Emmis the Menace: Game 5
We played our fifth game last night, against a team called Average Joe’s. They got some runs on us early on, but we ended up rallying and held the lead for a good while (from about Inning 2 to Inning 7).
We were up at the top of the 7th, and with two outs… the ball got kicked my way. I ended up not making the catch, two runners scored, and we were behind by a run.
It was getting a little dark by this time, so the ball was hard to see. That said, I’m still kicking myself for the drop… as it was a costly error. For the record – my finger was not an issue here. In running to meet the ball, I didn’t get there in time and it was higher than I anticipated. I’m bummed (and still am) by this, as the old football adage comes to mind: if you can touch it, you can catch it.
Had I caught the ball, the game would have ended right there and we would have won. Despite having another chance at bat at the bottom of the 7th, we ended up losing 7-6.
Roshan is taking the loss pretty badly, despite having pitched a good game. I think he and I are wired the same way, with a pretty strong competitive streak in us. Last night I think that competitive side got the better of me, because after the game… I felt like I was still out on the field, kicking at the dirt with my tennis shoes.
Looking back today, I’m reminding myself that we’re playing kickball for fun. It’s a game, and we’re enjoying hanging out with one another. Prior to this season, we had never played together before… and I think we’re faring incredibly well, in light of that. It’s not like we’re out there doing drills or exercises. Before and after each game, we sink a few beers and raise our glasses to one another. That’s about the extent of our workouts.
This time around, compared to last week, we were doing great. Better defense, and some great plays. Tim kicked several runs in, and Al (despite pulling a muscle around 2nd base) limped around the bases for a score.
Here’s a few plays I captured on video:
Last night was a tough loss, tougher perhaps than the week before… since we were so close to winning. I felt down last night, but I’m ready to dust myself off and have my eyes on next week’s game. Looking ahead.
Right now, I can’t help but think of my favorite line from The Passion, a novel by Jeanette Winterson:
You play, you win. You play, you lose. You play.
Of particular note, there was this amazing mom with her kids nearby. They had been there for a while, apparently, and had a grill out with food, etc. But for a good part of the game, this woman was on the phone talking very loudly about… something that was clearly very important.She got pretty heated at one time, and was literally screaming into her phone. I think the person on the other end of the line was maybe the current girlfriend of her ex? Maybe a family member? Whoever it was, it was someone who apparently had said something about the woman’s kids, as this seemed to be what I could pick up. The angry woman on the phone kept calling the other person “Ho,” and screamed so much I swear I thought she might explode.This is not an exaggeration.When she was really screaming, I started getting worried. Not that she was going to do something erratic, but fearful that she might honest to God have a heart attack, right there and then. She was that loud.At one point during the game, she was screaming so much that literally everyone playing (both on the field and off), turned their heads to look her way. It was a sight (and sound) to behold.To make matters worse, the woman and her kids kept wandering into the field. While kickball is a pretty tame sport overall, there’s a good deal of running around in the outfield. We all kept trying to keep an eye out for her children, but it was, quite frankly, dangerous out there. For a woman who yelled at someone else over her kids, she sure didn’t seem to be looking out for them very much.
avoision (July 28, 2011 at 2:10 pm)