BBQ – No Drunken Debauchery

What a great BBQ.
The numbers were slightly lacking, (the numbers has been lacking for the last couple of months at ball too) but the usual stalwarts were there.
Hassie showed up with a marvelous dish, with ample toppings and a delicious looking spread… oh and he brought roasted garlic cloves too. Rickey as usual brought his PuuPuus, cept this time, they were a little wet. I’ve never been a fan of the wet puu but it went down well with the rest of the crowd. Jason and Diana brought salad. It was green. The Generalissimo brought his usual delectable choice of meat cuts. Beef, Pork and Fish marinated to perfection. They were quickly grilled and consumed with non left over. I did sambal chicken wings with an “Extra-special” batch with a special sauce. Those who unknowingly ate those particular wings without warning, I apologise. 😀 I say Fei eat a whole piece, I swear, that guy can smile through anything. He was chomping on a special-hot-wing, sweating buckets and smiling. Heidi bought(keyword) sausages. Those were pretty good, and were quickly consumed as well.
Surprisingly, there were no leftover meats. Usually for an SAS BBQ, there is an abundance of meats and much of it is wasted and not consumed. This time, there was a perfect amount. I guess the loss of Kitty and Guppy made the difference as they usually bring alot more meat as well.
Coach made a guest appearance, and it was great to talk baseball with him again. The Windmill also made a guest appearance with his wife and very cute daughter. I caught The Generalissimo carrying her around making cooing sounds to her. Awww. it was so cute!
The Beer Tab ran into about $400, which Rickey generously picked up to “share the wealth” of his promotion. Though, the $400 did not include the 4 Jugs of Beer Rickey had to ante up as part of his poor choice in team-backing. Rickey also brought a bottle of 15 year old single malt, and The Generalissimo donated his “little drops of heaven” Venezulean Rum. Good stuff!
Prof Zen downed his yard of beer most sportingly, and he was none the worse for it. Somehow, we managed to get Geok to show off her powers (as the current yard record holder) to down one as well. Last time we checked, she was still sprawled in the driveway in front of BBQ pit.
Overall a great night! No over consumption of alcohol leading to memorable discussions, yet a wonderful crowd, a fantastic atmosphere and a brilliant party!

Notes: We celebrated
1. NigeyPooh’s last few days as a free man, come Nov, he will become Mr Jenny
2. Prof Zen’s departure to the states, (and not Canada as Rickey would have us believe)
3. Indiana’s Birthday! The guy is like 60, with a quadruple bypass, and the way he plays ball puts those of us half his age to shame!
4. Rickey’s Tenure. Yes, he’s stuck here for the rest of his life, which is not surprising considering….

DT Rants

I HATE FRISBEE PLAYERS. Hey, get a clue, you wanna run around a field and play a real sport, play rugby. Then again you fags probably couldn’t get into the rugby team, or another team that plays a real sport. You know what runs down a frisbee to catch it? Dogs!

29 October 2005 – The Green Monster

ONES: P: Burma Girl; C: Monk; 1B: Rube; 2B: Diana; 3B: John; SS: Nomar; OF: Gunz, Jason, Andy, The Boss
TWOS: P: Ramadan Dave; C: Say Hey Kid/Rickey; 1B: Heidi; 2B: Soo-eey; 3B: The Venezualan Jaguar; SS: DT; OF: Sandman, Weixiong, Spider, Fei-ette, Rickey

Game One: (Mercy, 4 innings)
ONES: 1
TWOS: 11

Game Two: (9 innings)
ONES: 11
TWOS: 5

It was a hot day. Due to playground rules, and the frisbee people taking up ground, we shifted the field. We had a short left field fence with extra rules involved. A “home run” over the fence was a double, but a foul ball of the neighboring fence – which led to the steep slope and that nasy, hole-filled grass – was an out. There were plenty of doubles, but there were even more foul outs, with Weixiong being particularly guilty in the first game. In that game the TWOS masterfully used the fence to advance runners, while the ONES floundered. The game ended when Rickey flubbed an easy Gunz pop foul (little league stuff). Gunz smacked the next pitch over the fence for the mercy. In the second match-up the ONES had control throughout the game, and Ramadan Dave even pitched a shut out into the 8th inning.

NOTES:
1) Fei-ette still gets on base almost everytime she bats. An alternative nickname may be Mojo; 2) Nomar had some good plays to impress his lady-friend; 3) Rickey smacked a hard line drive right at Burma Girl’s head (she was pitching). She handled it with non-chalance; 4) Channeling the spirit of Ozzie Guillen – but perhaps not the religious beliefs – the Venezualan Jaguar was magnificent. In several innings he handled every out the ONES were getting. He was responsible for much of Ramadan Dave’s shut out into the 8th of game two; 5)Heidi made some good stretches on throws; 6) Jason did a great job at rover. He was nailing runners at 1st and 2nd (not just Rickey) with his throws; 7) Sandman was bouncing off the Green Monster like a pinball.

MBP: Venezualan Jaguar
Best Bat: Fei-ette/Mojo
Biggest Bat: Gunz
Gold Glove: Venezualan Jaguar
Most Equivalent Speed runner to replace the Jaguar: Ramadan Dave
Bonehead Play of the Day: Rickey on foul pop
Play of Day: Burma Girl snags the line drive
Drama Mama: Sandman on the fence
Most likely to be drunk at BBQ: Rube/Seven (tie)

REMINDER: Games on Tuesday and Thursday this week

BBQ UPDATE – Sticky

Dear All:
There will be a BBQ at Joe’s after softball on Saturday. For those who have been to one before, you know the usual drill. For those of you who haven’t attended one before, just bring a little of something for all. We will be having the BBQ for a number of reasons, ranging from Andy’s imminent departure to Ted’s return to general enjoyment.

Please write me (and ONLY me) with what you will bring. We could probably use some potatos, pasta or some type of salad.

Here’s a list so far…
Rickey: Puu Puus (of course)
Alirio: Marinated meats (and VENEZUALAN RUM, for toast to the next president, Ozzie Guilen)
Hongyan: Sausage
John: Some meat
DT: Sambal chicken
Jason/Diana: Salad
Geok: Noodles
Hassie: Roasted garlic (and then a new potato dish if he has time)
Andy: Corn
Dave: Anything you’d like…
See you on Saturday.
Rickey

BBQ

Dear Saturday Softball-ites:
There has been an incredible drop in numbers recently, and it is even getting difficult to play “double or nothing”. While some of this is related to people having to make trips, etc. overseas, the numbers are definitely down. One of the problems is the time that people arrive. We didn’t play this past weekend, because there were only 5 people at the field by 3:15. We went to Joe’s, and by 4:00 there were 10 people. Although complaining about when softball starts has become a broken record (for those who are “old school”), let’s try to start at 3:00. That means warmed up, boots on, ready to go.

Not all is complaining. There are two big events coming up. The first is a BBQ on October 29. Why? Well, there are a number of things coming up. 1) Andy (Prof. Zen) will be leaving us; 2) Nigey-pooh is getting married in November; 3) Ted (the Sandman) will be back from his frequent trips to the States; 4) Marv-elous is back; 5) Chris (the Legend) will allow Linda the Law to throw objects at his head, and; 6) Finally, we haven’t had one in a while.

Second on the agenda is the 2nd Annual Holiday Tournament. If you remember, last year we had a convergence of holidays (Hari Raya Puasa [Shout out – salam – to Cool Papa] and Deepavali [shout out to Gunz]). The tournament was “old school” v. “new school”, and “new school” dominated with a star making performance from Heidi in the outfield and a game in a downpour. Well, we’re having the same thing happen again. This year the tournament will be on 1, 3, and 5 November. It will be a best-of-5 format. During the BBQ we will decide how the teams will be formed (such as odd/even birthdays, like last year, etc.).

Finally, if you want to hear DR. Kyle Kitty Latinis on the BBC, here’s the link (Kyle start speaking at 1:51)….
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/programmes/worldtoday/news/story/2005/10/printable/051004_cambodia.shtml

Have a good week
Rickey

The Venezuelan Barrio machismo

full story here

Added Guillen: “I wish she would have grabbed something and broken his head. If that happened to my family, it would have been a big problem. … People should just go to the game and not bother people next to you, or you’re not a White Sox fan or a baseball fan. Just enjoy the game. Drink if you want to drink; just respect the people next to you.”

Nonetheless, Guillen did not hide his disgust at the treatment Patty Biggio received.

“On behalf of the White Sox organization, I just don’t think we could control that,” Guillen said. “But I think the family is a big part of my life. I think especially the kids. And when that happened in the ballpark, you feel you need to be supportive.

“When you’re a man and you hit a lady, no matter whose wife it is or whose sister it is, you respect them. But it’s something that’s tough to control. It happened so quick.”

‘Bring him to me’
Maybe so, but Guillen insinuated that he would have definitely defended anybody in the Astros’ traveling party.

“I know the security in Chicago is doing a great job,” Guillen said. “And when something happens so quick, you can’t blame anybody. And the guy that did it, he should be brought to Biggio, and he’s the one that can hopefully get him back.

“I told the police, ‘Don’t put him in jail. Bring him to me in the dugout.’ But hopefully, that won’t happen again.”

DT Rants

Nothing to rant about today.
Beautiful weather. Not too hot, little bit of cloud and a nice breeze.
Fantastic numbers. Old School Numbers. And we started at 3pm. Brilliant!!!
I got my boss to show up since he’s in town for 2 weeks. He shook off the rust in no time, pounding the ball for extra base hits, and making good catches and throws from centerfield. I had to be on the opposite team, just in case I get the chance to throw him out at first. Which of course happened, he hit a slow roller to short, and I got him out by a couple of steps.

“Fei-ette” was superb. Rickey neglected to mention that she almost got him out at first. She was playing rover, and he hit a roller up the middle. She fielded the ball, took one boggle and threw to rube at first. Rickey stepped on the plate at exactly the same time. Giving the runner the tie. If she hadn’t boggled the ball, Rickey would have been dead out. She almost pulled the same thing on the next runner as well. Plus she was hitting, always into the gaps, always for singles and RBIs. Good stuff. The funny thing we noticed. She has only shown up the weeks that Nomah doesn’t. She prolly knows something the rest of us don’t. Plus she’s cute to boot!

Rube hit the shit out of the ball. He must be taking some extra juice.

22 October 2005

ONES: P: TS; C: Heidi/Rube; 1B: Rube/Heidi; 2B: Soo-ee; SS: Sandman; 3B: Venezualan Jaguar; LF: Spider; CF: The Boss; RF: Jason; Rover: Adeline (Fei-ette)
TWOS: P: Rickey/Prof. Zen; C: Burma Girl/Rickey; 1B: John; 2B: Diana; SS: DT/Tony Montana; 3B: Clement; LF: Weixiong; CF: Ramadan Dave; RF: Say Hey Kid; Rover: The Cheetah

Game One:
ONES: 23
TWOS: 17

Game Two (4 innings):
ONES: 1
TWOS: 2

Great turnout for great games. In the first game, the ONES were simply excellent. When lineups were fixed, it looked like they were at a disadvantage (look at the TWOS Hall of Fame outfield!). But the ONES had consistent hits. There were no major defensive lapses, just good, solid hitting. Twice the ONES threatened to Mercy the game. In the 5th they had a 9-run lead, and two men on, but the TWOS finally got the out. In the 8th, they were ahead by 10, but the “no mercy from the 8th inning onwards rule was invoked”.

By game two everyone was tired. There was some shifting of positions, but the offensive explosion of the first game was not there. The winning run was Weixiong running in on a Say Hey Kid triple.

NOTES:
1) Adeline (who DT dubbed “Fei-ette” cuz she has speed, arm, and an amazing bat) tore up the TWOS in the first game. She’s got skillz. 2) Speaking of Fei, the Say Hey Kid has the lock on Drama Mama of the year (plus Rookie of the year). On a routine pop up (to him) for the 3rd out, the ball goes into his glove and pops out. He then juggles it 4 or 5 times bouncing it between his hands before he applies “the claw”. 3) Special award to Cool Papa. For a month every year he doesn’t eat of drink during daylight, transforming himself into the superhero Ramadan Dave. How he continues to play is amazing. On Saturday the Rube hit a massive boomer. Huge homerun. As soon as it left the bat, Ramadan Dave took off like it was a 100-yard dash, and he had it. One of the greatest fielding plays of all time. But, it hit the very end of the glove (so very, very close) and bounced out. 4) DT had a great play in the same inning. Jeter-esque dive for ball, spin around, and throw from the knees to 1B. A bit off though, and it slides out of John’s glove. Great play, and if John couldn’t get it, no one could. 5) DT’s boss was there. Great catch in the outfield, and he hit a “Rickey homer”. Not his fault though. Fei-ette was camped out at 3B and he was stopped from advancing. 6) TS’ pitching was excellent. He had us hitting easy pop ups. 7) Spider and the NTU gang continue to impress. 8) 8-1-6-5 put out. Rube hits one to Ramadan Dave, who throws it in and it gets past everyone. The Jaguar (at this time pitching against his own team) scrambles to get the ball in 1B foul territory. Jaguar throws it to DT, who throws it to Clement to tag the Rube at 3B.

MBP: Spider
Gold Glove: No one stood out
Best Bat: Fei-ette
Biggest Bat: Rube
Play of the Day: 8-1-6-5
Drama Mama: Say Hey Kid
Thirstiest: Ramadan Dave
DY: The Venezualan Jaguar

And the results are in

Astros vs White Sox. Also known as “The Battle of ex-Yankee pitchers”
Astros are making their first appearance in the World Series, while the White Sox last tried for the crown in 1959. The last time the White Sox won the ring was in 1917, followed by the subsequent Black Sox scandal in 1918.

So who to root for….
I’m rooting for the Astros. Cos my better half works for a company based in Houston, and she bought me a Astros hat.

PS. BBQ update. Who’s bringing what? Email me or Rickey, and we can get the food list going.

Home Made Beer Cooler

If you have the engineering skills. This is worth a try. Click the picture to see how it’s done.