Farewell, Softball Team!

We came up short in the semifinals last night.  The team got walloped, but gave it the old college try.  And although the team only had four losses in the last year and a half (three seasons), we just could not get it done in the championship rounds.  Since the league won’t be renewing softball at the venue my team plays on for the winter and 2014, it’s best for me to step down as HFTP softball manager.  I mean, yes, I will still be with the association as the chapter president for the San Francisco Bay Area.  I just won’t be leading the charge for softball.  I am proud of my teammates, who worked real well playing together.  We played as hard as we practiced.  And this team has a lot of passion to playing together.  Unfortunately, for the past three seasons, we just could not get it done in the playoffs.  Who knows, maybe perhaps the team will have a reunion in 2014.  I am sure that someone will step up and keep the fun alive.  I guess that I will start a new journey now.  Many thanks to the best teammates in the world!

Preparing for the Championship Rounds

The HFTP softball team is comprised of very busy individuals, who are dedicated to their day jobs and when they have that one hour on Tuesday nights, they will give it their best shot.  This will be a very daunting task to motivate the team for the next game and if we win the first one, we get into the championship game.  Now, I will manage with only three women.  The ratio is six guys to four women, but the ladies are the most dedicated, career-minded teammates.  This creates a challenge for me, as I scramble constantly for substitute players “Subs” to cover.  I have seen teams win with three girls.  But our little team lost our starting shortstop in the second week of the season, and most of the girls are travelling.  But tomorrow night’s game will most likely be our last in the JCCSF league for a while.  I don’t think that I will guide them until 2015 in the JCCSF, but we will have a long off-season.  I will get the team motivated despite our challenges.  A six-win, one-loss record going into the semi-finals is not bad.  We hope to prevail.

My new pastime: Concert Host (Usher) at America's Cup Pavilion

No softball last night.  But to pass the time, I volunteer as a host for a major concert promoter in San Francisco.  Journey was in town last Sunday, and it was a sold-out concert.  It’s great to see a local band, with a great lead singer (Arnel Pineda) and being from San Francisco, it’s a real San Francisco treat.  The drinks and smokes were plentiful in the Pavilion.  And I don’t mean the electronic cigarette kind.  Yes, people act stupid, especially the 50 and 60 year olds.  But there was a feel good story last Sunday.  A patron was clapping and cheering the encore song, “Don’t Stop Believin’” and her wedding band flew in the crowd and got lost.  At the end of the concert, while everyone was filing out, she and her friends stayed, along with me and two others from my section and the custodian to go through every blade of the faux grass to find that ring.  My boss told us to head to the tent to check out because “we don’t pay overtime”.  Geez, it’s a wedding band that is lost, not a coat or sweater.  We carried on, and lo and behold, thirty minutes later, we found the wedding band ten rows from where she was sitting.  Wow!  She must have clapped and twirled around.  She was overcome with emotion, dropped into her sister’s arms, cried, and we set out to sing the refrain, “Don’t Stop Believin’”.  If only Arnel could hear us from the Pavilion…Well, my boss heard us, and he still wouldn’t pay for the overtime.  Oh well, at least I checked out and help an old drunk lady cross the Embarcadero to fetch a cab.  All in a good day’s work, without the overtime pay.  

Thursday nights with my fellow HFTP teammates...and their teams.

The weather in San Francisco was beautiful yesterday in every neighborhood.  Whether you’re in Visitacion Valley (where I live) or the Presidio, it was picture-perfect weather.  A few of my HFTP teammates run other teams at Fort Scott in the Presidio on Thursday nights.  I play on one of their teams and coach on the other.  The games were played in the earlier evenings, and the weather started to take a downturn around 7:45 PM.  It’s a typical San Francisco fall evening.  And both teams didn’t lose:  Andy’s team, HFTP starting pitcher on Tuesday, won a thriller, 13-12.  Carly’s team, HFTP starting outfielder, hung on for a tie, 17-17.  So after my games, I hung around to observe the officiating of both games and to give a ride home to both of the umpires, because there is no way for them to get home from the Golden Gate Bridge area where the fields are located.  Joe, whom I have known for more than 15 years, missed a few calls, but overall, he keeps the game going fine.  Shawn, however, is still learning the craft after less than a dozen games on his chart.  He even did a “do over” which is unconscionable in softball and even baseball.  He’s passionate and enthusiastic, but beats himself up all the time.  I remember my first game vividly for co-ed softball in 2003, when I was schooled by a former collegiate softball player (I won’t name her team because she was THAT good), about rules and proper etiquette.  I learned a lot from that player, who happened to be an accountant like me, years ago, and continue to use her words of wisdom less the F-bombs in my work ethic behind home plate.  And on the ride home, Joe and I shared our wisdom with Sean sans the F-bombs.   

Follow Up on the umpire training

The two bozos who work the JCCSF umpire circuit on Tuesday night never took advantage of my free training last night.  It shows that their lack of care and blatant disregard to the rules are apparent.  Good riddance to this dumb league.

Tuesday 9/17 Playoff Opener

Life as a social director for the Hospitality Professional and Technology Professionals chapter,  and, most importantly, softball coach isn’t so bad.  In fact, as a professional “in transition” so to speak, this keeps my mind focused for preparation, planning, and decision-making.  I’m not behind that big old oak desk in Sausalito anymore.  Rather, I sit at a picnic table to review the batting order and get ready for the weekly softball. The team finished the regular season with a 5-1 record and a second place finish.  But this playoff game was so painstaking, I am befuddled.  The team is as prepared as they can be, but neither were the opponents and the umpire.  The poor fool who says that he is an umpire, is a complete moron.  Not only did he not enforce the forfeit rule for game time, he admittedly told me and my team that he did not know the rules.  Oh boy!  The chapter graciously sponsored the team the whole season, and we play in a league that these fools who run it have clowns as umpires.  Now, being a hospitality professional, I can help these umpires so they can have some salvage value.  I am an umpire of the Golden Gate Sports Club and will allow these umpires to shadow me this evening.  And I won’t charge them for the training.  You see, our helpful friendly attitudes in hospitality can also pertain on the softball diamond.