#BuckFiftyADay: Opening Day, Looking Back, Looking Ahead

And so this makes two consecutive Opening Days where I have absolutely nothing to do with Major League Baseball. Before last year, I’d worked in and around the game from 1989-2012, with my only interruption being ‘96 and ‘97 when I took a couple of years off. In some ways I miss the game, but in other ways I don’t. I always loved being around the players, on the field during batting practice, observing their rituals and regimens. And I liked writing about the game’s nuances. What I don’t miss is critiquing players on a daily basis, I guess, because I know all too well how difficult the game is, and I know asking them to talk about what has just happened goes against the grain of what players must truly practice, which is always looking ahead to the next pitch, the next play, the next game, the next series.

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#BuckFiftyADay: Sports Matter

Is something wrong with me? I cannot watch the Dick’s Sporting Goods “Sports Matter” ads without getting tears in my eyes. It’s not a new phenomenon. I get misty during sports movies all the time. The Rookie. Remember the Titans. Of course, Field of Dreams. “Wanna have a catch?” But these Dick’s ads, wow. They touch a chord because I’ve spent so much of my life trying to explain to people why sports matter. When people stand up at board of education meetings and say things like, “Shouldn’t we improve the science labs before we worry about the baseball field?” I think, well, sure, but sports matter. When I try to explain to people that I don’t want a job that will keep me away from my sons’ games, I try to explain, sports matter. Most people don’t seen to get it. So I ask, “Is something wrong with me?”

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#BuckFiftyADay: Big-Time College Sports On a Different Level

Took a few days off from these buck-fifty blogs as I spent the weekend watching Princeton and Navy play baseball in Annapolis. It’s an annual four-game series I try to attend every year, in part because my brother Scott coaches Princeton but also because I simply love watching these two schools compete. Yes, right in the middle of March Madness, I dial it back and watch an Ivy League team and a United States military service academy play back to back doubleheaders. The obvious cliché is that there are future leaders all over the diamond. But if anyone out there does not think this is serious baseball, you are so very wrong. The level of play is high, with pitchers who can throw in the 90s, hitters who are not afraid of 90-plus, in addition to a bunch of players who scrap like its their final days on the diamond.

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#BuckFiftyADay: March Madness and Overall Stupidity

I like March Madness as much as the next guy, but I also know it’s part of a culture in American sports that’s led to a lunatic’s approach to sports viewing. Let’s forget about everything that’s happened all year and focus on a single-elimination tourney. Let’s judge success and failure on 40 minutes or a even a short series. Let’s say absurd things like, “He’s got to make that shot” and “There’s no way you should lose to that team” and “Another year down the toilet.” It’s rampant in an American sports culture that has started to buy into the dumbest of expressions. Things like, “They simply refused to lose” and “One team just wanted it more” and “Only one team showed up.” Come on, these are kids playing hoops. If it were possible to want it more or to refuse to lose, every kid would sign up for that.

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#BuckFiftyADay: Freelancing, Free-Wheeling

It’s been the strangest 14 months of my life. The life of a freelancer, I reckon. I wake up every morning, looking for work. I perform a handful of odd jobs. I troll the “job-finder” websites, but find mostly frustration. But, it’s all right. Honestly, I wouldn’t wish this life on anyone, but it suits me fine, and it’s made me stronger. I’ve managed to earn a living, thanks to the people, the companies, who have given me contracts. I’ve learned a lot about myself, and I’ve been able to do it mostly from home, which is a blessing. Today, I had a second interview for a part-time baseball coaching job at a junior college. Certainly not what I had planned a few years back, but definitely what I saw myself doing when I was a freshman and sophomore in college back in the early 80s. We’ll see what happens.

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#BuckFiftyADay: Social Media for Geezers

So it’s occurred to me, and sorry if I’m late to the party, that Facebook is now the place where parents and grandparents hang out. Gone are our children, who deduced we were spying on them. It was like Facebook suddenly turned into the party where Mom comes downstairs into the basement and asks a bunch of teenagers, “Want warm brownies?” The world of social media moves fast and it’s hard to tell what comes of it. I’ve been trying to build a following on Twitter and Instagram for Leather Head baseball gloves lately, and it’s been fun. But my 17-year old has told me I’m overdoing it. “One Instagram a day, Dad. You’re starting to become obnoxious.” I guess we have to rely on the youth to keep us informed on what’s cool and what’s uncool, even if we’re not gonna hang out together. Whatever. More brownies for me.

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#BuckFiftyADay: Win the Next Pitch

As a writer covering Major League Baseball for 25 years, I had no choice but to incorporate statistics into my work. Fans crave statistics. Players earn big paychecks based on statistics. But now, as I’m around high school players who are trying to improve, I am preaching for them to ignore their stats. Why? Because, statistical goals are stupid and out of a player’s control The only goal every high school player should have is to win the next pitch. As a hitter, see the next pitch. As a pitcher, execute the next pitch to the best of your ability. As a fielder, make sure on the next pitch, you’re ready to snag a bullet. They say baseball is a "game of failure.” Not really. By setting out to win the next pitch - treating each pitch as a brand new game - players will succeed more than they fail.

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