Did you ever see the movie the Gods Must Be Crazy? One of my all time favorites. It's about a coke bottle that falls out of the sky in the Kalahari Desert and causes mayhem in the tribe, so the protagonist must carry it to the ends of the earth to destroy it.
That scenario is about as likely as anyone beating Boomer's Bangers, the team that has won the Wednesday night Legends league since Time Began. They have only lost one or two games since I have been playing in the league (just a couple of years). Basically they are an amalgam of the best 50 and over tournament players in the East Bay...and when they are missing a player, coach E just plugs in another great player and the beat goes on. I have played a lot of morning games with these guys, with and against them since I have been prematurely 'retired' and consider most of them friends, as they do me. E is, shall we say, very competitive, and there are many who wish him ill, at least on the field.
Let me tell you about our team, which is semi-sponsored by a local pub. We are a rag-tag collection, and on any given Wednesday we could get shut out, or once in a while we click and can put 20 runs up, and surprise ourselves and others. We are the ones who rose up and beat them a couple of falls ago.
Last night we were scheduled to play Boomers at 6:30. Rain was forecast, but it was only listed as 10% chance until 8:00, and our game would be over at 7:45. The stars were aligning for a big upset. There is a big Seniors tournament in Las Vegas this week. Their lineup was decimated by missing players. But, as I said, E has a wide array of players that can fill in.
But then - I saw an email from E to the morning players asking one to come fill in. He told him the game was at 7:45. I didn't have the heart to correct the mistake. I have no scruples either. They ended up showing up with 9 players. In senior ball you usually have 11 players on the field - a rover and four outfielders. They had no rover and only 3 outfielders. The middle was open. The outfield had huge gaps.
Well we came up and put up four runs in the first. - bloopers and bleeders and everything fell in. We even hit into a double play, but put up two two-out runs. In the bottom of the first, the lead off hitter got on. The next hitter is a good guy, a very solid hitter. He hit it sharply up the middle, and our rover flipped to our left handed shortstop, coming across the bag, and he fired to first to double up fast Johnny.
No one scored in the second. In the third our best hitter hit a popup to lead off, that fell between the second baseman and the shortstop. We put up three more, largely due to a monster triple by our latest addition, my friend Woody.
At this point it started to drizzle. What were the gods doing? E went into stall mode; if we completed 5 innings it counted. We shut them down in the third. Another grounder up the middle, only this time our rover
scooped it, stepped on the bag, and fired to first.
Our ups in the fourth. And E was having trouble with his shin guards. I've never seen anyone have that much trouble putting on shin guards. The rain increased. The infield was wet now, and the ump declared in the interest of safety, the 'vicinity' rule was in effect on the bases for runners and fielders. E was deliberate on the mound. Our first hitter grounded out. Then the ump called the game.
The teams on the other fields were still playing at first. We were ready to go ballistic. But they did eventually call off all the games, and some of the others were already in the fifth inning. Of course with E stalling, we were only in the 4th. The game was wiped out.
But we had these guys and E knew it. It was 7-0 and it might have been 40-0 on this night. Now when we make up the game, they will have their full squad, and we will be hitting dribblers and popups that don't fall, and they will be turning the double plays.
The softball gods are not crazy...they are cruel.
That scenario is about as likely as anyone beating Boomer's Bangers, the team that has won the Wednesday night Legends league since Time Began. They have only lost one or two games since I have been playing in the league (just a couple of years). Basically they are an amalgam of the best 50 and over tournament players in the East Bay...and when they are missing a player, coach E just plugs in another great player and the beat goes on. I have played a lot of morning games with these guys, with and against them since I have been prematurely 'retired' and consider most of them friends, as they do me. E is, shall we say, very competitive, and there are many who wish him ill, at least on the field.
Let me tell you about our team, which is semi-sponsored by a local pub. We are a rag-tag collection, and on any given Wednesday we could get shut out, or once in a while we click and can put 20 runs up, and surprise ourselves and others. We are the ones who rose up and beat them a couple of falls ago.
Last night we were scheduled to play Boomers at 6:30. Rain was forecast, but it was only listed as 10% chance until 8:00, and our game would be over at 7:45. The stars were aligning for a big upset. There is a big Seniors tournament in Las Vegas this week. Their lineup was decimated by missing players. But, as I said, E has a wide array of players that can fill in.
But then - I saw an email from E to the morning players asking one to come fill in. He told him the game was at 7:45. I didn't have the heart to correct the mistake. I have no scruples either. They ended up showing up with 9 players. In senior ball you usually have 11 players on the field - a rover and four outfielders. They had no rover and only 3 outfielders. The middle was open. The outfield had huge gaps.
Well we came up and put up four runs in the first. - bloopers and bleeders and everything fell in. We even hit into a double play, but put up two two-out runs. In the bottom of the first, the lead off hitter got on. The next hitter is a good guy, a very solid hitter. He hit it sharply up the middle, and our rover flipped to our left handed shortstop, coming across the bag, and he fired to first to double up fast Johnny.
No one scored in the second. In the third our best hitter hit a popup to lead off, that fell between the second baseman and the shortstop. We put up three more, largely due to a monster triple by our latest addition, my friend Woody.
At this point it started to drizzle. What were the gods doing? E went into stall mode; if we completed 5 innings it counted. We shut them down in the third. Another grounder up the middle, only this time our rover
scooped it, stepped on the bag, and fired to first.
Our ups in the fourth. And E was having trouble with his shin guards. I've never seen anyone have that much trouble putting on shin guards. The rain increased. The infield was wet now, and the ump declared in the interest of safety, the 'vicinity' rule was in effect on the bases for runners and fielders. E was deliberate on the mound. Our first hitter grounded out. Then the ump called the game.
The teams on the other fields were still playing at first. We were ready to go ballistic. But they did eventually call off all the games, and some of the others were already in the fifth inning. Of course with E stalling, we were only in the 4th. The game was wiped out.
But we had these guys and E knew it. It was 7-0 and it might have been 40-0 on this night. Now when we make up the game, they will have their full squad, and we will be hitting dribblers and popups that don't fall, and they will be turning the double plays.
The softball gods are not crazy...they are cruel.
Jeff, good description of the game. I hate to say this but I had a good laugh because I know how E-dawg is. Steve A.
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