Bright Idea Outdoors Weblog

Common Ground

My mom and dad didn't agree on much.  They got separated about 30 years ago and communicated less and less as my sister and I grew up.  The first time my mom had cancer--in the 90's--my dad didn't even call her.  When the cancer came for him, she didn't go to his memorial service.

We're coming up on two years since we lost my dad and six months since my mom died.  It's been almost a year since she got really sick and came to live with Kim and the boys and me.

One thing Mom and Dad did agree on was baseball; they both liked it, and I wish more than anything they could see their grandsons today with all three of them suited up for the spring season.

Jake, Nick and Brett are playing in Central Loudoun Little League, the same league I played in as a kid with my dad on the coaching staff and my mom in the bleachers hollering at me to get my helmet down over my ear.  

That was when they were still together.

At the time, I loved the Orioles and wanted to play in the major leagues.  But I drifted away from the game when my parents split up, only to return when Jake started playing a few weeks before Dad died.  He never got to see any of them play.  Mom caught a few of Jake's games but was able to come less and less as her health deteriorated.  Jake had a game the day we lost her, and I was on the coaching staff.  

We both went to the game because I knew she would have wanted us to.

This season, Jake's playing in the CLLL majors.  He's a great fielder, a solid pitcher and is poised to take his hitting to the next level.  Nick's playing AA, his first shot at the great game his grandparents loved.  I'm managing the team and will be happy if I'm half the coach my dad was.  Brett's in Tee-Ball 4 (that means 4-year-olds!)  He's had his baseball pants on since about January 15th. 

I know they're watching us, and I know they agree that they've got the best bunch of grandsons to ever take the field.  I hope they're both a little proud of me too, and that they know I'm doing the best I can.

Baseball brings our family together, and I've never felt better than I did today, hitting ground balls to Nick and his teammates with Kim in the bleachers and Brett and Jake, both dressed for baseball and not far away on the grounds of Good Times Park.

The weather's beautiful; the fields are raked; and Kim and I have got a house full of baseball players.  So boys, I've got just one thing to say to you.  For Grandmomma and Grandpop:

PLAY BALL!!!

Ripken Baseball Coaching Clinic Was a Winner

I've been assistant coaching in Little League Baseball the last couple years and this season will be managing (or head coaching) a team for the first time.  So when I had the opportunity to attend a Ripken Baseball coaching clinic at Langley High School last Saturday I figured I should take it.

Boy was I right!

It was a long day but worth every minute of my time.  And what a thrill it was to be in the same auditorium with the legendary Cal Ripken Jr.!  Hall of Famer Ripken, along with former big league players Billy Ripken and John Habyan, put on a great program, and I learned a lot.  I would recommend Ripken Baseball to anyone coaching a team or even if you just have a kid of your own you want to coach up a little bit.

I'll share with you here though, the best advice of the day:

Fun and Games at Nationals Park

I was fishing in the rain Saturday night when I got  text asking if I was interested in four tickets to see the Washington Nationals take on the Florida Marlins Sunday afternoon.  Even with the threat of rain and thunderstorms, I couldn't pass up the chance.

So the next morning, the boys and I hopped on a train.

 
The weather turned out to be perfect!  We had seats right behind the Marlins dugout, and the Nats played a great game, beating the fish 8-4.

 
 
The first inning, especially, was some of the most exciting baseball I've ever seen.

 
After the game, the kids got to run the bases.

 
What a day!

Lucketts Field

It's a beautiful afternoon, and I go to the mound, confident, having thrown two scoreless innings on Saturday.  The field is in Lucketts, a few miles north of Leesburg, which might as well be the moon to me, but I don't care because I'm playing baseball, and I'm pitching and I can do this well.

Only the strike zone seems smaller than Saturday, and it feels like I can't hit the broadside of the volunteer firehouse next door.  I'm walking in runs, and I look at the dugout, and the coach is smoking a cigarette and doesn't meet my eyes.

I'm wishing my dad was still my coach because I know he'd take me out of the game because I know I don't have it today, and I wish I wasn't moving into a different house than the one he lives in because that would mean my parents weren't getting divorced.  

Now it's 30 years later, and I'm in the dugout at the field in Lucketts.  

My son Jake takes the hill and walks the first batter, and his mom and I have had a tough week, and I'm thinking here we go again.  But then he strikes out the next guy, and I text her because she's at Nick's football game, and he walks one more but gets the next two guys out and he's pitched a scoreless inning.

Then I'm coaching first base, and a  foul ball goes into the woods, and a guy is wading through knee deep grass to find it, and I'm glad I have a reason to be on the field.  My wife and I are texting, and our sons are doing great, and she tells me Nick just picked off a pass to stop a touchdown, and I'm really happy about this.

Jake goes back to the mound.  He faces three batters and retires the side, and I'm texting and thinking about how my kids are so much better than I was and how if I can just do a little better than my dad did everything will be fine.

 

Super Sunday?

Here's wishing everyone a happy Super Bowl!  It is a national holiday right?  So I guess that's appropriate.

I'm looking forward to the game; rooting for the Steelers, although my kids favor the Packers so either way we're going to be happy.  Of course, I'm faced with the same decision I'm faced with any time there's a sporting event of any national consequence.  Do I let them stay up and watch it?

The Super Bowl is not as bad as many college bowl games, the NCAA basketball championship or World Series games that would keep the kids up way past their bed times.  But still, it will keep them up somewhat late, and they're going to be tired tomorrow if they watch the whole game.

I understand that if the game were played earlier it would start too early on the west coast.  But am I the only one who thinks the Super Bowl would be more fun if it were on a Saturday?

Actually, I know I'm not the only one, but I also know the NFL employs a lot of people who know a lot more about marketing than me, so I don't expect to see this change any time soon.

A Short Hunt

Opening morning of Virginia's statewide archery deer season found me on the sidelines, litterally; I was at my kid's NFL Flag football game, where he and his team notched another win.  Nick's going to find out what losing feels like one of these days, but I'm not sure when it's going to be.  Under the leadership of coaches Steve Battiston and Mike Gore, the Bengals are working on their second consecutive undefeated season.

After that win, it was off to Jake's baseball game where I walked up just in time to see him throw a strikeout for the final out in the two scoreless innings he pitched.  His team went on to win as well.

When the dust had settled from the morning's contests, I started getting ready for the afternoon hunt.  I got into a stand on a new property I'm hunting near Camp Cowboy around 4:15.  The first deer, two big does, trotted into the kill zone half an hour later.

Did I shoot?  Was I even ready to shoot?

Hell no!

I was sitting down, bow across my knees thinking about how I wouldn't see any deer until at least 6:00.

I sat awhile after that, but I guess I'm getting lazy in my old age.  I decided I'd missed my chance for the day and succumbed to the call of a hot meal and the comforts of home.

Maybe tomorrow. . .

Training camp

The boys and I had an opportunity to visit the Washington Redskins training camp in Ashburn ealier this week.  This is a fun event and really the only way to see the home team without spending a small fortune.  Admission is free, and you can bring coolers, so if you can keep the kids away from the souvenir tents, you can get out of there for the price of the fuel you burn.

Here are some pictures I took on Monday:

Quarterback Donovan McNabb

Linebacker London Fletcher

Coach Mike Shanahan

Not running back Clinton Portis.

A Post I Didn't Post

I spent a lot of time Tuesdsay night working on a rambling blog post that ended with my dad walking out of the cornfield in the background of this picture.

But by the time I got a chance to put it online, I was out of the weird mood that inspired the post.  So instead, I'll just say that pictures are important and I'm lucky to live with someone who's really good at taking them.

I'm also lucky to be the father of some fine young athletes, and I'm not sure what to do with myself now that we've come to the end of a thrilling spring season of NFL Flag football and Little League baseball.  Maybe my dad's not going to walk out of that cornfield--not today anyway--but I know he was with his grandsons all spring and that he will continue to with us--on the diamond and the gridiron, on the water and in the woods--long after that corn is gone.

Rebs Win

Congratulations to the Rebels of Ole Miss in their great Cotton Bowl win!

My diploma says Virginia Tech, but my heart is still in Vaught Hemingway.

Game Notes

Happy New Year Everybody! I hope you all enjoyed the countdown to 2010 as much as I did while watching the Fighting Gobblers of Virginia Tech in their impressive Chick-Fil-A Bowl win over Tennessee. Today will be a down day for me as far as bowl games go, so I'm going hunting.

Tomorrow, however, with high temperatures forecast to be in the 20's and Ole Miss taking on Oklahoma State in the Cotton Bowl at 2 p.m., I think I'll be spending the final afternoon of deer season on the couch.  But I guess in reality that depends on how I do today!

Again, happy New Year, and good luck to all of you who will be hunting this weekend. Best of luck also to whatever team you're rooting for too... as long as it's not Oklahoma State!