Baseball's Loss is Rock-n-Roll's Gain

Some twenty sophomores tried out for baseball at Elk River High School. My son was among them, and was also among the 6 or so who were cut today.

I recall missing the cut for my junior high baseball teams (both A & B squads) in 7th & 8th grade. I was a fair ball player, with a decent swing and good hand-eye skills, but physically underdeveloped for my age. Plus, having skipped 2nd grade, I was a full year younger than most in my own grade. I was an 11-yr-old trying to make the cut amongst 15-yr-olds.

It's easy to make excuses, and a nasty trap. I've never completely gotten over what skipping a grade, plus having a later birthday, did to my school-days sports pursuits. Studies have convincingly shown the benefits an earlier birthday in the school year has on an athlete. Adding a full year to that late birthday, frankly, sucks.

So I ended up pursuing games I could work on in solitude, and thus ended up lettering, barely, and only in my senior year, in golf (long before it was cool), and being among the top two bowlers in my school (still not cool).

But back to my son. I can't help but feel for him, knowing that had I been a better parent, he would have had a fighting chance. It's not easy, being I only see him every other weekend, and we live an hour apart, but there I go with excuses again. Did I really have to watch the ball game, golf match, etc., when I could have been playing catch or pitching BP to him? Sure, we did some of that, but not like a father and son who see each other only two out of fourteen days should. You'd think I wouldn't have wasted a moment of that precious time.

He's got the right attitude, and I'm super proud of him for that. He is a very promising young drummer, and wants to work more on that with his newly-found spare time. Like bowling, he can work on it for hours at a time if he wants (and he often does).

Plus, it's a heck of a lot cooler than being a bowler.

Volkswagens and White Castles

Even more than the McDonald's Lenten Fillet-O-Fish commercials, I find myself very annoyed by the new Volkswagen commercials, where they promote the "Punch Dub" concept.

First, they're simply not funny. Second, they are apparently trying to embrace the old "Slug Bug" stigma and replace it with a new, less stigmatic, yet hip association with the brand.

It bothers me because if they are going to embrace it, then they should fully embrace it. White Castle did it right when they finally embraced the "Slider" slang term for their burgers. The days of dirty looks from the cashier when you ordered "six sliders, please" were gone for good.

I see no reason why VW shouldn't embrace the old "Slug Bug" tradition in its original form.

Then again, White Castle has yet to embrace the term "Gut Bomb," so maybe there is a line to be drawn somewhere.

Bracketology

I'm not enough of a wonk to talk NCAA bracketology with much credibility. But I did follow enough of a couple of teams to say this, and leave it at that:

I'm happy Minnesota got in, but as an eleven seed sure seems rather silly. That means the committee thought they were one of the top 44 teams.

Northern Iowa, a top-20 poll team, and #17 in RPI, and they get a nine seed? I'd like someone on the committee to explain that one.

Schweigert to be the Target Field Hot Dog Supplier

I grew up on knothole days at the old Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington. The simple memories of those games at the Met I will treasure forever. The first view of the outfield lights while pulling closer to the field by the Northwest Orient Airlines hangars. The anticipatory walk from the Thunderbird Motel parking lot (where Mom would park for free, and never got caught). And those wonderful 50-cent Schweigert hot dogs (and 50-cents was expensive back in 1975!!).

Remember this jingle from the '70s?:

What could be better on a sunny day
Than watching the Twins winning all the way
And sittin' in the stands and shoutin' "Hurray!"
With a hot dog
Schweigert hot dog

It's the one you get
When you're at the Met
'Cause going to the ballgame is great fun
And Schweigert makes it better

Yes, I remember it word-for-word, and could sing it, too.

This is going to be one fun summer at Target Field. The only thing they could have done to make it better was to schedule a June 26 game against the White Sox. I can see Joe Mauer raising his average to .406, Jim Thome getting eight RBIs and a grand slam. All while my kids wear their promotional Joe Mauer jerseys.

Those of you in my age group probably know exactly what I'm referring to. Others may check out these links to appreciate it, and hopefully catch Twins fever: June 26, 1977. Patrick Reusse's 30th anniversary column.

Here's a telling difference between the Met and the Metrodome: The Metrodome provided me many terrific memories because of the teams on the field. The Met provided many terrific memories because of the ball park. (And because, of course, I was a much more impressionable youngster.)

Here's hoping Target Field will be the best of both, starting in 2010. And here's to Schweigert making it better!

Miller Shines, but Canada Wins Gold

What a shame for Ryan Miller to have ended his brilliant Olympic run with a goal he should have stopped. A poor-angle shot by Sidney Crosby seemed to have caught him by surprise, and he committed what I always thought was the Cardinal sin of leaving your stick off the ice when in position, leaving the five-hole particularly vulnerable.

(I could be 100% wrong about that goal, but it looked to me like a stick on the ice would have stopped it. I will correct this if I later discover I am wrong.)

When I played goalie, almost to a fault I made sure the stick was on the ice if at all possible. Perhaps I didn't control rebounds as well as I should have. But I very rarely got beat in the five hole on the ice.

I was also pretty good on breakaways, although I'm sure that was in large part because I was too slow to fall for any dekes.

Regardless, Miller rightfully won the MVP of the Olympic hockey tournament. Hockey gets it right. It's happened in the NHL playoffs, too. There's no reason the MVP of a series or tournament has to come from the winning team. It helps, but shouldn't be a requirement.

So the USA was the best team throughout the Olympics, and even beat Canada in six full periods of hockey. But timing is crucial, and Canada got the most important goal. Congratulations to our friends in the Great White North, eh.

Another Mom & Pop Closing

In a sad case of serendipity, I took my family bowling last Saturday night to Airport Bowl in Richfield for the first time ever, and then found out this week they are closing this summer. I have driven by the 12-lane house probably a couple hundred times at least, and finally tried it out for the first time ever.

The owners are literally Mom & Pop (but not mine), having run the business for 25 years. Their son reports that they haven't drawn a salary in two years, and because of the declining nature of the business of bowling (at least in small houses not tricked up with lasers and black lights), plus rising real estate costs, selling isn't even an option. They will simply vacate when the lease is up.

The good news is the couple will get some much-deserved rest and relaxation, and they are not hurting financially for their retirement years. My wife, who is horrified to think of how I am getting my four-and-two-year-olds hooked on the game, even mentioned when we were there, "We should buy a bowling alley like this."

"That would be a dream," I thought, although now I'm re-thinking that with this news. I do love small houses like the Airport Bowl. You don't see too many more in the Twin Cities. Saint Bernards', Country Club, and Ran-Ham come to mind. Falcon Bowl closed a few years ago to development, as did the Stahl House, just to name a couple.

Sadly, at least to a reborn bowling geek like me, this is less a statement of big corporations taking over the Mom & Pops than it is a sorry statement of the state of bowling. There are a lot of ideas out there, but I honestly don't know what can be done to grow the sport back to at least a semblance of what it was 20-30 years ago.

I'm glad I at least got to contribute some $60+ to the couple's retirement the other night (there were eight of us including a friend, plus we had drinks). I'll be stopping by at least one more time before it closes to pay my last respects, and hopefully help make the couple's golden years a little better, if ever so slightly.

Pushing the Envelope

I thought I had learned the origin of an old adage today, but instead I am only more confused. I learned where "Pushing the Envelope" came from, or so I thought, while reading the book We Got Fired!...And It's the Best Thing That Ever Happened to Us by, appropriately enough, Harvey Mackay, founder of the Mackay Envelope Company. (Don't you hate when people say "Ironically" in situations like this? No, "appropriately" is the appropriate word.)

On page 98, Mackay explains the origin thusly:

Meaning: to fly the plane so fast and hard the outer skin (envelope) verged on exploding.

Out of curiosity, I googled the phrase, and came up with this from http://www.phrases.org.uk/:

In aviation and aeronautics the term 'flight envelope' had been in use since WWII, as here from the Journal of the Royal Aeronautical Society, 1944:

"The best known of the envelope cases is the 'flight envelope', which is in general use in this country and in the United States... The ‘flight envelope’ covers all probable conditions of symmetrical maneuvering flight."

That envelope is the description of the upper and lower limits of the various factors that it is safe to fly at, i.e. speed, engine power, manoeuvrability, wind speed, altitude etc. By 'pushing the envelope', i.e. testing those limits, test pilots were able to determine just how far it was safe to go. By 1978 the phrase was in use in print.

I've always enjoyed Mackay's books, although I can't say my way to the top has been expedited because of them, unless I was on the 100-year plan without them. I often wonder how much his stories are embellished for dramatic effect.

But they are good reads, and in the case of this book, it's not only for people who get fired (I haven't been...yet, knock wood), but for anyone who could use a different perspective from that of following the straight and narrow as a path to career fulfillment. Sometimes, as exemplified in some of the stories from the book, the best thing you can do is fire yourself.