OH SHIT!!!

Things are interesting here, to say the least. Northumberland County Food Control central sits just behind my home and things are hopping up there. I stopped up there just about an hour ago to deliver the receipt to the boss for the our pool that was a total loss after their tree basically spit in half and fell on it, as well as my son’s swing set. One of the higher ups there is also an assistant coach within our baseball league. I spoke with him as soon as I walked into the door and he looked and sounded very stressed to say the least.

The national weather service came across the radio today stating that the West branch of the Susquehanna River will reach flood stage tomorrow and will keep rising. Our city is well protected by a series of floodwalls and dikes, and our home sits atop a hill, about as high as you can get inside city limits, so we are just fine. I do fear though, for the local areas that are not as well protected. Many of business along the river, especially the West branch, are in danger, and have been flooded many times before.

I have been listening to the Fire and Emergency channels on an old scanner that I have and it’s going nuts. Trees are being washed out, falling over roadways, all personnel have been called to an ‘on standby’ status about 10 minutes ago, the radar on the weather channel shows nothing but bad and it has been raining cats and dogs for well over 3 hours. My basement only gets water in it (small puddles) when it rains very hard, or when a tree falls on the pool and the entire pull empties. (oh yea, good times, NOT) I have now pulled all the items off of the floor, as the puddle is now a very small pond.

No baseball to be found these days...

The ride to work tomorrow should prove to be interesting.

Long and hard.

Our baseball season is almost over. I’ve been hammering out the All-Star’s schedule for a week now. The rain will not let up, postponing many games. Our season’s schedule has been revised two times now, leaving parents bitching left and right, but what can you do. Tonight is 4th washed game of our season and the weather looks ‘all bad’ for tomorrow.

Although I have learned many great things from many people during my few years within this league, I must think long and hard about what my position within this league will be next year. A quote from a fellow commissioner, and a great man… “Ya know what I’m going to do next year? Nothing!!! And I’m going to sit and bitch about everything, just like everyone else does!”… This, coming from a man that has helped to run this league for many years.

I must sit back and think long and hard about my place, within this league, assuming my kids want to play next year. I have done way, way too much, gone out of my way all too many times, gotten shit over way too many issues.

Long and hard! Your input would be appreciated, big time.

So many ass clowns, so little time

Sometimes I just don’t get people. The following story was copied for your reading pleasure from Here

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Tuesday, June 20th, 2006
Coach asked to leave a game in Sunbury
SUNBURY – A coach from Sunbury has been charged with disorderly conduct after being asked to leave a little league game yesterday. Sunbury police say 29-year old Terry Young became angry after a decision was made and started yelling profanities in front of the kids in the dugout at Merle Phillips Baseball Field. Police say at one point, Young had to be restrained and was told not to return to the area. He was cited for disorderly conduct by District Judge Carl Rice. (Ali Stevens)

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Now, here’s the real story. Weeks before the season even started, us board members, fellow coaches and commissioners voted this guy to be this year’s asshole. (There’s one every year) Evidently, this guy had moved up to this area recently. At one point, during a work party weekend, weeks before practices started, three of us had met up with this guy early in the morning to settle some things that had been said previously. This guy thinks he know more about baseball than Barry Bonds. His mouth goes like a ducks ass, speaking about himself. All the other assistant coaches on his kid’s team, as well as Mike (Head coach and good friend who kept me up to almost midnight last night talking about it all) are all sick of him running his mouth.
Well, then his kid strikes out, ending the inning. This guy decides to go chew his kid’s ass out for not following this hand signal that apparently him and his dad have going, TO SWING OR NOT, AT A BALL THAT HAS NOT EVEN BEEN PITCHED YET! So one thing led to another and this ass clown goes off on Mike, big time, in the dug out full of 10-year-old kids.
Just so everyone reading this blog knows, you cannot say the following words around kids. Ready??? Here goes the list, of the Terry-Young-ism’s.


#%#%#^% %^$#^#%^ T#$^#%^%# *(&^(*&^*^* (*^(*^*(*(*&^(*^ ()&)(*&()&)(& #!$$#!$!$!$!@$ U%&*%&%%&%* ^%&*%&&*%& *(&^*&^*^*^*^*^(*(*^ U^*&*&^*^*&^**^ ^%$^$^^$ ^%#$^%#^%#&*(&*%&%^$^#^$&%&%^%$^^&&*^(*&^%%$%^*^%^%$^^&*%&%^$^%$&%*&^#%#$&*^%$^#^$&%^^(*^*%&%&&&%%&$^$^&!!!!!


All said within 5 minutes, in the dug out, with all the kids on his own team, to his own kid’s head coach. Nice!

If only...

One day in the future, George Bush has a heart attack and dies. He
immediately goes to hell, where the devil is waiting for him.

"I don't know what to do," says the devil. "You are on my list, but I have
no room for you. You definitely have to stay here, so I'll tell you what
I'm going to do. I've got some folks here who weren't quite as bad as you.
I'll let one of them go, but you have to take their place.

I'll even let YOU decide who leaves." Bush thought that sounded pretty
good, so the devil opened the first room.

In it was Edward Kennedy and a large pool of water. He kept diving in and
surfacing empty handed. Over and over and over. Such was his fate in hell.
"No, George said. "I don't think so. I'm not a good swimmer and I don't
think I could do that all day long."

The devil led him to the next room. In it was Richard Nixon with a sledge
hammer and a room full of rocks. All he did was swing that hammer, time
after time after time. "No, I've got this problem with my shoulder. I would
be in constant agony if all I could do was break rocks all day," commented
George.

The devil opened a third door. In it, Bush saw Bill Clinton, lying on the
floor with his arms staked over his head, and his legs staked in a spread
eagle pose. Bent over him was Monica Lewinsky, doing what she does best.
Bush took this in disbelief and finally said, "Yea, I can handle this." The
devil smiled and said "OK, Monica, you're free to go."

Am I missing something?

Something has been bothering me for some time, something I just don’t understand. If someone has a child in a sport or other activity, why do they choose to not get involved? Why would the parents NOT want to positively affect his or her child’s experience? I just don’t get it. Yes, I am a coach. Yes, I am good with the kids. Yes, I may know the game. Yes, I may have patience that some others may not have. But, I am also simply a parent, a parent who was asked to help when my son entered the league.

It was very difficult this year to find coaches for the two lower divisions. Everyone just wants to sit and watch their child play ball, and bitch a little about how things are. A quote from a fellow coach in our division tells it better than I could ever say: “I didn’t want to coach, I didn’t have enough time with work and all. But, after being asked for the 3rd time, I said I would do it. I had to change my work schedule around to fit it all in. Now, I am so glad I did. It’s the best thing I have ever done. I will be the first in line next year.”

Why can’t more people be like him? Get involved into your local community, try it out for a year and if you don’t enjoy it, give it up and mark it under lessons learned. Speaking from personal experience, I feel the same. It’s hard to find a better feeling that having a child you coached run up to you in a store, away from their parents, saying “Coach, Coach, hi!”. One time I found little Austin in the grocery store crying. He had lost his parents. I reassured him that everything would be fine and he walked with me, without hesitation, to find them. Once reunited with his parents, he walked away smiling from ear to ear, without saying a word. Maybe that’s the part people are not getting. I am putting a tremendous amount of time and effort into these kids, but it’s for me too. I get a lot out of it, a whole lot.
To prove my point: The other day, while it was raining outside, my son and I set down with paper and crayons. I told him to draw what he likes best about playing baseball. He could have drew anything.



The picture shows him and I throwing in the back yard. I was stunned. No baseball diamond, no other kids, no bat, just him and I on a nice day throwing out back. That is why I do what I do.

Function over Fashion

My dog, River, minds the heat in the summer terribly. Most golden retrievers do, mostly because of all the hair. Too help the poor thing out, for the second summer in a row, we got him shaved.

I had all but forgotten how bad he looks for the first week or two. That was, until I picked him up from the vet’s office today after work. Although he looks ridicules for just a while, he’ll spend the rest of the summer looking like a shorthaired golden, and feeling much cooler too.

Ok, ready to laugh your ass off…

“Experience in motion” my ass!!!

Running a bit late again, I arrive at work about 6:15 am. Expecting a few more technicians, engineers and salesmen from a certain international company whose motto should be a little less experienced and a little slower, I prepare for their arrival. When 7:30 arrives, only a lonely salesman is to be found. It turns out that yet another miscommunication between divisions has pushed back the arrival of the cavalry until almost 11:00 am.

On Sunday of this week, I spend over an hour at one field getting things ready for today’s games. After the field was almost perfect, the skies opened up yet again, filling the fields with puddles of water and mud and making all my work for nothing. Keeping this in mind as I work this morning, I planed to leave work at about 2:00 pm to prepare the three fields that so desperately need help. A coach in another division that is out of work at the time drags all of the fields after he drops his kids off at school. I had no idea if he was available for today or not. “Yea, that worked, NOT…although I did get out of there shortly after 3:00 pm.

I got to the fields about 3:30. The place looked like New Orleans in December. After using the squeegee to the mud puddles, still in inch deep in spots, off of the field. I shoveled and dumped about 500 pounds of stadium dirt on 2 fields and about 100 pounds on the tee-ball field. By then, Todd, the other coach before mentioned, showed up. For those of you who know the area, he walks over from him home in Memorial Acres. He asks me about using the tractor to drag his field. I told him to take it while I go pick my kid up and throw something at him for dinner and that I would be back down there in about 45 minutes.

When I got back, Todd had just got done dragging his field. I then took the tractor and proceeded to work on my mine. While working on the final field, a kid walked over from the major’s field, asking if I could take the tractor over to his field when I was done.

Thinking I was simply delivering the tractor to them. I had forgotten about the new rule stating that only the division commissioners can run the tractor. I stopped the thing and yelled to the coach who had sent his kid over for the monster. He yelled back “I’m not allowed to run it, can you do it?” First of all, he was right, and second, this particular coach is a hell of a nice guy, so I drug the field for him, leaving me with little time to spare.

Our game went off without a hitch, despite the minor confrontation I had with the assistant coach on the opposing team, a City Council member. Either I pissed him off or gained his respect, I’m not sure. Truth is, it doesn’t matter to me.

After the game was over, I found a long ass line at the concession stand, so I made my way in there to help, finding the president of the league making burgers and fries. We tagged teamed the situation for until the line was diminished.

Oh, did I forget to mention the emergency board meeting we held.

Next year will be different.

Another day

I am so tired. (and I love it)