Baseball's Dining Venture

Tonight, my sister invited a few friends to watch game 1 of the world series. What a stinker. A 1-13 slaying by Boston made for a boring game early in the 4th inning. But, it got me thinking about the business of baseball and the true "athleticism" of the game.

I'm a big football fan so most of my prejudice comes from watching big guys in tight clothing. I noticed that baseball players:

• Don't run fast
• Are mostly overweight
• Chew a lot of gum

Watching the Socks hit nearly every pitch thrown gave me a lot of insight. Each player makes about seven figures a season playing somewhere in the neighborhood of 130 games. If I had to work 1 out of every 3 days of the year, I would learn how to run the 90 feet between home and first faster than anyone else. Especially if by doing so got me on base more often and therefore more moola. Most of the guys I witnessed trotted leisurely to the base and some got out because they stopped for a beer on the way to first. How do they make so much with so little effort?

As I said before, I like football. Big dudes in tiny pants do it for me I guess. At least the big men in that sport have some serious athleticism. It's hard being a lineman. First, you have to weigh over 300 pounds. Then you have to carry that bulk full speed ahead for run blocking and make holes for your tailback. Baseball players are not 300 pounds, but most of them aren't skinny either. I guess I attribute baseball as a public health hazard; the players stand in the outfield or sit in the dugout about 90% of the time lending to a sedentary lifestyle.

Lastly, they all chew a butt load of gum. It must be because they're bored from their sedentary lifestyles and at least gum gives them the practice of blowing bubbles.

Gathering that baseball players don't take their job too seriously, I figured they must be in some other venture. I thought this as I got the bill for our dinner which we ate while watching the whole game. We bought more beer, appetizers and dessert than we usually would. Baseball is a ridiculously long sport. Each game is requires about 9 hours. The Lord created the world in 6 days or about 3.5 baseball games. In that time, dining establishments can upsell the crap out us. I bet behind the scenes of every great baseball game lies an owner of a restaurant hoping it goes into extra innings.

Lauri on Vacation

Lauri and I went to a nature park while we were on vacation in Florida. Here, Lauri is doing her Manatee impression. I think she does it pretty well.

Fish I caught

For my first post, I wanted to show off some fish that I caught. I was in Florida on vacation with my wife and her parents. Rob, Lauri's dad, took me out on a guided inland fishing trip. We caught a TON of fish. Below is a Redfish that I caught and landed. It was a big bugger at 27.5". It turns out that there is an upper limit to fish you can catch. This one had to be thrown back because it was over limit. That's a nice problem to have.


Next up is a snook I caught at 39". That guy fought valiantly, but I won in the end. That's Brian the guide next to me. If you're in Florida, I highly recommend him for a great trip.

Beakers Becomes Mrs. Beakers Miller

I went to Omaha for a day last month to attend one of my best friends' wedding. I should write a screen play and call it my best friends' wedding. I bet that could be a hit.

People asked why I went for a day. Well, first it's Omaha and there's not a ton to do there anyway. Don't get me wrong, the city rules, but I went without Lauri and it just didn't make sense to party hard. Second, it was a small wedding and I was the sole representative of Whitworth University. So it was just me and the Knuth family.

Her family was gracious enough to take me in as one of their own and I had a great time hanging out with her little (they used to be little) brothers and their girlfriends. I also reconnected with her sister and brother in law. I'm not sure if I've shared this before, but one of my great party tricks is falling. I only fall in the presence of a Knuth though. It's a nutty super power, but it's consistent. This trip (pun intended) was no different. Running up some stairs with some of Beakers' wedding presents in hand, I tripped on the third to last stair. It must have been a thing of beauty because instead of eating face on the second to last stair, I high jumped and did a barrel roll Bruce Lee would have been proud of. Naturally Beakers, Jamie and a couple of others were present to embarrass me the rest of the day.

She looked great that day and the wedding was honestly one of the best I've been to. A small ceremony with close friends and family. I had the good fortune to meet her husband, Matt. Naturally he was a good guy. Good wedding Beakers; totally worth the trip.