Blazzers Week 2 – New Pitcher and Extra Innings

It was a big week for the Blazzers this week, possibly the biggest week in the club’s history (though I could be blowing that completely out of proportion ). A rookie pitcher took to the mound to begin what is hoped to be a multi championship winning career.

In all seriousness though, I played my first competitive game at pitcher on Monday night, when the 1Z Blazzers took on Marley in our opening home game of the season. To say I was nervous was an understatement, I’m lucky my pitches were even going near the batters in the beginning. First pitch, and I got clobbered in the chest by their opening batter, and have the bruise to prove it! However, I was able to keep my pitches on target, and together with some good fielding from the whole team, we kept the Marley bats quiet and won out 19-9.

I’m really excited to be trying my hand at pitching, being involved in every play and having more responsibility is pressure I can’t wait to have on my shoulders again. Everyone is finding their rhythm, and this week saw the debut of Jim in right center, making several catches and looking very composed.

The first team had another home game this week, taking on the Dodder Dynamoes. They added John Austin to their roster at pitcher this season, and a Blazzer, who I shall keep nameless, saying “God, I HATE his pitches!!” let me know this was a quality addition.

This game started a lot more like a premier league game than last weeks hit-fest. It was a back and forth game, with a lot of exciting plays and close decisions. The Blazzers, on the back of an eight run 4th inning, had a 10-9 lead, before Dodder leveled it up in the last to make it a 10-10 game. I thought this meant a Blazzers win on count-back (a rule I personally despise), but the umpire let us know we’d have EXTRA INNINGS. Dodder ran in two runs to have a 10-12 lead, and with the Blazzers then losing two outs, it looked done and dusted. However, the Blazzers fighting spirit (well, some kind of spirit, possible alcohol fueled) kicked in, and along with some errors in the normally solid Dodder fielding, the Blazzers ran in three to take the game 13-12.

This game was one of the most exciting I’ve watched in my (admittedly short) softball days, and I’m hoping the entertainment factor keeps up. Next week sees the start of the cup competition, with both teams going away from home. Keep up with the blazzers at the blazzer’s website, and pray I don’t mess up next time

Blazzers – Opening Day

So opening day has come and gone Both the Blazzers and 1Z’s were in action this week to kick off the 2010 season.

Before I get into the games, I need to bring up the concept of the “Blazzers Inning”. This is an inning, usually occurring once a game (towards the end), where the Blazzers defence becomes as watertight as a sieve in a rainstorm. It usually ends with us turning what would be a comfortable win into a nervous last few outs.

With that in mind, first up is the 1Z Blazzers vs the Wildcats of Castleknock. Personally, travelling to that game was a nightmare. I ended up being 15 minutes late, and as such not in the starting lineup. After a 3-run first inning for the 1Zs, we then proceeded to have the Blazzers Inning, conceding 14 runs to a castleknock team who seem to have had their bats working right from the start. Anything hit into the outfield would carry due to the pitch, and there was not much that can be done when a team is in that mood. After that, it was very hard to get back into the game, the 1Zs eventually losing 37-15 after 6.

Alot of positives can be taken from that match though. The new players are settling in very well, and will only get better with each game. We’re working the bats quite well considering the amount of BP we’ve been able to get in due to our training ground being mostly unavailable; Steve and Dan in particular hitting home runs in our defeat.

I also went to watch (and eventually track the stats of) the first team when they took on Marley on Tuesday night. I couldn’t believe my eyes when they too had a Blazzers Inning the first inning of that game, conceding 13 runs. Of cource, we were playing with only 9 at the time, with Ruth running late. What made it worse was that all 13 runs came after two outs had been attained, which, I know from experience, is painful.

The game was quite even after that, with both teams exchanging runs. That was until the Blazzers had a superb  4th inning, getting in 13 runs of their own and almost batting around the order twice. Special mention has to go to Ruth, who hit her first league home run (after what must be at least 20 years of trying I assume ) and couldn’t believe she was being told to round third. I thought of telling her it was an error in the outfield, but I couldn’t be that cruel. It was 25 – 20 blazzers after 4. (Apparently, premier league games are supposed to be low scoring affairs, but that certainly didn’t seem to be the case)

There was controversy when the game was not being called for light, even though the normally steady Jens and Conor both made errors that wouldn’t have happened under normal conditions. Eventually, time was called with Marley leading 30 – 25 in the middle of the top of 6, and will have to be continued (decision reached after a rulebook lookup – who knew) apparently it should have been brought back to the last full inning played, which would mean a 25-23 Blazzers win. We shall see how this unfolds.

I’m going to try get to alot more games than I did last year, and bring my camera next time. All those embarrassing moments have to be documented

RIP Game Manuals – We’ll miss you

So, Ubisoft has announced that starting with Shawn White Skateboarding, they are no longer going to be packaging game manuals with their PS3 or 360 games, instead relying on in-game manuals and tutorials. They are doing this under the guise of “less CO2 and greener games”. Of course it has nothing to do with lowering the costs (which of course won’t be passed onto us consumers). This could be the beginning of the end for game manuals.

But I’m not here to complain about Ubisoft, I happen to enjoy alot of their games. Instead, I’m here to celebrate the game manual, and everything good about it. I don’t know about you, but the first thing I do on the bus home after getting a new game is open it up and read through the game manual. It has such a distinctive smell, it will always remind me of new games. I’ll read that thing front to back (mind you I’ll still be rubbish at it when I first play it). It just one of those things I do with every new game.

Or who remembers looking up moves in the Street Fighter 2 manual back on the Mega Drive! Halfway through a fight you’ll be flicking through pages of manual looking for how to do Zangief’s spinning piledriver or some other move you just couldn’t seem to remember when you were eight years old.

Pages and pages of blank pages at the back of every manual, simply titled “Notes”. I don’t know a single person who ever used these notes pages for anything, but every manual had them. Hell, I bought Just Cause 2 yesterday, flick to the back of the manual, 4 pages of space for your notes.

Finally, everyone must remember biography sized game manuals. 3 inches thick, really small text and a foreword by Stephen Hawking. Yet the actual section you’d have to read is only about 5 pages long, and then translated into every language under the sun; French, Nav’i, even Klingon.

So here’s to game manuals, you will be missed.

Blazzers – Start of season is upon us

What a weekend!!!

I have a new found appreciation for gingers after Paul Scholes took that last minute header to seal the win against city.

Blazzers Logo

Tomorrow, the 1Z Blazzers take the field for the first time this season. That’s right, the Leinster Softball League starts back up, and I for one can’t wait. We had the Start of Season Blitz last Sunday. As usual, it was a blast. I pitched my first game (getting hammered 18-1, I’ll really have to work on that), and we had a good few victories to start the year off.

This is now when the serious business starts. We play a 14 game season over the course of the summer (not including cup games, IOST and other Blitz tournaments). I expect the usual bedding in issues we have each season, but we have a good team and should be competitive, if not vying for the league title.

Anyone can feel free to come down and take a look at our home games, which take place in Eamon Ceannt park on the Sundrive Road. It’s entertaining to watch, and you with the good weather, is a good place to have a few cans (along with the team, of course).  Our home fixtures are:

• April 26th – Braves
• May 10th – Mockingbirds
• May 17th – Renegades Black
• July 12th – Wildcats
• July 19th – Suspects
• July 26th – Beachers
• August 9th – Homers

You never know, you might want to join up afterwards Not too serious, and drinking is encouraged

To get you prepared, I’ll leave you with something every softball player and fan needs to know:

Rant – Bongo is just for fun

Hey all

Thought I’d steal a page from Joe Lennon’s book, and write about something that truly annoys me. His rants are quite fun and I’d recommend reading them (although I don’t know if he’ll put them on his facebook after deleting his bebo account). Mine is to do with all those annoying text subscription service ads that seem to come on just to annoy me.

We all know them, two minutes of incessant blabbering from someone with a voice as grating as nails on a chalkboard. They sell the most ridiculous things – if they were to be believed I wouldn’t be able to have a successful relationship without checking if me and my partner’s names are compatible (otherwise she may be crying on the steps of a church), I could know anyone’s location at any time through my phone (boy I bet the garda have bought a shitload of those ones), and my phone would spout “Silence – I KEEEELLLLLLLL YOU” over and over. Add to that that most are subscription services and you can bet that there were alot of shocked parents when little Timmy’s phone bill was €68.50.

Now someone could correct me if I’m wrong, but was “No Penis Allowed” crazy frog the first of these to really make it big?? Anyone else wish they could go back and place a magnum on that frog’s temple, smile and ask him if he’s feeling lucky?

But there’s one in particular that really makes me want to shred my ears in hopes that it will end my suffering. Anyone who listens to the Adrian Kennedy phone show will know Bongo. A guy and girl sitting down talking, and he’s asking her all sorts of personal questions. She won’t answer, so like the good little stalker he is, he texts Bongo to find out!!! Ad ends with the line “Bongo is for Fun – Bongo may not always be accurate.“. Immediately I was thinking I bet you my €2.50 (yes, €2.50 per text message, that’s more expensive than sex lines…. so I’m told *cough*) will get me answers like “Oh Michael is a Marine Botanist with a penchant for midnight gardening and collects stamps”. But no, after checking their website (I’m not going to link to it) they retrieve their answers through their extensive database and extensive research.

I for one don’t like the idea of someone even remotely being able to get that information about me through this service (you could argue that I’ve put the information out there myself but that’s through restricted channels and I have a measure of control over who can access it and what exactly they can see) and I’m wondering if they have a way to make yourself “X directory” as it were.

Short and sweet today So, any of these ads annoy you? Or do you love  it? Comments appreciated, as always.

Michael