There
appears to be a few items to discuss this week. Surviving and thriving at the
fun-filled Hotter Than Hades Twilighter ball tournament, the rarity of the
upcoming Blue Moon and the Saskatchewan Day mid-summer long weekend are all
subjects that I’d like to touch on this time around.
This
past weekend the Eden Valley Senators baseball team travelled to Estevan as it
was the host community for this year’s Master’s Twilight Baseball Tournament
and Estevan’s designation as “Canada’s Sunshine Capital” was clearly on display
as the sun shone brightly and the temperatures hit the mid-to-high 30C range
throughout the three days of the tournament. Except for a brief and scary
thunderstorm that hit late in the afternoon on Friday, the weather was sunny
and hot, followed by sunny and hotter.
Most
teams would be a little whiny about having to play two out of their four games
at eight o’clock in the morning but it was the best time of the day to escape
the extreme heat of the afternoon games and even this heat lover appreciated
the lower temperatures early in the day. Mind you, given the choice between
playing in the heat over shivering through the drizzle and the 10C weather that
we had to endure a few years ago at the tournament in Davidson, I’ll take the
heat any time. They don’t call them the “Boys of SUMMER” for nothing. Besides,
heat, within reason, is a lot better on the old muscles and bones than the cold
is; but that’s just me.
Once again, the fun level
was higher than the baseball ability level but we don’t really care too much
about that. It’s become the baseball-family reunion for the members of our team
and their extended families. Some of the children of the players cannot even
remember a summer when they haven’t attended a twilighter ball tournament. The
player’s wives and children have always attended every game and our Eden Valley
Wives & Kids Fan Club have become more well-known for their support of the
team and their cheering style than the guys have with their ball playing
ability on the field. It might even be easier for us to play the games than it
is for them to watch us play but they are there every time.
But, you know, as usual we had some
great plays and some bad plays. Ken Ede
cracked a home run, which is always exciting, and there were just as many fine
baseball plays on the field, like Daryle Roth’s running grab of a fly ball, as
there were Keystone Kops “what the heck are they doing out there???” plays. Either
way, it was pretty good entertainment.
It was another eventful year as a
few of our players accepted some long-term awards, including yours truly, which
is a testament to our love of the game and commitment to the team. At times, it
was hard to know if our muscles hurt more from laughing or playing, which is a
good sign, and there’s never a lack of painkiller available in liquid, salve or
pill form. There was even a bit of white lightening that somehow found its way into
the campground, strictly for medicinal purposes, mind you, but now I’m starting
to cross the line of “what happens at Twilighters stays at Twilighters” so
that’s about all I’m going to say on that subject. Suffice to say it was
another unforgettable tournament and it’ll be hard to top this latest version
for fun but we’re ready to give it our best shot this time again next year.
Now that I’ve taken up all the
allotted room talking about the Twilighter tournament I will mention that this
weekend it is both a Blue Moon on Friday the 31st of July and
Saskatchewan Day on Monday, August 3rd. Too bad the Blue Moon wasn’t
this past weekend while we were playing some of our baseball because, who
knows, maybe it would have altered our results, but I digress.
Have a look at this Blue Moon as we won’t get
another one until 2018 and then we get two…January and March and there hasn’t
been a Blue Moon since August of 2012 so these celestial events are rarer than
one would think.
I don’t think the Saskatchewan Day
Long weekend will quite compare to this past weekend’s fun a frivolity of the
Annual Twilighter Pilgrimage but we’ll give it our best shot to have a fun
filled weekend. I hope you do, too. Happy Saskatchewan Day everyone!
“A
happy family is but an earlier heaven.”-George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950).
No comments:
Post a Comment