  I wonder if our players know that these young boys think they are sitting at the feet of greatness or if the coaches know that if they acknowledge them they feel like giants.  Tuesday night when Luke ran out to first base to give Holler back his bat after the contested call I would have given a thousand dollars to have a picture of him passing off that bat.  In my mind it symbolized 'enough of this bickering let's play ball'.  I hope these players understand that they are impacting the worlds of these boys in a very 'big' way because whether they accept it or not they are 'greatness' in their small eyes.  Maybe one of them will feel compelled to go out to the youth field where Zane or Luke are playing this season and show them the Cougars appreciate what they do and truly demonstrate what it means to be 'great' in the eyes of a kid, because just by watching they will have made a difference.

 I know I keep saying this but really is winter EVER going to leave the Lowcountry.  I feel like I went to bed one night and they moved Charleston to Seattle.  I don't want to make this blog about the weather but for real I am over it.  I have never gone in the press box in my life to watch a game and I did on Wednesday night I couldn't stand it anymore.  I always say if the players can stand it I can stand it, not anymore.  Let the record show I can no longer stand the cold. 

This was the week of sacrifices-flies that is. Two games decided by one run each, both sacrifice flies, one in the bottom of the ninth after a three hour rain delay.  You never know who is going to step up and make a difference.  This week I have three shout outs.  First one goes to Justin Brewer for the big win over Coastal.  He hit the sacrifice fly.  The second shout out has to go to Cole he made one catch on the center field fence that was near impossible and none of us thought he could make it but he did and he robbed Coastal of at least a double maybe more.  The last one goes to Rob Kral for the beautiful fly ball he hit Wednesday night in the bottom of the ninth to beat Jacksonville.  I was so happy his mom was there to see it.  Those special moments just don't look quite the same on game tracker. 

Ted and I are packed and ready to hit the road to Greensboro in the morning.  Enjoy the 70 degree weather that I will be missing this weekend and keep our Cougars in your good thoughts and hopefully we will bring home three conference wins.

See you at the field.