The T-Ball Nats

A friend of mine from Australia is visiting D.C. later this month.  He’s interested in seeing a baseball game, so I was talking with my dad and my brother Dylan about it.  Since the Washington Nationals are so ridiculously bad, I told Dylan and my dad that I wasn’t sure if I should send Tom to watch the Nationals or a little kids’ t-ball game. 

I loved my dad’s response.  He said: “Send him to a Nats game, and tell him it’s t-ball.  He’ll be surprised at how big the kids are and how well they play for that level.”

Nice one, Dad!  (I’m not sure if the second part is true, but it’s still funny.)

Published in: on June 1, 2009 at 1:25 pm Comments (2)

Almost Made It

ESPN.com held a contest during the NCAA Final Four tournament.  People could fill out brackets for the tournament and have a chance to win $10,000.  I came pretty close to winning the ten grand!  The only problem was that 4,303,593 people did better than me.  There’s always next year….

Published in: on April 7, 2009 at 9:36 am Leave a Comment

The Other National Pastime

When my younger brother Dylan and I were kids, we used to amuse ourselves by taking baseball cards and doctoring them up a little bit.  Recently I came across a few samples:

Published in: on April 1, 2009 at 2:50 pm Comments (2)

Laura Marie’s First Baseball Shirt

Laura Marie got her first piece of Nationals gear yesterday.  It was a pretty exciting moment for me, and I’m sure for her as well.

Her mom wasn’t so sure.  Last summer we went to a Nationals game at their new stadium, and the fans were almost as bad as the team… and that’s saying a lot.  At one point the booing got so bad that the fans booed a 12-year-old ballgirl when she booted a foul ball.  When I told Carolyn that Laura Marie could wear her Nats tee to a game this summer, she said, “You can’t take a three-month-old baby to a baseball game!  Besides, they’d probably boo her.”

Maybe I should raise her to be Phillies fan.  (Of course, you talk about mean and rowdy fans!  No offense Christi–you’re the rare exception.)  That would be strange since I’ve never been a Phillies guy myself, but Philly is as close as Baltimore or D.C., so the baby should have her pick.

Anyway, here’s the shirt:

Published in: on February 14, 2009 at 1:13 pm Comments (2)

First Finished Painting

Yesterday in our painting group I finished my first painting!  I’m not satisfied with it, but I could work on it forever and never be satisfied with it.  At some point you just have to say, “Enough!”  So here it is:

What I mostly worked on yesterday was the face.  It still doesn’t really look like Bobby Murcer, but at least it doesn’t look so much like a Neanderthal.  Here’s a closeup:

Now I don’t know what to do with the painting, ’cause I’ve never finished one before.  What’re you supposed to do with them once they’re done?

Published in: on February 2, 2009 at 12:36 pm Comments (5)

Funny Football Quote

“Football combines the two worst features of modern American life; it’s violence punctuated by committee meetings.”
- George F. Will

Published in: on at 10:35 am Comments (2)

The Shot Heard Round My Mailbox

When I was a kid one of my hobbies was collecting autographs of baseball players through the mail.  Recently I’ve been reading The Echoing Green, a book I borrowed from my brother Dylan about what is probably the single most famous home run in baseball history.  So I decided to revive my old hobby by writing to Bobby Thomson.

In 1951, the New York Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers battled for the pennant down to the last game of the season.  The Giants staged an amazing comeback and forced the Dodgers to a playoff.  In the deciding game, the Dodgers were up by two in the bottom of the ninth.  With the Giants at bat and two men on base, Bobby Thomson hit a rocket into the stands in left field to win the ballgame and the pennant, sending them to the World Series to face the New York Yankees.

This famous home run has become known as “the shot heard round the world.”

I bought an 8×10 photo of Thomson slugging the famous homer and mailed it to him with a letter and a self-addressed stamped envelope.  It’s only been a week since I mailed it, so I was happilysurprised to find it waiting for me in the mailbox today.

Mr. Thomson signed the picture and wrote “The Shot Heard Round the World, Oct. 3, 1951.”

Though I’d never done this before, I decided to send a brief questionnaire with the picture.  I never thought he’d actually fill it out and return it!  But he did, so here are the questions along with his answers:

  • Who were your favorite teammates?  Whitey Lockman and Alvin Dark.
  • What were the personal highlights of your career?  Hitting “The Shot” against the Dodgers & winning the pennant in 1951.  Also the homer I hit on Oct. 1, 1951, to win the first playoff game.
  • Who was the toughest pitcher you ever faced?  Don Drysdale.
  • Who was the toughest team you ever played against?  Brooklyn Dodgers.
  • Who was the greatest hitter you ever saw?  Ted Williams.
  • Who was the greatest pitcher you ever saw?  Allie Reynolds.

Pretty cool mail day!  Now I remember why I had so much fun doing this as a kid.

Published in: on January 30, 2009 at 10:51 pm Comments (4)

Another Try At Painting

Last year several of us got together on Sundays after church to paint.  It never really got going again after the summer until this month. 

I’ll have to ask Carolyn if I can post pictures of her latest paintings in progress.  She is so talented!  I’ve decided to move on from my attempts at painting football players.  Instead I’m trying baseball players.

My first effort is an acrylic painting of former New York Yankee Bobby Murcer.  It’s based on a photograph from a recent edition of Sports Illustrated.  Like the photo, the painting is black and white–the first attempt I’ve made at B&W.  I thought it’d be kind of cool to take pictures of it at different stages of development.

Here’s the original photo:

My basic sketch:

And here’s where the painting stands now.  Obviously the face needs a ton of work still.  At this point it’s a face, but definitely not Bobby Murcer’s!  I think I’m probably going to leave out the uniform pinstripes from the original photo.  Here’s what it currently looks like:

If I’m able to finish this one, it’ll be my first-ever completed painting!  It’s the closest I’ve gotten so far.  After we paint this Sunday I’ll post a picture of whatever progress (or regress!) I make.

By the way, last time I shared one of my paintings on here (my very first attempt, I might add), I got joned on by some of you in the comments.  You’re welcome to slam it, but let’s play fair: if you’re going to bust on my painting, I want to see some of yours!  And if you haven’t painted yet or are looking for people to paint with, everyone is welcome to join us at CrossWay on Sunday afternoons.  We usually start around 2:30 p.m.  Good times!

Published in: on January 28, 2009 at 5:03 am Comments (2)

Further Evidence That Truth Is Stranger Than Fiction

Here’s the proof: http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/playoffs2008/news/story?id=3832512

Published in: on January 15, 2009 at 5:06 am Leave a Comment

Interesting Article on Florida Quarterback Tim Tebow

Great article on Florida quarterback Tim Tebow.

Published in: on January 7, 2009 at 10:40 am Comments (4)
« Older Entries