First Radio Appearance!
Today I recorded my first radio appearance on the inaugural Chuck and Cody Sports Report on wnzf in Flager County, FL. It was a blast! Chuck and Cody are father and son sports fanatics that discuss the local, Florida, and National Sports scene. I was brought on to participate in the local portion. It was pretty fun!
I have to admit, I was a bit skeptical of going on a radio show w/ a 15 year old kid, but Cody is amazing! He rattles off stats, has bold opinions that he stands behind, and goes toe-to-toe with Chuck, his father, without hesitation. I was very impressed!
My part of the show focused on the upcoming spring baseball season with jaunts into steroids, character, and volunteer opportunities, of course. At the end they play a game of trivia called “Break the Code”, a play on Cody’s name. There you have to ask him a question and if you stump him, you get a prize. He nailed mine! Oh well, I always say only a fool would try to outsmart a teenager!
The show will air Saturday at 10AM on FM 106.3 and AM 1555. Those of you outside of Flagler can listen live on the web at www.wnzf.com. That’s where I will be Saturday morning! Come on, let’s crash the station!
Listen to the show here: http://wnzf.com/archive/chuck_and_cody_022109.mp3
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Hey Rays! We Still Believe!
They may be down three games to one, but those of us in the great state of Florida still believe you can do it! Win tomorrow night and bring the series back home!
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Discovering the Fashion Guru in Me
Yeah yeah, I know, my idea of fashion is a t-shirt that is too tight on my belly and a pair of worn shorts w/ holes in them exposing my whitey-tighties. That is pretty much my uniform day in and day out 365 days a year here in Florida. Occasionally the temperature gets into the freezing 50’s and I have to put jeans on, but I fight that with abandon! When I have to work, I actually put on a polo shirt and khakis. Man, I am the cult of fashion!
Enter fashionschools.org a site that boasts the ability to “find the right fashion school for you!” Looks like a pretty cool site to me. They have a link to fashion schools, fashion careers, fashion degrees, fashion articles, and fashion blogs. Looks like all things fashion to me! I would certainly be a challenge for them. I do have a cool haircut courtesy of my wife and her buzzers though!
fashionschools.org has researched fashion careers, schools and trends to help you connect with the resources needed to continue an exciting career in the fashion industry. Whether you are interested in design, merchandising, retail, or anything else, you can find your school and get attendance information from the site.
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Misc. Ramblings September
Finally Football season is in full swing
Finally football all weekend long! The college kickoff last week was a tease, but now the real thing, the National Football League! My Redskins looked very lethargic, but they had a formidable opponent in the likes of the defending super bowl champions. Hopefully next week will be better. Could be worse, I could be a Patriots fan! Talk about trouble!
Baseball Playoffs Start Soon
I love pennant races, but man, I can’t wait for the playoffs to start! There is nothing better than a game seven in the playoffs. That’s when you see players like Randy Johnson pitching relief!
Story Ideas
Writing for a living is really fun! I am beginning to understand how to do it and it is quite a pleasure. I fire story after story after story off for MyTopiaCafe.com. Very interesting stuff.
$500/day
That’s my goal! It shouldn’t really be that hard either. That is only one ebay sale, 10 stories, 5 sales, whatever, it isn’t that hard to do. You want to make $100K/year? You don’t even have to make $500/day! Bet when you looked at the figure you said, “I can do that”. What is your goal? If you make just $100/day you make $36,000 per year! Want to make $100K? You need make only a little more than $300 every day. You can do that cutting grass can’t you? Sounds a little more attainable when you look at it like that doesn’t it?
Fall Season Starting
The fall season is starting and I will be coaching three teams! Senior softball, major softball, and minor baseball. With my younger boy starting T-ball next year it looks like I will have three teams for quite a while! I guess I can kiss any semblance of life goodbye.
My Friend Said Spend Time With Her
My friend said to sit down and watch some TV with my wife no matter how tortuous. Said that’s what she wants, but she won’t tell me. I don’t know, is he right? Is it really that simple? It can’t hurt, I spend every waining minute in front of the laptop, maybe a few with her would be rewarding.
Tahoe has Defect
Found out our Tahoe has a defective air conditioning system that will cost $2,750 to repair! Hard to justify that kind of money going into the winter! Have to have air conditioning in Florida though, guess we will be trading it in next spring. I better get making my $500/day!
Local Rules
Every league should have its own local rules that are more restrictive than Little Leagues. My favorite for the fall season is no pitcher shall pitch more than 2 innings. This forces the coaches to develop pitchers.
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Fay, Fay Go Away!
We had a record registration for our fall season last Saturday and were very excited about Tuesday and Thursday’s registrations. Unfortunately, Fay decided she didn’t want us to complete the registrations on those days! That means we have only Saturday again and tons of players to register, it will be a very busy day.
Fay dumped about 30 inches of rain on Melbourne, and at least 15″ on us here. The roads in our neighborhood have cracked and the sand washed out from under them. They are reduced to rubble. The houses behind us have water half way up their driveways and the retention ponds are over their lips.
Personally, we have leaking around the exterior of our house and our bonus room is leaking into one of the bedrooms. It is raining so hard and horizontal that rain is leaking through the soffits. We are lucky, anyone who has seen the pictures of Merritt Island, Melbourne, and Sanford knows we are lucky.
We drove around the neighborhood and the new water drainage systems they installed after the hurricanes seem to have worked. At least we do not have many houses under water as we did before.
Fay came, and she won’t leave! Everyone who lives in Florida has a guest like that, now we all do! So Fay GO AWAY!
Who thinks Fay is going to go into the Gulf and return?
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Southeast Regional Shows How New Pitching Rules Affect the Game
Citrus Park Victorious!
A team from Citrus Park Little League in Tampa, Florida just defeated a team from Mobile, Alabama to advance to the Little League World Series . The league has only five majors teams in it to pick from. What did they have that Mobile didn’t have? Pitching! Pitching! Pitching!
Mobile was averaging 1 home run every 5.5 at bats during the regionals! The total home runs tonight? -0-. Neither Little League had EVER sent a team to the World Series.
Pitching Rules Have Changed the Dynamic
I have written about this before, the new pitching rules have completely changed the dynamic of the Little League World Series. Pitch count limits and mandatory rests mean that every team will need to rely on their 4th, 5th, and 6th pitchers. Gone are the days of pitching 2 pitchers until their arms fall off. Gone are the days of 15 strike out games.
Want to get your league to the World Series? Start working pitchers now!
Weekly Practice Schedule
When should you be working pitchers? During the regular season w/ a minimum schedule of:
-Every Practice at least 3 pitchers from each team should be working
-At least once a week every team should hold special pitcher/catcher practices
-Pitchers should have individual coaches that work with them once a week as well
These are minimums! Of course, you should watch their arms as well!
When game are on you should stick to this schedule for a pitcher and work it into the schedule above:
Day 1-Game Day Pitching Ice Arm immediately
Day 2-Day off after game day
Day 3-Soft throwing next day ending w/ long toss
Day 4-Pitch again, or hard throwing if not pitching
This is a good 4 day rotation, but remember, alway adjust depending on whether you pitched a game or simply practiced.
Watch the arms!
Sore arms are normal. The key is determining whether it is just normal muscle soreness or joint/tendonitus soreness.
My Limited Knowledge
The Washington Redskins trainer used to visit us each year at my prior league. He would point out that the reason arms are sore after throwing is that tiny tendons in the muscle are being broken when you throw and that creates soreness. The best way to cure this is run after every practice. This delivers oxygen to the muscle and speeds the healing process. Also, icing immediately to stop the micro swelling is very important.
If the soreness is in the muscle meat part of the arm that is normally not an issue. It needs a little rest and it will be fine. ANY soreness in the elbow or shoulder should be IMMEDIATELY looked at. If you take the point of your finger and apply a little pressure to the joint of the elbow you should get a flinch from the player. BAD SIGN! Stop immediately and see a doctor! If you raise the arm and apply a little pressure on the shoulder or have the player resist your pressure after he makes a fist similar to boxing, and you get a flinch, BAD SIGN! Stop immediately and see a doctor!
The main thing to take away from this year’s world series is Develop Your Pitchers!
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Misc. Ramblings
Image via Wikipedia Here we go again!
Yankees Have No Chance
Even if they make a run for the playoffs they have no chance of winning the World Series. W/ Jaba the Hud on the DL and 14 out of their next 18 on the road, it take everything they have to make it into the playoffs. Just like last year, that will wear them out and they won’t advance. It is about the pitching guys!
She Did It!
Does anyone really think that Casey Anthony didn’t kill her daughter? I don’t know if it was on purpose or not, but what a group that is! The grandmother is a classic enabler, the mother a habitual liar and the little girl a victim. It is a sad story that needs a justful end.
Olympic Smog?
Sally Jenkins of the Washington Post reported that there is a dark cloud hanging over the Olympics in Bejing and it’s not rain! It is smog! Ewwwwwwwwww! She reports that many are skipping the intro ceremonies so they don’t get sick and marathon favorites are dropping out because they can’t run that far in the smog!
Does anyone even care about the Olympics this year? They are going to be so far behind timewise, it will be tough to watch. Plus the Little League World Series will be on! I am usually an Olympic addict, this year, I can’t seem to care. That will probably change though, but right now, I don’t care about the Olympics. Might it be because most of them are dope addicted cheaters?
Obama, McCain, Obama, McCain
One’s young and dumb, the other’s old and crotchety. Who would you prefer to have watching over your money?
Prices Keep Going Up
Things must not be that bad out there. Universal and Disney have raised their prices. They can only do this if they have the demand. Certainly this is a luxury, not a neccessity, we keep spending! There is money out there, we just have to find out how to get people to spend it.
Threat of Hurricanes Greater?
Isn’t this what they say every year? Oh yeah, every year except when we get hit w/ 3 in a row in Florida! Oops!
No Tolls to Drive on Daytona Beach???
Now we are talking! Will completely change my lunch routine though!
Farve, Favre, Favreerverr
Does anyone really care if he plays or not? Talk about gettin dissed!
Name That Guy
First person to name the guy in the picture on this post receives a free 125×125 ad for 1 month! You must post in the comments below.
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What a Dork I Am!
Image via Wikipedia Wife’s Away, Time to Play! (Yeah Right!)
My wife took all 4 of the kids that still live at home and went to the Beach for a week. Party time right? Not for me! While most men would have been down at the sports bar w/ their buddies, what did I do? Spent every night on a Little League Field! I am such a loser huh?
Here was my schedule:
Friday Night: Wife Left, I had all-star practice
Saturday: First All-Star Game
Sunday: Last All-Star Game (I hate 2 and outs!)
Monday: Umpired
Tuesday: Umpired
Wednesday: Umpired
Thursday: Umpired
Am I the biggest geek ever or what??? The problem is every day had a rain delay! Gotta love Florida in the summer! That meant I didn’t get home until 11PM each night!
My Family is Home, Woohoo!
Tonight my family is home! Yiippppeee! I actually missed them, way too quiet at night! We also have tomorrow and Sunday off due to race traffic. (I think the DA just likes to go to the races…lol) So I have a whole 3 days w/o a little league activity! Woohoo! Then its probably back on the field every night next week, sectionals on Saturday, then senior sectionals the following Saturday. Then we have to start working on fall ball! It never ends! Oh yeah, travel team practice starts Sunday morning!
Do you have any life at all or can you relate?
I am Sore!
Image via Wikipedia
I have blisters and I am sore! My first swing last night in our parent vs. all-stars I am most certain that I pulled muscle below my ribcage. Then today I put out 40 bags of mulch after cutting my grass for the first time in 2 weeks!
Don’t know how many of you know, but during the growing season in Florida, leaving your grass for 2 weeks it grows to about 10". My neighbors were beginning to gather for attack.
I have Little League yard! It gets cut when it can, had brown spots, and is often overgrown from lack of weeding and edging. I figure the kids are more important, but when I do yard work it is very difficult because of the neglect. Oh well, that is the price you pay for being a little league coach!
Tomorrow we begin piecing our all-star team back together. It should be fun!
A Coming Together
Boot Camp Philosophy
Image via Wikipedia
I approach all-stars with a boot camp philosophy. A mother told me the other day, "my daughter said she misses you. She said he drove us hard and I probably complained back then, but now I miss him". I have NEVER driven a team harder than I did the team I have this year, the response? Overwhelming smiling faces tonight!
My philosophy is fairly simple. You have about two weeks to practice for the district tournament. The problem is they are all from different teams! While they likely know each other from school and such, they are still very loyal to their team. It is important to remove them from this and rebuild them. The problem is you only have two weeks to do this!
Tear Them Down
The first week we tear them down. The second week we rebuild them. Tearing them down requires a boot camp mentality where we work drills that require lots of running and everyone is exhausted when they leave practice. Absolutely no nonsense is permitted, and players are constantly reminded that anyone on the team is capable of taking their position from them and that others are waiting in the wings should they want to quit.
By today, everyone is exhausted and about done with being beat on. That is success! Today the rebuilding begins. To start with we held two practices today. The morning session was typical for a Florida morning 90 degrees and extremely humid! There was not a smile to be found. I smelled things this morning I never want to smell again! It has been raining and all cleats, coaches sneakers, catchers gear, bat bags, etc. are wet and stinky! It was quite rank!
Build Them Up
At the close of the morning session, I announced I would buy everyone pizza for dinner after the evening session. OK, that got a smile out of them. Tonight, after a rain that cooled everything making for a perfect Florida evening, I couldn’t wipe the smiles off of their faces! It was awesome!
We hit tonight, and then played a bunting game and a game of 21 outs. Then the pizza’s arrived. The point of the pizzas was to begin the bonding process. It was nice, and I gave a little speech about how proud of them I was at how hard they had worked without complaining once. I told them I had never worked a team harder and that they should be proud of themselves as well. Then it happened.
Spontaneous Comradery
It wasn’t planned, there was nothing behind it, it was spontaneous! I asked them did they want to play some more or go home. I also asked them what they wanted to play. One of the girls said they wanted to play us, the parents! They all enthusiastically agreed! It was a no-brainer.
We played them. I have never seen a team have so much fun! Also, they came together, decided batting orders, positions, rotations, etc. They knew to have the good outfielders play because we would hit, and they put the right people in the right positions in the infield! They were pumped! It was amazing to watch and I could not have written a better script to start next week with.
We Lost!
The best part of all????? WE LOST!!!!! The parents lost! For real! We didn’t even tank it! And the absolute best of all. I made the last out against my own daughter!!!!!!!!! And she got the assist on the 1-2 putout. I was swinging for the walk-off homer and hit the ball right to her of the end of the bat. It was brutal. They went nuts! The dugout was buzzing for half an hour!
The last cheer in the circle of "1-2-3 All-Stars " was the loudest of all year! They have begun to come together, they are happy, and they are magic together. Next week we begin to focus on the games. Next week, we pull together as a team.
What is the best bonding experience you have ever seen a team have?
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