No pressure; no diamonds

Good rainy morning! Dad and the big kid made it safely to the south to see the grandparents after a 15 hour flight related ordeal. When the 7 am flight was cancelled due to plane malfunction, they caught a 1 pm to Atlanta and were on stand by for a 7 pm to Savannah. Uh huh....they arrived around at their final destination around midnight. They could have driven faster. Anyway, the day was not over for the leftie as I received a 1 am phone call asking me what the pass code was to open  the garage. It seems that once he arrived, he took his weighted balls to a local school, worked out, and returned to the house to find it locked up. With all asleep, he did not want to wake anyone  so he called me.

Yep, I guess he felt that I was sitting by the telephone in the middle of the night knitting a scarf. It's OK to wake mom. She's on call 24/7. As he begged me to remember the passcode, my head spun a bit as I worked it out. Sha-bam....even in the middle of the night, the brain continues to work. The garage door opened and he was safely in the house. Crazy? yeah.

But think about it. Only a few years ago, he would not have had weighted balls, an automatic pass code to enter a garage or a cell phone. What would he have done? I suppose the answer would be to ring the door bell. Just sayin'

This brings me back to the leftie as I have watched his work ethic since he has been home for the holidays. On Friday, I went to the Y with him as he did a 'double lift'. He was there three hours. I left, showered, read a book, cleaned the garage, painted the outside of the house, and had a make over by the time he returned home. His body fat percentage is 7% and he does not eat anything with sugar or fat unless it is part of his diet. He is bound and determined to make it. On the other hand, my body fat percentage is the exact opposite.

I gave him a shirt for Christmas that says: "No pressure; No diamonds." He wears it now as he works out. It reminds him of his goal.

He was peeved when the scouts sent LW (his former nemesis) letters of interest. Knowing that he did not receive them because he did not play over the summer and was on his way back to the mound last year, only pushed him harder. He is not letting it go and will prove to all that he has what it takes. This spring should be very interesting.

Gopher called over the holidays to report to him that someone had uploaded a phony baseball website with the team's break down and their stats. In the website, it says that he is difficult and has a 90-92 mph fast ball. He was not happy about the difficult part but was happy to see the fastness of his pitch. The rest of the stats were phony as they reported that he had a 32.0 earned run average and pitched multiple innings. Since he only pitched 8 innings, the entire website should be taken down, but someone out there has an ax to grind with him. I am not sure how to report it or have the stats amended, but let's just ignore it. 'cause the haters are gonna hate no matter what a person does. That is fact.

On a positive note, the kick off dinner is on February 1st as the team, families, and supporters gather for speeches and promises about the impending season. Then the first pitch is thrown on February 14th in North Carolina. I will be there in the seats with my LL Bean minus 20 degree down coat, hand warmers, boots, two hats, two scarves, a turtleneck, warm long underwear, and five layers of clothes. I am hopeful that Chill and Blue Devil will join me as we shiver and wait for the kid to either start the game or come out of the dug out.

And now it begins.....more later.....

peace!