SB Fortune Cookie

Most Americanized Chinese food restaurants serve fortune cookies
(ironically invented in Japan, not China) after you finish your meal. Inside the cookie is a "fortune" with words of faux wisdom or a vague prophecy and may also include a list of lucky numbers - 4,8,15,16,23,42 that you may use to play lotto or some other purpose.

Softball has sayings.

Softball has numbers.

So why can we have Fortune Cookies? We can

Some Softball Fortune Cookie Sayings I suggest

SB Fortune "Look at Me Now"

Meaning - Forget the past, I've transcended that. I've become more

SB Fortune "I'm going to Hell, Who's is coming with me"
Meaning - Defiance


SB Fortune - "A Warrior's body may say stop, but his Spirit cries never"
Meaning - Bruto Strength

SB Fortune "Think Before and After an At bat, never during"
Meaning - Like Yogi said "you can't hit and think at the same time "

SB Fortune - "Frosted Flakes get Soft in Milk"
Meaning - ?????

SB Fortune "Pitching Pitching Pitching"
Meaning - No need to read between the lines

SB Fortune "I got it"
Meaning : Confidence and decisiveness

SB Fortune : "It costs you more than money to pay for a player,,, much more"
Meaning - Soul issues

SB Fortune " "Keep your friends close, and your umpires even closer"
Meaning :  You can catch more bees with honey than vinegar with umpires. Just don't be fake about it.

SB Fortune "Be aggressively patient"
Meaning :  "Contraction within the game"

SB Fortune "Recruiting Ethics.. forget it" 
Meaning " Nice guys might not finish last, they just don't win it all"

SB Fortune "If a man thinks he is going to die, he will find a way to make it happen"
Meaning "Debbie downers will not win. Stay realistic but positive"

SB Fortune "Pressure is a Privilege"
Meaning - "All the bullshit you do is to get to this moment. Embrace it, don't dread it"

SB Fortune "Goons are people too"
Meaning "Don't judge"

SB Fortune "Those who have not been humbled will soon be humbled"
Meaning It's a game of failure. Perseverance is a must.

SB Fortune "Chemistry is over rated and under rated all at once"
Meaning "Enthusiasm and Talent is a delicate balance" 

SB Fortune "Where there is a Will, there is a way"
Meaning : Fucking corny but so true. You just gotta do shit yourself in life.

SB Fortune : Its More than Just a Game
Meaning : Its More than Just a Game


I could go one and on in my sick twisted mind, but I think I will stop for now, but my cookies away,  and heat up some dumplings for lunch. Holler!!!!!!!!!!

Santa's Softball Helper

Friend of the Insider (left below)
 
 and avid Softball enthusiast Susan B Anthony,  I uh mean Elizabeth Burbach, is in the holiday spirit as she is collecting baseball/softball, clothes and equipment
 

 to send to kids in the Dominican Republic. 

The Insider Salutes Liz  as she gets it ... its more than just a game

PS If you have anything to donate - shirts, jersey. equipment, please let me know I will put you in touch with her.

Find the Black Box to solve the Mystery of the Crash

Eagles 45 Jets 19 - and it wasn't even that close.

As legendary Rocky trainer Mickey would have said "You're a Bum"

• I can take Losing (after 42 years I have had enough Jet practice)
• I can take getting blown out.
• I can take a bad game, but when one of your "Captains" namely Santonio Holmes

Stupid

• Fumbles - Strike One
• Drops a Pass that he makes 50 million to catch and it ricochets for an interception - Strike Two
• Fights Back from all that failure to Catch a TD, then gets flagged 15 yards for taunting the Eagles even though we are down 28-9 - Then That's Strike Fucking Three, Moronic and Unacceptable.

I don't care of this happens a lot on the NFL, their is no excuse for it. Show some class and make your fans happy and while I accepted weeks ago that the Jets are mediocre , all I want for Christmas is a win over the Giants and New Years Day victory over the hated Fish. 


Its time for big mouth Rex Ryan to unlock the black box and right the flight of this team. Make some adjustments like :

• Give terrible right tackle Wayne Hunter some help - he gets beat every week like he stole something
• Bench Safety Eric Smith - Can't cover a table with a table cloth
• Throw the Ball down field to Keller, other teams make their TE's look like HOF's versus us.

Adjust Ryan. Adjust

Silence is Deafening

Most of the sounds associated with the game are clearly distinguishable:

• The popping of the mitt
• Crack of the ball off the bat
• Umpire Calls
• Cheering, booing, and arguing by fans, players, coaches and goons

But sometimes silence within the game is much more meaningful and deafening. I've noticed things have a funny way of getting awfully quiet during key spots like:

• Dramatic Home Run or its inverse shocking strikeout
• Borderline pitch framed by a catcher
• Hesitant call by umpire
• Tense game ending situation
• Great defensive play made out of nowhere or horrendous error on the routine
• A Manager makes a move or better yet no move.

The silence may only be momentary and quickly broken, but its profound effect is still felt. I know I'm being a bit of drama queen as I spit my heart through this blog, but I really do believe that that eerie split second of silence intensifies the significance of the moment.

The dramatic effect of silence was on full display in the real world today as the Federal Reserve Bank voted 9-to-1 to make no changes to the central bank's ongoing stimulus policies and renewed its pledge to keep interest rates at record lows "at least through mid-2013." They did nothing because they acknowledged the economy's future remains on pins and needles as: "the unemployment rate remains elevated" and "strains in global financial markets continue to pose significant downside risks." Stocks fell for a second straight day on the Fed silence, as it served as a deafening reminder that no short term fix is over the horizon.

So who do we break this silence? That's President Obama's job (I highly recommend you watching these two video links) as he recently spoke on 60 minutes about being under the gun and his vision. He knows he can't afford to be quiet as he has a country to run/fix and an election to win. For now this is all noise and perhaps silence is best, as all that really matters is job creation, as actions speak louder than words.

Leap of Fafth

Part of the reason I am so fucked up in the head is that I went to Catholic school 

for thirteen years as my parents sent me an extra year just to piss me off. I understand why my parents sent me to parochial school, but ironically this oppressive over kill atmosphere pushed me away from the church as I've challenged the catholic way of thinking and formed my own opinions and beliefs.

Now even though I've lost my religion over the years one of the things I love about this country is constitutional guaranteed right of "Freedom of Religion" as provided in First Amendment. Everyone can choose their own "leap of faith" without fear of persecution. Religious freedom is an integral part of our society and manifests itself in many ways, one of which is through sports. For example who many times have you seen this sign at a game

People often mix religion and sports. Hell I know I do as everyone who reads this posts knows I deeply believe in the softball gods
 
Recently the remarkable success of Tim Tebow
 
 has me thinking about the sports-religion connection 


All joking aside all this guy does is win


Sorry I couldn't resist as those videos were mad funny but they also illustrate that while the 1st Amendment allows religious freedom without legal persecution it does not stop the court of public opinion from casting a preconceived guilty verdict.

Personally, I think Tebow has been lucky and hiding behind a good defense, but that I must admit I have grown to respect his leap of faith and confidence. He doesn't care about what anyone says about him or his religious beliefs as all he does is win.