Moving Plastic Furniture while serving 25 to Life

Despite getting a record number of comments recently
http://softballinsider.blogspot.com/2010/09/obvious-hidden-in-plain-sight-jb-factor.html (thank you), I have been hit with a severe case of writer's block for the last 2 weeks.

Why?

It's not one thing. Key factors include :

• Looking for a Big Softball performance/breakthrough
• Looking for a Big Story
• Knockout's poor performance and management tension
• Self softball pity
• Citysoftball http://sites.google.com/site/inwoodsoftballleague/

I've fought through most of these issues and gotten peace to some extent except with one : Knockout Poor Performance. You see Knockout is our team in Inwood and it's the equivalent to a 25 to Life softball prison sentence. Like the Eminem's song 25 to Life



Knockout makes me feel like I'm stuck in a bad relationship. The worst part is the apathy. Most players are there to just be there. We've been compared to Mayaguez http://softballinsider.blogspot.com/2010/05/softball-mount-rushmore.html from the Big Apple League in that we are a talented bunch who can't get it together. Don't get me wrong that all falls on the manager, Me. I've made my share of mistakes, but I've also been loyal, selfless, and committed. So what to do?

Step 1 Relax Fellow manager Dio Jackson of the Westlanders gave me some good advice "Ricky bottom line you and I take losses home with us, but the players go home and forget about it so relax". Dio is right. He helped relax me and I've been able to replace my anger, hate, and disappointment now with something better Honesty. They say the truth will set you free and the Truth is Knockout as currently constituted has two chances to win : Slim and None. We are like plastic furniture
tacky, sterile, and an eyesore. Being an above 96th street kid when I was little we had plastic furniture which I hated but from time to time my mom

would re-arrange the furniture. I asked my mom about this yesterday and she said that even though the furniture was ugly she would "cambiar los mubles para buscar suerte" (change the furniture to find good luck).

This week when I play the two time defending championships Westlanders. I am shifting my entire plastic furniture team around. I will be loyal to my nucleus for playing time, but everything else is out the window. It's not panic, it's a necessity. The house needs a makeover and I'm not afraid to remodel my 25 to Life home. I'm not expecting to add beautiful new microfiber furniture, but I can't sit down and get glued to the plastic as the heat turns up down the stretch. "Hay que buscar suerte"