Pool Time, Poker & Autograph Story
I took a vacation day today and spent the day in the pool at my friend's house. 5 women with our kids. We went to high school together so we've been friends for years. It was so good to have the day to chat, gossip and hang around together.
There were also 7 kids there - 6 of them boys! Ugh am I exhausted. I'll be hearing "Auntie Josie, Auntie Josie" in my sleep, but I had a blast. We played water soccer (don't ask) volley ball, chicken, monkey in the middle, and alot more. I think the women were feeling a little neglected - but I love playing with the kids! Sugar Bear being an only child is not quite used to sharing me though. At one point I had 2 other kids hanging off of me and he says in exasperation "She's my mom. Your mom's over there!" The kids love trying to get me mad so I'd chase them. They'd come up with all sorts of things to get me to chase them. I was playing along until.....my friend's 8 year old started with "You're 50 years old!".
What?????????
Which turned into a chant of "You look 50! You look 50!" So of course I drown the kid, but hours later the chant would start back up again. God help me, he figured out how to get under my skin.
But now I'm home, exhausted, and thinking about poker. I had a terrible weekend at the virtual felt. I can't say it was all bad beats either. I kept finding myself calling raises and being in hands I had no business being in. Stuff I'd never play live. Very disappointed in my play preflop and post flop. IMO that's where I lost the most chips. Pisses me off.
Okay time for a little autograph story, and this story is for Neo Baby. Ever read Neophyte's blog? Check it out! He's from the Tampa Bay area, and this happened at the Tampa Bay Ray's spring training facility. It's in driving distance from Fort Meyer's, so we went there on a day that the sox were away.
We get there and it's nothing like the Red Sox spring training experience. No big crowds of fans, everything is very low key, while at City of Palms Park, it's like a party all the time. So we are in the first row of the outfield watching the players do whatever. Stretch, practice, I dunno. Balls are flying every which way. Actually there are tons of balls everywhere, and um, it's my practice to always try to scoff a couple for free if I can. 99% of the autographs I get are on major league baseballs, which are not cheap! Yes, the autograph is free, but the ball costs like $15 and I get alot of autographs so it adds up.
Anyway, we're watching the guys on the field and Carl Crawford is not to far from me so I wave and he waves back. Nice. Like I said not that crowded there.
So I motion to Carl that I want a baseball. :) I like point to one and point to me. He grabs one, comes over and I'm up in the stands so he tosses it to me. There are maybe 8-10 people there total. Anyway, he tosses it to me, and out of no where this guy jumps in front of me and grabs it mid air! WTF!
I say "He was throwing it to me". He says "I caught it, it's mine." We go back and forth for a minute and the guy won't give me my ball. Then the guy says "Ask him for another one". Hmmm okay. So I do - I yell to him...ugh, I hate to ask twice....he comes back with another ball (there are tons on the field) and says something like, "Are you ready?" tosses the ball to me, and....I miss it, it falls back onto the field. Fuck!!
So he picks it up.....gets right beneath me in the outfield. Gets on tippy toe and hands me the ball. I was sooooo embarrassed. Yet, now I'm thinking....I'd really like that ball autographed. :) So he hands it to me, and I ask him to sign it. lol He laughs but agrees. I toss it back to him along with a pen and thank him. What a nice guy. The whole team there was really nice. Below are a few pictures from that day.
I forget this guy's name (and I'm too lazy to look it up) but he's Japanese and a good player. He also gave me both the ball and the autograph. Score!
I think this was the manager but again don't remember his name. If he's not on the red sox, it's not really important. Neo, does this guy look familiar to you?
As a side note, remember the guy who stole MY baseball? He and my buddy Brian started talking and became friends! Can you believe that? We saw him again at Fort Myers but I would NOT give him the time of day. Nope. I just kept asking for the ball back. :P
Play smart.
Josie
Comments
From the mouths of babes: Love it!
The Japanese guy was Aki Iwamura and he was a really good 2nd baseman for us until some idiot on the Marlins tackled him to break up a double play and blew out his ACL last year. The Rays traded him to the Pirates this year but he has not had much success.
The coach is probably Tom Foley. He's been a coach here for about 10 years.
But yes I agree - they were super nice there and I won't forget it.
When you come down to see the lesser of two sox we'll go play some cards at the Hard Rock!
Contriboy
Lightning - those comments weren't my idea!
Gary - Oh yeah, The Splendid Splinter - forgive me, I'm too young to remember him. ;)
Yes, we've all noticed we don't drop nearly as much when sitting out.
BTW I just saw that your buddy Carl Crawford had to leave the game after being hit in the jewels by a pickoff throw. That's one way to slow him down.