this past weekend, with a Eurotrip looming on the horizon, was one where i wanted to take it easy and not spend any money.... it seems the socail calendar of Dohren had different plans for me. well at least in the way of taking it easy. I didnt spend much money, but we sure partied.
Friday was the championship for the Junior Team in a game against Bremen here in Dohren. If they won, they would be traveling down to Regensburg in late Sept. to play in the German Championships. Since David is the coach of this team, (he also plays) i had no responsibility except to consume a few beers and cheer on the team from outside the backstop...the first game i've just watched since being in Dohren. Daniel threw a hell of a game and held them to 2 runs in 5 innings, because thats all we would need to score 13. During the pyramid, champaign was brought out and showered on the young guys...most not even of age to drink, even by German standards. That set the tone for the rest of the night.
Friday was a birthday of a girl that lives in a neighboring town and a classmate of many of the guys on the team. she was coincidentally the ex-ex-girlfriend of Jan, though he was not in attendance due to a trip to Berlin with the youth group of Dohren. When we got there, there was a tent with tables and benches, and about 15 girls sitting, sipping on their drinks. there was no music and very few other guys...the latter was just fine wth me, but the former was a problem that needed to be fixed. In due time it was, the Wild Farmers, as i will call us, had a few drinks and were ready to get the party started so we played DJ around the stereo. the girls remained seated at the tables, so me and Tony decided that we would go over and see what the discussion was about. while it was nice to see some new faces and meet some new girls, they didnt seem to be too impressed with us 'Mericans. i'm pretty sure the conversation lasted about 10 minutes before they gave up translating and again talked with each other solely in German. we took that as our cue. as the night went on, they came out of their cozy seats on the wooden bench and joined the dance party that continued into the wee hours of the morning.
Saturday morning was the Youth Team's championship game and they but instead of just one team, they had to take down 2 in a final four of sorts. the first game was over by the time i got there but i was just in time to see the 2nd game that was tied at 2-2 in the 3rd, before the bases got loaded and one kid, who really never hits the ball all that great in practice, blasted one over the center field fence on a 3-2 count. that served to be the winning blow and the Wild Farmers are champs of the State Youth title.
Saturday, Bassi, one of the soccer players here in Dohren turned 30...and guess what...hes not married! as you might remember, Johst accomplished this feat earlier in the year, and it was a party for the ages. This one would prove to be no different. we met the parade at the firehouse/trainstation and the sawdust was already on the ground. this is where things differ a tad from Johst's task of sweeping it all up, there was this little girl of about 9-10 that kept helping Bassi. At first she just helped him gather it all up into a big pile, that we kept knocking over, but then she got smart and grabbed the trashbag the sawdust came in. and she was putting it all in the bag and guarding it with her life. now this didnt leave much for Bassi to sweep and it couldnt end in 20 minutes, we had to make this thing last. so Bassi's girlfriend got ahold of the bag and dug in the nails. Needless to say this upset the little girl but she was not detered for long, she soon found another bag and again helped out despite our pleas. but once again Bassi's girlfriend came in and ripped the bag. seeing that this wasnt going to be what helped end the misery, Bassi told the girl that he would give her something in his pocket...i couldnt tell what it was, but it looked like trading cards of some kind...if she would kiss him (it is tradition to sweep the streets until the birthday boy is kissed by a virgin)
We then walked down the street to the sporthouse and began the party. i wont go into all the gruesome details but it was a good one, and i was in bed by 12:30. Let's just say 30th birthday parties haven't been too good to me here in Germany. I mean i have a great time and all, but i pay for it later.
At 9 on sunday morning we had to pack up the cars and head to Kiel to play the Seahawks with the 2nd man's team. we had pretty much the normal squad back together this time, not the junior team that we had against Frohnau. I slept the entire way there, and im pretty sure everyone did except the driver...thank you Lowe. when we got there, the field was soaked, they were shoveling water off the field as we were walking up. there was standing water at all the bases and at home, the rest of the field looked fine...mainly because it was an all grass field that looked like it hadnt been cut that week. needless to say it was a slow infield, which accounted for 3 swinging bunts down the thirdbase line in the first inning. At shortstop, i was actually playing in front of the baseline and still had to come in on ground balls. the Seahawks were able to put up 9 runs on 3 walks, 3 swinging bunts, 3 errors, and possibly one of the worst calls ive ever seen in baseball. The only legit hit of the inning was actually foul, and the umpire originally called it right, throwing his hands up and pointing foul, but he never yelled anything, so the runners just kept running and so he then decided that it was a fair ball.
Now this umpire, the only one for our game because the other umipre went home because the team ahd originally said they wouldnt be able to play because of all the rain, might have been one of the worst of all time. and we let him know it after this first blown call with the foul ball call, and the other team let him know about it after he called a curveball that bounced before it got to the catcher for strike 3. Sometimes he would make a silent strike call, simply pointing to the side, as you do for a strike, and other times he would yell strike at the top of his lungs. it was very tough to know what the call was for us in the field, but especially for those at bat and the cather who had to ask constantly if the pitch was a ball or strike. we lost this game 10-0 and only got 2 hits in 4 innings...not a good start to the day. usually we get a half hour between games, to eat, make line ups, and to let the pitcher get ready. this moron gave me 10 minutes to eat and warm up to pitch the next game.
But thats not even the worst part about it. it got worse in the 2nd game. we had rain delays all through the 1st game. it would down pour for 10 minutes, enough to put more standing water on the field, then it would stop, then they would have to get the water off the field and put some more dirt in the holes at home. but that was never enough to cancel the game. Skip was the first batter in the 2nd game. he tried to bunt, but it went foul - strike 1. there was then a foul tip - strike 2. then there were 3 straight balls - 3 balls and 2 strikes. so when the next strike came in a little below the knees, everyone was surprised to hear the umpire say, "strike 2, full count". now for you keeping track at home, 3 strikes is an out in any league...except for this guy's. both teams had been warned already about arguing calls, so the 1st baseman began pleading his case, he did so politely but was quickly shot down by the umpire who INSISTED that the count before that last pitch had been 3 balls and 1 strike. so Skip got to see another pitch which was a ball, giving him a walk...He's the only guy i've ever seen turn a Strike Out into a Base on Balls, but thats why we call him The King.
Here is where all credibility for being a logical thinker goes out the window for this guy. as soon as Skip go to first, the clouds opened up for a good 20-25 minutes, this was the worst rain of the day so far, so again he sent us to the dugouts to wait it out. after the rain had run its course, the clouds broke and the sun came out. this is when any normal thinking human with any rational idea about baseball, would have said, "ok, back on the field." but Tweedle-Dee over here sat in the dugout for 10 minutes before Tony had to ask him what the deal was, where we playing or was he calling it. he looked at Tony as if he had 5 eyes. now getting a bit upset, Tony said quite loudly, "fucking ask him in German, Whats the decision man?" i wasnt going to put anything past this guy at this point, he had already asked us what we wanted to do about the games, though it is solely his discretion, and you never ask a team what they want to do about a rain out, especially the visiting team. but what came out of his mouth next was pure ignorance. He told Tony that we were going to WAIT for the next cloud to come in and see if it rained, if it rained, the game would be called, if not we would play. We were going to WAIT until the blue skies passed to see if the next cloud would bring rain. and thats exactly what we did. once the cloud was overhead, and it wasnt raining yet, we got back out the bats and Daniel went up to bat. After the 3 out of our half of the first, it was starting to sprikle so he yelled at the top of his lungs again, BALLGAME!
we packed up our stuff and got the hell out of there.
Today, i think i'm finished with my bat, the one that i've been turning on Johst's lathe for a good 4 months now. I got up theis morning and put the final touches on it, its not perfect by any means, there are a few minor blemishes in it, but considering i did it all by hand, i'm happy with it...hey, it looks like a bat and there's something to be said for that on the first try. I still need to paint it and put some stickers on it, but Johst ordered those for me today, so soon i'll be able to put it along side the DPU bat that's at home.
Thursday morning we leave for Rome and i'm pumped, this is going to be a great trip.
One month from today, i will be leaving this dream and heading back to reality...not sure how i feel about that.
A-Ron
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