Ronda's Grocery... This is My Legacy

The picture below is my favorite softball memento

My Father Samuel Ronda is the last person standing in top row

When I used to live at my old apartment in New York I had this picture of my father and uncles Old School softball team, Ronda's Grocery,  hung up on the wall and used to have visitor play "Pick my father out" as the joke was all Hispanics look alike.... Lol

For the Record, Astrid, my wife, picked my father on the 1st try - destiny

Sam Ronda - far right

I guess this picture is my softball beginning.

My legacy.

I guess this picture is my Softball Legacy. My beginning.


Love it.

I've been looking at it a lot lately as after a brave 7 year battle with a rare form of gall bladder cancer my Father, Samuel Ronda, passed away last Wednesday

Samuel Ronda September 2013 with his Granddaughters

Sorry for another obituary blog everyone, in fact this isn't an obituary it's just the Truth. I wish I could do a top ten, a voice over, a rant, but all I have is the Truth and I just gotta get this off my chest.

My father was a good guy, loved by his family, popular in the neighborhood, a hustler and he made his mistakes. Plenty of them, but he did the best he could as he was able to provide me with a home and an education. Yet despite living with and knowing him my whole life we had issues. We weren't close, but we were also not far. Sometimes father and sons just can't , I don't know , just can't... connect/bond.

We both wasted a lot of years.

Some of it was his fault.

Some of it was mine.

Ironically, I respected him more in the last seven years as he truly enjoyed life, was not afraid, and until recently had a very good quality of life. He was a warrior.

I saw this coming and I was ready, regardless those father-son scars stay with you and so does the regret. All I can do going forward is take the good he gave me and learn from the mistakes we both made. I won't waste years or time with Alexandra and Caley

It won't be easy, but I will connect with them. I don't want to feel this regret again. It's empty. I hate empty.


Our time together may be over but their still can be good done both personally and for others. Cancer is relentless and does not discriminate. I have already begun plans to form a Charity cancer tournament next year because we all know it's more than just game. Details will come in 2014 as I know all my softball warriors out there will go to battle against this dreadful disease.

Don't worry Pops, Ronda's Grocery will play again

and someday we will play together again

This is my legacy.

Sad Insider reports R.I.P MR..

Our friend Marc Rosenthal passed away yesterday

Very sad

Marc's love & loyalty to the game was apparent. He was so blog worthy and I'm glad he and I became friends over the years. He will be missed.

A Sad Insider will remain shut down until Monday in respect of our lost friend. As all we are is dust in the wind

The Power of Wu.... Undeniable & Almost Invincible... Fits You Like Glove

If you grew up in the 90's and were fan of Rap Music, then you loved Wu Tang Clan

The Power of the Wu was undeniable. They had many members, yet fit together like a glove as they successfully combined :

• intelligent thought
• ghetto experiences/attitudes
• fearless topics
• chaotic styles

into a cohesive lyrical force. They were awesome and probably the #1 greatest hip hop group of all time.

Speaking of the Wu, avid Softball player Eric Wu, 

may have not been a part of the Rap group Wu Tang Clan, but he is a fine ball player  


great guy, and has taken the game he loves and combined it with the American entrepreneurial spirit to put out a brand of his own gloves.

The Power of the Wu is undeniable. 

 

His gloves are excellent and you'll be pleasantly surprised with the quality and the value...... much less you would expect to pay for a pro glove using fine leather. "Fits you Like a Glove"

Please call Eric at 917-885-7811 or email him at prosportsgloves@gmail.com.

Insider Note:

In researching the Wu Tang Clan I discovered a resemblance between softball legend Charlie Bailey and the deceased original Wu Tang Clam Member Old Diry Bastard

and now it has been verified ODB lives

lol

Softball's Ebony and Ivory

The Insider recently had the pleasure of interviewing Softball's version of Ebony and Ivory

Marc Rosenthal and Charlie Bailey


..legends never die.... great interview

Ricardo Ronda 2

Today, November 5th . 2013, my favorite artist, Eminem, is releasing his newest album Marshall Mather’s LP 2. About the album he said 

"Calling it The Marshall Mathers LP 2, obviously I knew that there might be certain expectations. I wouldn't want to call it that just for the sake of calling it that. I had to make sure that I had the right songs – and just when you think you got it, you listen and you're like, 'Fuck, man. I feel like it needs this or that,' to paint the whole picture. "

In that statement Em eludes to the difficulties and challenges of consistently meeting expectations.  I hate the word expectations, but it is what it is. I've always felt in life and especially baseball/softball , the hardest thing to do is consistently meet expectations 

Hell Hall of Famer Tom "Terrific" Seaver stated “In baseball, my theory is to strive for consistency, not to worry about the numbers. If you dwell on statistics you get shortsighted, if you aim for consistency, the numbers will be there at the end.”

Consistency. What a disciplined cold terrifying word:

• It's not sexy. 
• It's not dramatic, 
• It's not exciting. 
• It's well. 

Consistent

• That means boring. 
• That means under the radar. 
• That means not flashy. 
• That means fighting that day in day out mental grind. 
• That means dependable

Easier said than done.

I contend

That Consistency  is baseball/softball single hardest and maddening characteristic/skill. As we all know baseball/Softball is a game of failure and only the best players consistently:

• Repeat their delivery/release point
• Execute their pitches
• Run the bases properly from both an advancement and technique perspective
• Simultaneously properly judge, field, catch, and make decisions with a ball
• Apply proper timing, mechanics, pitch selection, quickness, grace, and power to hitting a ball

Consistently trying to repeat and execute the skill-set mentioned above is really quite maddening when you consider the difficulty of each task, the length of the season, weather, your health, your confidence, umpires, your teammates, the field, and the biggest X factor of all – Luck.

All these moving variables make Consistency a skill in and of itself. Anyone can run into a fastball, anyone can stick their glove out, anyone can win a championship once, but true excellence is consistency being able to do it again and again. Again easier said than done, 

"but the hard is what makes this game special if it were easy anyone could do it" .. Tom Hanks League of Their Own

It’s easy to overlook and appreciate consistency as:

• Many players are just so naturally talented; some guys can roll out of bed in January and hit a line drive. Others have to work hard and smart,
• The game definitely looks easier than it is to play. The Routine is not a given, it must be done over and over again with continued execution. Nothing is guaranteed. 
• Sometimes you just take certain things for granted

Perhaps the most maddening part of the game is when you know what you’re doing wrong and you adjust and then something else goes wrong. You know you don’t suck, but somehow somewhere you can’t harness the concentration to consistently perform where you want to be. It's like seeing a car accident happen in front of you and having no power to stop it. Ughhhh .. something is blocking that Consistency, it alludes you. You fade in and out of the zone.

It's a humbling game. 

It's been a frustrating, yet exciting, last two months of the season, and much like Marshall Mathers 2 LP, meeting expectations from both within and external is a daunting, but a possible task as The Cream Rises to the Top. Consistently

Ricardo Ronda 2