Posted 9:17 PM by RedSox
The Experiment continues...

I was looking at Blogs today and it struck me that I hadn’t posted anything since January. I wondered about that and asked myself “Why?”. The answer is, “I haven’t the foggiest idea.”

Finding time to write something always seems waaaayyyyy down on the priority list these days.

That being said, it has been an interesting time for me. Work is getting intense and a bit stressful. I realized today that I am working on 6 major projects at once right now. I am being asked to lead 3 of them. It is making my days difficult as I get dragged into meeting after meeting. And anyone who has read a couple of my posts knows how I feel about meetings. Next week should be fun. I need to jump in a rental car next Wednesday morning and haul ass to Manchester, NH where I will be spending a fun filled day designing process flows and doing a monster Gap Analysis. Then, as of right now, I get to drive home that evening. Where I get to have a couple hours of sleep and then turn around and go head back up to Boxboro, MA for a team face to face meeting. Yep, sounds like fun. At least on Thursday a group of us is going so I won’t have to drive. Unless I can convince my boss to spring for a hotel in NH Wednesday and then head over to Boxboro on Thursday. But any way you slice it, old RedSox here is in for one hell of a year.

My back is much improved. The CT Scan I got back at the end of January showed I had a “small herniation of the L5 vertebra with compression on the S1 nerve.” Whatever. All I now if it freaking hurt. I started Physical Therapy a couple of weeks ago and have made tremendous progress. I am almost pain free. This is the first time I’ve ever had an injury like this. I’ve pulled muscles and broken bones but none of it compared to this. The nerve compression not only sent Sciatica pains through my butt and leg it also caused some loss of reflexes and weakening of the Quadricep and Hamstring muscles. So I am doing a pretty serious set of exercises and it is getting better.

So even with the back I have been pulling double Special Olympics duty. I am officially coaching Cross-Country Skiing this year because I needed a break from hockey. But I have also attended all but 2 hockey practices. Including tonight’s. I have come to that realization that I might be an idiot.

I know, some of you out there are saying, “Good Lord RedSox, you are only figuring this out now?” And I would have to agree with you. Hopefully, there are a few of you out there saying, “RedSox, you are NOT an idiot.“ I say to those few, how else can you describe the fact that I am putting Special Olympics above my own personal health? I have only missed one skiing practice and 2 hockey practices. A couple of those practices I could barely even move; yet there I was. I‘m an idiot. And I’ll continue to be an idiot. ‘Tis part of my charm.

So, what else should we talk about today?

Hmm.

Well, the time of torture draws closer. Spring Training has begun. Another season of hope and promise lies ahead of me only to be dashed on the rocks of reality as the dog days of August give way to the stretch run of September. Baseball is an amazing thing. There is nothing more thrilling that that first game of the year. My overall interest in the sport has waned over the years. My passion for my beloved Red Sox never wavers but I don’t follow everything about the game as I did in my youth. But no other sport gets me as jazzed up for the season as baseball does. To understand this, lets start at the end of the season. The World Series. There is really no championship like the World Series. The Super Bowl is a bigger event, but honestly, if you weren’t in the office pool, or hadn’t made another bet on the game, or if there were no clever commercials, would you care? I would because I am a sports nut. But the game loses that without the party atmosphere. The World Series is far more solemn. It feels important. It is seven games. There are twists and turns. Storylines develop. Heroes are made. Villains appear. Careers can be made or broken in the World Series. No matter what else is going on or who is playing, I always make sure I catch as much of the World Series as possible.

As the drama of the World Series ends, and new chapter of the baseball season begins. Hot Stove. Oh this is great and no other sport really has this like baseball does. Free Agents are declared. GM Winter meeting commence. Always a hot bed of signings and trades. Rumors fly about who is signing where and who is being traded to whom. Team needs are debated and addressed. Sport talk shows are awash in proposed trades and why “we” should sign this guy or that guy. Everyone has an opinion. And who is to say who is right. Did Boston not make the playoffs last year because they had weak first base play? Or was is their starting pitching was weak after their top two guys? Or maybe they had a lousy bullpen? So now these needs are worked on. Trades happen, free agents signed. Maybe a new manager or a new GM.

All this change happens and now the debate is did the team improve? Are the Four idiots who still can’t field first base that they picked up going to provide enough offense to make me forgive a few defensive lapses? Is closer by committee going to work? Did they address their starting pitching needs? No one knows until...

Spring Training begins. Now everyone shows up. Some in the shape of their lives, some not so good. Veterans sign on hoping for one more year in the spotlight. Rookies appear, some out of nowhere and start to become the future of the game. Games that don’t mean anything are played. The primary goal in them is to get people into game shape, provide competition for some jobs, and most importantly not have anyone get hurt. But here we go, analyzing these games. Making Rookies who have never seen a real major league breaking ball into the next Ted Williams. The world looks green in Florida and optimism runs high. Are the new guys fitting in, does the aging vet have one more year in him, can someone come back from that injury, or can the rookie phenom actually play when it gets serious. None of these questions get answered until...

Opening Day.

God, I love Opening Day. It is the start of another year. Another chance for immortality. It also means the beginning of the soothing sounds of baseball in the evening coming through the crackles of AM radio. The sound, the unmistakable sound, of a bat striking a ball. Seeing the lights from the local park on late into to evening. It’s a beautiful thing and something so nostalgic.

It’s a shame that the game I loved is killing itself. If I were a fan of the Kansas City Royals I don’t think I would be writing this right now. How must it be to know that you have no shot of winning before the season starts? Well, I know the answer to that. I was a long time Hartford Whaler fan. But that, as they say, is another story.

I honestly think I could go on all night tonight. But this has gotten long enough.

Until next time...