Wednesday, July 02, 2008

Like an old man trying to return soup in a deli

It had to happen, well not really, but it did. Platypi finally lost. We are now 10-1, but in our defense, we only scored 9 runs. Very frustrating. The seventh inning illustrates how bad we were. I led off with a single. We couldn't even get to second base. Yikes. Is this softball or fastpitch?

Anyway, I ran across a few Muppet videos on You Tube. I'll probably post a carefully selected muppet video in my next few posts. The one for today I saw when I was 5 or 6 (maybe 7 or 8, I am bad at judging the age of early childhood memories). I know I wasn't older than 8, because we didn't have the addition in our house done, and I remember laying on a couch in our front room right where the piano would eventually go.

I was sick, and it hurt a lot to laugh. I saw this video, and it struck a nerve. I laughed so hard, I thought I was going to die:




I don't know why I still think that is so funny. Probably because I think way stupid things are funny. Ask Ange.

The End

Friday, June 27, 2008

101 Posts

Yes, I finally got to triple digit posts. I would have mentioned it in my last post, but I didn't realize I was going past the century mark. When I reach post number 525,600, I know a song I can use, not that I would ever consider watching the musical "Rent".

I need to do a list, but I can't think of any topics to do a list on, so hopefully next time.

I can talk about softball. Platypi is 10-0 right now, but our toughest remaining game is this Tuesday. We are playing the 9-1 Salt Lake Blues. We easily beat them last time, so they're going to be wanting some revenge.

In umpiring news, I had quite the night last Wednesday. I had my first multiple ejection night.

Everything was going well until late in the 3rd game. One of the batters swung way soft, and tried to hit the ball into the ground-- hoping for the ol' swinging bunt. That is against the rules in softball, so I called him out. He told me I didn't have to be so 'professional', which was confusing to me since I am getting paid, technically, I am a professional. I told him that we might as well follow the rules, at which point, he said 'You're the sh***" and then repeated it, so I tossed him for arguing with me.

I will admit that I was probably too hasty to throw him out, certainly Treebeard would agree, but I have low tolerance for swearing, especially if it's directed at me.

After the game, Dad shows up, and I tell him how he missed an ejection, he stayed and watched a couple of batters the next game, but left about three minutes too early.

The fifth or sixth batter in the lineup for the visiting team took exception to a strike I called on him. He said that the ball was high because it 'came in at my elbow'. I told him that was a pretty good definition of a strike he just gave me. He continued to argue about the pitch, and I said 'The ball is coming in a 2 miles per hour, so you might as well swing at it.' The next pitch came in over his head, but he decided to swing, intent on proving his point. This would be called putting yourself ahead of the team. Predictably, he popped it up, threw his bat way hard, and said the F word. I tossed him at that point. His main argument was that he has never said the F word his entire life. I told him that he chose a bad time to drop his first ever F-bomb.

I am less than halfway through the year, and I have already tossed the same amount as last year. I need to grow some thicker skin.

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Blue Bubs

As I am writing this post, I feel a little sick, so you should all appreciate the effort. Part of the reason I feel sick is because it suddenly got hot, and I umpired 4 games in the middle of the day on Saturday. I don't know why everyone can't wait for it to be hot. As far as I'm concerned, perfect weather is in the 60's with enough rain to let you know it's there, but not enough to cancel baseball/softball games. It's what I like to call Platypi weather.

Speaking of Platypi, we played a doubleheader last Tuesday, which was also my anniversary. We beat the first team 24-3 and the second team 27-8, for a combined 51-11. Yes, we are not happy that we allowed double digit runs over two games, but in good news, we are now 8-0 with six left.

Umpiring this year has been pretty nice, mostly because I think the weather had broken people's spirits. I haden't tossed anyone the whole year, then I suddenly had to toss 2 people on consecutive games, right as the weather started to turn nice. Interesting.

The first guy that I tossed was probably the calmest ejection I've ever had. He popped up, and then threw the bat in disgust so hard that it hit his dugout fence four feet above the ground. After the play I said "Eleven", then he says "Sorry", but not to be detered by his sudden change of heart, I threw him out. As he's crossing in front of me to his dugout he says "My bad." Then the scorekeeper (Bill) had to tell him to leave the park, and he said "I understand." It kind of threw me for a loop, I felt like I was visiting some Bizarro softball field for a while. That was the last game of the night.

The first game of Saturday seemed to be going ok, except for I missed this way obvious call at third. The team argued tons, and as I was replaying it in my mind, I realized that there was no way the runner could have tagged up, but it was too late to change the call. Unlike NBA officials, I did not compound my mistake with an ejection. When the game ended, two teammates started fighting each other. I broke it up, but someone in the crowd yelled "Let them fight." Then one of the people fighting yelled at the fan, saying like 5 f words, so I had to eject him, which means he won't be able to play his next game.

I think after that, everyone was too hot and tired to argue, so there were no further incidents. This all means I'm going to have to update my toss o' meter at the bottom of the page.

Angel Hernandez

Friday, June 06, 2008

Thank You

I thought I had set my other post to post today, but it didn't work, here's the gyst...

64 years ago today, was D-day, the day allied forces sacrificed thousands of lives to storm the beaches at Normandy that eventually led to the end of Nazi occupation. On that day, President Franklin D. Roosevelt offered this prayer:




On this day, remember that faith in God and our country once united the nation, and can do it again.

Thanks to all those of "The Greatest Generation" who sacrificed at home or abroad, so we can enjoy the freedoms we enjoy today. Your bravery, faith, determination and selflessness will surely be missed.

Bubs

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

The Accident

I was reading a Deseret News article about cell phones in schools. Yes, cell phones are annoying, but I'm going to make sure my kids have one, if we can afford it. In the end, if you have a good kid, they won't be getting in routine trouble, regardless of the technology. As a teacher, I do wish that parents would be better at controlling thier teenager's use of cell phones. I have confiscated a few cell phones in my day.

They can also be helpful, I just don't want to end up like this guy, all over Youtube:



We have a softball game tonight at 9, hopefully, we keep it rollin'. Umpiring has been calm this year, meaning that I haven't kicked anyone out. Last Thursday was close. Runners on the corners, and a double play ball is hit to the 2nd baseman. He flips it to the shortstop covering second, who then tries to relay it on to first, only to be barged into by a non-sliding runner. So, the obvious call is a double play, with the runner starting the play at 3rd being called out since he is the most advanced runner.

The barger had a different idea, and was trying to explain to me at the top of his lungs that he's not out, because he didn't mean to run into the shortstop. My argument was that his team mate probably didn't mean to hit a crappy double play ball to 2nd, but he still had to suffer the consequences.

So, I decided to make a list of other things you have to suffer the consequences for, even if you didn't mean to:

16 - Choosing the wrong line at Wal-mart*.
15 - Attacking a fully functional Death Star.
14 - Rear-ending someone.
13 - Bombing a test.
13a - Bombing the Chinese Embassy.
12 - Stubbing your toe.
11 - Burning popcorn in the microwave.
10 - Voting for a Liberal.
9 - Eating Salmonilla.
8 - Misquoting a Seinfeld line around John.
7 - Going to BYUI instead of BYU regular so you have an excuse to not play on Platypi.
6 - Getting sucked into a Star Trek episode.
5 - Not immediately changing a poopy diaper.
4 - Being a white male.
3 - Watching a Drew Barrymore movie.
2 - Believing that "If it doesn't fit, you must acquit".
1 - Burping in front of Steph.

Yes, I paid the price for #1, to the tune of an aluminum bat to the shins, but that which does not kill you makes you stronger, so I continue to accidently burp in front of Steph.

Out

Elmo

Friday, May 16, 2008

The Bubs being the Bubs

One of the funniest baseball plays I've ever seen was Manny Ramirez (Left Fielder) cutting off his centerfielder, Johnny Damon's throw. Manny was literally 50 feet away, and had to dive to cut it off. This allowed for an in the park homer.

Manny almost topped himself the other day...



Note: this video may not work soon, because Major League Baseball has the copyright. Not sure how those laws work, only that I'm not supposed to copy text books for students unless I posses an equal number of copies of said textbook.

For those who can't see the video, ManRam makes a great catch running backward, runs to the wall, high fives a fan, then throws the ball into the infield to complete the double play. Good one.

In Platypi playing really well right now news, the Platypi is playing pretty well. We won our second game against a team that probably shouldn't be in the upper league, 23-4. It would have been worse had we not gotten sloppy by the 4th inning.

Last Tuesday, we beat our nemisis, Salt Lake Blues, 23-16. Yes, we tend to score 23 runs.

13 days of school left until summer break. Summer break is going to be nice, because we'll be able to sit around and do nothing at home because of gas prices. This, of course, is better than sitting around doing nothing at school, which is what would happen if you forced students into the classroom in July.

Ella is now walking. I consider a child able to walk if they can make it 15 feet. This is not good news. Better news would be that she stays in a swing chair until she's 22 or so. Looks like we'll have two kids to chase around now.

The End
Trogdor

Thursday, May 01, 2008

Lincoln the Flopper

So we have these personal leave days that we get each year. There are 3 such days, and if we don't use them, then they go away. If we don't use any, then we get $180 at the end of the year. I was forced to use one the very first week of the year to attend Natalie's wedding. Yes, she was very inconsiderate to plan it during the school year. Now, I am using my final 2.

I wanted to go to Idaho, but that was before I remembered that gas isn't $1.32 a gallon anymore. Idaho will have to wait until early August. So, it looks like I'm going to fill the first half of the day blogging.

Platypi is now 1-0. We won our first game on the strength of two Brett in the park homeruns, and one from John. Our game last Tuesday was cancelled because they told us it was at 7, and the other team it was at 6. Next Tuesday, they told us it was at 7:30. They should find a way to write down all the game times for the entire season, and give it to us at once. When they do, I'll post the schedule here for any interested parties.

Lincoln has taken up the annoying habit of throwing himself on the ground then pretending he's hurt. He is a pretty good flopper, he reminds me of Robert Horry:



Anyway, no sympathy is given by me, which can be uncomfortable if done in public.

In conclusion, the Jazz had better win Friday.