My old law firm - Manier, Herod - rallied from a 13-1 deficit to beat us. Although that will leave a mark, I'm glad it was Manier that beat us. Many, many years ago, Benton, Richard and I won a 2 or 3 tournament championships while we were working there. It means a lot to me to see their firm team - "Not Manier" - do well. All good guys (and girls) that love playing in the softball league.
I love to win, for sure. At this stage of my life, though, it's as much about playing softball with my friends, hanging out together after the games (regular season and tournament) and, most of all, spending time with J.P. and Joe at East Park. It means so much to me to have them at the games, watching their old man do something he's good at, even if it is just pitching a softball and hitting a little bit, too.
J.P. is at the perfect age to enjoy my softball games. He sits in the dugout, talks to everyone and follows the games pretty intently. Today, he gave me five (or two, actually) before I hit each time for good luck. And it worked (except when I ended out tournament run by popping out weekly to the first baseman). After the games, I pitch to J.P. and as he gets a hit, he runs the bases. That's pretty awesome. Today, while we were batting, I threw ball to him outside the dugout, so he could practice catching. It really doesn't get any better than that for me.
After our last game, we sat on camping chairs just past the outfield and watched a couple more games. As we drank a few beers, we swapped old softball stories, ragged on each other and laughed a lot. The highlight of the day, for me anyway, was when our coach, Chris Vlahos, gave one of our two all-tournament trophies to J.P. Understandably, J.P. was beyond excited.
It's hard to put into words how much the NBA softball league has meant to me over the years. I'm pretty sure this is my 23rd or 24th year in the league, which is astonishing. One thing it means is that I'm old, which is another post for another time. Richard Smith, Benton Patton and I have played together for everyone of those seasons, Richard in left field and Benton at shortstop. For almost as long, I've also played with Will Chapman, Chris Vlahos, John Rolfe and Tim Harvey. Aside from softball, we've shared good times together and terrible, tragic times. Through it all, softball has been there and our team has been there.
I don't know how much longer we have to play together. Two of our guys are over 50, a couple more are close to 50 and we're not getting any younger. I want to keep playing, though, for a few more years, so my boys can come to East Park to watch the games and hit, throw and run the bases afterwards. It's not a lot to ask, but it's everything to me.
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