It always strikes me how John's softball team actually shouldn't even know each other. There isn't a single common denominator. But over the years, through softball, they've developed a powerful friendship. Since I blog about them from time to time, I thought an introduction was in order.
Meet Gary. He's the coach. He USED to write an engaging play-by-play each week called the Knights Day, but then work got crazy--he's a manager for a property management firm--and he ran out of timeGary is the eternal optimist. The one who keeps the team going and can make you feel good just by talking with him. If you ask Gary his most memorable Knights moment, he will tell you winning their first championship ever. Of course, that is because he scored the winning run. He also broke his shoulder and tore a rotator cuff on the dive and his team mates had to carry him off, but even without all that it still would have been memorable.
Steve is a video guru turned webdesigner. (As it turns out, if you have talent for onscreen visuals, you can transition from one to the other with the added bonus of not having to have a full AVID system in your office.Steve is the one who tells the stories after the game. And really, you want him to, because whatever happened is way more fun when Steve tells it than when you were actually living it.
Steve had to break down and get glasses this year which causes no small amount of teasing from the rest of the team.
Jeff is some sort of math whiz and works for Carter Blood Care. (Don't EVEN get him talking about algorythms and icky platelet thing.) A major sports buff, Jeff plays on one or two other softball teams and has a football gig on the weekends. (He can do this because he is still a bachelor.) Jeff is also king of the corny joke. There are others in our lives that feel they deserve this title, but really Jeff is very, very good. I'm not sure you would want to take him on in some sort of bad joke gang war. His puns can be lethal.
Eric gets carded every time the team goes out for beer after the game. Eric is also getting married this weekend, which could potentially gray his hair enough to solve this problem.
Will used to play with the team until he ran off to Hollywood to become some big animation mogul. (And if you read that as exaggeration, think again. With credits for Sin City, Transformers, and other things you've actually heard of, the Texas boy is taking the west coast by storm.) Kasey--who used to be the Knight's biggest fan--married Will about three months ago and joined him in California. Luckily, they are in town for Eric's wedding and we got to see them after the game last night.
You've already met Big Tea (aka John). John is the intense one. The one who gets bummed when he only has one run for the night. The one who gets there three hours early so he can get his head in the game. The one who figures out where people are hitting so he can get there when he hears the crack of the bat.John is also the one who blogs about the games, often philosophically, because he finds a lot of similarities between the game and with life.
As for me, I'm working to take Kasey's spot, since she refuses to commute each week. It's fun to sit on the bleachers and be part of the victories and defeats. Even more fun to hang out with people I've known for years and years--both in person and through John's stories.
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