by Jeff
5/17/2010 5:05:00 AM
Ball Busters Band Together We limped into Randall’s Island last shorthanded. We were only able to field three woman and six men and that left us one person short. One person short in the field and one person short at bat. That constitutes one automatic out each time through the line-up and a complete full inning of outs (3) during a seven inning game which makes for quite a handicap. Not to mention the logistical nightmare that occurs when you are trying to position players short one fielder. Needless to say, we came up short. The final score was 13-6 but that does not tell the complete story of this game. More on that later. The umpiring in this game was inconsistent at least and flat out horrible at worst; even if the umpire himself was likeable. More on that later. It was 6-0 before we knew what hit us and although we had one valiant comeback to rally the score to 6-4, in the end, they scored a few more runs on our depleted defense in the late innings and won the game going away. However, in the ashes of defeat a new team arose last night and stood its ground in complete defiance. It is in honor of that conviction we move on to awarding the Game Balls or to paint a finer point on it….The Game Ball. Game Balls Yes I could award game balls to everyone like I did last Friday. As usual Larry put on a clinic at shortstop and hit another homerun. King James played an exceptional right field and hit another homerun. Matt was sensational at first base getting the front end of 3 reverse double-plays and hit with his usual array of all fields. Segal played well in left field and running in to catch when the situation called for it and then back out to left. Oliver was his usual fleet of foot on the bases as well as center field. Lauren anchored third base and hit a shot down the third base line that would have made Derek Jeter proud. An under-the-weather Juliana fought the flu and a pre-game softball to the noggin’ to play outstanding as our substitute catcher. Allan under duress the entire game trying to throw strikes to an umpire that seemed to make the rules up as he went along fought valiantly to keep us in the game and give us an opportunity to win. We were so depleted we had Powe coaching first base in his suit!! And he did a good job. Alex left the confines of catching and played 2nd base for the first time and actually looked like she belonged even if on one of her hits she slightly ran out of the first base line. And that’s were the fun began…………Game Ball MVP: The Ball Busters! Yes, the entire team. Tensions started early last night because the Umpire had a completely different interpretation of the rules than either team did. However, I make no excuses for the poor sportsmanship, belly aching, sissy-whining, foul-mouthed, total loser approach the Gators take to an American tradition as valued as softball. Their whining and complaining in what seemed like on every pitch slowed the game to a snails pace and set the pressure cooker timer on “ludicrous speed” and it wasn’t long before it was to blow its top. Welcome to the 4th inning. Now I’ve been told that I have a tendency to, on occasion, have a short fuse. Diplomacy is not my strong suit. However, I will say that I really tried to bite my tongue last night. I counted to ten. I walked away. I counted to 10, again. I sat on the bench and tried to keep score. But when this jerk of a first baseman picked on Alex (as he was whining about everything) for maybe taking one step outside the base line while running to first and actually cursed at her; well that’s were we drew the line…..Okay, so I’m not sure what we did was right or wrong. And I’m certainly not trying to turn this into a macho thing. But, if you were me, and you turned to see the entire dugout empty in seconds to come to my defense with Allan leading the charge…well that is quite a sight. James, Jeff S., Matt, Jason, Oliver, Lauren, Alex, Julie, Larry, Richard and Powe in his suit, all running through the infield protecting each other was nothing short of magnificent. We may have lost the game but we came away with something much more valuable. We came away with a sense of purpose, a sense of belonging and a conviction that we are not going to get pushed around anymore. We have been collectively getting kicked in the teeth on a professional basis for the last two years. I have repetitively told my team that if we stick together, when we come out on the side of this economic downturn we will be unstoppable. Well, the fog is lifting on the economy and maybe last night was our first shot across the bow that we are a family and we are on our way back to profitability and respectability. Every group was represented on the field last night from Technology, to Finance, to Real Estate to Admin as well as Synetek. We have a ways to go but at least for me I am a keeper of the faith.Thank you all for taking my back last night. I am very proud of all of you. Allan, I won’t forget anytime soon what you did last night. Thank you. Jeff
Ball Busters
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