Play Ball

Today was the first day of Tee Ball Season. It was the first time I got to meet my team of 15 five and six year old boys and girls. I'm not sure how I get roped into these things, I guess I just can't says no. Last year, I volunteered to coach a team because Phoenix was going to be on the team. Chris got her to choose soccer this year. Last season, I told the other parents I would coach again even if Phoenix decided she didn't want to play because I had so much fun coaching. Well, I forgot about it until last week when someone from the league called and asked me if I wanted to coach the same team, The 98.6ers. Of course without thinking I said yes.

Well you should have seen me out there today. The practice was at 3pm, and in true form I started getting ready at 2:30pm. I was about 3 minutes late, all the parents were standing around. I had plan a practice our in my head, but didn't write it down. When I got there I forgot pretty much what I was going to do. Going through my agenda in my head, I decided that we would first do Simon Says calisthenics. That went over very well. I couldn't get their names right. I know it was the first time I met them and their were 15 of them and their parents. That's a lot of names to remember, but when you call Alec, Alex and Alex, Alec 5 times in a row and they start correcting you it gets embarrassing. Speaking of embarrassing, I forgot to bring the Tee for batting practice, but more embarrassing then that when I was showing them how to stand in the batters box, I confused the right handed stand with the left handed stand until one of the parents pointed it out to me. How fun. Anyway after running around the field, and the bases, giving them high fives as they crossed home plate, and don't forget the snacks, and our 98.6ers cheer. When the practice was over, a lot of the little buggers came up to me and said they had a lot of fun, hopefully I'll be able to keep that up.

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Friends

I use to hate the TV show "Friends". The actors on that show annoyed me so much. Their crazy dumb situations really got on my nerves. It was so unbelieveable to see people who barely could keep jobs, live in New York City in big apartments, drinking coffe all day. Their stupid problems always got solved in 29 1/2 minutes. What makes a "Friend"?

I started this blog to stay in touch with my family. There has been any interesting and wonderful by product. I'm hearing from friends that I haven't seen for a long time. These are the kind of friends that are like family, brothers from another mother. You know the kind of people that will get you in trouble, but will always have you back when you need it.

I kind a grew apart from the guys I grew up with, but we shared school, played sports, car pooled, got arrested, went to concerts, the beach. Almost everything you can think of, we been through together.

Ron sent me an email the other day. It was interesting becuase it was a religous message. Ron and I used to philosophize for hours about the exist of God or not. Ron was on the side of the affirmative, I'm a former agnostic, was on the opposite side of the argument . I don't even think Ron knows that I joined a church. Craig also emailed me. I always think about Craig and how he invented the "Flounder". It's a crazy dance, you fall on the floor and shake like a fish. I'll never do that dance again. I don't I'll be able to get back up if I dropped on the floor and shook like a fish. I can't stop thinking about the time we when to some bar on someone's birthday and took over the dance floor with the Flounder. Jeff is someone I respect very much. He has a good head on his shoulders. Is very funny, and a great friend. I don't think I could have made it through college without Jeff. He drove me to Burlington County College when I lost my driver's licence and didn't have a car. What about Tom? That crazy kid. He's about 38 years old, but I still think of him as a kid. He has great determination in spite of the self destructive behavior. Tom has the biggest heart of anyone I know. I just wanted to give a special shot out to Bill. I've known him ever since the 6th grade. He was a great person. It took a lot of courage to sit down friends he knew for a long time a come out. People who made fun of gay people. Not that any of us were homophobic, but to hear us talk you would have thought we were. Bill put up with that for years, and then trusted us enough to share his secret. Bill died ten years ago in a drunk driving car crash.

That's why I hated the show "Friends", because the people on there we no were close to being real. They couldn't compare to the friends I had. None of the story lines could compare to what we had to go through growing up.