Tuesday

Pete and Skip had an interesting comment last night on the radio…who’d a thunk that at the end of July that of Smoltz, Glavine, Hudson, and Hampton, the only one not on the DL would be Hampton? I was just about to type wondering if Tex would go to Arizona when the update came through about the Angels.

Ceil is really into blogs on sewing…similar Blogspot blogs, with lots of photos, etc.

Edie and Reid just left today for NYC, going to see Batman on IMAX, & perhaps the Yankees, and a play or two.

Sunday at NP we ran into our friends Mary & David...they were going to last night’s Braves game as guests of Brian McCann’s wife, who is active in the leukemia group that Margaret is a part of. They were going down on the field during BP and everything. Don’t know if the concussion had any impact on the visit.

Monday

Lots of catching up to do here at work. Checked work email yesterday afternoon during the rain delay, but they looked worse than it’s turned out to be. The beach was nice.

Hopefully in October Will’s retreat won’t conflict with physical inventory, which should be a mess. The week was OK…the kids and Ceil had a big time. I’m OK now. Will loved his $15.00 Nikes from Marshall’s.

Did I tell you that the day we left for the beach I got a call wanting Will to go to Tennessee with the rival Prowlers for a tourney? He didn’t go, but Will checked this past weekend…they won the tourney and the players got “huge” trophies, he said.

Got to see a lot of yesterday’s Braves game. The MB TV didn’t have the games, but I kept up on the usual websites. Should be an interesting week, with today’s needed roster moves and the deadline looming. I say trade them, though making a run isn’t out of the question. We could’ve easily swept the Phils.

Yesterday the kids were into the “Next Food Network Star” finale…didn’t seem like there was a runaway frontrunner. Ceil took A & M to see Narnia at the Picture Show. Will saw Batman at the beach, though I opted for the bookstore. There was a dollar book titled "100 Things to do in SC"...it included riding the glass bottom boats in Silver Springs, and a few other non-SC things.

Top Vanity Plate Finalists for the Van

Looking for a tag for the front of the new Mazda van. Want to have something there so the bumper won't get all bumped up so much (teen driver!). Ceil says she doesn't care, just no ELVIS or Georgia Tech. Here's what I found...

7. CLEMSON…navy with gold letters and trim. Huh?
6. Tiger Paw with silver background.
5. SC flag in orange.
4. Tiger Paw with tough-man “tread-plate” backdrop.
3. GOLF…with the “O” a tiger paw.
2. CLEMSON…white tag, but old, block letters.
1. SC Flag, blue with nice white trim.

Myrtle Beach Highlights

Friday…on the trip stopped just south of Greenville and in Lancaster SC.

Saturday…stopped in our usual Wendy’s in Hartsville SC, and the peach orchard. Will drove his grandparents from Jefferson to the peach orchard. Had PaPa John’s for dinner.

Anna left at 7 am with Phil, Victoria, Katherine, and Jordan…
…they went to the Nucor Darlington Family picnic at the Garden City water park.
PM lazy river.

Sunday…stayed in and watched the Espys. Thought Justin Timberlake did a great job. Supper was KFC. At 8:15, just before Ceil and her father arrived back with KFC, Will and I went to Martin’s golf superstore with Zane and Teresa. I was on my week long hunt to find a tag for the front of the van.

Monday…PM bookstore with Ceil, Matthew, Anna, Jordan, Vic, after watching some of the Espy rerun.

Tuesday…Par 3 golf with Will. PM...bookstore & Starbucks, then the lazy river.

Wednesday…noon putt putt for Matthew & Jordan. Very windy at the beach, huge waves.
Ceil went to Bonefish with the adults.

Matthew and I went to…
…Wal-Mart for Anna & Will’s dinner…frozen pizza.
…Burger King.
…the outlet mall (adidas, the Foxworthy Store, a bookstore, Puma, etc.),
…Marshall’s (almost snagged some $15.00 Nike waffle running shoes),
…Bass Pro Shop (Matthew enjoyed the huge fish tank and big boats, he got a minnow net, moon pie, and Myrtle Beach crushed 1964 penny),
…back to Book-A-Million AGAIN…to get M “The Diary of Wimpy Kid”
…a Waves beach store (69 cent shark’s tooth necklace
& looked for a front car tag for the van),
…Golf Dimensions, and another round of putt putt (with slow play but no one behind us we pretty much played every hole twice…both Matthew & I each had two holes in one).

Thursday…driving down the main drag, I passed one of many putt putt courses. Noticed a green golf ball in the gutter of the road…one that got away. Dinner at Five Guys Burgers & Fries…in fact, all 37 people here at the beach in our group ate together at Five Guys. I’m pretty sure that’s a first.

Afterwards “little Will”, a second-grader who’s been a delightful hand-full, was going downstairs to the lazy river with Matthew. I told them to wait on Ceil. Will didn’t want to wait, so I added that Ceil was scared and needed their company. Little Will said, “Scared? She’s in her twenties!”

Nike Elite Vintage

The NMB Marshall's had these in a 10-1/2, a little bit tight for me. Will said he liked them...they're similar to the fashionable vintage New Balance shoes he favors. Perhaps I'll get over there tomorrow to snag him a pair.

Par 3 Golf Recap

Tuesday Will and I braved the heat to play our favorite Par 3 course, Harbour View in Little River SC, a few yards from the North Carolina border. We were grouped with a single, a fellow named Rick from Ohio. Turned out he worked in a steel mill…he runs the huge overhead crane.

1. Par…Will’s tee shot stopped just over the green, and then he almost holed his chip back, and rolled in a par. My tee shot wasn’t bad, but it bounced off the green off to the left. I looked in my bag for my wedge, and realized I hadn’t packed one. Had a nice chip with my 9-iron, then made a challenging par putt.
2. Bogie…I hit a nice high tee shot, the first of many nice tee shots. And the first of many bogies. For every impressive chip shot and / or putt, I had a flubbed shot.
3. Bogie…pulled out the 5-wood and hit a good shot, but right of the green. Nice chip.
4. Bogie…my seven iron tee shot sailed low, hitting the green but bouncing off. Tough downhill chip, but I hit the second one close.
5. Bogie…after a nice drive just off the green and a decent chip, I missed a short par putt.
6. Bogie.
7. Par…I finally hit a green, and two-putted.
8. Double. A greenskeeper was raking the bunker but paying attention, and sure enough, that’s where I hit it. Missed him by ten feet.
9. We all missed the green, but we all pitched our second shots close. I missed another short putt. At the halfway point my 35 was three strokes better than Will and Rick.
10. Double…another tough downhill chip and poor putting.
11. Double.
12. Double. We decided to all hit my 5-wood from the far back tee. My shot wasn’t bad, but tailed right at the end. Took me two chips and putts.
13. Bogie…we all three hit the green, but Will was the only one to par the hole.
14. Par…again we all three hit the green, and we all made pars. It was the first of four straight pars for Rick, a streak that would win him the match.
15. Bogie…
16. Six…no comment.
17. Seven…I hit a short tee shot but had a decent chip to the fringe and lagged my first putt “close”, but then I couldn’t master a severely sloped green. Will also had a seven.
18. Bogie…missed a short par putt. Will parred the hole.

Will was more rusty than me. After his opening par, he had seven bogies and four doubles before parring two straight, the 13th & 14th. But two 6’s and a 7 bloated his back nine score to a 41. Rick’s back nine 35 gave him a 73, besting me by five strokes.

Attn: NYC Readers...

The Pacific rim Sac Fly readers kindly request all readers who live in NYC to read the comments on the "Midsummer Classic" post just below.

Speaking of readers, I'm blessed to have two more who've joined the ranks...my sister and mother. That puts my readership solidly into double-digits. I'll be sure to post detailed personal info on both of them soon!

Thursday

Mike Hampton…I kinda feel sorry for him. Many are angry, but no one feels as bad about his injuries than him, according to the broadcasters.

Trying to get caught up so at work. I really had to get on DP yesterday, the long time co-worker we hired back a few months ago. He just doesn’t cover all his bases, almost shutting down EZGo. Their people are hacked off at him and wrote him up…I had to provide a corrective action.

Neighbors moved out yesterday…don’t know when the new people will move in.

Last night we watched the special on Yankee Stadium…not too bad.

Midsummer Classic

Got home late from work, and I missed all the HOFer introductions…I love stuff like that. Saw most of the game after that. Will got home and wanted to watch to the end, but I made us go to bed when whatever inning ended at 12:35.

The late innings made me think about how back in the old days the greatest players played most all of the game…Mays, Aaron, Rose, etc. Might’ve been a different game had the top-line stars been in there in the 8th or 9th…Utley instead of Uggla. Corey Hart had some key AB’s that could’ve gone to someone more established. You’d always have positions where there’s no one big star, like the NL catcher.

ARod might’ve hustled off the field quickly when he was replaced because he was afraid he might’ve been boo-ed. Did see if he got a good reception in the pregame.

Liked how Buck tossed in his both his daughter’s names, when one was celebrating her birthday. Then he immediately changed the subject…talking up another promo. If they have to mentions other shows and contests, no harm in throwing in a birthday.

If you add more pitchers like Hudson & JJ, you might could also honor an older player with a spot on the team…like a Griffey or Maddux.

I don’t know enough about Casey Stengel, though I know a little. Marv Throneberry…I had an old baseball book that said he was known for missing hitting the base when running the bases.

When Ceil went over to the Whitakers, she had forgotten which house…until they saw all the paper cutouts in the window.

The Derby, Etc.

Watching the HR Derby last night, Erin Andrews is getting more air time than any of the players. Will says “I hate her.” Inside I’m grateful! He also doesn’t like the women anchors on SportsCenter. A good thing!

Josh Hamilton put on a show. I was only interested in him and Berkman. As usual, I enjoyed the celebrity game. Only in LA or NYC could you get big stars like Billy Crystal, Whoppi Goldberg, and Spike Lee. Only ESPN could not extract maximum airtime for those stars, instead leaving all the air time for Kenny Mayne, Mike & Mike, Gary Thorne, Erin, and Rick Suttcliff. I do like Mayne. Chris Rock smoothly got on air to make some funny comments. Why was that lesser Baldwin brother invited?

Why was Paul Rodriquez the coach instead of Crystal? Answer…Rodriquez has a show on the Disney Channel. More may watch if they gussied it up…and didn’t air it at 11pm.

Final Baseball Weekend

Will’s team split two Saturday games, ranking them 5th in the tourney. Sunday morning Will was to pitch against the rival Prowlers when the rains came. This was an extra tourney, and many Wildcat players were out of town. They picked up other players, but they were thin on pitching. Will came in and struck out the only batter he faced. He reached base 3 out of 5 times…single, double, HBP. Once he slid in spikes high to break up a double play.

He was kicking himself for not making a few tough plays at shortstop, but they wouldn’t have made a huge difference in the 9 – 0 loss. With the bases loaded and one out he made a diving catch of a line drive, and got up and stepped on the bag for the inning-ending unassisted double play.

Guy with a son on Will’s team worked at Home Depot for 22 years, then started his own company exporting from China…his business recently went under.

Stayed up late Saturday to watch the Maddux love-fest, which you know I’m all about. He pitched well…didn’t realize he has 20 straight seasons of 13 or more wins. Simpson commented it looked like he could go several more years. Chopped one down on the plate that Chipper couldn’t handle barehanded, then when Morton wasn’t looking over got a good jump and swiped second. Would’ve been close had the throw been on the money. After the third out was made Chipper patted him on the butt. Maddux’s 11th career SB…I figured he was the oldest-ever pitcher to steal a base.

Went to Macon late Sunday…then I forgot some stuff I had for my dad.

Friday we went over to a friend’s to watch the video of this comedian with a hit song…”Cletus, Take the Reel”…which is on YouTube. Hawkins is his last name.

Was Lance Niekro the son of Joe Neikro? Other father / son combos…the Alomars and Boones and Berras and Felders and Tony Gwynns. There are lots of father/son combos that are little known…Encarnarcion? Billy Ripkin?

Players I Liked

Seen many great players, with the exception of career American-Leaguers like Brett and Carew. Pretty sure I saw Koufax OR Drysdale. May have saw Fisk play in Chicago…I’ll have to look that up. Did see Frank Robinson manage, and I loved Kruk the player way back in his Padre days, certainly before he grew hair and got on ESPN. Liked ARod when he was a rookie, though these last few years he hasn’t conducted himself as well. Loved the 69 Mets and 70’s Orioles, Oakland A’s, Dodgers, Big Red Machine…Dave Conception, Brooks Robinson, Derek Jeter, Orel Hershieser, and Jim Palmer almost made the team. All these guys had just missed my earlier cut when I had older players on the team.

Still don’t know many second-basemen. Always loved Rod Carew from his Twins days…he was born in Panama, you know. When I went to the Cubs Fantasy Camp I wore 23 for Ryno, because Sammy Sosa wasn’t a favorite of mine…he wore “my” number 21. Ferguson Jenkins always seemed dominant yet unappreciated, playing for the second-division Cubs. Hated that I missed seeing Ichiro and the Mariners play at the Ted last month, they’re the only MLB team I haven’t seen play.

Even as a kid I loved to read about the old timers…mostly hitters. Joe Jackson from the movies “Eight Men Out” and “Field of Dreams”…Mel Ott made an appearance in FOD as well. Since the 500 HR club was such an elite group that Aaron had joined, and there were so few in it, I studied those guys all the more. I knew less about the old-time pitchers, so I picked most of them from my youth…Seaver and Ryan from the 69 Mets, Drysdale and Koufax from the Dodgers. Didn’t like Gibson as a coach, but loved him and the Cardinals from the late 60’s…from reading as a kid the book “Big League Batboy” and going to a game at Busch Stadium in 1968. There have been many articles to read about Bob Feller. Likewise, Musial has been an interesting subject, with his unique batting style and harmonica-playing exploits every year at the Hall of Fame ceremonies.

Today I was in a meeting, doodling different lineups of favorite players.

Test Drive

Stumbled across a Buick Test Drive card in a free Links golf magazine that comes to the house. Didn’t say what you’d get, but I mailed in the card. Then a letter came saying they were giving away 200 Nike wedges, to the first ones that mailed in the letter with the dealership test drive info. I ran out and got the dealer to sign it, and mailed it in. We’ll see if the golf club comes in the mail.

In Panama City Ceil used up a Starbucks gift card the kids had got for Christmas, and got me a shake (I’m not a coffee drinker). It was a real big deal to Anna that I had gotten something at Starbucks for the first time ever (actually, I’ve gotten Diet Cokes or the like there before).

Had lunch with my friend I call the “Ogre”…he had put in a good word for me. Our division lost money last month. The stats for my EZGo account looked great in June, though I am worried about the behind the scenes costing. Last night several on the bus team worked past midnight. Today there were many unhappy campers.

Think the Ruby Tuesday where the guy died from eating seafood…think they sneaked in some crab meat just to get the guy for confusing the waiter during the ordering process? Something’s not on the up&up.

Got caught out in the thunderstorm last night at the library…had to wait it out for many minutes.

2008 Peachtree Photo

Another Peachtree Photo

The photos are out...Lee and me running last Friday.

Destin Beach Photos

The road ended right at the beach access, a nice ramp to the beach.

Just practicing, but it made for good entertainment.

See how uncrowded the beaches were?

Frenchy, Matt, & Jordan

Someone made the comment that it wasn’t a stretch at the beginning of the season to foresee a July 4 Braves outfield of Diaz, Jordan Schafer, and Francoeur. Interesting Braves weekend, with Frenchy going down, the long game…with 2 guys getting hurt…probably the reason Frenchy is coming back. No one figured it would be the Mississippi Braves. Sunday I was hankering for the game to start, but it was fun to watch the thing on Bobby Dews. Got to see a good chunk of the game. My kids always want to change the channel, and there was a program they wanted to watch, so we flipped it after the bottom of the 13^th. When I remembered to check, they had just won.

Saw Donna and Sunny Freund at the new Target Saturday. Ate at California Pizza Kitchen Saturday evening. Sunday went to the 11 am NP service…hated the traffic afterwards. Wore shorts to NP for the first time and wasn’t cold…I haven’t been as cold-natured lately. When driving home through Roswell Ceil spotted Claire…not sure if she or Andrew was driving. We followed them a short distance, to their house, and chatted a while.

Worked on Ceil’s photo file on her computer…she has many duplicates that need to be deleted. The download to the blog was running slow…I was going to put more pictures. Maybe I should’ve not included the race times, but I was just having fun, not trying to set any records.

Peachtree Road Race 2008

With the changes to the finishing area of the Peachtree Road Race, there were plenty of unanswered questions regarding parking nearby. As usual, on the drive down I had a mild-panic attack regarding whether I had allotted enough time. Considering the numerous road-closures, I wanted to park relatively near MARTA. Many others had the same idea, so I quickly settled on a safe place near the new GT Hotel, about a half mile from the North Avenue Station.

Judging from the helicopters overhead, the wheelchair race was in its final stages. Lee had Breeze cards, and there was a good number of runners downstairs waiting on the northbound train. When it arrived it was already crowded, but we all managed to cram ourselves in that first train. It took its time to get to the Lenox Station, but we still had plenty of time. I could feel my un-trained legs tighten climbing the station steps. Most runners headed off in wrong directions, but we led a small pack of runners straight up the small side street to Peachtree, right at the groups 5 & 6 staging area. Will and Dixon tried to sneak into group five, but they were rebuffed.

After a quick ten minutes our group began advancing, and we crossed the new southern start line at the 43:10 mark in the race. Thousands had already finished. Though crowded at the start, Lee and I had no trouble staying together or trotting at a pace were we could converse. The tightness in our legs eventually worked themselves out in the first mile, which we were pleased to cover in 11:20. I pointed out highlights along the way, like the Atlanta Fish Market Restaurant down Pharr Road. The left side of the road was clear, but as we passed the Buckhead Moe’s there was little activity besides a band playing music. Many times they throw freebies to the crowd, but there was a break in the action. Lee and I did find green Welcome to Moe’s bracelets on the street to give to our youngest sons.

We were able to make it to SPdL without much problem, where we briefly stopped to say hello…Skip & Peggy Weisenbaker, Oeida Sara, Sara Maddox, Debbie Light and mother, Stacy Stringer, and the entire Head family…Jerry, Marcine, Don, Debra, and Steve. Don’s wife Angela, and her parents, were there as well. Further down we saw Clay Ramsey and his mom, and finally Mary Hubert, whom I had promised to say hello to. It was a nice break. Lee and I then continued our jog, continuing down the hill past Lindbergh and Peachtree Battle. Saw Pail McNeil near the Burger King. As the downhill turned to uphill after Peachtree Creek we grabbed some water and slowed to a walk up the long hill.

Every year I wear a different T-shirt. This year I wore the navy BERKELEY cotton tee that I got last summer in California. It wasn’t much hotter than a white or grey shirt, and it turned out to be a crowd favorite…I heard many “Hey Berkeley!” cries, once even from a guy with a microphone. Good choice.

Behind us in the Group Six start, Will accidentally tripped a female runner. She went down hard, but at least Will helped her to her feet. He and Dixon set a faster pace, and were both able to snag coveted Moes T-shirts in the second mile, without having to slow down much. Almost at the top of the first hill, just past the three mile mark Will and Dixon passed me and Lee. Will gave me his Moes shirt to carry. Both the boys had their shirts off. Will had asked if I would pin his number to his shorts, but I thought he needed a shirt. The boys continued their pace and finished with a sprint the last hundred yards to the finish, completing the race in a respectable 54 minutes. But having run without numbers, there will be no race photos to view of the boys.

Lee and I ran through the mid-point of the hill, near Houston’s and Behinana. Forgot to tell him that I once lived in the Peachtree Park Apartments…his loss. We walked up past the hospital, then ran past the four mile point across the Pershing Point interstate bridge to Equifax. We continued walking and running, spending most of the time chatting, though we were both tiring. We stuck to the open left side of the road when we ran, moving right when walking. After the short block on 10th Street the race turned right/south on Courtland…another uphill. We ran and walked more, then ran the rest of the way from the top of the last hill. We found the last mile marker, ran under the photographer’s bridge, and finished the race…one hour twenty minutes, not bad.

Saw something at the finish that I’d never noticed. At the finish there’s a guy with a bullhorn encouraging runners. Just as we finished a guy near me shouted that it was his 17th Peachtree, and the bullhorn guy made a big deal about it. The next long walk was tedious, first over to Piedmont, then on a half mile to the Civic Center. Saw Elizabeth Smith, younger sister of GA state rep Preston Smith. Good choice to have water, T-Shirts, Coke, and Poweraide along the way, but the street was narrowed by runners looking for friends, and even politicians and religious groups handing out “information”. Next year we can bypass most of this.

We made two lefts into the Civic Center parking lot, but the boys hadn’t made it to the stage to meet us. Turns out they made an uphill right on Ralph McGill instead of a right, but Will finally asked for directions. They made it in time for the Delta Ireland drawing for runners with Silver numbers, like Will. He didn’t win. We made our long slow trek back to the car. Peachtree number 21 was in the books!

RBI

The best of Ceil's action shots...Will heads toward first after ripping a grounder past the diving third baseman (note ball just to the right of the bat), as baserunner Jeremy heads home. Oceanfront Panama City beach high-rises provide the backdrop.

The Boll Weevil Monument

On the way back from Destin, near Opp, I saw a sign for Enterprise. I wanted to make a detour to go see the Boll Weevil Monument. Remember Dr. Marsh used to talk about that? At Tech I had a roommate from Enterprise, who also attended SPdL…he was well familiar with that monument. I actually went home with him one weekend, but we didn’t see the monument…supposedly a favored spot with teens on dates.

Reid always plays these statistical games…baseball, basketball, golf. He’s making up a team of his favorite 25 players, and wants to me come up with 25 other players…to compete with his team. I don’t know his team yet, but have been listing my players. I don’t know many relievers and closers…any suggestions? Also any sleepers I may have forgotten about.

I’m really out of it these days with the Braves, especially the fill-ins. Is that rookie leadoff man a keeper? Seems like Cox is overusing some relievers (Boyer, Ohman) and underusing others (Stockman). Guess Gonzo is only going to be used in safe situations, which is good.

I’m pretty sure our neighbors have a contract on their house…haven’t seen any new possible new owners yet.

Maravich Story

One of Will’s coaches played basketball for Lakeside in the late 70’s/early 80’s. He was familiar with our state championship as well, because Lakeside lost a disputed semifinal game to Douglass, who we had to wait an extra week to play while the protest was resolved. He also had an interesting story that another team dad had told him a few years ago…

This dad was shooting baskets by himself at Hammond Park in Sandy Springs, back in the early-mid 70’s. Up strode Pete Maravich, asking if he wanted to play one on one. What can you say? Pistol would diagram what he was going to do, and asked the guy to try and stop him…of course he couldn’t. Good story.

Busy week for Will…airport today to welcome home classmates, then lunch with the gang, then practice tonight. Doubleheader tomorrow night…against a team from Michigan. Thursday he’s going tubing/rafting in North Georgia. Friday he runs the Peachtree with a friend…I’ll be running separately with his friend’s dad.

More on Matt

I may have mentioned a year or two ago about Anna and Ceil knowing Matt Stewart’s wife and daughter. They really haven’t done much since, though Ceil ran into her at Wal-Mart sometime since then. Crazy that when he did the “if you’re from Macon, you may know my relatives” thing, the only Stewarts I remembered were indeed his cousins. His uncle coached me my second year of Little League, assisted by his cousin Jimmy. Later that cousin was my B-team coach, a good, fun, young guy. Matt said Jimmy’s younger brother Jeff played on the state championship football team, and I confused Jeff with younger brother Scott. I’m just now remembering Jeff, a starting offensive guard a year older than me. I was able to tell Matt I was on that same team.

The main drag of Destin was very crowded, as were the restaurants. We were off a smaller street. The beaches may have been more crowded just a quarter mile east, where there where a couple of high rises. The condo was a 1 / 3 mile walk…we came out at a place on the beach where there were only private residences, so there was plenty of room to spread out in the sand and water. We’re not big seafood eaters…Moes and Longhorn the nights we were there.

I did like the way back best, except there was a small detour getting on the interstate south of Montgomery. The scenery was great, we hardly stopped, traffic moved almost too fast. Saw some interesting places that it would be fun to stop at. The route going down seemed longer, the interstate was more boring. Then I must’ve made a wrong turn, but looking at the map just now, maybe I didn’t. Didn’t see any deer on the way back…it was a little earlier in the evening.

Anyway, Ceil and I enjoy the journey almost as much as being there. Some people speed to the destination, while I enjoy the scenery along the way. Didn’t mind at all going one way on the trip down and another on the way back…more fun that way. The trip couldn’t have been better!