SB MOJO

What the Hell has happened to the Softball Insider?

Love, hate, or ignore him at least he always had something thought provoking to say. But lately there has been NO controversial topics , NO psycho babble, NO observations literally out of LF, NO weird thoughts, NO desperate cried for attention? Nada ....Why?
Has SBI gone the Austin Powers route and lost his SB Mojo?

Top Ten Reasons SBI lost his SB Mojo


10. Real Life - perhaps my corny new blog post message of "b/c it's more than just a game" is just not true - family, work, car transmission burning out all take a toll
9. Batting Slump - forget normal sucking, my current slump has reached pathetic proportions. Like I blogged a year ago http://softballinsider.blogspot.com/2008/08/sex-slump-comparison.html a sex slump is worse than a batting slump. I haven't been even able to fully enjoy a couple of championships I've been in.
8. The Mets - Only 2 more days and the draining season will be over, perhaps then I can blog again in peace
7. The Jets - their 3-0 start has me mesmerized and dreaming
6.SB Furio has been busy shaking down Inwood teams for money, "Softball stupid fucking game"
5. Rain - Tough to get your softballs swerve back on when it has rained almost every weekend for the last two months.
4. Knockout - too busy trying to get 9 normal consistent players to show up for Knockout in Inwood. Knockout team name should be named District 9
b/c we are just a bunch of illegal aliens that no one wants around.
3. Fantasy Baseball/Football - being the greedy bastard that I am I'm trying to win the money in a couple of leagues that I'm in. I'm spending way too much time spanning the wiaver wire and looking at statistics. C'mon Zach Grienke throw a shutout today. Gotta give this bad ass white boy credit he overcame an anxiety disorder to regain his mojo and become a stud. If he can regain his Mojo so can SBI.
2. Never really got over HK's collapse. All that hard work, 2nd guessing, sacrifice, commitment left a black cloud over me. The Softball gods work in mysterious ways but its is time to move on. It's been time.

and the Number One Reason SBI has lost his softball Mojo

1. ???????? It's inexcusable. Writer's block is caused by lack of inspiration. If you lose your love and passion for the game or anything in general, then it's time to go. I haven't but you are only normal when doubt and apathy seep into our system. This blog is an outlet for me. Sometimes its gets me in trouble, sometimes it gets me applause's, sometimes it makes people laugh, sometimes I get laughed at. In any case, it is part of me, and the show I uh mean the blog must go on.

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On a softball note, my apologies for taking so long but I would like too offer a belated Congratulations to Choice Parts for winning their 2nd consecutive Big Apple Championship. After overcoming and defeating Working Franny in the semi's thanks to perhaps the most perfect home run I have ever seen hit by Eddie Brown the parts swept Saphire and earned back to back championships. Impressive and well done. Now I need to get Lou 22, Lorenzo, and Cabezza to play with me next year :))))))))))))))))))). Love you John R but you know I want to beat you :))))))))
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FALL TV & SB Preview

The New TV and Inwood softball season are similar for many different reasons the most obvious of which is that they both begin in the fall. One common theme in both is old faces in new places.
For example, you have the Courtney Cox in the show Cougar Town

where she is no longer hanging out with twentysomethings in a purple apartment! The Friends and Dirt alum has graduated to cougar status on the new ABC sitcom, playing a 40-year-old, on-the-prowl single mom raising her own near-twentysomething. Could she be any hotter? I will probably check her out.. I uh mean this show out.

Well In Inwood this fall we have an old face in a new place (but not as Hot as Courtney even though he will tell you otherwise) as legendary Central Park Contact Ace Bobby "Larry Merchant" Fishman has joined a new team in Inwood called Box Car Lounge, featuring some but not all Contact players who dare to cross the 96th street barrier. The early reviews on Box Car Lounge are mostly positive and they promise to make an excellent contribution to Citysoftball.com's fall lineup. Too bad the same thing can't be said for TV's the new version of Melrose Place where the new school will never be as cool or original as the old school.
Other old faces in new places in TV Land include legendary actor Ed O'Neill
who you most likely remember as dysfunctional dad Al Bundy from the long-running series Married... with Children.Damn I loved that show. O'Neill is back for yet another family-focused sitcom, Modern Family and as a big Al Bundy fan I hope its a hit. Inwood's Married with Children version can be found in former Knockout and Cajita player Georgie Alonso who will manager and play for Danny MacsGeorgie's co-star will be Ex-Knockout slugger and avid chain smoker Tommy Higgleson
Don't let them fool you, they will be very competitive and fun to follow.
New TV shows to avoid and most likely cancel are NCIS: Los Angeles (CBS) Brothers on Fox
and White Collar on USA

Most CSI shows are very good but this one has LL Cool J. Growing up I loved LL as a rapper, but after being a part of the worse sports movie ever, Any Given Sunday, he is on my avoid list. As for Brothers, Strahan needs to go back to the NFL today where he was very good and White Collar has the most unoriginal premise ever where the master criminal after finally being brought down by FBI agent, offers to help the Feds catch other notorious cons in order to remain a free man. Corny and tired theme.

Speaking of avoid/cancel in Inwood long time employee Chelo fall time slot is in serious jeopardy as the softball network executives are thinking of killing off his character.

Another thing I've noticed is that new fall TV shows and softball teams sometimes have too much actor/player movement. A prime example being Lost's Elizabeth Mitchell
who is now staring on V, Which is a re-imagining of the 1980s sci-fi miniseries and series. As an FBI counter terrorism agent Erica Evans (Elizabeth Mitchell) is the first to discover that, beneath the skin of a presumed friendly visiting alien race, they're more sinister than anyone imagined. Whatever. This show should be called W b/c it is going to be WACK!!!!!!!! She should never have been killed off the best show on TV Lost where she was edgy, hot, and a lot better girlfriend for Sawyer than that selfish cry baby Kate.
Another star leaving a favorite show of mine is legend Aaron "Haroooo" Fernandez Harrooooo has moved on from Knockout to play with Dominican powerhouse Trojan as a player and management advisor. Ironically after years of not wanting to play in the cold, Dominican teams are saving Citysoftball.com.

All this softball player movement reminds me of Vampire Shows like the Vampire Diaries.
Everyone loves blood sucking Vampire Shows. I don't know why. It it the curse thing? The undead thing? The beauty thing? Sleep all day? Anyway, new Vampire Shows always come up and they usually are pointless and senseless. The same idea applies to player movement as guys move from team to team for no real reason but to move.

Speaking of the undead what is up with Knockout? Who the Hell is on that team anyway? Well we are no longer a sophisticated show like CSI or something like a Kelsey Grammer-led comedy like the new show Hank.
Right now we are more like a cross between Ugly Betty,Fringe, and Heroes
Awkward, miscast, and trying to recover past glory. However, we have added a new member to the cast, smooth fielding Freddy Hernandez,
in the hopes of boosting ratings and more importantly our place in the standings.

If you want entertainment, conflict, and drama the new fall TV and SB lineup won't disappoint. Old fan favorites like American Idol
without Paula, will be back. As for new shows I'm sure if you watched Fox's preview this spring, you can already hum along with Glee, but fall episodes will reveal that the dark high school dramedy is about more than just singing. Mr. Shuster needs six more students to compete at regionals; recruiting them is where the fun starts. Jane Lynch is a dream as an iron-fisted cheerleading coach. Kristin Chenoweth, Victor Garber and rapper Eve will all guest-star
Following the same suit, defending 2008 Inwood Champions the Westlanders will be back stronger than ever.
However, Dio Jackson (right above) is giving up the captain's chairfor Championship manager John Sheppard (left above) this year. Interesting.

Both the Networks and SB teams have high hopes for the Fall.TV hopes shows like 'FlashForward' which inherits 'Lost''s more puzzling elements. The central mystery -- Why did everyone black out for two minutes? And were their visions really from the future? -- is absorbing enough for fans to theorize obsessively about it for years to come. While Softball teams dream of bringing home the Championship.

Hope you enjoy both new fall seasons and stay tuned to the Softballinsider.net for all your Gossip Girl and Desperate Housewives

quality SB worthy information.

SUPER SIZE ME

For a variety of reasons SBI has been silent lately (don't front you know you miss your guilty softball pleasure) ... but the main reason I've been on the blogging hiatus has been the organization, marketing, managing of the fall 2009 Inwood Softball League. Between dealing with the Park's Department Permit Office, umpires, new fields, old fields, groundskeepers, sponsors, new teams, old teams, my team, my players, my ex-players, my ex-team, my manger, my ex-managers, merging teams, dead beat teams etc ... I feel like my head is about to ExplodeAll this begs to ask : Is it worth it? Financially the answer is a resounding NO !!!!!!!! I could make more money, working at McDonald's on a part time basis. However, if I did that I would end up like the guy in the Movie Super Size Me b/c I would eat all the fries :))))))))

What really cracks me up is when people call us greedy, expensive, and ask where all the money goes??? Well rest assured it does not go in our pocket. If we wanted to make money we would umpire, not bring a team, make it a 1-1 league to rush games, cram in as many teams as possible regardless of competitive ability, allow slingers, not take care of the fields, and not give a fuck about the thoughts/opinions of our customers - you know which leagues those are. Anyway, we started the league b/c we love softball and keep the league alive b/c we love playing softball in Inwood. If it sounds like I am trying to justify our league, Well I am...So Super size me a doubleheader and see you at Inwood starting manana .... signed Softball French Fry guy

LIVING HELL

Last Sunday Hell Kitchen "HK" lost two painful late inning Big Apple Semi Final playoff games to Saphire. On September 13th, the day of the Big Apple Championship in Central Park there will be No Softball for HK...No Championship..... No Anticipation. No Excitement...No Drama. Nada............ Only emptiness. Rather than lacing up our cleats and putting on our gloves we will be sitting on our couches holding our remote control and channel surfing all the NFL games trying to keep tabs of our favorite teams and fantasy football rosters.

Like I said Empty.

NFL Great Shannon Sharp once said "losing hurts more than winning fells good" and those words always rang very true to me. Especially now. This was a painful loss for many reasons for me personally. I put a lot of time, effort, sacrifice, commitment, unselfishness into this team. To come up short at the end sucks. It hurts. We had a good team but failed. This loss ranks up there with other heart breakers I suffered like:

(A) 2005 Highlander Loss to DEA in the EMS league - we were on out away from making the final four and came up short
(B) 2004 14 Inning Inwood Championship Loss to West - great game.... but bad loss
(C) 2005 1st Round Gallagher Playoff Loss to Diesel on a team where we had Murphy and Castillo as pitchers. Very disappointing
(D) 2005 Wall Street Championship Loss where we, Merrill Lynch, blew a 2-0 series lead to Morgan Stanley and in game 5 imploded with a team fight amongst ourselves. Ugly

Losing a heartbreaking series or game makes me ask myself what makes a loss painful?

Top Ten Factors that make a Loss Painful

10. Money - Loss = No Cash
9. Friendships - you feel bad for your teammates, managers, and all the guys who put so much into the season.
8. Losing to Inferior opponent - When you lose to someone you know your better than or know you can beat that will stick in your craw for a very long time
7. The Finality of it All - Poof!!!!!!! It's over
6. You left something out there on the field - Knowing you didn't play your best or weren't aggressive is a terrible feeling to carry with you.
5. Blatant Bad call by ump - This is totally out of your control and leaves you feeling helpless and robbed
4. Managerial Blunder - Hindsight is 20 20 vision
3. Performance Failure - No one to blame but yourself.
2. Blowing a Big Lead - It's like Chinese water torture.. a slow painful death

and the Number one Factor that makes a loss Painful

1. You Care .... probably too much

Final Hell Tidbits

I would like to sincerely congratulate the entire Saphire team specifically Jeff Marcus, Rob Ross, and Charlie Glorioso on there well earned victory. They were Hungrier than we were and I wish them good luck in the Finals against Choice Parts .... The series changing play was in game one when Saphire 2nd baseman dropped a pop up with a man on 1st, the 2nd baseman then compounded his error by over throwing the shortstop in an attempt to get the force at 2nd, however disaster turned into a positive for Saphire when their starting pitcher backed up the play and gunned out the runner as he rounded the base too far. If that play isn't backed up or the runner at least stays on the bag game one would most likely have ended differently. Little things like that add up ... Saphire rallied from an 8-1 deficit in game two to win the series ...... HK 2009 MVP in my opinion was Edgar Gonzalez Junior. Edgar proved a lot of skeptics wrong this season. He has had a checkered reputation in the past but he changed that this season. He did everything we asked of him and more. he played hurt, showed up every week, and rooted for teammates. Some people didn't want him on our team, but Angelo and I vouched for him and he really came through all season. He might have made his mistakes in the past but he made the most of his 2nd opportunity this year and deserves to be acknowledged. .... After the game some people asked me about "Next Year" and to be honest its way too soon to even be thinking about that .. way too soon .. They say time heals all wounds, but some scars are forever.

Inglourious SB Basterds

I not a big Quentin Tarantino fanbut his latest movie Inglorious Basterds is a cinema masterpiece and I Highly recommend it to everyone. Without giving away the movie, there is one part of the flick that reminds me of softball. Brad's Pitt who brilliantly plays the character Lt. Aldo Raine tells his team of recruits "I need me eight soldiers. Eight Jewish-American soldiers..... we're gonna be doing one thing and one thing only... killing Nazis..... I sure as hell didn't come down from the goddamn Smoky Mountains, cross five thousand miles of water, fight my way through half Sicily and then jump out of a fuckin' air-o-plane to teach the Nazis lessons in humanity. Nazi ain't got no humanity.... they need to be dee-stroyed..... that's why every son of a bitch we find wearin' a Nazi uniform, they're gonna die. ...... Sound good? "

This is what a good SB managers does. Recruits loyal motivated players with a common goal. After all let's be honest, aren't most of us softball players inglorious basterds to some extent?

PS OK so the softball connection is the clearest in this blog, but go see the movie anyway you will love it.