It is Thursday evening and we have had quite an interesting few days. After leaving the house yesterday morning at 6 am for the long trip west, we put our "fan caps" on.
It has been quite a long year with the team playing 50+ games, traveling thousands of miles, and living out of hotel rooms as they worked to keep their grade point averages above the basement floor. The trip took about 8 hours and we were ready....cooler, lucky sneakers, Skittles, water, sunscreen, and homemade sandwiches were carefully packed in the car. As the trip progressed, it was time to pull out the ham, turkey and cheese sandwiches that I had made. Thinking about sandwiches on pretzel rolls was on my mind for several hours as we traveled along the turnpike. When we all agreed that it was time to eat, I leaned to the back of the car to grab the sandwiches and realized that they were sitting in the refrigerator and I had forgotten them. The most amazing sandwiches in the world were left at home and we were on our own for lunch. As organized as I have been all year, I forgot the sandwiches. I hoped that this was not a precursor of what was to come.....
Arriving just in time for game one, we anticipated a win since the team beat the first team two out of three during the season. One of their best pitchers was on the mound and after the Star Spangled Banner was played, the umpire shouted "Play Ball"...from that point on, it was a battle....sadly, game was a loss. It seemed like they were never really in it, as they tried to come from behind. Buddy was not placed in the game, so I felt that they were saving them for today's game.
After the game, we met in the hotel's bar with the rest of the parents. If I said that Buddy was a bit "salty", I would be not be telling the whole story. He was angry and borderline nasty....eventually he got over it, but he was definitely in a "snarky" mood. Oh joy, dinner was going to be the pleasant family meal that I desired.....not! Eventually he let the pain of the loss go and we had a good time with each other.
At dinner, he shared that he was going to expunge his room mate. I was not sure why, because as he tells us, this kid sleeps more than Rip Van Winkle. Was he sleep talking? Sleep walking? Stealing his last pair of clean underwear? Using his toothbrush? Snoring? What was going on? According to the big kid, his roomie was a "diva" and driving him crazy. In all fairness, they have been together for a week on the road, I am sure Gandhi would have driven him crazy too. This guy is also one of his room mates in the fall. Did we think this through?
Back to the playoffs...one more loss and they were going home. Today's game was scheduled for noon against a team that dropped a lead yesterday in the 8th and lost. Two weeks ago, our team beat them two out of three games and then it happened....an 8 run 4th inning and good night Betty.....they were done. Buddy entered the game in the 5th and stopped the bleeding. Unfortunately, he was taken out after two scoreless innings and the game was basically over. The team never regained its momentum and died...slowly...painfully...sadly....on national television....going....going...gone! We are finished with freshman year.....
So, do we pack and go home? Nope...gotta to travel to the other side of the state and find a furnished apartment for Buddy to move into next week. OK, I am sure the question that you have is "why did you wait so long, Bullpen mom?" The answer is...I did not wait...I delegated....to the wrong people...Buddy and his dad. By the way, the big kid called the other night in a panic that he had no where to live next week. Hmmmm, the kid is in college. I have repeatedly asked him to call the team about housing.....it is a week before the move....sudden panic has set in. A friend of mine once said, "your lack of planning does not constitute an emergency for me..." She is right, but so it goes...we have an emergency anyway. So, tomorrow, we travel to find just the right place to live. One parent whose son lived there last year advised, "don't go to the right of the stadium....very dangerous...." To the right? Where am I standing? I could be standing on the wrong side and land up on the right anyway....or I can be standing on the left and be on the correct side....why didn't I ask more questions? Why or why? I am going to have to 'wing it' and stand on both sides and toss a coin....
One last thing, I asked him about the 'cool stuff' that he was supposed to get from the sponsors...where is it? Apparently, one of the seniors 'lied' to the team to encourage them to play harder so that they could make the tournament. The concept of getting free stuff was enough to motivate a group of guys who needed a bit of encouragement. Was he wrong to lie? nah....they did receive a free lanyard....
OK,in the next post I will reflect on the first year of division 1 baseball. Was it everything that we/he had expected? more? less?
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