Posts to date:
83 – Larry
43 – Gary
22 – Marilyn
8 – Ron
5 – Shannon
5 – Ken
2 – Steve
1 – Chris
1 – Elliot
We lost – but it almost didn’t matter
The new State College Spikes fell 5-3 to their “arch” rivals, the Williamsport CrossCutters. Starting pitcher Brad Furnish struggled earlier, walking the first batter, then hitting the second, as he fell behind 3-0 in the first inning. The Spikes tried to rally a couple of time but just fell short.
The real star of the game though was the ball park. It drew rave reviews from all. Doug Smith, a sportswriter from Grand Island NY said it best “I’ve been to 169 different professional ballparks but this one honestly is just different. It has this aura and feel with it that in my experiences is unmatchable.â€
Minor League baseball has been doing stories on ball parks around the minors and Medlar Field was their featured story last night. In this photo from their article how can see how much the real stadium looks like the artist rendition that I used in my previous post.
Take me out to the ball game
It’s Opening Day
For the last year or so, State College has been anxiously awaiting today. It’s Opening Day for the State College Spikes, a short season baseball team in the New York/Penn League. About 15 months ago, Penn State announced that they had structured a deal with a minor league baseball group (fyi – Jerome Bettis and Mario Lemieux are part owners) to build a new stadium that would be shared between the University’s baseball team and a, to-be-named-later, short season team.
That started a whirlwind of activity. Fifteen months ago, the deal to place a team here was announced. Thirteen months ago, they broke ground on the stadium. A year ago today, the site looked like this:
Six months later, things were taking shape:
Today we have this:
(ok – a slight lie – that’s an artist’s rendition but it does look exactly like it).
As hectic as building the stadium was, so was putting together a team. The plan wasn’t to put together a brand new team but rather to buy an existing franchise and move it to State College. Last summer was spent shopping around for the appropriate team and in December, it was announced that the group had bought the New Jersey Cardinals and would move the team from Augusta NJ to State College. The NJ ballclub is a St Louis Cardinals affiliate and the State College team will be also (at least it will be for one year, the duration of the contract that the team still has with the Cardinals – there is a substantial rumor going around that the Spikes will sign a new deal with the Pirates next year – that rumor is fueled in part by the fact that the Spike’s ball park dimensions are exactly the same as PNC Park, Pittsburgh’s home field – many think that’s no coincidence).
So by last winter we had a ballpark and its way and a team. Well, sort of a team – we had the rights to a team but really didn’t have any players. Short season teams are filled primarily with new players who have just been selected in Major League Baseball’s draft. This years draft was held Tuesday and Wednesday a week ago. Players were assigned to the team last week and started arriving in State College over the weekend. Stragglers are still coming in (example – tonight’s opening game starting pitcher arrived from California last night). The team’s actual roster wasn’t announced until Sunday night.
Everything culminates with opening night tonight and the town is abuzz. Tonight’s opener has been sold out for months (I have season tickets so I’m set) as have the next two weekends. The town definitely has baseball fever as witnessed by all these articles.
The excitement has been building, the tingling sense of anticipation turning central Pennsylvania baseball fans into kids on Christmas Eve.The State College Spikes open their inaugural season in a brand-new ballpark tonight.
League Absorbs Off Season Changes
The Renegades’ general manager, Dave Burke, said relocating the former Cardinals to the Keystone State will greatly benefit the league as a whole.”I think it was a fabulous move,” Burke said. “The hype in State College is unbelievable. They’re going to sell out most of their games.”
Pair of Spikes know how to adjust
Tulane baseball coach Rick Jones guarantees State College Spikes first baseman Mark Hamilton and outfielder Nathan Southard are prepared to handle the rigors of professional baseball.”There’s no question about it,” Jones said. “Baseball is a game of adjustments and these guys made the ultimate adjustment.”
Southard and Hamilton were forced to make the ultimate adjustment last August when Hurricane Katrina swept through Tulane’s New Orleans campus.
Spikes finally open season after whirlwind 13 months
Tickets were sold a month ago. Players arrived three days ago. The opponent will arrive sometime this afternoon.Yes, this professional baseball stuff in State College has finally become real.
Short season rosters constantly changing
The New Jersey Cardinals — the team the Spikes are replacing — used 51 players, including 27 pitchers, in 2005.Some players that appear in tonight’s opener against the Williamsport Crosscutters might not be here next week. Some players that are playing elsewhere this week could be here next week.
I’m hungry for baseball – even moreso after seeing the Spike’s concession menu. For dinner tonight I think I’m going to have a “Walking Taco” followed by a “Deep Fried Twinkie” for dessert. 🙂
US Open
We run an interesting competition on US Open Sunday at my golf club. We normally have a Sunday skins game that anywhere from 10-20 of us will play. On US Open Sunday, we toss an extra five bucks into a winner take all kitty. The winner is determined by the lowest score of your net handicap score combined with the score of an Open player of your choice.
I’ve been playing pretty well recently (other than today) which makes me think I’ll have a good chance tomorrow. I decided to pick Jim Furyk as my pro thinking that I can go low on my handicap score and just have to pick a pro that won’t go high on me. Furyk is pretty consistent and I expect him to shoot around a 72 tomorrow. I plan on netting out about a 69 myself.
Tomorrow I’ll report back on whether I managed to live up to my boast or not.
I made the local paper !!!
State College golfer pulls off rare feat
By John Dixon
For the CDT
OK – admittedly the headline isn’t about me. But buried down deep in the article is this blurb:
At Toftrees, State College’s Lanny Sommese collected his third career hole-in-one using a 25-degree hybrid club to ace No. 15, a 185-yard, par-3 hole. Playing partners were Tom Minisker, Larry Fall and Fred Riley.
Of course, as with most holes-in-one, there’s a story involved.
The hole is a long par three that’s fairly flat. As you can see, it’s well bunkered but there’s an open runway in the front of the green. The tee was located at about #3 in the photo and the pin was at the back of the green but centered so it was clearly visible between the two front bunkers.
Lanny thinned the shot and it never got more than maybe five feet off the ground. It just made the short fairway but was dead on line for the green. As it hit the fairway, Tom jokingly yelled “Get in the hole”. Amazingly, the ball kept rolling. As it got up onto the green, Tom remarked “You know, these are the kind that go in.”
Sure enough, it just kept rolling and rolling but it looked like it stopped right at the hole. We thought it was awfully close but we didn’t think it was in. Driving up the cart path, our view of the pin was hidden by the right front bunker until we actually got to the green. It was a real surprise when we got there and there was no ball in view – that’s when we realized it had gone in. It was pretty windy and I suspect that the ball was initially caught against the flagstick. Undoubtedly, the blowing wind shook the stick just enough for the ball to drop in.
When we got to the next hole, I turned to everyone and said “Any zeroes? No? I guess you’re up, Lannie.” I borrowed that line from my buddy Tod Jeffers who used it when he had a hole in one with me on one of our Florida Bowl trips.
I’ve never had a hole in one but I did hole out a 130 yard shot. I was playing a course in New York and hit my tee shot slightly to the right on a hole that had a blind landing area. The hole basically went out 180 yards, then went downhill into a valley. The drives collected at the bottom of the valley and then you had a blind uphill shot to the green. When I got down there, I couldn’t find my ball even though it clearly should have been in play. There was casual water near where the ball should have been and my playing partners said to just drop a ball. I said I wasn’t going to because technically my ball was lost and since I had a match going with a guy in the group behind us I was going to play it by the rules.
I went back to the tee and reteed. By the time I got to my ball my playing partners had all hit their second shots and were up around the green. Because I was low in a the valley my shot to the green was a blind one also. I took an eight iron and hit it pure right at the green. All of a sudden my buddies on the green started yelling “It went in!”. So the net result was a spectacular par (and, oh yes, I won the hole from the guy behind me that I had the match with).
Lex’s 1st Two-Wheeler
Man, he’s thrilled!! Just needs a little work on starting and stopping. He’s been working hard, too. Went riding 5 times this weekend.
Getting old sucks
I’m probably starting to sound like a hypochondriac but once again my body is sending me messages. Right now it’s my knees that are bothering me.
Some of you may remember when I broke my left kneecap back in 1967. They wired my kneecap back together and I had to stay in a cast for about 7-8 weeks but things healed up fairly well – or so I thought. They certainly healed up well enough for Uncle Sam to draft my ass – but that’s another story for another time.
One residual effect of the injury though was that I always had problems with my left knee becoming painful if I had to sit in one position for an extended period usually a couple of hours. Because of that, whenever I would go to the movies I would always seek out an aisle seat where I could stick my left leg out into the aisle to stretch it.
Another residual effect was a cracking sound in my knee. I learned that the cracking sound is called Crepitus. Interestingly, Crepitus is also the name for the Roman god of flatulence (those crazy Romans had gods for everything) but I think that’s a story for another time too.
About five years ago, I slightly injured my knee, the same left one, playing in a field hockey game (don’t ask – it seemed like a good idea at the time – besides, that’s another story for another time). This time I think I tore my MCL (I never did go to the doctor, just self diagnosed via the internet and then self treated – treatment for MCL injuries is pretty much rest). The MCL never really recovered from that and was sometimes be a bit tender.
The knee problems were really only slightly bothersome. They never really prevented me from doing anything (well almost – they did prevent me from playing field hockey again but that might be a good thing) so I wasn’t too worried about them.
That began to change a couple of months ago. The knee problems started to escalate. Rather than be occassionally sore, the MCL seemed to be constantly sore. Plus I would only have to remain in a sitting position for a few minutes and the knee pain would start. Minor trips, like just stubbing my toe, would cause a shooting pain in my knee. I started having constant left knee pain while lying down and finding a position comfortable enough to sleep became a problem. After minor exercise, like playing golf, both knees would tighten up and walking down stairs would be an effort – I’d look like an 80 year old man.
This time my internet research had me convinced that I had arthritis. Just typing in “knee pain” in Google takes you to this post at the top of the list. When you click on the arthritis link, you are presented with a series of Q and A’s with this one being most prominent.
Who develops knee arthritis?
Knee arthritis typically affects patients over 50 years of age. It is more common in patients who are overweight, and weight loss tends to reduce the symptoms associated with knee arthritis. There is also a genetic predisposition of this condition, meaning knee arthritis tends to run in families. Other factors that can contribute to developing knee arthritis include trauma to the knee, meniscus tears or ligament damage, and fractures to the bone around the joint.
Let’s see: I’m over 50. I’m overweight. I’ve had ligament damage. My kneecap was fractured. I seemed like an ideal candidate.
I was all ready to rush off to Lisa to get her advice when I deciced I’d better go see a doctor first. I had my first appointment last week.
First, the good news. The xrays showed that I still have substantial cartilage in my knees and I’m not even close to getting to a bone on bone situation. Plus, while there were slight signs of prearthric conditions in my knees, my personal diagnosis of arthritis appeared to be incorrect.
Now, the bad news. My kneecap did not heal corrently from my surgery 40 years ago. The two halves of the kneecap did not align perfectly when they fused together so I have a well defined ridge along the fracture line. That ridge is what causes the Crepitus (at least, it’s what causes the knee Crepitus). That, in and of itself, is not necessarily a problem. The concern is what has that ridge done to the cartilage that it constantly rubs against. Xrays can’t detect damage to soft tissues like cartilage.
I am also suffering from a hereditary condition called chondro-something (I missed the last part). Basically, I’m getting small calcium deposits in the cartilage in my knee. A couple of the calcium deposits have grown large enough that they are approaching being bone spurs. Treatment for the condition involves either injections or orthoscopic surgery depending on the extent of damage the calcium deposits have caused to my ligaments. I’ll need to have an MRI to determine how far gone the damage is and I’m scheduled for that next week.
I’ll updated when I have more info.
Now Hear This!
There’s a trend in the schools to circumvent cellphone bans. Kids are using very high-pitched ringtones that most adults can’t hear (NY Times article).
Can you? Click here.
DYK "Edgar Allen Poe Went to West Point"?
First a little story.
When I was somewhere around 12 years old, Grace and Jack gave me a coffee table sized book for Christmas. I can’t for the life of me remember what the book was specifically about but somewhere in it there was an article or chapter about Edgar Allen Poe. For some strange reason, while I was reading the article I found it absolutely amazing that Poe was a graduate of the US Military Academy. I felt compelled to immediately share this new found piece of information with Mom and Dad so I trotted into the kitchen and interrupted whatever conversation they were having with “Wow – did you know that Edgar Allen Poe went to West Point?”.
Mom and Dad thought this was absolutely hilarious and cracked up laughing. From then on, whenever I would come up with some off the wall “did you know?” trivia fact (which it seems I was wont to do), their standard reply would be “No – and we didn’t know that Edgar Allen Poe went to West Point either.”
I share this story with you for a reason. When I saw your photo of Lex and his umbrella hat I had an “Edgar Allen Poe” moment.
Did you know that Lou Brock, the Hall of Fame basestealer for the St Louis Cardinals, was the inventor of the umbrella hat?
Crawfishfest
After choosing not to go to the Fest the last 2 years because of rain, I decided the kids were old enough to handle a little rain, so I committed to this year by buying tix in advance.
Sho ’nuff, rain!
The kids were champs. I was right, they could handle a little rain. It was the lotsa rain that came later in the day that they couldn’t handle. And I can’t blame them, I’d had about enough by then, too.
Saw the Rebirth Brass Band and Marcia Ball. Ate Red Beans & Rice, BBQ Shrimp, Cachon de Lait (roast pork), and we all had some Alligator Sausage.
We also got some cool hats.