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CI Softball Winter Page |
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| This page is for all team news, game summaries and highlights, and new information on anything else remotely related to our team or of interest to our players. Check for updates every week or so, all year round. |
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| Mar-31-98 (updated 9:39pm) | More practice(s) scheduled. |
Contents of today's team emailing:
This saturday, April 4th 10AM, or in case of rainout Sunday April 5th 10AM. I cannot attend myself saturday, so if the weather is dicey, call LaRue saturday morning, not me; I won't be home. I'm not sure I can make Sunday either :( (But then, I've already been to 2 practices already :p).
Also regarding the Freep tourny, forgive my confusion as to who said what, because my email is on various machines so I'm going from memory. Please email me back if below is incorrect:
Malloy--will play
Gerry--Will play
Danny--will play
Barry--will play (Home from vacation by the 13th)
Jeffy K --cant play (out of town)
Jeff G--can play
Mark C-- doesn't know (stolen by the Detroit Tigers).
Also FYI, Jeff G. has ordered Jerseys and they should be ready by next week.
| Mar-30-98 (updated 8:50am) | Practice This week. |
Yes, we did practice last saturday, with about 1/2 the team present.
I got an email this morning from the PR Director at The USPSL, informing us there is a new professional softball league set to start next year.
| Mar-26-98 (updated 12:50pm) | Practice this weekend; Detroit Tigers recruited our shortstop. |
LaRue has a scrimmage game lined up for us very soon. I'll have more details later, but try to be flexible with your weekend planning for the next few weeks or so.
We still haven't heard from everyone regarding the Free Press Tournament on April 17-19th, so I you haven't replied yet, please do. The way it's looking now, it's real questionable if we will have enough players to enter.
Still no word on uniforms. Jeff, what's up? Some of us want to accessorize with the team uniform ;).
This is so cool, I'm just busting to tell you guys this one, so I'm posting it at the risk of great personal harm in the event I was supposed to keep this quiet. Mark C., our shortstop and Team Photographer, is now officially working for The Detroit Tigers as a photographer. I guess they liked the work Mac did for our team so much, the're trying to steal him away from us ;). That's only a half-joke because this gig has a possibility of interfering with his softball time. It's only a part-time deal, but pretty cool nonetheless, for a guy who loves baseball as much as Mark. Congratulations, dude.
Malloy points out a cool new site online called Softball Tournaments .com. Their listings include several Detroit-area softball complexes, such as Canton Center and Liberty Park. It looks like a pretty new site, but I suspect this will become a definitive place to visit for all tournaments around the country.
OK, I've lowered my asking price on my '89 Honda CRX Si to $1,500/best offer.
| Mar-20-98(updated 3:15pm) | More Tourny info. |
I thought this email from Dan in Jackson, MI. sounded interesting,
so I put it on here for you guys to consider:
"Come visit Jackson for some fun Tournaments. Cooperstown
Softball Complex (517)782-6115 has tournaments about every week-end.
We have a kickoff tournament on April 11, and a Rose Festival on J
une 6 & 7. They also have tournaments on holiday weekends that they refer
to as all-nighters, games usually start around 8:00 p.m. and end around
6:00 a.m. It is fun."
As long as I'm posting stuff today, try this one too:
For sale, '89 Honda CRX Si, black, 96,000 miles, some rust, but extremely reliable
transportation. $2,000 or best offer.
| Mar-17-98 | *hick* Happy St. Patrick's day. Freep Tourny Announced. |
I got a nice email from Mike Applegate of AWE Enterprises Softball Club today (the web's other team of old guys ;)). Mike's a nice guy, we've exchanges a few emails over the last few years. Anyway, he shared the comments he received from a clueless visitor to their site, which kind of echoed the comments of a visitor or two we've had in the past. Rather than post his message, I refer you to his notes of February 14th, 1998. I'm in 100% agreement with everything Mike's written on the subject, BTW. While you're there, check out his account of AWE's famous Triple play.
| Mar-13-98 (Updated: 12:23PM) | Quiet, cold week. |
Our first game is in 32 days. Less than that if the Free Press tourny is a go this year. That leaves a max of 5 weekends left for practices.
If anyone on the team (or elsewhere for that matter) has Triple Play '98 and is interested in joining Malloy and I in some multiplayer net games, contact me.
New comments have been added on our Guestbook.
| Mar-5-98 | No practices this week |
| Mar-2-98 | Editorial |
I wonder if there are any class "C" or "D" players out there who feel they get any value for their u-trip dues. Or do you feel as I do, that the u-trip caters entirely to the tiny minority of class "A" and "B" players subsidized by us lower class citizens. According to the USSSA's own account of history, the USSSA was founded on the principle that "...slow pitch was being played by the overwhelming majority, but the game was taking a back seat to fast pitch". Hmmm...arren't class "C" and "D" programs today sitting in that same backseat, while class "A" and "B" programs ride in style and comfort? And don't tell me the other sports won't further diminish the status of the class "C" and lower programs.
This is sad. I suggest that if it weren't for the throngs of class "C" and lower teams, there would be no USSSA. Yet, at places like Liberty Park, the Super "B" players are treated like royalty.
So now the u-trip does many sports. You will see even less class "C" and lower coverage in the renamed USSSA newspaper. Out of the back seat--and into the trunk...next to the golf clubs. Yee-haw enjoy the ride suckers!
| Feb-26-98 (updated 2:51pm) | More updates than can be summarized in this space. |
Dues for the spring season will be 20 to 25 bucks.
I got my phone call for jersey size and number this afternoon, so I suspect you will be called very soon also :).
LaRue also tells me we have 16 players currently on the roster. Several will be subs, of course. Paul is very iffy because tuesdays are his busy days at work. I suspect that without Paul, our need for a 3rd base prospect becomes quite a bit more acute.
Liberty Park is sending us a listing of all the tournaments they are hosting this season. Perhaps I will post it on our site somewhere. We're still waiting on any sort of information to surface, concerning the annual Detroit Free Press Spring Tournament at Softball City. I'm starting to wonder if it's still on.
Found this in my mailbox this week (edited somewhat for space),
from Jason Kendrick of Valdosta, Georgia:
I played "C" ball in the past and now I play for Sierra/TPS. The past three
years I have played for Shen Valley/TPS (#1 team in the world) and have been
a member of the TPS advisory staff (Louisville Slugger) for six years. I
just wanted to say that no matter what classification that you play, that if
you practice hard enough , you can advance to better teams in higher
classifications. Also, I wanted to let everyone know about my new company
(BIG LEAGUE SOFTBALL) that will have all types of new softball merchandise
and apparel. If anyone would like more information about Big League
Softball, just call our toll-free number @ (888) 567-HITS or (888) Go
Bombs!!! Thank You very much! Keep Playing Softball!
URL update, revamped site: Strokes Softball, from Baltimore, Maryland. The URL suggests that they are running their own web server on a cable modem connected pc.
| Feb-20-98 | '98 Lion's schedule. |
| Feb-19-98 | '98 Tournament schedules. |
Jeff G. sent me an animated Creative Impressions logo last week, which I incorporated into the index page yesterday. If you haven't been to the index lately, take a look.
Latest reciprical link sightings:
Maryland USSSA Softball Homepage
Weather Underground (The weather banner people)
Shannon Lawlor's Assignment for CSc010 (Not a recip. link, but
part of someone's Computer Science project!).
| Feb-12-98 | Nothing but team news today...Spring must be getting close! |
LaRue was delivering some uniform catalogs to Jeff. They found one uniform they liked, so maybe we'll get something ordered fairly soon. It was the button-down style jersey that LaRue's friends had last season (the girls team). Very cool, IMO. Jeff's giving a CI customer first crack at the order, since they do a lot of business with them. He'll be meeting him today or tommorow.
Mike is cool with the tuesday night change. He was one of a couple of players who I don't think were actually polled concerning the night change. That just leaves Paul now...LaRue hasn't mentioned his status to me yet. Danny has a good, reliable guy (brother-in-law) that lives near Liberty Park, who wants to play this season. LaRue says there's probably room on the team, and we'll give him a tryout.
As I threatened last month on this page, practices are indeed a distinct possibility this month. Our weather's been warm enough lately, but not dry enough. But if we have a solid 4-5 days of sunny, somewhat warm weather, don't be suprised to hear from one of us.
I found this invitation to a tournament in my mailbox on tuesday:
"My name is Jean-Francois Morissette from Thetford Mines, Quebec, Canada.
We invited to participed at the big tournament of Slow-pitch at Thetford Mines.
for more information come check out the Web site at:
http://www.minfo.net/festiballe."
| Feb-5-98 | No team news today, but that's never prevented an update before. |
There's a couple of new entries on the Guestbook page.
The local Detroit media is reporting that Darren McCarty has won an Espy Award for NHL Play of the Year for his Stanley Cup Finals Game 4 goal last season. However, ESPN's site says winners will be announced on Monday the 9th. So, you read it here first...maybe.
Okay, I don't want to piss off anyone or beat a dead horse, but you have to see what this Denver radio station put over on the Green Bay Press Gazette, posted half way down the page at The Packer Haters Club.
Been cleaning up the 'ol links page this week. A few sites were defunct, a few have moved, and a few new ones have been added. I've removed the link to almost every site that does not maintain a link to us. From now on, only the best slow-pitch sites earn a link around here (where "best" is defined as "they link to CI softball"...hehe). Seriously though, there's so many slo-pitch sites now, that all webmasters have to draw a line at some point. And I don't want the good people who've linked up with us to have their links compete with a sea of freeloader links on our site, so this seems like a good policy to me.
Old sites, new addresses
Grotto Club Softball / Dudley,
Pavlo's Pizza Goats,
The Strokes Softball Club
Latest reciprical link sightings:
The NADS Softball Club (Tempe, AZ) These
guys play from February to November out there. Check out their Hall of Shame page;
quite humorous, and has an interesting animated graphic.
| Jan-29-98 | Tuesday night is official. |
Now, onto the important stuff:
Congratulations Denver Broncos! Cool Superbowl, I loved it! (Yeah, just in case
John Elway is a regular visitor to our site ;)).
Interesting site of the Week
If you're a Packer fan, I advise you not to visit The Packer Haters Club,
a brand-new website dedicated to the Superbowl losers. Here are some quotes from
that site that you might find offensive:
"...the Packers are the most overrated and least interesting organization in the history of sports",
"...are nothing more than a team of overachievers destined to return to the NFL's cellar...",
"No longer will we hear "Titletown". No longer the World-Champions. Now just the team who
blew the NFC's winning streak." "A Few Packer Fans Join the Celebration of Failure...
While many like to brag about the Packer-fan dedication, it was clearly obvious this day that
the Packer fans don't care for a loser... look back upon this day when fans could have
showed and supported their team. Instead they chose to abandon them. "
| Jan-21-98 | Tuesday night signup today. |
Team Superbowl viewing is still on for Sunday. Arrive at 4 PM or later, BYOB, we'll send for some pizza. Email me for directions.
Danny emailed me with his new .edu email address, and I've added him to the team email list.
| Jan-16-98 | Update from LaRue |
We're 99% sure we're signing up for Tuesday nights at Liberty Park. He's talked to everyone except Paul and the few guys I have corresponded with via email. LaRue said he will be calling some practices beginning February. He is also planning on getting a couple of scrimmage games with some other teams going this pre-season. And the Free Press Tournament at Softball City in early April is still a definite possibility.
| Jan-15-98 | No signup yet. |
Speaking of signup forms, I just received four of them from Softball City. One per variation in their spelling of my name :)
The superbowl viewing at my house next week is still on, so let me know if you're coming if you haven't already.
I want to mention that the ESPN scoreboard craplet on this page is hyperlinked to various pages. If you see a final score or scheduled game that you want more info on, wait for it to display then click it. You'll go a page with complete coverage for that particular game.
Then go visit www.darrenmccarty.com, Darren's webpage. You will find links to a site that you can register your vote for him for the ESPY awards. I couldn't find the voting page, though. The site is promoted by K-ROCK.
We just counted our 5,000th visitor to our site today! And...um...errr...it was me.
| Jan-7-98 | Night Change? |
Here's the problem night/person(s):
Wednesday - MF
Thursday - MC, JG, LW
Friday - MW
We can't sign up until we choose a night. So phone LaRue and let him know what nights are good for you ASAP, if your initials are not on the above list.
| Jan-6-98 | Another Liberty Park Spring Season Fact |
Our first game would be exactly 100 days from now :)
| Jan-5-98 | Your first practice of '98 compliments of El Nin~o? |
I also got word tonight that we might have a new fan in the stands, probably in the Fall half after the standard incubation period. That's all I'm saying on that for the moment :).
The weather's been warm, but wet. If it dries out and the weather stays warm enough, a light practice might be possible. Don't laugh; I'm sure Gerry can recall the practices we held way back in February 1982. That was T-shirt and shorts weather, compliments of El Nin~o.
I've exchanged a few emails this week with a recent visitor to our site, who turned out to be someone who plays with Oh. Remember them from Softball City? I remember our games with them were rarely close; we'd either beat the crap out of them, or they'd do it to us.
I assume Gerry's prediction last week didn't figure on KC going for the endzone on 4th and inches last Sunday. WTF was up with that? But it did keep Elway's superbowl hopes alive, so that's cool by me. As distasteful as yet another SanFran superbowl appearance is, I'd rather it be them than Green Bay. So there's my hoped-for matchup: Niners vs. Broncos. It's still hard to actually pick an AFC team to win, so I make no predictions here.
As for local sports, go take a look at The Lockeroom, and register your vote for Man of the Year. Do it by the Friday before the Super Bowl, and you'll have a chance at winning a satellite system and free internet access. Then ask Kirk Gibson, Gary Danielson, and/or Eli Zarat to visit our website and sign our guestbook.
I hope you like the nifty little scoreboard crapplet running at the top of this page. I think it's pretty handy, so I'll leave it up for a while. Let's see how long it takes for the other softball pages to follow suit (again).
| Jan-1-98 | Swami Speaks |
Hmm, maybe. I'm thinking (hoping) maybe Elway will be there this year. And I'm no Favre fan, since he cryed like a little girl after the Lions whooped him earlier this season. The QB with the linebacker's mentality? Sheeya, right. Who do you like in today's game though? I'm taking Michigan.
| Dec-23-97 | Happy holidays. |
I still plan on hosting a Superbowl Sunday team gathering on January 25th. A few guys have annual superbowl plans the're sticking to, so it will probably be your typical 5-7 player turnout, plus your wives/gf's.
LaRue, Jeff and I had nothing new to report concerning next season. I am hoping that maybe we can something going with our new uniforms in the next month or two.
I received a nice holiday email from the guys at the U.S. Exporters softball team yesterday. They pass on season greetings to us, and also send word of a mess of Virginia/Washington area softball team links they've added to their links page. I'm going to check them out and add a few to our page in the next few days.
Have a happy and safe holiday season.
| Dec-11-97 | NO shirt, NO shoes, NO service. |
From Barry D.: Cool site of the week!
Try it. I think you guys, based on your descriptions of the Toledo
ballpark, are stadium freaks like me: www.ballparks.com.
| Dec-8-97 | Banquet date Saturday, December 20th at 7:30 PM. |
| Dec-4-97 | Banquet update. And...a Winter Meeting variation. |
I have reconsidered the demise of the Winter Meetings tradition. Well, maybe more of a non-traditional Winter Meeting variation, for Superbowl Sunday (January 25th), BYOB, and take-out pizza, watch the game on my color television set. Who's in?
These plans are beginning to come together none too soon. I have an uncomfirmed report that one of our unnamed, east side players already has early symptoms of Cabin Fever: sleeps in uniform, uncontrolled weeping on thursday nights (and during any Red Dog commercial), calls the mrs. "coach", wears eye black to the office, compulsive glove oiling.
Don't forget to re-register every month to win Ray's bat (which is banned at Liberty Park, and every other place I know of).
| Nov-27-97 | Happy Thanksgiving...and other banquet-type stuff. |
Wow, the nastygrams posted in our Guestbook have prompted quite a few responses from our visitors recently. Let me state for the record that all of the class "A" players who have ever written have been cool people, with one or two exceptions. We've received hundreds of emails over the years, and I've posted every single nastygram because...well...the're pretty funny IMO.
Latest reciprical link sighting: Lithuanian Club Softball Team (Rockford, Illinois) They list Liberty Park in their Top Ten, despite the polecat situation. The more I visit their site, the more I like it. It's a fun read, especially the player profiles.
| Nov-20-97 | 1997 Combined season stats published |
I thought the stats looked pretty good. Only one regular player hit for under .500 (me). Generally our stats improved in every catagory over last year's, except of course for the most important won/loss column. Using 28 different players over the year may have something to do with that.
Ever hear of a softball player going by the name of Dr. Whacko? Me neither but he's selling a humorous guide to slo-pitch softball on his site which has this excerpt.
| Nov-14-97 | Softball people are cool! |
The B&N Bat Review Page has some pretty extensive bat reviews, written by a couple of Ph.D.-type engineers. I know a few of you (or at least Malloy) will be interested. They also have a cool interview of Ray Demarini.
| Nov-11-97 | Don't adjust your monitor. |
Notice I've posted a few Guestbook responses we've received.
We are still working on getting a new team logo designed. The two Creative Impressions, Inc. logos I have on the site now are temporary.
Latest reciprical link sightings: Softball Junkies Softball Club (Longmont, Colorado), Consumers Energy / Grotto Club / Easton (Tecumseh, Michigan), Cryogenic Softball Bat by One Cryo.
| Nov-4-97 | '97 Season Photos are online. |
Mark, Jeff, Mike, Clare and I did the lunch thing today, which I more or less used as an excuse to drive over to Creative Impressions to pick up these photos. There's a large, screen-sized version of one of the team photos. To set it as your wallpaper, load it into Netscape, right click on it, and select "set as wallpaper".
BTW, Jeff says he's got a line on some uniforms with one of his customers.
| Oct-31-97 | 1998 Winter Page is online. Happy Holloween! |
I have been named as Assistant Manager of next year's team, by new Team Manager LaRue Williams.
It's still undecided whether we will play class C or D, but I think we're leaning towards C for league play, D for tournaments. Also, we have been discussing the prospect of playing in next year's Detroit Free Press Tournament at Softball City in early April.
It's looking like our league sponsor will be Creative Impressions, Jeff Gatt's family printing business. Thanks Jeff, you rule! If you've ever been new car shopping for a GM, there's a good chance you seen some of C.I.'s work on the car's sales literature. So um...go buy GM and support your team, or something. Our other as yet unnamed prospective sponsor may be our tournament sponsor.
New uniforms are in the works and we're hoping to include hats and jackets, though jackets might require a co-pay. LaRue took jersey number requests from returning players at the last game, but I don't think he was getting sizes.
Since we have new sponsorship, I think it's a good time to repaint the 'ol website. It's among the first softball team sites on the net (4th or 5th I think), and it's getting older. But I'm not going to make any radical changes because I still like the organization of the site. (Note to web gankers: Sorry you'll probably have to come up with some ideas of your own this time :P).
I just learned of these sites that have linked to us:
estýje zalóki
Detroit City Pages
Sportsgate SportsSurf
I just found out late this afternoon that Julie has passed the bar exam! She multistated with a score of 164, which is fairly high. This means they didn't even have to review her essay questions because she did so well on the multiple choice. Telephone or Email her if you care to congratulate her.
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Created: November 19, 1995 Updated: March 31, 1998 |