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My softball team from last year didn’t end up coming together again. Most of the guys found new teams, and I ended up on one with the Pharmacy guys from work, most of whom I don’t know. I tried to organize a few practices, but only a few people showed. Needless to say, it didn’t surprise me when we weren’t that great defensively. After losing our first 3 games, we really needed a win to keep the season from becoming monotonous.

Enter today with questionable weather and exactly 10 players available. It rained off and on from late morning to mid afternoon, but MSCR posted on their website that all games were still on and would play by umpire’s decision if there was more rain. So of course it started raining steadily about 6:30pm with no signs of stopping. I ate dinner, got dressed and started heading toward the field. On the way I got a text from one of my friends on the team saying there’s no way we were playing tonight. However, as I drove up to the park, the lights were on and the previous game was underway. Another guy who was already there said our game was still on. I called a few people to make sure they were still coming, and we started warming up in the steady rain.

Now the question became whether each team would have enough players. The max for the field is 10 (more can bat) and you can play with as few as 8, though it’s pretty tough. As game time drew nearer, all 10 of our guys showed up but they only had 7. Since everyone was already out there soaking wet, we didn’t really want to win via forfeit, so we sent one of our guys to their team and had a legal game.

Turns out, the field wasn’t as bad as it could have been because the infield was comprised mostly of sand. The rain actually stopped for a while during the game and when it did start again it was lighter than before. We actually played pretty solid defense for the first time all season and our offense was doing a good job of finding the holes (they played with 3 infielders and 3 outfielders). We had a big lead going into the 6th, but then they started finding the gaps as well and put up enough runs to take the lead in the top of the 7th (final inning). They were up one going into the bottom of the inning, so we needed 2 runs to win the game. Through a series of hits (including one by our slowest runner), we managed to load the bases and then pitcher walked in the tying run.

So now there’s 2 outs, bases loaded. The game is tied. Who’s up? That would be me. Cliche I know, but it’s true. I’d already had a pretty good night with a single and a double. I’d been able to pick a spot and hit it in my previous at bats, so I figured why not look for the biggest opening and see if I could hit it. Their shortstop was playing just to the left side of second and the first baseman was shaded toward second, but not far from his regular spot which left a big gap at second - bingo. Surprisingly enough, I hit the spot perfectly for a seeing eye single that brought home our slowest runner and won the game. Walk off, baby. That’s what I’m talkin’ about.

Both K-State and Wisconsin won their respective games today in the first round of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. Now they play each other. Since we moved to Madison, I’ve been casually following and routing for UW in football and basketball. They seem to be a school that like K-State often gets overlooked, even when their teams are packed with talent. However, as an alumnus of K-State, I think I have to pull for them. Either way I’ll see a deserving team advance, so I guess it’s a win-win.

My God, you’d think the world is coming to an end. I realize he is a living legend. He is one of the greatest football players of my lifetime and in the entire history of the game. He’s set almost every record possible. Of course, “he” is Brett Favre.

I don’t know how I managed to make it through most of the afternoon on Tuesday before I heard that he was retiring because I definitely haven’t heard much of anything else since then. He got at least the first two pages of the paper and has had at least one main story and a sports story in pretty much every local newscast for the past two days. The NFL Network is running a special on him called “Brett Favre 4-Ever” - how clever. Several local networks are doing their own tributes.

Of course he couldn’t just make the announcement and be done. In fact, there’s a good possibility that it’s been in the works for a few days, since the Packers site slipped up last Thursday and put up a breaking news post that he was retiring. The word came out officially on Tuesday, but he waited until today to hold a press conference so everyone would have time to reflect and speculate about what he’d say in his final goodbye. Then everyone got together to have a big cry-fest and talk about how they can’t believe he won’t be leading The Pack next year. C’mon guys - how is an old quarterback making the logical decision to retire after a phenomenal season such a big deal? Why is it that Packers fans and the media are shocked by this? I’ve heard in more than one place that some people actually believe he may have been forced to retire - what?

Let’s be realistic here. Brett Favre had a phenomenal season, even by his standards. How could he ever top that? If he didn’t retire now he would risk becoming that guy who can’t let go until he really is forced out because he can’t hack it any more. The only way he can say he didn’t go out on top is that his last NFL pass was an interception that ended his chance at another Super Bowl ring. As ironic as that may be, the timing was right. Get over it.

The Packers got pretty much everything they wanted - home field advantage against a team that wasn’t the Cowboys. Looking back at the game I can’t believe it was actually tied at 20 for most of the fourth quarter. The Pack got outplayed for all of the second half, and if not for a 90 yard TD catch and run by Driver and the fact that the giants couldn’t put it in the end zone in the first half it would have been even more lopsided. I’m sorry to see Green Bay’s season end the way it did, but the Giants deserve to go the Super Bowl. Now if the damn Patriots would just roll over and die…

Kansas got incredibly lucky - #8 and they’re in the Orange Bowl despite not even playing for the Big XII championship. Missouri got totally screwed - #6 that beat Kansas head to head and no BCS bowl at all. The only unbeaten is Hawaii and they’re all the way down at #10. Yep, the BCS still doesn’t work. Go Hawaii.

Update: A better recap.

Last night during our softball game, a guy on the other team broke his aluminum bat. The thing split right down the middle and half of it flew past third base. That’s not something you see everyday.

Quiet customers.
Raise!!!
HDTV?
Softball Champions!
Brewers game on Sunday.

How messed up is that? There were peanuts everywhere, but not a single sunflower seed. Anyway, we spent our evening last night at a Brewers’ game in Miller Park. I’ll have to say it’s a really nice facility, but they lose a few points for lack of my favorite snack. We chose to go to the game because they were playing the Royals, but we ended up rooting for Milwaukee anyway. I think we might go back a time or two.

It’s Thursday. How do I know? Because our 3rd week of softball was rained out, which makes 4 games for us (1 week was a doubleheader).

In other news, we’re going to spend the weekend in Milwaukee. We’re going to the Brewers/Royals game on Saturday and probably the zoo and a few other places. It should be fun.

We lost our chance to defend our championship title by bowling one of our worst nights of the season. Woohoo. Bring on the tournament play.