Wednesday, December 30, 2015

Malo Pa Fuera is a Sequel.. Best/Worst 2015 and Beyond

"Back ...
Caught you lookin' for the same thing ...
It's a new thing, check out this I bring
Don't believe the hype, its a sequel
As an equal, can I get this through to you
...Comin' from the school of hard knocks" ... Public Enemy .. Don't Believe The Hype



Great Song. 

In the spirit of Public Enemy and New Years I'm the mood for a sequel to my Classic 2014 blog:

Malo Pa Fuera  





































At midnight tomorrow I'm filling a pot of water and throwing it our door. It symbolizes throwing out the past year's bad luck (Malo) and starting anew



So ghetto - so fun. It's time for a 2015 SB version

Top Ten Malo Pa Fuera for Softball 2015

10, Injuries - getting older. Last 3 months were physical hell for me last year. Hell.

Can't go through that again. Love Softball, but not worth it.

9. Tuesday Afternoon Championship lost to McHales.















That hurt

8. Inwood - Only 8 teams. That's on me. I can do better.

7. Sunday Morning Team - Asylum. Underachieving.

6. Late Season Slump - Keep Swinging.

5. Mariners dropping out of Big Apple - that's was a step back

4.Softball Violence was up this year. I was part of it at times. For example, in game two of the BASL Championship 5 People were ejected It was ugly. I went after 2 people. Violence is not the answer. not in softball, not in life.

3. NY Fast Pitch Weintraub Loss - made series costing error. Pain. No excuses.

2. Martin - very sad.




1. Pops - heartbreaking




However, 2016 is almost here and it's time for Malo Pa Fuera, but before I do that the video below captures some of the special people and moments of  2015 as


"Should old acquaintances be forgotten, 
And never brought to mind? 
Should old acquaintances be forgotten, 
And days of long ago"


.. of Course I didn't use that wack Auld Lang Syne song .. Enjoy and see you in 2016 - Ride or Die



Friday, December 11, 2015

Softball Christmas Songs

It's the holiday season and one of my and my family's favorite parts of it is Christmas Music.

Now while softball season is still at least 3 months away it got me to thinking what Christmas songs fit best with Softball.

Yes.. that means another Top Ten

Top Ten Softball Christmas Songs

10. A96 Christmas Song - People that live above 96 Street love softball and Christmas and their X-Mas song is

"Christmas in Hollis by Run-DMC" 





Love that joint.

9. B96 Christmas Song 
People that live below 96 Street love softball and Christmas and their X-Mas song is

"WHITE CHRISTMAS by Bing Crosby"





lol... ok I kinds got a little racial there... but this is a cool song ..lol.. Bing had the love

8. Softball Misfit Song
"Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer "





The Theme of the story and song is perfect for softball. Rudolph was bullied, made fun of, had a disability yet he proved productive and important.



Softball is full of misfits The all have a role, a purposes, and importance. The land of misfit softball toys exists

As most of you already know I am a misfit.
Gotta Love Rudolph he found his purposes. Know your softball purpose.

7. Softball Pre-Game Song

"Carol of the Bells"



Something about that jam gets me hyped. Can play it before any game. Even Jewish people feel this one ...lol

6. Unwinding from Softball Songs - Tie

"Santa Baby by Marilyn Monroe"




"Baby it's Cold outside"




  • Tough day at plate?
  • Made an Error?
  • Heart-breaker?
  • Softball Drama?


These songs will get your mind off softball and on something else.

5.  Big Game Anticipation

"Santa Clause is Coming to Town by Bruce Springsteen"




Best Lines:

He sees you when you're sleeping
He knows when you're awake
He knows if you've been bad or good
So be good for goodness sake
So you better watch out
You better not cry
You better not pout
I'm telling you why
Santa Claus is comin' to town
Santa Claus is comin' to town
Santa Claus is comin' to town
Softball Connection: A Big game is like Christmas. You look forward to it all year and the Softball gods reward those that have been Nice.

4. Weather

Sleigh Ride" - Karmin


I love Karmn. I love Amy ...lol

In softball, any weather, is good weather




if your surrounded by people who love the game.


3. B/C It's More Than Just a Game

Do they Know it's Christmas ~ Band Aid 1984






Great unselfish philanthropic song raising awareness,,, Christmas is more than just a time for gifts.

Great song for Softball b/c it is more than just a game,

We all have proved that











2.






























2. Hope and Rebirth

So This is Christmas - John Lennon"




Best Lines

And so this is Xmas (war is over)
For weak and for strong (if you want it)
For rich and the poor ones (war is over)
The world is so wrong (if you want it)
And so happy Xmas (war is over)
For black and for white (if you want it)
For yellow and red ones (war is over)
Let's stop all the fight (now)

A very Merry Xmas
And a happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without Any Fear.

Softball Relevance: None really.

Just a brave message from a brilliant artist killed by a madman with a gun 35 years ago.

The world is a fucked up place right now, Softball helps us forget the fucked up shit we deal with every day. Hopefully, next year things will be better.

Without Any Fear.

and the Number One Softball Christmas song

1. Softball Gods Destiny

"Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas Lyrics" ... Frank Sinatra 


I love Frank Sinatra. He was the Man.

Best Softball Relevant Line :

"Faithful friends who are dear to us
They gather near to us once more, ooh
Through the years we all will be together and If the fates allow"

Hopefully the Softball gods will allow us to spend more time together in the future enjoying the most frustrating game on earth with one another.

Merry Christmas for Everyone

Thursday, December 10, 2015

Follow the Yellow Brick Road to the NY Professional Hitting Wizard

In the famous movie Wizard of OZ,  Dorothy had to go see the Wizard to find a way home




to find your way home in NYC to improve as a baseball and softball player there is only one Wizard
John Rodriguez




He won't hide behind a curtain to deceive you.





 It's all about hard smart work.


In New York he's the Wizard to go to for your kids and yourself.

I highly recommend you can contact J-Rod at  

jrod411925@icloud.com 

It's December, invest in your game, so you can reap the dividends when the season starts.

Professional!!!!!!

Wednesday, December 9, 2015

Going 9 for 9 in Wonderland

On December 9th every year I have no need to go down the rabbit hole you see as I live in Wonderland

December 9th is my wedding anniversary and this year makes 9 years married


In 2016 we will celebrate year 10 by adding a new character to Wonderland.




Life is good in Wonderland.

Thank you Astrid for putting up with all my shit and remember as long as you let me play we good,

Love You

Tuesday, December 8, 2015

My Most Personally Unfullfilling Softball Accomplishment

People ask me questions like:
  • "How do you beat Choice Parts?" 
  • "What's You Secret?" 
  • "How Did a 1st year team do it?"

Ironically, three months later winning the BASL 2015 Championship with 100% certainty I must say that it was probably my
most personally Unfullfilling Softball accomplishment.

I'll get to that shortly, but first let me get the How I beat Choice Parts blog out of my system before the year closes out.


Top Ten Reason I Beat Choice Parts


10. I didn't play.

Now I know the anonymous goon comment crowd out there will say "this should be number one"... lol.... , but in the bigger picture I knew the team needed me to manage, not play.

It hurt not playing, but I did it b/c:

  • The Team needed to see my unselfishness and see my resolve to winning. To their credit the guys did. I had minimal problems. Team Chemistry was very good
  • I needed people to keep coming. It cleared up spots, especially for package deal guys.
  • I'm stupid, crazy, and a sucker
  • Sometimes the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one.
Honestly, being named Manager of the Year means little to me, I would rather do it on the field.

9. As a manager, I took everything I learned from my Mount Rushmore Managers and used it:
  • Blonde - Pacienca y Fe plus ignore ignore ignore all goons. Never panic. Never.
  • Bob - Pretended to be a bobo but care about winning
  • Dio - Relentless recruiting, deep roster, and be creative. Everyone played, except me.
  • John "Championship Manager" Shepard - Tenacity and Resolve. Only thing I couldn't copy from him was his immaculate hand writing and raspy voice.
I took all of that and trusted my gut, my instinct, my experience, my insanity,  I knew my roster better than they knew themselves.

One more thing, I reminded myself to trust my instincts not my impulses. Instinct was a feel on right and wrong, impulse was a risky knee jerk reaction. Instinct > Impulse


8. To Beat Choice Parts I had to become Choice Parts - Initiation is the Greatest form of Flattery
  • Applied Mickey Peckinms incredible preparation skills to my pre-game routine.
  • Applied Rosenmiller's Recruiting instincts/ethics and political skills. Rosenmiller inspired me to recruit and forge an alliance with Mike Trenk.  I asked myself "Would Rosenmiller do it? And if the answer was yes. I did it"
  • Made sure to use the grandfather rule and get Sito to qualify. proved crucial when Cabessa went down at SS. No Mercy. The Choice Parts way.
7. No John Brown. 

Once the League was modified I knew the playing field was now level.

6. Luck
  • As a manager - Almost every good move I made worked. Almost every bad move I made worked. I was lucky
  • As a team - when you score the tying run in the deciding championship game on a throw that hits the ump in the head/back it's your year. The Softball gods are with you.
5. Checked Ego, Leadership and Alliance
  • I completely checked my Ego (signed Gil) and refused to panic
  • Butchy was my #1 priority in off season. I knew half the team wouldn't listen to me, so I needed someone they would listen to. - That was Butchy. Born Leader. Winner. A team needs an on the field leader and that was him. I learned a lot from him. He never challenged my authority, he only helped. Winner,
  • Alliance - As mentioned above, reaching out my hand to Trenk was brave and bold. We needed someone who rarely makes defense mistakes, competitive, and is self motivated. It showed everyone that I was willing to do anything to win. He had an amazing year in lead off role and I am happy to have made a new friend (make that 2 friends as his brother Larry is awesome as well).
4. Losing

Starting 1-5 was key. It made me see our weaknesses, see our needs, I was determined to not use any pitcher that threw a straight fastball. Needed risers, knuckleballs, change ups. Swallowed my pride and signed Gil. My pitching staff gave up 2 homers all year. Freddy never lost. In modified that is unreal.

P.S Fuck all those no class bastards who tried stealing our players when we were 1-5. The softball gods paid you back.

3. No Legacy Issues.

While our name was Old School our advantage was that we were a new team.
  • No one had batted 3rd for 10 years.
  • No one had been the shortstop 10 years, 
  • No one had pitched for years.

Playing time had to be earned with performance, execution, hustle, and loyalty.

I always knew the Championship would go through Parts, but early on the league didn't know it would also go through us, we kind of snow balled and snuck up on everyone.

2. Identity

The name of the Team was Old School, Not New School - I put all the young players except Gil Jr and Max at the bottom of the order, leaned on my vets at the top. They all bought in Helped Forged an identity.

and the number one Reason I Beat Choice Parts

1. I had Central Park players. 

What does that mean?
  • All Fields line drive hitters
  • Players who lived close to Field
  • Versatile players. Dino a godsend.
  • Depth - Role Players were awesome - Ray, Eric Wu, Anthony, Zach
  • Players you liked playing there
  • Players who were motivated to beat the Parts
That How I Beat Choice Parts.

That's it.

Yawn

It's over.

Maybe Old School winning helps the league,  Maybe winning destroys the league.

I don't know. In the end, while I was happy to win. I gave those guys everything I had and they gave me everything they had.

I am retiring from managing the team on top and will get back to playing.More importantly, I will work very hard to build the league up this winter as I do care about it's long term health.

Miss Softball and you all.

Holler!!