The elusive cycle

One of the rarest occurances in baseball hitting for the cycle. Hitting for the cycle is simply one player hitting a single, a double, a triple and a home run all in one game. Hitting for the cycle has only occurred 307 times in the history of Major Legue baseball since the first recorded in 1882. A feat more rare than a cycle is a no hitter. A no hitter is a pitcher completing a full 9 innings without the opposing team achieving a single hit which has only occurred  289 times in MLB history. The perfect game (no hitter ever even reaches a base)  has only been achieved 23 times in MLB history with the rarest occurance being hitting for the cycle in perfect order only happening 14 times.

This happened Tuesday:

Wil Myers landed The Padres their second cycle in Padres history. He hit a single, a double, a home run and finally, at his 8th inning fourth at bat, a triple. The triple is that hardest one out of the four to get.

I love baseball. I love the ability for a player to have a fresh start each and every time a bat is picked up.

The cycle is quite the achievement. Think about it. In most games a player only gets 4 at bats or 5 tops. Many games a player will have not even achieve one hit in a game much less four. Consider that in 140 years of Major Legue baseball more than 210,000 games have been played with  at least 9 hitters (more than 1,890,00 total) getting an average of 4 at bats…that’s more than 7,560,000 at bats.

Congratulations Wil Myers on cycle #308.

Baseball truly is a field of dreams. One must dream the dream first and then it will come. It will.

An opening day win and one amazing remake

Wow! What a game. Back and forth scores, multiple home runs and even an opposing team (SF Giants) grand slam and our Beloved Padres eeked out a 7-6 win over San Fransisco’s Giants. It was a down to the wire fun to watch nail biter! In other words a well matched good game. Baseball, at its best!

Opening day National Anthem

Fearsome and his opening day posse at Petco Park

After our return home we settle into bed to find out that Pentanonix just posted one fucking incredible remake of one of Rock Music’s best classics.

Wow, just wow! …oh yeah if you even slightly enjoyed Queen, this will be so worth your time.

Opening Day

Baseball.

Today marks our beloved San Diego Padres home opener.

Opening day is a day of dreams, hopes, beginnings, the smell of a freshly cut grass and irresistable scents of barbecue, hotdogs, popcorn and those damn garlic fries.

Our Padres aren’t expected to do much this year. The team is very young, inexperienced and some say “experimental”. In baseball this doesn’t really matter. Each game and each at bat is a new beginning.

As is Fearsome’s want, we continue our tradition of posting John Fogerty’s Centerfield to mark the monumentous occiasion and local holiday of Opening Day!

Yes …we will be there. We wouldn’t miss such an occiasion. We love baseball.

Beard of the day

Baseball Beard

Small world, big planet

Or is it a big world, small planet?

I do love travel and have been many places. I have many more to see. Of recent my travels are all domestic to areas I frequent. That’s ok, more exotic places will come later.

Last November I wrote about my observations as people boarded the plane walking past my seat. That post turned into two. I still find it quite interesting the interactions, travels and movement of our species. I also find intriguing the exchange of information, possesions and currency.

I’m sorry to inform those who want to close borders, stay small, prevent movement and exchange. I’m sorry to give you the news that you fear. This is humanity. We are one. We move, share, give, enrich, enlighten and experience each other as one world. We have for centuries, we do today and we will continue. Humanity.

Today I sit by a pool in Ft. Lauderdale with mates from Atlanta, Detriot, Calgary, Seattle, Vancouver, Germany and Mexico. Laughter permeates the air. Strangers and friends. Familiar and foreign.

Today my tickets sold, Major Legue Baseball All Star Game tickets.

Being a Padres Season ticket holder allowed me to obtain these. My seat mate Greg and I planned to actually attend but life happens. He has parental responsibilities, I have shoulder surgery. We listed them on Stub-Hub and while I sat by the pool the tickets sold. They sold to someone in Quebec. Yes while relaxing with new international friends by a pool in South Florida my All Star tickets in San Diego sold via the Internet to a buyer in Canada.

Build bridges, not walls.

…..oh don’t let me forget….Happy Canada Day!

Field of Dreams

National Anthem Petco Park Padres vs Diamondbacks 4/17/16, Military Opening Day. 

Today is sunny and 80 degrees F with a breeze off San Diego bay just across the street. It’s a good day for baseball.

I love the game and I appreciate the charachter I gain from the lessons of it. Each season, each home stand, each game and each bat is a new beginning. Patience, it takes patience, focus, skill, vision, determination, attention, confidence and accuracy. There is humor, dedication, respect, camaraderie, laughter, disappointment, surprise, applause, and groans.

I learn from the sport. I grow.

 

New Season of Dreams

It’s OPENING DAY!

Yup …..Baseball Season!

I have a seat at today’s opening Padres vs. Dodgers at Petco Park! Alas the game is in San Diego and I’m still in Virginia. The Better half gets my field level first base seat today and I will go to my first game Wednesday with my seat mate Greg.

(BTW …..there’s a new blog out there written by Greg’s brother in law Matt. He’s blogging as he walks the Pacific Coast Trail. Check him out HERE and give him a bit of encouragement.)

Let’s get this New Season of Dreams started…..

 

Beard of the day

Padres Baseball Beard
Derek Norris …Spring Training is underway!

Blogspiration

It’s a hot San Diego night. Much warmer than normal for us. It’s 90 degrees Fahrenheit. Damn hot for us. I sit at Petco Park enjoying the wind down of the Baseball season.

San Diego Pares vs Colorado Rockies, at this 4th inning Padres 6, Rockies 2. Go Padres!

Reading blogs is fun and often makes me think. Food for thought, things to contemplate I find as I visit blog friends. I read a friend’s blog today that got me a contemplatin’. Gave me inspiration to write as I watch the Padres first baseman tag a Rockie out. Blogspirating I call it.

Success, what is it really? Is it only material? Does it have to be big? Can it be measured? Does it make any one person better than another? Or, Is it personal? Spiritual? Simple?

Well I think most can agree that success can take many forms. For me, mostly, success is personal, simple and spiritual. I succeed anytime I share a smile, make another’s day better, give inspiration, leave a place better than I found it, let a car into traffic, make a donation to help a homeless dog, get to the gym, do yoga, let one of my puppies fall asleep on my chest, make a blog post, make a phone call for a client, answer a question, show a house, comfort a client when a real estate deal falls apart, and understand when someone makes a mistake or accidentally says something that I otherwise could find offensive.

I found a few quotes I would like to share. I hope one resonates with you.

 

If I drank beer, I’d drink Guiness

Beautiful film.

Thank you Guiness for your support of truth and acceptance. We all are just who we each are. To respect that is strength and integrity.

(tipped by JMG)

Iron Cowboy Does 50/50/50

On July 25, 2015 James Lawrence, AKA Iron Cowboy, completed his 50th Ironman in 50 days in 50 states.

An Ironman Triatholon consists of a 2.4 mile swim followed by a 112 mile bicycle ride completed with a 26.2 (full marathon) mile run…all in a row in one day. To officially be an “Ironman” these have to be completed in 17 hours or less.

Needless to say I ran into James Lawrence on the web searching for beards. He has one, as do his two wing men. I found him while he was in the process of completing numerous Ironmans working toward his goal. Last night I found this video by Rich Roll, AKA Vegan Ultraman, and was inspired. Not inspired to become an Ironman or an Ultraman, but inspired by the human spirit to work toward and complete a goal.

I take today to contemplate the human spirit. I challenge myself to pick out one thing I wish to improve in my life, to set a goal and take the first step toward that goal.

Have a Fearsome Saturday!

Diana Nyad ….just plain Fearsome

Remember a couple years back about this time of year that a lady, that had been trying for several years, finally actually swam from Cuba to Key West? That was Diana Nyad. She is best known as a sports broadcaster from her days in the early 1980s on ABC Wide World Of Sports into her later years at FOX Sports. She is one talented, strong, fearsome and inspirational woman.

If you noticed my short post yesterday, I had the honor, the blessing, to spend more than an hour in the audience as she spoke. She is beautiful, sincere, funny, kind, reassuring, inspiring, entertaining and most of all moving. I am twice blessed that I will soon be in Philly at a different training conference where she once again will be speaking. I’m getting there early that day as I want a front row seat this time. I was in awe, this next time I can absorb.

Diana has a book coming out in October and next year will be asking 1 million people to join her for part, or all of, her walk from the Pacific to the Atlantic as a motivator to help get Americans out of the sedentary lifestyle and on their feet. I plan to join her. No not for all of it, my real estate clients do expect me to work sometime, but for a part of it. For such a noble cause with such an inspiring woman I can spend a whole day walking across our beautiful land.

Below is a short TED talk that she did shortly after her 110  mile swim at the age of 64. It’s short compared to the time I was blessed to spend with her yesterday but well worth the watch. Never ever give up, the joy is the journey…..keep on that journey and you will get more than you ever imagined.

Beard of the day

Jason Werth Beard of the Washington Nationals, Fearsome is going to a Nationals game tonight.

Beard of the day

Padre catcher Derek Norris and Padre pitcher James Shields, a week and a half into the season The Padres are .600. Keep it up boys!

The Heart of The Padres

The San Diego Padres are often out doing good things in our community. I remember years ago working in the infant intensive care units the players coming through visiting families in our care. The Padres sponsor little league ball parks and are seen at many charity events. They are often noted for gifts to the community.

It’s good for relations and frankly good press. The Padres are a huge corporation that deals in large sums of money so it’s kind of expected as well. Corporate charity is a good thing. Somehow they always seem to be deeper than just making the necessary gesture. Somehow they always seem to be giving from a deeper place, a place somewhere in the heart. That’s one of the reasons I gave into professional sports and became a fan.

Then I’m made aware of how true they are to giving, to caring for not only the community but people period. This is an old article from 2005, and they are still following through with it to this day in 2015. The article is a testament to true humanity. I reccomend the read and having a tissue handy.

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/lachappa-98759-says-padres.html?page=1

Go Padres!

Go Padres!

It’s opening day in San Diego and we are out the door in a few minutes. I’ll update as I can. To get us started there’s…

Padre Joe and the Foul Balls outside Petco Park

 

Outside Petco the Navy is getting ready for the game.

Jill, Gracie, Jay, The Better Half, Greg and Fearsome Himself before the game.

The National Anthem.

With an opening day sold out attendance of 45,150, the Padres unfortunately lose to the Giants in 12 innings. It was a great day and it’s baseball, we have another game tomorrow night. Fearsome will be there to watch the Padres win.

 

 

Beard of the day

Now a Padre, Catcher Derek Norris. The Padres open today at Los Angeles. Fearsome and I are happy it’s Baseball Season!

and It Starts!

Baseball Season!

WOOHOO!!!

Rising above

First I must give credit where it is due, I was made aware of this over on Joe.My.God.

The Oakland A’s have decided to have a LGBT night at one of their games this Season. Not anything new to me as the San Diego Padres have been having one night a year for the LGBT community for years now. It’s very common for different nights to be set apart for different segments of the community in baseball. There are 80 home games for each team every year. Designated nights allow for promotion of the team.

Apparently the LGBT night is new in Oakland and some of the season ticket holders are upset and do not want to attend. That’s their right. As a season ticket holder you can sell or trade your tickets.

What does an enlightened team player do to better a situation that is causing a controversy? How can one take lemons and make lemonade?

Oakland A’s pitcher, Sean Doolittle, has stepped up to the plate. He and his girlfriend have offered to purchase any disgruntled season ticket holders tickets at face value, which is more than a season ticket holder actually pays for them, and are going to donate the tickets to LGBTQ youth. This sticky situation is now a blessing to youth who are often cast offs.

Whats a good beard with a good conscience to do? Kudos to Sean Doolittle and his girlfriend Eriann for doing a good thing.

Oakland A’s pitcher Sean Doolittle

If you wish to read more on it:

http://www.outsports.com/2015/3/31/8324469/oakland-pitcher-sean-doolittle-and-girlfriend-buy-ticket-to-fill

http://joemygod.blogspot.com/2015/04/oakland-as-pitcher-offers-to-buy.html#disqus_thread

Beard of the day

Baseball Beard

San Diego Padre

Kevin Quackenbush