"In every real man, a child is hidden that wants to play " - Freidrich Nietzsche



Every eager player before the tournament

There is always a lot of anticipation prior to a tournament commencing. Teams practice the day before the action starts and frequently new players are introduced to core team members while newcomers and veterans size up one another. These meetings can be entertaining as well. Several tournaments ago several of us joined  forces with the Long Island Athletics and took in a practice.


One player seemed to be wrestling invisible snakes as he was writhing on the ground in what seemed to be agony. When asked what he was doing ,Bob replied he had a bad butt. Hence the name "Bad Butt Bob" was bequeathed and carried on through the tournament. Another player had tape on his shoulders, on his legs, around his ankles,...  everywhere. He became "the Mummy" .  Another fellow was slight of stature, full gray heard and spoke with seemed to be a cackle. He was soon "the Prospector".




Charlie and I will practice later today in our introduction to the Volcanoes and hopefully we make a positive impression as we begin our journey.






And a journey this tournament is albeit lasting only a few days. Baseball is simultaneously a blend of an individual sport and a team sport.  Every players wants good teammates along for the journey and based on our conversations Charlie and I are confident we have great teammates along for this ride.

Prior to meeting i was thinking about taking a journey with strangers and considered the case of Violet Jessup.

Violet Constance Jessop (October 1887 –  May 1971) was an ocean liner stewardess and nurse who is known for surviving the disastrous sinkings of both the RMS Titanic and her sister ship, the HMHS Britannic, in 1912 and 1916 respectively. In addition, she had been on board the RMS Olympic , the third sister ship, when it collided with a British warship in 1911.

Miss Unsinkable

On the one hand, I can understand how Violet got the nickname "Miss Unsinkable". Fans might deem her very lucky.  On the the other hand it seems there might be a black cloud following her around that one might deem her very unlucky.  Lets hope we have lucky teammates along for our journey.

My kids had to endure numerous references to the Titanic during there childhood. Kelly , our middle child, often mentions the middle child syndrome results in neglect. So I really made sure she heard all about the Titanic. I made efforts to portray the sinking of the Titanic in terms of deadly sins. I emphasized the lessons we can learn and the progress we can make from understanding the human conditions at play in the tragedy. I highlighted envy and prejudice as manifest by the classes being segregated and having disdain for one another. I pointed out the excessive pride in the stretching the technology to its limits. And finally the  arrogance with the racing through a field of icebergs. But Kelly would reduce all that to " Dad, ---- the boat sinks to the bottom of the Atlantic".

Well, we begin our journey with practice today and bring the enthusiasm of the child pictured at the top. We hope to have the good luck of Miss Unsinkable. And we hope we  don't "sink to the bottom of the Atlantic".