Sports

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The best day of every year

/ fearsomebeard / 4 Comments

Major League Baseball Opening Day.

This is what a national holiday should be.

Every year, like every at bat, is a clean slate with no idea what’s going to happen.

I fell in love with baseball accidentally when my dear friend, and man crush at the time, Clayton took me to my first San Diego Padres game back in 1997. It was a day game and he bought me a field level ticket right behind first base. Our first baseman at the time was his man crush,  Ryan Klesko.

At first sight it was the handsome Ryan Klesko’s muscular ass that had my attention. By the end of the game I was in awe that I had lived into my early 30s having never discovered the timing, the preciseness, the skill, the sportsmanship, the timing, the patience, the fun and the sheer luck that is baseball.

I was sold.

Best. Game. Ever.

Today marks my San Diego Padres 50th year as a major league team.

1969-2019

Go Padres!

Race

/ fearsomebeard / 7 Comments

If you don’t think this is about Race,

Then you ain’t never been on the receiving end of discrimination.

And if you don’t believe this is about race,

Then you need to look up and read the definition of Racial Genocide.

Puerto Rico is the United States. Puerto Rican’s are Americans just like Texans and Floridians. Apparently the current leader of our federal government doesn’t recognize this. Could it be perhaps they aren’t, as a majority, white Anglo saxon of Western European decent?

Yes I went there. I went there because at this point it is becoming blatantly obvious.

The elusive cycle

/ fearsomebeard / 5 Comments

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

/ fearsomebeard / 6 Comments

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

/ fearsomebeard / 4 Comments

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.

Small world, big planet

/ fearsomebeard / 6 Comments

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.

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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

/ fearsomebeard / 4 Comments
National Anthem Petco Park Padres vs Diamondbacks 4/17/16

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.

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New Season of Dreams

/ fearsomebeard / 2 Comments

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…..