Uncle Rico has nothing on me

"Coach woulda put me in fourth quarter, we would've been state champions. No doubt. No doubt in my mind."
-Uncle Rico, in Napoleon Dynamite


If you've seen the movie, you get the to recognize the reference to Uncle Rico filming himself throwing football passes against an imaginary defense, then watching it later for his own entertainment, sure that he was destined for greatness were it not for the lack of ability in his high school coach to recognize the greatness.

Had Uncle Rico played slowpitch softball, he might be the kind of guy Jim Rome ranted about in his Softball Guy bit. Closer to Rome's Softball Guy was yours truly, at least to some degree, many years ago.  Perhaps today I am still about 10% of Softball Guy, as I still try to prove something to myself, that being that had I not skipped a grade, and had Little League moved the birthday cutoff from August 1 to May 1 much sooner than they did (my birthday is May 3), I might have at least had a chance to play varsity baseball and at some level in college.

I don't think I would have been Derek Jeter in the World Series, but I did work hard in my adult years to prove that I could become a decent player, even if only at the slowpitch level.  So even at 47, I take practice and workouts very seriously, trying to improve despite Father Time being against me.

Below is a video I took of myself hitting softballs off a tee, not to reflect on mythical "Glory Days," but to analyze, critique, and improve from.  This clip is from a shot that went about 350 feet, not wind-aided, and with regulation equipment.  I've hit a few in the same conditions up to 390 feet, which is nice, except timing a pitch, even a slow pitch, makes those types of shots less frequent.

This week, my team travels to Florida for the USSSA Class D Worlds Tournament, where no home runs are allowed.  So I'll have to work on keeping the ball down and placing it. But I still include trying to hit the ball as far as I can in my workout regimen, because just as with lifting weights or running competitively, if you want objective feedback, you ave to be able to measure it somehow. 

While I'd rather be playing at a level where home runs are allowed and not have to try so hard to keep the ball in the park, at my age, just playing with younger guys who did get to play varsity, even some college, and having them actually want me as part of the time, is rewarding enough. It's also a great tune-up for the competitive senior "circuit," which is just a few seasons away.