For those of you new to the site, during the hockey season I volunteer as an ECHL Off Ice Official for the Gwinnett Gladiators games ('AA' affiliate of the Thrashers).  Most of the time I work in the home penalty box.  In the five years I’ve been doing this, I’ve seen my share of nuttiness, although multi-player brawls are still the exception and not the rule.  Last night’s game was one of those where the game started out normal and then turned nasty near the end.  

We have quite a pretty park by our house where Ally plays.  There’s a pool, 5 tennis courts, a playground, a creek, 2 baseball/soccer fields (for small kids) and a pavilion to host parties.  The city of Decatur keeps it in pretty good shape but there is one part of it that has kind of made me sad this year.  The one lower baseball field must not have been used by any youth leagues this year because the infield is filling up with grass quickly. 

This could simply be a case where the disconnect between generations is now becoming more pronounced for me but I’ve come to the realization of a few things regarding pro sports.  Having grown up a sports fanatic, I’ve really become more of a casual observer and have cooled to just about every sport but hockey as of late.  Moreso than any other era, I think the modern day athlete is completely out of touch with the average fan.  A huge factor in this are the stratospheric salaries being paid these guys to play a game.  As a proponent of capitalism, I have no problem with someone making an assload of money if someone is willing to pay them.< ...

This will probably be my most unpopular post ever, especially considering how everyone feels about Barry Bonds (myself included).  I haven’t read the book Game of Shadows yet and had I read it, I might not be writing this, but it’s time for people to get over Barry Bonds breaking the home run record.

Since this is the All Star week for baseball, I thought I’d throw out a few suggestions to tweak the Grand Old Game.  With the exception of the Designated Hitter, I’m a traditionalist but there should be less stupid scoreboard crap and more personable entertainment like the sausage races they have in Milwaukee and the pierogi one in Pittsburgh.  Obviously you would make ...

I’m going to stray from my usual blog meanderings today and switch into Proud Dad Mode regarding this past weekend.  If there’s one advantage to interleague play, it was the fact that it allowed me to take my daughter to her first MLB game and see her dad’s hometown team.  Last weekend the Tigers came to town and, as fate would have it, the Saturday game was at 3:55 PM since it was a Fox broadcast.  Most games I can’t take her to as a 1 PM game is around her nap time and 7 PM is only an hour from her bedtime.

I can’t let the passing away of Rod Beck yesterday go unnoticed on my blog.  While a majority of his fame came when he was a reliever for the Giants, the two seasons he was in Chicago made him my favorite Cub (and Megan's too).  What’s not to like about a fat guy with a Fu Manchu and a mullet that made Cubs fans forget all about the previous reliever who went do ...

I don’t have boys for children and I’m years removed from competitive baseball but once baseball is in your blood, it stays there.  For that reason, I’m encouraged to see a new rule that was adopted by the Little League this year.  With the curbing of all things we did in our youth seemingly growing each day (all in the name of "protecting our youth") – Dodgeball, Smear the Queer, Detention (now called “Opportunity Time” in my sister-in-law’s school district), crunchy McDonald’s apple pies – it’s refreshing to see pitch counts implemented in the Little Leagues now.

If you wonder why the gap is widening between the haves and have-nots, consider this latest scheme from the Atlanta Braves.  This new marketing ploy is sure to catch on like wildfire not only through Major League Baseball but through all sports.  Now baseball has joined furniture stores and electronics stores as places where you can buy a product on a “90 days same as cash” plan.

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