Donald Trump.
has a dim view of losers.
Bet you didn't think I'd start out with that did you.
He thinks that if you don't win you lose, as in you're a loser. And there is nothing worse than a loser. He loved the quote by golfer Walter Hagen so much he tweeted it twice - "No one remembers who came in second.”
And when he trailed in Iowa during the primaries (where he did eventually come in second), he said, "Unless I win, I would consider it a big, fat, beautiful ... waste of time.”
(Political aside, he better get used to the feeling)
Now I hate to lose as much as the next guy. Maybe a little more than most. Especially when, say, you make the last out in the championship game with the bases loaded and two out and the tying run is on second. You see the other team donning their champion shirts and you think "I coulda, I shoulda," and you beat yourself up a little.
But there are a few overriding themes in this, the 2016 Orinda Summer playoffs that make it all go down a little easier (like the post game beers - note we outlasted the champion Old Scouts to close down the park).
First and foremost - the Coneheads are winners. We each have a large collection of Cotton. We have so many that I famously concocted a spreadsheet tallying every championship season. In Orinda alone, we had two separate streaks of four in a row, the most recent ending two short years ago. Nine Championships in 18 years. We had a win in Walnut Creek just two weeks ago in Spring League, and can look forward to fall ball where we have won five of the last six years.
Face it, we are spoiled. Like in poker, which many of us play when we aren't on the field, there is a certain element of luck involved. The breaks have to go your way. In fact, many things did go our way in these playoffs to get us to the finals. And there was a lot of poetry to the way it unfolded.
First there was the 12 Angry Men drama. I played against them for years in winter ball and an annual charity tournament in SF and as a sub on the Conehead mirror image Rip City, a SF team. Some of them are nice guys, but they are fundamentally simply arrogant. To continue the Donald theme, we oughta build a wall on the Bay Bridge and make them pay for it, and allow No Angry Men through it. The feeling is shared by the rest of the teams in our league and any league they touch. Since our tournament conflicts with one of their precious weekend tourneys, they tried to get the league to move the tournament (no), tried to force their way into the C league tournament next weekend (no), which presumably would eliminate the 8th place team in that league. I'm sure that would be popular. Instead, just like last year they assembled a "B" team for our playoffs.
In a stroke of complete genius, their opponent in the second round, the second most loathed team, the Waitlisters (a.k.a. the 35 year old grandfathers), waited until 12 Angry took the field, and then called roster check. Voila, they could not produce 8 guys who actually were on the team. They were summarily kicked out of the tournament.
This was set up by our first game. In a theme revisited later, we just could not score and fell 5-4. Other than a Lefty home run, there were no highlights. However, if we had won, it would have been us against 12 Angry, and I doubt we would have had the chutzpah/pettiness, you pick, to challenge the Angry roster. We would have told ourselves we can beat them into 12 Silly Men on the field. But the Waitlisters did, and it worked.
In the other stroke of luck, the one upset had Johnny's Gang beating St. Mo's in a first round game. That set them up as our next opponent after they were spanked by the Old Scouts and we accepted our forfeit by the no-show 8-seed Warthogs. We probably would have beaten St. Mo's anyway. Of late, they seem to have our number in the regular season (a tie this year) but we make them pay in the playoffs.
At any rate, facing Johnny's Gang made for an easy road to Sunday. They celebrated their upset win with many beers. They were drinking in the dugout, smoking on the field during pre-inning grounders, and generally giving the impression of a team just happy to be there. We scorched them with our only true Conehead inning with 11 in the first, and although disturbingly we really didn't add on much, the outcome was never in doubt as we walked away with a 15-10 win. Nine straight hits in the first, a three run monster by D, a later solo shot by Chopper, you know, the usual stuff when we win.
The great debate was which was the best line of the games, both of which came in this one. Chopper, who was just ON all weekend, kept calling out the illegal player on loan from 12-Angry the "One Angry Man".
And after Lefty toppled over the overweight, smoking first baseman with what really was a routine grounder, and the guy lost the ball in his gut, couldn't get up, and couldn't make a throw, I looked at him and called out "I feel fit!"
This set up the final four for Sunday between the Old School teams we have faced over and over on Sundays past: The Old Scouts, Cal Bronco, the Waitlisters and us. The difference this year was we had lost to all of them in the regular season. Yet it felt right.
And the 12 Angry Men? I think I saw their equipment trailer on the freeway:
So we woke up having the to make great comeback like in 2013 from the losers' bracket. But you couldn't ask for more at the same time. A chance to avenge the 30-7 loss last week (shorthanded) against Cal Bronco, and a chance to keep the detested Waitlisters out of the finals after they won last year. I know one thing, both the Broncos and Scouts root for us against them.
We played perhaps our best fundamental game of the weekend in the 10:30 match-up with the Broncos. Mark continued his MVP of the playoff ways: 3-3 while starting two run scoring rallies, and an RBI in four run fifth that really put it away (it made it 13-4 in an eventual 14-6 win). In the third he made a tremendous dive in short left field in the hole and somehow got the ball to second base. It was contagious: in the sixth, Larry in his one inning at 2B made a similar stop but in shallow right and flipped it off balance to get a force out at second, and then made a great stop and throw to first for the last out. That sixth was the Broncos' last hurrah, and Larry singlehandedly kept the damage to a minimum; by the time they came up in the seventh, they were done, needing eight to tie. Joe was funny, he asked me if I wanted to put in a different pitcher. Are you kidding? To hold that lineup to 6 runs in 6 innings? So he went out and shut them down without a run.
In the semi-final, we again allowed the Waitlisters to get a big lead, this time 6-1. They were hitting the ball all over the yard. But some of us said, and it turned out to be true that they had shot their wad; they scored only two more the rest of the game. We rallied in the top of the fourth with a Mini-Conehead inning - 7 runs. The big blow was a two run double by, you guessed it Mark. He wasn't even supposed to be there - he shined a Burning Man prep party that sounded like his own long tradition to be with us.
In the sixth, Chopper hit his second solo shot of the playoffs but we weren't done. Five straight hits by the bottom of the order and we had three more to give us what proved to be an insurmountable lead on the Waitlisters at 12-8 on the way to an eventual 13-8 win.
A word about Joe's pitching - he held the big 35 year old Waitlister SS and the cleanup hitter behind him to almost no hits between them. Nothing really after that first inning rally.
And so, as it should be, we faced the Old Scouts having to beat them twice in a repeat match-up of 2013. Really, their worst nightmare, just ask our teammates from the rest of the year, Scout Randy and Scout Johnny (who took off his championship shirt to don his new Conehead duds when he joined us for postgame beers).
But this year it was not to be. Neither team seemed to get out of the batter's box.and really the difference was a ball that got lost in the sun as we fell 5-3 (not the outfielder's fault). Maybe it was the heat but no one could buy a hit. Even brother Randy could not get a hit and he usually scorches us.
In a low scoring game, everyone feels like they had a chance to change fate - I got lucky and mine came with the game on the line. This day no Conehead could be the hero, we were all the goats. Who knows what would have happened if I got a hit, maybe we would have busted out with 10 two out runs, yet they had the hammer and we would have to beat them again as we did in '13. But still.
On the other hand, there is a lot of mutual respect by both teams, and the Old Scouts had not won since 2009. Class team that deserves it. Seven dry years, just like we once had. I for one am happy for them. And at least they are not the Waitlisters, and not the Putzmeisters.
And for the Coneheads, yes we hate losing, but we improved over last year when we did not even make it to Sunday, and we eliminated the Waitlisters and Cal Bronco. Last time we lost in the finals was in 2010, and we reeled off four in a row after that. WE'LL BE BACK.
Unlike the Donald. After he loses.
Milestones:
8/1
Pope 140 2b (#2)
Chopper 150 g (#15)
Bruce 100 h (#26)
8/4
Chopper 40 hr (#4)
8/8
Pope 1000 ab (#7)
Pope 250 g (#8)
8/13 G1
Chuck 150 bb (#1)
Gene 90 bb (#5)
Ol' G 850 ab (#10)
8/13 G2
Bruce 50 g (#26)
8/13 G3
Heffe 600 rbi (#3)
Gene 300 g (#6)
Chopper 500 ab (#17)
Lefty 200 rbi (#19)
Haze 10 bb (#24)
8/14 G1
None
8/14 G2
Haze 20 2b (#27)
8/14 G3
None
has a dim view of losers.
Bet you didn't think I'd start out with that did you.
He thinks that if you don't win you lose, as in you're a loser. And there is nothing worse than a loser. He loved the quote by golfer Walter Hagen so much he tweeted it twice - "No one remembers who came in second.”
And when he trailed in Iowa during the primaries (where he did eventually come in second), he said, "Unless I win, I would consider it a big, fat, beautiful ... waste of time.”
(Political aside, he better get used to the feeling)
Now I hate to lose as much as the next guy. Maybe a little more than most. Especially when, say, you make the last out in the championship game with the bases loaded and two out and the tying run is on second. You see the other team donning their champion shirts and you think "I coulda, I shoulda," and you beat yourself up a little.
But there are a few overriding themes in this, the 2016 Orinda Summer playoffs that make it all go down a little easier (like the post game beers - note we outlasted the champion Old Scouts to close down the park).
First and foremost - the Coneheads are winners. We each have a large collection of Cotton. We have so many that I famously concocted a spreadsheet tallying every championship season. In Orinda alone, we had two separate streaks of four in a row, the most recent ending two short years ago. Nine Championships in 18 years. We had a win in Walnut Creek just two weeks ago in Spring League, and can look forward to fall ball where we have won five of the last six years.
Face it, we are spoiled. Like in poker, which many of us play when we aren't on the field, there is a certain element of luck involved. The breaks have to go your way. In fact, many things did go our way in these playoffs to get us to the finals. And there was a lot of poetry to the way it unfolded.
First there was the 12 Angry Men drama. I played against them for years in winter ball and an annual charity tournament in SF and as a sub on the Conehead mirror image Rip City, a SF team. Some of them are nice guys, but they are fundamentally simply arrogant. To continue the Donald theme, we oughta build a wall on the Bay Bridge and make them pay for it, and allow No Angry Men through it. The feeling is shared by the rest of the teams in our league and any league they touch. Since our tournament conflicts with one of their precious weekend tourneys, they tried to get the league to move the tournament (no), tried to force their way into the C league tournament next weekend (no), which presumably would eliminate the 8th place team in that league. I'm sure that would be popular. Instead, just like last year they assembled a "B" team for our playoffs.
In a stroke of complete genius, their opponent in the second round, the second most loathed team, the Waitlisters (a.k.a. the 35 year old grandfathers), waited until 12 Angry took the field, and then called roster check. Voila, they could not produce 8 guys who actually were on the team. They were summarily kicked out of the tournament.
This was set up by our first game. In a theme revisited later, we just could not score and fell 5-4. Other than a Lefty home run, there were no highlights. However, if we had won, it would have been us against 12 Angry, and I doubt we would have had the chutzpah/pettiness, you pick, to challenge the Angry roster. We would have told ourselves we can beat them into 12 Silly Men on the field. But the Waitlisters did, and it worked.
In the other stroke of luck, the one upset had Johnny's Gang beating St. Mo's in a first round game. That set them up as our next opponent after they were spanked by the Old Scouts and we accepted our forfeit by the no-show 8-seed Warthogs. We probably would have beaten St. Mo's anyway. Of late, they seem to have our number in the regular season (a tie this year) but we make them pay in the playoffs.
At any rate, facing Johnny's Gang made for an easy road to Sunday. They celebrated their upset win with many beers. They were drinking in the dugout, smoking on the field during pre-inning grounders, and generally giving the impression of a team just happy to be there. We scorched them with our only true Conehead inning with 11 in the first, and although disturbingly we really didn't add on much, the outcome was never in doubt as we walked away with a 15-10 win. Nine straight hits in the first, a three run monster by D, a later solo shot by Chopper, you know, the usual stuff when we win.
The great debate was which was the best line of the games, both of which came in this one. Chopper, who was just ON all weekend, kept calling out the illegal player on loan from 12-Angry the "One Angry Man".
And after Lefty toppled over the overweight, smoking first baseman with what really was a routine grounder, and the guy lost the ball in his gut, couldn't get up, and couldn't make a throw, I looked at him and called out "I feel fit!"
This set up the final four for Sunday between the Old School teams we have faced over and over on Sundays past: The Old Scouts, Cal Bronco, the Waitlisters and us. The difference this year was we had lost to all of them in the regular season. Yet it felt right.
And the 12 Angry Men? I think I saw their equipment trailer on the freeway:
So we woke up having the to make great comeback like in 2013 from the losers' bracket. But you couldn't ask for more at the same time. A chance to avenge the 30-7 loss last week (shorthanded) against Cal Bronco, and a chance to keep the detested Waitlisters out of the finals after they won last year. I know one thing, both the Broncos and Scouts root for us against them.
We played perhaps our best fundamental game of the weekend in the 10:30 match-up with the Broncos. Mark continued his MVP of the playoff ways: 3-3 while starting two run scoring rallies, and an RBI in four run fifth that really put it away (it made it 13-4 in an eventual 14-6 win). In the third he made a tremendous dive in short left field in the hole and somehow got the ball to second base. It was contagious: in the sixth, Larry in his one inning at 2B made a similar stop but in shallow right and flipped it off balance to get a force out at second, and then made a great stop and throw to first for the last out. That sixth was the Broncos' last hurrah, and Larry singlehandedly kept the damage to a minimum; by the time they came up in the seventh, they were done, needing eight to tie. Joe was funny, he asked me if I wanted to put in a different pitcher. Are you kidding? To hold that lineup to 6 runs in 6 innings? So he went out and shut them down without a run.
In the semi-final, we again allowed the Waitlisters to get a big lead, this time 6-1. They were hitting the ball all over the yard. But some of us said, and it turned out to be true that they had shot their wad; they scored only two more the rest of the game. We rallied in the top of the fourth with a Mini-Conehead inning - 7 runs. The big blow was a two run double by, you guessed it Mark. He wasn't even supposed to be there - he shined a Burning Man prep party that sounded like his own long tradition to be with us.
In the sixth, Chopper hit his second solo shot of the playoffs but we weren't done. Five straight hits by the bottom of the order and we had three more to give us what proved to be an insurmountable lead on the Waitlisters at 12-8 on the way to an eventual 13-8 win.
A word about Joe's pitching - he held the big 35 year old Waitlister SS and the cleanup hitter behind him to almost no hits between them. Nothing really after that first inning rally.
And so, as it should be, we faced the Old Scouts having to beat them twice in a repeat match-up of 2013. Really, their worst nightmare, just ask our teammates from the rest of the year, Scout Randy and Scout Johnny (who took off his championship shirt to don his new Conehead duds when he joined us for postgame beers).
But this year it was not to be. Neither team seemed to get out of the batter's box.and really the difference was a ball that got lost in the sun as we fell 5-3 (not the outfielder's fault). Maybe it was the heat but no one could buy a hit. Even brother Randy could not get a hit and he usually scorches us.
In a low scoring game, everyone feels like they had a chance to change fate - I got lucky and mine came with the game on the line. This day no Conehead could be the hero, we were all the goats. Who knows what would have happened if I got a hit, maybe we would have busted out with 10 two out runs, yet they had the hammer and we would have to beat them again as we did in '13. But still.
On the other hand, there is a lot of mutual respect by both teams, and the Old Scouts had not won since 2009. Class team that deserves it. Seven dry years, just like we once had. I for one am happy for them. And at least they are not the Waitlisters, and not the Putzmeisters.
And for the Coneheads, yes we hate losing, but we improved over last year when we did not even make it to Sunday, and we eliminated the Waitlisters and Cal Bronco. Last time we lost in the finals was in 2010, and we reeled off four in a row after that. WE'LL BE BACK.
Unlike the Donald. After he loses.
Milestones:
8/1
Pope 140 2b (#2)
Chopper 150 g (#15)
Bruce 100 h (#26)
8/4
Chopper 40 hr (#4)
8/8
Pope 1000 ab (#7)
Pope 250 g (#8)
8/13 G1
Chuck 150 bb (#1)
Gene 90 bb (#5)
Ol' G 850 ab (#10)
8/13 G2
Bruce 50 g (#26)
8/13 G3
Heffe 600 rbi (#3)
Gene 300 g (#6)
Chopper 500 ab (#17)
Lefty 200 rbi (#19)
Haze 10 bb (#24)
8/14 G1
None
8/14 G2
Haze 20 2b (#27)
8/14 G3
None
