Post Mortem on a Season

Top of the 11^th inning of game six in the 2011 World Series and Josh Hamilton approaches the plate.  He is injured, pulled obliques…and then it happens…Hollywood couldn’t write it any better.  Josh hits a home run.  I sat in my living room and just knew that it was Destiny.   The champagne had been chilled…and high ranking members had been ushered down to  field…for it was bottom of the 11^th and the Rangers only had 1 out to go before being crowned world champions.  Actually they only had 1 strike to go…and the St Louis Cardinals would have none of it…and then go on and win game 7…and the world series.  It took me weeks before I didn’t think about that series on a day to day basis.  I am only a fan...and I would wonder….how would I deal with this if I were a player???
In April 2012, the Rangers seemed to have put all that behind them…as they took out of the gate as Team on a Mission…6 ½ games in first place with a record 17 and 6.  At the end of May the entire MLB community wanted to crown Hamilton as a TRIPLE CROWN WINNER!  People in the “BASEBALL KNOW’ were categorizing this team as the best in baseball…and some even said a top team in “history.”

The season carried on…the Rangers win/loss ratio came back to earth.  But through all that…something had changed.  The team’s at bats seemed to be “sub quality” at bats.  They didn’t work the pitchers count…there seemed to be no patience at that plate…just get up and try to hit the first pitch out of the yard.  Josh seemed to be the ring leader of the group.  There was no grinding out runs…stealing aggressively waned.  The end of season attempted steals show as much…50 less attempt at stealing as last year.  By September the team looked like that they were not having fun…the at bats continued to degenerate….the pitching was hit and miss.  There were injuries to the pitching staff that kept the rotation in flux.  The Texas Rangers were going through the motions….with no emotion.

Then…midway through September, Josh had health issues…flew home…ran test…and  we were told that he had drank to many “Red Bulls” and it dried out his cornea.  He returned to the team….and yet there was still no fire with this team.  That was it…no fire…the Rangers seemed wound tighter than a tick.  For the past two years it was evident…and we were told that this team had that rare and awesome locker room chemistry.  IT WAS GONE.  And WHY???  Was it because we weren’t winning…was it something to do with Josh…his free agency…and his seemingly apathetic attitude.

I have heard all my life in athletics that it is hard to beat a mediocre team two times in a row…and nearly impossible to be a good team two straight.  Yet in the last series of the season, the Oakland A’s beat what some baseball insiders deemed as the best team in baseball…THREE…3…..III….straight times.  All the Rangers had to do to win the division was win ONE….1…..I….game.  Worse….the Ranger hitting problems continued…and  after Josh missed a routine fly ball and looked apathetic in chasing it down, the fire begin to build about him, his free agency and the club house.  I thought that Josh could not have looked more relieved when the “Play In Wild Card Game” was over.

Post mortem has continued.  We learned very little from the end of the year press conference with JD, Wash…and Nolan.  Some want to blame Wash for over playing his players…much of this team is over 30…the number where physical decline commences…did we not rest our players enough…has the Team’s two post season runs taken its toll.  I don’t think so….I have never heard of the Yankees complain about how going to all those World Series just wore them out.

The mind is a strange thing.  The fragile Psyche…we herald the MLB players as super human…but they are not…they are human.  As the team closed the season out…did they reflect back to the pressure of the post season…the memories of coming within one strike away to only choke away a Championship?  Was the scab ripped off of the fresh wound of failing on the biggest stage…and the pressure of the lime light causing the team to pucker up…did they subliminally psychologically sabotage themselves?  Who knows…but it is as good as an explanation as anything else.  I know one thing…Once you have the sweet taste of the celebratory post season champagne, the beer being sipped on the couch is not near what it once was.

What Dreams are Made Of...

The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America is ruled by it like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game, is a part of our past, Ray. It reminds us of all that once was good, and that could be again. Oh, people will come, Ray. People will most definitely come.

Field of Dream Quote
Terence Mann:
(James Earl Jones)

Baseball…the game where commentator and baseball enthusiast, George Will, stated that 90 feet was the closest man came to perfection….that 90 feet…the distance between the bases. A game where Ken Burns describes as where the defense always has the ball and man scores the run by crossing home plate...not the ball...a game where being successful 3 out of 10 times will put you in the hall of fame…a game that has no time limit.

Baseball…the game where I played catcher for 12 years…from Pee Wee Little League through high school…the game where my dad took me when I was 5 years old to watch the Texas Rangers…the memories of going to a big league park. Growing up in a small town…and then getting to watch the Pros play…walking into the Old Arlington Stadium…what a cathedral to a youngster…by any other standard it was a dump…but you couldn’t tell me that. We watched Hall of Famer, Reggie Jackson hit one out of the park that night for the Yankees…the Rangers got beat…but frankly it was expected. In fact, losing for the Rangers was the norm growing up and even though they seemed to always have more checks in the loss column that the win column, it still didn’t keep me from cheering for them. Waking up and getting ready to go to school in the early 80’s…but having to check the box score in the paper to note that the Rangers were only 3 ½ games out of first place…this could be the year…but then again probably not.

I was blessed to grow up with a great Dad…and baseball was part of those memories. He tried to talk me out of wanting to play catcher. He would say, “Dave, second base….play second base….it’s easier on the body…and you can work on your hitting.” When my son Luke started playing baseball, he started playing catcher…without knowing his Dad’s history at the position….and I found myself saying, “Luke, play somewhere else…it is easier on the body.” He didn’t listen either.

Baseball…whenever my wife, Bren, and I take a trip, we attempt to schedule around when the home team will be playing…she does that for me. Going to the Old Yankee Stadium and watching Babe Ruth’s Ghost show up to pull out a 9th inning victory or walking the hollowed concourse of Fenway Park is something my wife wants me to do…in fact before we left town, we went to a Ranger Game on our Honeymoon….I love Baseball.

So this year, there was magic in North Texas. The Rangers won the division….and they won the American League Division Series…and then they went on to beat the Yankees to win the Pennant. THE TEXAS RANGERS WERE GOING TO THE WORLD SERIES!

Tickets were hard to come by…at least for a cost that didn’t have a comma in the price tag. But somehow my wife found some…Game 5…the last home game in the Series for the Rangers. There we are, me and my dad are going to watch the Rangers again…35 years from the time he took me to my first Big League Game…we are both going to our first World Series Game. He told me he never thought he would be able to go to a World Series.

We get there early….nearly early enough to suit up and throw batting practice. The Rangers were down 3 games to 1…and this literally was a must win. But I was getting to watch the Rangers in the World Series. The energy was palatable…with a twinge of apprehension. The bats better show up tonight…come out of hiding…our Ace…Cliff Lee was to grace the mound…6 feet 6 inches away from the San Francisco Giant hitters…I can’t describe how it felt…what it meant…at least to the point where you would understand. But in section 208, Row 4, seats 7 and 8, we were there…Baseball, Texas Rangers…the World Series.

It was a pitcher's duel…Lincecum vs. Lee…and for the first 6 innings it was deadlock…the pitchers duel. Then in the 7th inning, Renteria got a hold of one that went yard…for 3 runs…and with that One Pitch…the Rangers were down. The finial score would award the World Series Championship to the Giants. There was disappointment…but there was also pride…TEXAS PRIDE…and my dad and I stood there cheering the Rangers for a great ride.

Few things in life will be remembered when I draw that final breath…I will of course remember the day I got married to that beautiful gal…and the birth of my 3 kids…add going to the World Series with my dad to that list…for that evening...Baseball was life…

Up Next...training...changes in intent...what is next...and all that...

A Few of My Favorite Things

In 1993 a group of guys gathered together on campus of Texas A&M University to pray...and decide whether to start a Christian fraternity chapter at The University. It would be called BYX - Brothers Under Christ...Led by Brett Williams and a handful of his desperadoes, we decided to proceed. We reserved the Kyle Field press box for our first gathering, printed up posters and hung them around campus...and prayed. We had no clue what kind of guys would show up. It had been decided that the fraternity would be open to anyone with the stipulation that they be a Believer in Christ. We as the founding officers had no idea what the future would hold....we were honestly hoping 10 guys would show up....really.

That first social gathering in the press box brought around 115 guys out...football players, Corps of Cadet members, and student body government members...all kinds...all types...all solid guys...115. That first class...the very first A&M pledge class of BYX....90 members.....I would soon graduate....but was honored to part of the foundation of BYX A&M Chapter. There are now 24 chapters on campuses around the United States...and the Texas A&M chapter has 160 current members and pledges.

On October 16, 2010 there was to be BYX founders weekend, held after the Texas A&M football game. I was in...and decided to take Luke...we would go to the game...tail gate after the game with the BYX guys...meet up with old friends....meet the current members....then go and let the old guys lead the chapter meeting.

17 years later...a few of the Founding Officers

First, what a wonderful day. Luke and I left Plano at 6:00 A.M. Made our way to College Station...ate lunch at Sabisa dining hall...where I ate 20 years ago. We made it to the game where the Fightin' Texas Ags didn't do so well against Mizzou.

We headed to the tail gate party...you would have though Luke was pledging as he played football with some of the other's kids....and the pledges.

We reminisced about how our fist annual Island Party had a budget of 100 bucks...and a year later...they brought in 6 bands with Caedmon's Call headlining...corporate sponsorships and 10,000 in attendance...I remember asking Brenda to that first Island Party...she was an Alpha Chi Omega and I had been to some of their events...even with our first lame Island Party...She married me just the same...

Incredible weekend. Aggieland holds a special place in my heart...I met my wife there...I had some of the best days of my life there..."Those on the outside will never understand it and those on the inside will never be able to explain it." Luke drank the Maroon Kool Aide...wants to enroll now...and my soul sings with joy.

On the North Texas Home front...the TEXAS RANGERS ARE GOING TO THE WORLD SERIES. I was 5 years old when my dad took me to my first Ranger Ballgame. Reggie Jackson hit a home run for the Yankees that game. I literally have been waiting for this all my life...as a life long Texas Ranger Fan....WE ARE GOING TO THE WORLD SERIES....35 years later....my Dad and I are going to a World Series...I have tickets to game 5....life has come around full circle. Just how cool is that?

On a training front...still running...still doing bootcamps. This past Friday I was up at 5:00 A.M. to go to bootcamp,...going anaerobic a hand full of times...a full day of work...home...watched the Texas Rangers become American League Champs...and then right before 11:00 P.M. I took of for a 20 mile run. That was a 23 hour day...and felt like true Ultramarthon training. I caught 3 hours of sleep before I was up for 2 soccer games and a date with my hott wife. The mileage will increase, the intensity will increase...and hopefully I keep my sanity through all this.

I want to close with a few things...first...this fall things have began to come into focus...my family, my magic...my running...and most important my Faith in Christ. My next blog will tie into what, Texas Ranger, Josh Hamilton has reminded me.

The last week we had family pictures taking. My wife likes to do this for the upcoming Christmas Card...and of course that will require another realistic Christmas Letter. Megan Graham took them...If you are in North Texas...try her out...she did a great job...check her work out here...and of course here are some of our family pics and my Magic Promo Pics.

Til Next Time Press On!