Why I Love Spring Training

The sweet smell of suntan lotion, hotddogs ,beer and of course sweat. COMBINED!

I was appalled of the lack of catching ability by fans. At the Braves-Mets game, no one caught a foul ball, not one fan catch. How do we expect your team to catch, when you can't catch an easy foul ball with a beer in one hand and a half a hotdog hanging out of your mouth. Pitifully, back to minors all of you.


Baseball God's are Good
Throw back beers- $2 ol'milwaukees, PBr's and such.
It's like the beer gods were making up for charging us $8 for a beer over the past 20 years.

Baseball God's are Bad
My seat, second row behind dugout... No players acknowledge me.. weird huh?
2 hot chicks, park themselves in 1st row in the top of eighth innning. within in 15 seconds, I swear to god in 15 seconds a ball tossed their way, within 5 minutes a player gives them a bat (probably with a phone # on it.)


If you talk with the ushers politely for a while they'll let you sit anywhere you want.
Thanks again Robert, Carl and Jordan for the choice seats.


I'm not really sure, but the foul lines on the field are sort of feeling more and more like a boundary/minefield the players are afraid to cross. Not many this year ventured off the field to greet the fans.
My baseball spirit died a little bit each game.


NY Mets Adam Loewen signed for an hour after the game, not missing anyone.
Keeping my baseball spirit alive.


Best parking deal ever.
Pulled into the church near the Joker Marchant Stadium.
For a donation to their youth baseball league you got a bottle of water, hot dog, prime parking space for the game and to boot they washed your car for you. Best $20 ever spent.
Praise the Lord!


I never know if scalping tickets is legal or not.
But I would hate to get busted buying spring training tickets.


No pepper? Some of us like pepper. Where is the PEPPER????


Love that the stadium has a slip and slide area in the outfield.
Some teen monitoring the "slippery when wet" area said I was to old to participate.
"No love" for this kid at heart.


Girls in bikini tops, polishing toes during the game. Kinda HOT!

Dudes picking their toes during the game. Kinda NOT!


The crack of a bat instantly silences a crowd for a split second.
Listen next time.


An impressive defensive play is always appreciated by both the home and visiting fans.
When a play is good, a play is good.
No Exceptions




PLAY BALL sportsfreaks

Skateboard Race

There nothing like a song to get the creative juices flowing, am I right sportsfreaks?
So I took that flow and Queen's "Bicycle Race" and created my own version.
Consider yourselves lucky that I am not singing it to you.


I like to ride my skateboard
I like to ride my board
I like to ride my skateboard, I like to ride it side to side
Skateboard skateboard skateboard
I want to ride my skateboard skateboard skateboard

I want to ride my skateboard
I want to skate my pool
I want to ride my skateboard
I want to ride it cause that be cool

You say Shawn, I say White
You say nose, I say grind
You say Hawk, I say THE MAN
Del Mar was never my scene
And I never been to Santa Cruz
You say Zephyr , I say Alva
You say God, just give me Peralta
You say Lord, I say Christ(ian) Hosoi
I don't believe in haters man
sketchy punks or dudes who bail
All I wanna do is

Skateboarding, skateboarding, skateboarding
I want to ride my skateboard, skateboard, skateboard
I want to ride my skateboard
I'd kill to have rode with Jay Adams
I want to ride my skateboard
I want to ride my board

Skateboarding from here to LA
Forget all your buddies oh yeah
Fat bottomed girls they'll be riding today
So look out for those beauties hell yeah
On your marks, get set, ollie !
Skateboarding Skateboarding Skateboarding

Skateboarding, skateboarding, skateboarding
I like to ride long after midnight
skateboarding, skateboarding,skateboarding
A Skateboarding Race

You say tail, I say whip
You rocket , I say airs
Hot dog, I say cool it man
I don't wanna be the President of Epic Fails
You say Bones I Say Brigade
Sheckler, I say gay
A Bad Ass, I say Natas
I'm just gonna skate the SpoT or just long board it over the Golden Gate
Cause all I want to do is

Skateboard, skateboard, skateboard
I want to ride my skateboard , skateboard, skateboard
I want to ride my skateboard
I want to ride my board
I want to ride my skateboard
I'm gonna ride until I am ninety four


Keep on rocking and rolling sports freaks !

Rain Delay

Due to inclement weather, my tennis sessions this summer were cancelled five weeks in a row. Hey Mother Nature...you are making it tough to keep in shape. (I'm not fooling with ya.)
So what do I do? Some other form of excercise? Naaaah.
To me it was like a get out of jail free card. It was now quality time for Ray.
A time to grab a pizza and catch a game I tivo'd.
Score update: laziness 1 exercise 0

Weather plays havoc on all sports. But what the players, fans and sportscasters do during those delays always seemed more interesting.

Baseball-
During a rain delay, we the fans at home are usually privied to the networks switching the broadcast to a movie from the 1980's... because watching "On Golden Pond" is exactly what I wanted to watch instead of the Yanks/RedSox game.
Just show Field of Dreams. "If you show it, we will watch it"


I've always loved the grounds crew pulling out the tarp to cover the field when it rains. It brings fond memories of 2nd grade gym class when we as a class had to lift a giant parachute up and down as fast as we could to create a huge air pocket under it and then all 30 of us would sit underneath it. OOH... AAH...where's my drink box?
The tarp as much as it is to protect the field it also becomes a stage for some players. My favorite tarp show was performed by Rick Dempsey, of the Baltimore Orioles, his antics recreating a home run trot while sloshing and sliding around the field was truly hilarious. Searching high and outside for video on the world wide web has come up empty. Sorry Sport, youtube does not have everything.
I've included a pic for those who've never seen it before.
For those of who did see it.. We were blessed.



Football-
Lighting schnightling, you NFL (never fuck w/ lightning) guys play in weather the postman won't deliver in and you wimp out when a little 1,000,000 volt bolt comes at you. For once just think of the fans, it would be awesome for us to be cheering for you as you scamper through the ankle deep water on your way to the end zone and BOOOOMMM!!! you are struck down at the one. Think of our needs once in a while
Troy Tice a high schooler did it. Why not you?



This dude and his uni were toasted like a pop tart!
Cleats popped right off his feet!

Bowling-
Does water dripping from the ceiling count as a rain delay?
It's bowling! Sure it does.
Wait, isn't it (a rain delay) part of the sport already. Allow me if you will, You've got three seconds of action. Then a delay for 90 seconds to rest, powder your sweaty hands, towel off the soles of your shoes, tape your fingers, tie your shoes, adjust your stick-on sponsors patches and wink at your pretty 300 lb wife in the stands. Then three more seconds of action. Then another delay of 90 seconds to drink some Gatorade, do a few sqauts thrusts, adjust your wrist guard, comb your hair with your hand and apologize quickly to your wife for your three seconds of action last night.


Soccer
Whether it's raining or pouring out, I'm sure those guys are still going to fake falling down. It least now we can grade them with points on their dives.
Ex:
A 10 for a clean entry into the water soaked field
A 5 for too big a splash
A 2 for over rotation/acting.

But in ways we don't normally see in the US, the crowd will react harshly if players are graded unjustly. Police (score keepers)paid the price in this clip.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3LVgeOTjqg


Badminton-
OK.. OK.. so Bad-M players, never have to go through a rain delay.
The best we can can come up with is an air-conditoning delay.
Bad-M players will throw a really big temper tantrum if even a small AC breeze is felt. We are delicate creatures.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZ2k-tsX5KE
Can you imagine if the AC went on in the middle of this???



The forecast calls for 100% chance of more sportsfreak.

And1 and a 2

Scanning the tube makes this post possible for all freaks.
What ever happen to the AND 1 basket ball tour, you know the basketball tour where the ballers could showcase their talents as the tour came into their hometown. Maybe even have a chance to play in the exhibition game or be offered (the holy grail) a chance to play on the tour. Unfortunately, what I came across on the box was the watered down version: The Ball Up Street Ball Tour.

What I gathered from this was that all the present and former great AND1 players have been demoted to the Ball Up street Ball Tour or we ought to just rename it to the Street "D-evelopment" League.
Quick question! Are they now riding around in a van instead of a bus?

How weird were the introductions? This weird: male stompers cheering and welcoming the players. Not your scantily clad cheerleaders my friends. Stompers!
Dude Wanna Be Stompers! Like they were hired from the GAP!
Then the players high-fiving those dudes as well... awkward? Nah...that just made me feel bad for them.

I loved the fact that Dennis Rodman was one of the coaches. Loved it more when they intro'd him and he had the look of "AAh YEAH! I am getting 10G's for leaving the bar early and raising my hand up to wave to the crowd two times".


Things got a little worse during the National anthem:

Sin #1: it was sung by Stefano Lagone of American Idol Fame (finished 7th, Season 10) Who says that AI can not take you places!

Sin #2: shame on half the crowd for disrespecting Stefano in the beginning. That Span-Italian boy brought the anthem home!

Sin #3- pro Baron Davis didn't take his hat off. Big contract = little respect.
Go play overseas!

Sin #4- saluting the flag with your hands in your pocket?
(THIS ISN'T HOW WE DO IT!)
(could help but sing that part)

Commentator Roger Lodge: you were better hosting Blind Date.

Can't understand it, the inner city kids seems so drawn to you(says the sarcastic SF)

We all know who Globetrotters played: the Washington Generals
Here we got Team Ball UP, ok its their league name. I can live with that butthey played against "Dennis Rodman's Team". That's a "D minus" League name in my book.
Was it too hard to name them "The Worms" or " Men who wear dresses".
That's my contribution.


I end this rant with one thing left to say "The Worm has left the building".
Coach Worm left this game with 7.5 minutes left. Can't miss last call y'know.


The sportsfreak will keep hoisting them up them for you.

I think I'm getting a cramp

My friend Rob asked me to go jogging with him last week. Being the bestest friend ever, I agreed to a running date. What? Never mind. I would suggest to anyone who has been asked to run, find out, I mean really find out if that other person can run. I thought I knew how to read peoples athletic abilities, you know like having super hero powers. but those powers absolutely failed me on this one.

I was doomed from the beginning when he came out dressed like he was ready to run a marathon. I am talking the Addidas sweatsuit (with rip away pants) $1500 running shoes, head band , water bottle attached to a belt (what moron invented that damn thing), meanwhile I styled the basketball shorts, high tops and tshirt I woke up with on. I was gonna win ugly.

Now in my hey day, I could squeeze out five or six miles. That's where the Ray- ometer stopped. Rob said he was fine with that. Now let me tell y'all that I was not fully truthful to Rob when he asked if I ran. I did run..well..ranned...ran.
Many years ago, I got the bug to run. At first it was easy peasy lemo...fuck me...it sucked from the beginning. Lasted about two years and then I smartened up or got lazy. Smartened up sounds better right?

I had no stamina the first few weeks. Then ....Stamina became my new friend. It was like a drug man. I couldn't get enough of that dude. What they say is true. Running does give you a high. NOOO you Stoners, not munchies high. Christ..focus.
The bad thing about stamina is that one minute he is your friend, the next he is your stomach holding, side splitting, I am going to die friend.
I remember that bastard as I was running the final leg of the 6th grade 600 yard dash. I went from cruising to crawling in 50 measly yards. Pathetic.

Have you ever watched the Hawaiian Iron Man Race? There are like what? 7 million people who run that damn thing. Me not being one of them. Every year I watch this and am amazed at the different types of people who run the race. The mom with two jobs and six kids, the son running in memory of his grandpa, the ultra marathon freaks, the dad pushing his son in a wheel chair and pedaling his bike because his son has lost both his legs in the war. Most inspiring thing I ever saw.

I'll let you know I a tried my very best to keep up with Rob. He even did the pant thing and tucked them swiftly in a jogging bag he brought with him. Dude was channeling a metro sexual version of Rain Murphy. Two miles in I gave up while waving him to continue while wondering to myself "why are there pliers pinching my side?"
Sadly Rob and I broke up after one running date.


If you think you can't do something, just look round folks. Other people are doing it. That should be motivation enough.



The sportsfreak says On your mark..Get set...Read !!

When all else fails, PUNT !

As a young lad, I was never enamored by the great football position players of the era. To me Joe Montana was an ok quarterback, Lawrence Taylor was an average defensive guy, Franco Harris was a fine running back but for me the most interesting position players were the kickers. Seems weird since I can't kick a lick. My soccer skills are worse than a 6 year olds. My kickball kicks (even to this day) usually burn the ground and never go where I intend them to go. I remember kicking off the ball in some pick up football games in the park, if one in ten made it into the air, we had success. I am sure it wasn't normal to have bruises on your feet after attempting to punt a few down the field. What the matter with me feet? I can kick a tennis ball real good after a bad shot and I can keep a balloon afloat with my feet for minutes on end. It boggles my mind.

Back to the kickers of the NFL.
Garo Yepremian of the Dolphins was a favorite of mine. Until he decided to throw the ball.

I loved Jack Dempsey, dude had half a foot and still holds the record for longest field goal (40 something years by now)

The all-time favorite player of mine will always be Dave Jennings of the New York Giants. As a twelve year old, I sent him some letters. OK, about 20. I asked him tons of questions about punting, to describe his practices and most importantly for some tips on how to become a good punter or did he ever get scared of on coming lineman? To my surprise, boy was I every time I went to the mail box to find letter from the the NY Giants addressed to me. He was thoughtful enough to answer this punk kids questions with great detail and care. I think by my third letter he may have thought that I was out of for his job. He always included signed photos and some sort of Giants stickers or some of his cards. He was like my pen pal for a whole season. Thinking back on it, knowing that the kickers in the game today still don't get the respect from their peers (Ray Guy , still not in the hall.)I may have been the only kid writing to a punter. Ever.
FYI- I still have the letters and give them a read through every so often.
That my friends, takes me back.

So for all those watching the game this weekend. I ask you to give some time to observing the under-appreciated kicking game. When your punter rips one for 59 yeards with no return. You will have witnessed something special.



the sportsfreaks code:
its an Uncle right to kick his nephews in the pants an unlimited amount of times.
I know its not always funny.. nah.. its always funny.

I had hours of fun throwing the baseball off the cement base of the house to practice fielding grounders. To be as good as Willie Randolph you had to practice, practice, practice you know. Unfortunately my aim was not very good as I proceeded to break most of bottom shingles off the house with my throws. I'm sure my Pop was thrilled.

Us neighborhood kids had some epic wiffle ball games there. It was no holds barred when we played. You would think that playing with a wiffle ball and bat you we safe from breaking things and each other. Think again. Getting hit with a WF bat hurts like the dickens and did you ever get your finger caught in the ball. Everything STOPS! to surgically remove your pinched finger. But you did run around with the ball dangling from your finger to show it joyfully to everyone playing how you caught it.The yard definitely took it hard during those games. Fences were ran into, precious flower blooms were ripped from their stems in order to stay on base and moms new mulching jobs provided some tough footing during those sky high pop ups.
Hey Dad, muchas gracias for mowing the field (lawn), we were sliding an extra two or three feet just because of that.


I can't remember how this game came to be in the yard but it was fantastic.It's tough to describe, I'm sure may have been a tennis device for practice. The tennis ball was attached to a cord and it spun up and down along the metal screw top. Anyone? Help with a name? I told you it was tough to describe.Boy oh boy did we practice, we practiced so hard on that thing we broke the wire the ball was attached to. Lots of frustration was taken out on that poor thing. I'm sure it was probably happy to die.

Our parents must have really thought us kids were nuts. We would have relay races between the neighbors four yards. We'd have to navigate six fences, four gates one or two dogs, cars in driveways, Damn.. we'd be running across lawns, flower beds (good short cuts), clothes lines, sprinklers and sunbathers. That is when I got most use of my "stop watch" option on my watch (that was a quick shout out to my Facebook friends). I even used my pops old hand held stop watch at the time. Gotta get me one of those again. I got some nephews and nieces who are just like we used to be and would do anything to get timed.


there's Mom's whistle, the sportsfreaks got to go.