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