THE SPORTS BOTTOM - May 27, 2013
Greetings from the great state of California. Sorry I’ve been out-of-touch for a while. A long while. I’ve been letting life’s dramas get the better of me for the last year or so. But it’s time to put my “big-boy pants” on, quit feeling sorry for myself, get a fucking job and move on with my life. Seriously, if it doesn’t happen now it may not be happening. And I certainly don’t want that.
So what’s the cause of my need for change? To be honest it’s the wonderful game of slow-pitch softball. Specifically the wonderful folks on the San Francisco Inferno teams and the wonderful folks in the San Francisco Gay Softball League (SFGSL).
My softball season started with a major thud. I broke a finger in my hand a week before the season started and have been on the disabled list all season. It’s been very frustrating not being able to play. But I’ve been attending the games, keeping score in the “book”, coaching the bases and being the overall number one fan of the Inferno.
This past weekend the SFGSL hosted the Golden Bear Softball Tournament here in San Francisco. Twenty teams competed in the “D” division, with competing teams from San Francisco, Seattle, Portland, Los Angeles, Long Beach, Sacramento and Boston, the Boston Pink Sox. Tournaments are always a crap shoot because generally tournament teams consist of a group of players who’ve never played together as a team. Players are often playing different positions and it takes a game or two to “gell”, so-to-speak.
Our Inferno team consisted of folks from all over the place. We have six teams in our Inferno (non-profit) Family. The Inferno plays in the SFGSL’s “D”-division, the rookie league. We also have the Demons and the Devils, both playing in the “C”-division. We have two women’s teams, the Blaze (women’s “D”) and the Phoenix (women’s “C”). We also have the Sandbox, which is a co-ed team playing the San Francisco City League. I know, it’s out of control.
The Golden Bear tournament team consisted of members of the Inferno-D, the Demons, the Blaze and friends and extended softball family folks from Sacramento. Truly a hodgepodge of players and people. We struggled in our first game, losing to the Long Beach Posse 11-0. Obviously it’s tough to win when you don’t hit or score, and this was the case in the game.
Fortunately we didn’t have any time to fudge over the game as we played another one right away, scoring three runs in our last at bat and defeating the Sacramento Aftershock 11-10. What a game. And our team was cheering, supporting each other and generally having a great time. It was quite the bonding experience.
We had a little break and spent a couple of hours waiting for our next game. Our team had a “base camp” where we gathered and kept our stuff. So much fun was had. We bonded, made new friends, supported each other, told horrible jokes and sexually harassed each other and other hot guys on the fields. A good time was had by all. So much love and support coming from everyone. The “new guys” were so fun to hang out with, play ball with, look at (they all were very hot!). It sucked that I couldn’t play due to my injured hand, but it was great hanging out and supporting this great group of men and women.
The tournament continued with the Inferno playing our friends the Storm, a fellow team in our SFGSL division. The Inferno has not had much success against the Storm during our past few regular seasons, but on this day we kicked their arses 23-2. We just hit everything and our defense was solid. Our break at base camp definitely helped us relax and enjoy ourselves and enjoy the tournament.
Following the game against the Storm we had a game against the Long Beach Cocks. This game went back and forth and was very close, with the Inferno leading 7-6 heading to the last evening. Unfortunately our team mojo ran out and we gave up 14 runs to lose 20-7. Ouch. Tough way to end the first day of the tournament, but we had a great day, getting two victories and having a ball.
The tournament continued on Sunday with the Inferno playing until we lost a game. The softball gods were having fun with us as our first game on Sunday was at 8AM against our good buddies Hold My Beer (official team name: HOLD MY BEER WHILE I KISS YOUR GIRLFRIEND). Yes, it’s a women’s team. A women’s team that I know most or all of the members and love them dearly, a women’s team who trounced us a couple of years ago at another tournament.
8AM on a Sunday. I was up at 5:30 to catch a 6 o’clock bus to get to the Marina on time. The bus stop “sign” said the next bus was 50 minutes away. What? Not according to the posted schedule. I was two hours too early to ride BART, and no Muni trains in site. I’m panicking. I finally resolve to calm down and wait for the bus and if I’m late, I’m late. My bus showed up two minutes later.
These women are a tough team, having been together for a long time. Solid hitting and awesome defense are their trademarks. Plus I love them. Many are my weekly trivia team teammates and Miss Kitty’s wife and on and on. Great ladies. Our team came out nervous (or hungover) and we trailed 7-5 heading into our last at bat. We rallied with three runs and won the game 8-7. Very exciting. So proud of our team for waking up and getting the victory. Go Inferno!
So we earned the right to play another game. Our opponents: the Long Beach Venom. Lack of hitting caught up with us again as we fell to the Venom 12-2. Alas, our tournament ended. But a very good showing by the Inferno. We won three tournament games! Three!
Throw in the Saturday tournament party our fundraiser at the Lone Star and the closing party on Sunday and a wonderful weekend was had. Hanging out with the Hold My Beer ladies and my team on Sunday afternoon, laughing, watching softball games, making new friends, so much positive love and laughter and happiness from everyone there. I can’t describe how wonderful it was to laugh and hug and tell stories and just enjoy everyone’s company. I love my team and my friends.
So hopefully I can bottle the positive-ness and harness it’s awesome energy and spirit and get my life back on track. It’s time. And if our little softball team can win three tournament games then I can get my shit together and my life together.
I look forward to giving you new material to read again here in the Sports Bottom blog. I also look forward to getting back on the softball field soon playing ball again. Our regular season resumes this Sunday with a 2 o’clock game against the Bombshells. See you at stinky Westlake at 2!
