Some things are best avoided
Just a beauty night for playing ball. Some of us even did. And the rest of us still took the field, so I guess that counts for something. Well, the weather was good, so we all enjoyed the evening, like it or not. What’s not to like?
Hitting of people seems to have settled down and more focus was put on hitting and fielding the ball without injury, the way all things were intended. Worked for some, others, not so much. However, good to see we are becoming less likely to suffer injury due to the action of others and can, once again, just worry about injuring ourselves. At our age, that’s plenty enough to worry about and, with all the braces, bandages and general limping about going on, we should probably worry less and focus more on ways to prevent it. It’s your body, you’re in charge, don’t let it push you about and tell you what you can and can’t do. That may be stretching things, but you should be doing that, too. Injuries are becoming rarer and you’re more likely to get hit by a pitch than…oh, wait, someone did get hit by a pitch. That totally screws up that analogy. Or not. Okay, so now we have to worry about getting hit by the pitcher. Odd, since they are on your team and their goal is actually to get you on base. Lofty goal for some but, not always their fault, even when it is. Thankfully, it’s not fastball, so you have plenty of time to move out of the way.
One piece of advice. Move out of the way. Don’t have to hit them all. Actually, it’s a virtual impossibility. All in fun and just a game, so take every effort to protect yourself. You’ll always have another chance. If you don’t, you chances may become severely curtailed. Better to be safe than sorry. If you feel harm coming your way, duck and cover, run and hide, forget about that hit or making the play. We’ll forgive you. Your captain may give you a reprimand but, like other ribbings, cajols and criticisms you're bound to suffer on the field, they can be safely ignored. Positive by the end of the evening, they’ll forgive you as well. Most will have probably let it slide before the next inning even begins (or at least moved on to someone else). Plenty of opportunities for mishap. Best avoid if you can. Also keep in mind, those captains are there for us, volunteering to keep us organized and well oiled, keeping us in semblance to complete several innings of baseball, so they can basically have run of the field. Judging by the shape of the field and the players we put on it, that can be a heavy responsibility, so let them have at it. They are all doing a damn fine job. And just keep telling them that, so they’ll endure us all next season and grace us once again with their proven leadership. Also photo night this evening, when we all get really close to one another, come together as a cohesive unit and get to look damn pretty as a team. Then we take the field and all that goes out the window. Not always, but sometimes, sometimes more often than not. But we all still have fun, so kudos to all of us. And we all take a damn nice photo, even if some of us refuse to admit it. One should never judge a book by its cover and those that do, should read more.
We have come to that time in the season where every team has finally earned a win and scored some points. Congratulations to all. Finally. Now we can move on and focus on the remaining games of the season and, no matter how good or bad it gets, you can still put everyone in their place by winning all your playoff games and taking home all the marbles. Just those last two games can make or break your season. If you can make it there, it does not matter if you didn’t make it anywhere else. So all you have to do now is make it there by surviving the rest of the regular season. Sometimes easier said than done, but always worth the effort. Just remember, sometime it’s okay to move out of the way.
