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Are you playing Fantasy Football this year? I’m in 3 Leagues again.

+ There’s the church league (that’s the one I pay an entry fee for - yeah I gamble a few bucks on fantasy)

+ There’s the Burnside Writers League (that’s the one with the most trash talk)

+ There the league I’m in with some friends from Texas (that’s the league I usually ignore)

Will I win one this year? Probably Not. But my drafting fun starts tonight. Yeehaw!

Tags: Fantasy Football

Playing some baseball with Parker at Long’s park in Lancaster.

This is the face of someone who suffered two not-so-good collapses in a span of 8 hours on Friday.

In the morning I teed it up with my friends from work in the last of 4 golf matches we played throughout the summer. Based on the close finishes in the previous 3 tournaments, the winner on Friday would walk away with the overall Championship. (which consisted of a few bucks and bragging rights for the winter).

I took the lead after the 11th hole and held it until 18. On the 18th tee box, with an uncomfortable 3-shot lead, I hit a great iron off the tee to 150 yards from the hole. When I arrived at my ball I discovered it was in a huge divot. If this divot had a name, it would be called “You Are No Longer Going to Win”. I tried to hit safely out of the divot, but yanked the shot into the water, dropped, hit a weak chip, hit a better chip onto the green, missed a tough putt by 2 inches, and then sank a 4-footer for a 7. My closest competitor shot a 4 on the hole, tying him for the win in the match (we both shot 93), and giving him a slight edge in the overall Championship. Just like that I went from winner to loser.

Later that night we had our first softball Championship game, and the lead went back and forth throughout. In the top of the 7th inning we scored 3 runs to take an 8-6 lead. But in the bottom of the 7th we gave up 3 runs, and they won 9-8. Yes, I was pitching. And yes, just like that I went from winner to loser.

So, if you’re scoring at home, that’s a 3-shot lead blown on the last hole of the biggest golf match of my life (which isn’t saying much) and 3 runs in the last inning to lose Game 1 of the Championships. All in about 8 hours. (After the game we went to Ruby Tuesday’s for appetizers and I ate greasy chicken quesidillas, which technically could be considered another “Loss” - for my stomach and digestive system - if you want to get technical.)

So yeah, I’m mostly over it at this point, except for when I think about that divot and I throw up in my own mouth. Game 2 of our Championships is tonight. My next round of golf will be after a few shrink visits.

May your week this week be more successful than my Friday was!

My modified fastpitch softball team, the Astros, have been playing in the United Church League for 7 years. We made the playoffs back in 2003, but it had been a 3-year hiatus until we went back last year. Unfortunately, we lost in our first play-in game as the #6 seed, and that was that.

This year we finished the season as the #5 seed with a 14-6 record. This meant that in order to get to the semi-finals (which are a best of 3 series) we needed to win 2 play-in games.

First we played the #6 seeded Living Hope team. This is the first year that I’ve been our primary pitcher, and pitching almost every game has helped me improve a lot. My arm felt great for this game and we jumped out to an early lead. Living Hope was flat, and we ended up beating them 10-0 by order of the mercy rule. I was pretty stoked to pitch a shutout in the playoffs…that doesn’t happen often in softball.

Our second play-in game was against the #4 seed, the Dove Angels. We split our season series with them 1-1, which included a 15-14 defeat of them in our last regular season game. They got out to an early 4-1 lead, but we closed the gap to 5-4 heading in to the 5th inning. With 2 on and 2 out in the 5th, our first baseman Doug hit a blast to left-center to give us a 7-5 lead. I scored on a busted safety squeeze play in the 6th to increase our cushion to 8-5. In the bottom of the 7th, we got two quick outs before they loaded the bases. I started to feel the pressure out there a little bit on the mound. I didn’t want to let the rest of the team, or our cheering crowd, down. I got the next guy to ground out to third, ending the game. We won 8-5, and we were headed to the semi-finals!

Last night was our first semi-final game against the #1 seed Royals. They won the League in 2003 and have finished as runner-ups the last 4 years. They’ve also beaten us 10 games in a row, dating back to 2002. The semis are a best out of 3 series format, and we were hoping to jump out early and steal Game 1. They seemed a bit flat all game, and we jumped out to an early 3-0 lead. I gave up a HR in the 4th to make it 3-1, but we tacked on 4 more in the 5th to jump out 7-1. They scraped together 3 runs in the 5th to make it 7-4, and that was the score heading in to the bottom of the 7th. We got one quick out and then gave up a double on an 0-2 pitch. The next batter bunted, but Scott our 3rd baseman made an amazing play to get him at first. Their next batter singled to make it 7-5, but that was as close as they got. I got their next batter to ground out to short, and we did it. We won Game 1!

On Monday night we play game 2. If we can win, we’ll advance to the finals against the Warriors. If we lose, we play again immediately in game 3. Not sure how i’ll fare pitching both games of a doubleheader, so hopefully we can do it again in game 2. No matter what happens though, this has been a lot of fun. After years of not going anywhere in the post-season, we’re finally making it happen. I’ll update you next week!