Oddly Shaped Fruit

Look at this warped apple! I'm surprised it can even stand.

I Choose You!

Draft day yesterday for the baseball league I'm in. We found ourselves in the fortunate position of not actually having to draft anyone as pretty much everyone from last year's team (as well as some players that took a year off) was coming back. That said, the preparation for the event was not diminished. Let me walk you through the process of my role as GM in preparing for, and executing in the draft.

Three tryouts were held over the past month. Through each, members of my team and I jotted down notes on the players evaluating them on their fielding, hitting, and pitching. It's not as cut and dry as it sounds because this being an adult league many people may not have played for years and that has to be taken into account. So while maybe you don't take a lot of stock into the accuracy or strength from a throw, you can evaluate the player's footwork and throwing motion. Example of some hastily written notes:

No time for neat handwriting when you have to be watching the field.

I then compile everyone's notes and observations and craft up a spreadsheet with all the players I think will still be available when my division drafts (we're the last to go). E-mails are generally thrown around at this point, but because we are drafting maybe one (or none) this year not much electronic traffic was generated.

What a world we would be in without Excel...

My team is the fourth to draft. At this point we have decided to take one of my player's friend with our first and only pick. With a little snooping I'm glad to see that none of the teams drafting before me intend to pick the player with their first pick meaning he will still be there when I go.

Shady under the table agreements are made outside in the lobby before the draft.

Armed with that information, I go into the draft room knowing this will be a cakewalk this year. The past two years I had to draft eight plus players. It got so desperate last year that other team's GMs were handing me their draft sheets so I could get as much information as I could on the remaining player pool (everyone else was done drafting at that point).

In the War Room.

The draft then commences and we go through and pick players until our rosters hold at least the minimum of fifteen players. I was also involved in a trade where we gave up one of our players for a scrimmage game provided by the other team.

The draft board. Very high tech.

The best story of the day: Tryout players are invited to attend the draft to see the process in action and meet their GM's right then and there. Not many players exercise this option, but you can see one glaring problem with this -- what if they player doesn't get drafted? Phil, the GM of the Nuts, was stuck between drafting two players. Rather than consult notes or ask other GMs for their opinion, in an unprecedented move he busted out a dime and went heads or tails. The players pictures were up on the screen and I couldn't help but think that I recognized one of the people... then it hit me. I had saw him before going into the draft room. I turned around and there he was, standing at the doorway with his girlfriend. He was watching whether he would play baseball this season being determined by a coin flip. I guess it's lucky he won out, but I'm sure a few words will be exchanged before the season begins.

So there it is! My roster is set for the upcoming season and we're looking to bounce back from a down year. With the return of pretty much the same roster that led the league in batting average, we're hoping for great things this year as we work on improving the other aspects of our game.

Champion Breakfast

Wow. Brown Bag Cafe.

In Brightest Day, In Blackest Night...

Emerald City ComiCon! This past Saturday I made a trip to the Washington State Convention Center to be one in the mass of nerdom riddled with geekiness fanfare. We illegal obtained our tickets in the parking garage on the way to the show, so we did not have to wait in any lines to get in. Besides saving us some money, this was great because we had gotten there fairly late in the day. Utilizing a snake type route, my friends and I wandered through the show floor.

Who were the brave souls that braved these crowds with me? None other than Trevor, Kyle, Brian and Thomas -- the latter three having never experienced a ComiCon yet (this was the second for Trevor and I). They left disgusted, and I left with a couple of trade paperbacks and a print from Stuart Sayger, so all in all in a win. Unfortunately there weren't as many people in costumes this year around which automatically makes this show worse that last years, but there were a few good (and original) ones. I invite you to click the gallery link below to witness our adventures. Here are a few highlights:

He was cool until he started viscously attacking the crowd.

Placard on the artist of Whiteout's table with his stance on the movie.

The Incredible Hulk!

Cardboard Castle.

InSexious Basterds. Hrm... that sounds wrong when said aloud.

See more!

Emerald City ComiCon 2010

ECCC! (What?)

Want to see Spock or meet Stan Lee this weekend? The Emerald City ComiCon is running this Saturday and Sunday at the Washington State Convention Center. And what better way to get ready for it than with a viewing of the recently released Iron Man 2 trailer?


Iron Man 2 Trailer Uploaded by Lyricis

The movie looks like it might have too much happening and my thoughts on Scarlett Johansson are well documented (here and here). Some of the special effects also seem unfinished (I hope), but at the very least it looks like it's going to be an action packed extravaganza. Color me crimson red and gold with excitement. The movie opens in just under two months from now.

As for ComiCon, not sure yet if I'm going to dress up as Chun-Li from Street Fighter or the Stay-Puft Marshmallow man from Ghostbusters... might be a game time decision.

And So It Begins!

As luck would have it the beginning of the 2010 PSSBL season began this past Saturday marked with beautiful sunlight bearing down from cloudless blue skies. The first of three tryouts for the league were held at BCC (or I guess Bellevue College now, as if a name change gives it more legitimacy) and it couldn't have been a nicer day. About seventy players showed up to both sessions (a far cry from last year when we had about one hundred for the first session alone), but for the first time since I've been the General Manager of my team we won't have to draft ten players. If things hold true, I'll only need to pick up two on draft day. Perhaps it could be this guy in the picture:



As for me? I'm coming into this season as prepared as ever.



My workouts (documented in this blog) along with regular trips to the batting cage and tee work have me rip roaring ready to the get this season rolling. As I've outlined before, I was going to attempt to use January and Feburary to add as much weight as I can -- I got up to 162 pounds (from 160). My focus now over the next two months is to improve my explosive power (especially in my core) and increase baseball skill related activities. I'm also hoping to accomplish two side goals: obtain a beach ready body, as well as be able to dunk. On the latter, I was able to do a volleyball last week so who knows, it's within the realm of possibility...

Oh, and a little tip in case you ever try out for a baseball league -- heck, any type of sporting team: don't wear jeans. You'll look like a complete tool and will be the target of ridicule from both scouts and fellow tryout players alike.

Final Flight of the Red Robin

First it was Sunset Bowl closing and being demolished. Now, another institution of my college years is going the way of the dodo. Red Robin on Eastlake (also the first Red Robin restaurant, by the way) will be closing its doors for business in just a few short weeks. March 21th will be the last day for the restaurant overlooking Portage Bay. Lots of memories at this place...

I remember the first time I was here because it was it was the first time I had ever been to a Red Robin. Not exactly sure when, but I think it was during middle school for my friend Trevor's birthday party. The burger was too big and was left unfinished in my basket. It wasn't until I entered the UW that I returned to the restaurant. Being within walking distance of the Terry-Lander dorms, it was only a matter of time before we made our way out there for onion rings, bottomless fries, and strawberry lemonades. This ended up being the default site for birthday parties, or the fallback restaurant whenever we couldn't decide where to eat over the next five years. I'm not sure three months went by over that span of time without a visit to the local Red Robin.

Not my favorite restaurant in the area and sometimes frustrating to eat at (it might have been faster to drive to Northgate Mall than to wait in the line for seats here), but this place houses many memories of my collegiate times. Will definitely make sure to get out there one more time before it's gone for good.

Read more: Red Robin to close original Seattle location March 21 (Seattle Times)