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August 19, 2026: Tournament First Round Recap

A great if a little muggy night at Triple Creek on Wednesday for the first round of the Post Season Tournament for the Youk Award. 

Lets get to the action.

First it was regular season Champ Team Goldhoff vs. Team Simons

AJ for the winners:

Another incredible team win as Team Orange battled back to defeat Team Simons 8-7 in eight thrilling innings.

Team Simons came out swinging, jumping to an early 3-0 lead behind timely hitting and strong defense. Team Orange began to chip away in the second inning, cutting the deficit to 3-2 with hits from Harry Meisner, Mike Gray, and Ethan Zinn, along with a sacrifice fly from Eric Zied.

After a scoreless third inning, Team Simons added two more runs to extend their lead to 5-2 after four innings. Chris Von Holle, Marc Simons, and the Bernstein boys helped power the offense. Team Orange answered with a run of its own when Todd Wasserman drove in Gray with a clutch hit.

The back-and-forth battle continued as Harry Meisner launched a massive home run in the fifth inning. Team Simons responded in style, getting a JCC home run from Ben Charlton and a fence-clearing blast from Camden Kirzner in the sixth to take a 7-4 advantage.

Facing a three-run deficit in the bottom of the seventh, Team Orange refused to quit. Hits from Michael Askin, Tyler Stansbury, Harry Meisner, Mike Gray, and Matt Miller sparked a dramatic rally that tied the game at 7-7 and sent it into extra innings.

After holding Team Simons scoreless in the top of the eighth and seeing the first two hitters retired in the bottom half, Team Orange found one final spark. I reached base on a bunt, moved into scoring position by stealing second, and then super sub Michael Askin delivered the game-winning ground-rule double to walk it off and seal the 8-7 victory.

It was one of the best games we’ve played all season. I’m incredibly proud of this team’s toughness and determination. We never stopped battling, kept coming back, and found a way to win.

We’re looking forward to facing Team Groh again next week.

Staying with this game we had Team Groh vs. Team Krantz 

Roger for Team Groh

TEAM GROH          5

TEAM KRANTZ.     4

It was about as tense a game as you’d want to see.

TEAM GROH defeated TEAM KRANTZ, 5-4, by scoring four runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to come back from a 4-1 deficit.

“That was one of the more exciting games that I’ve played in,” acting TEAM GROH captain ADAM CRONSTEIN said in the winner’s locker room afterwards. “Howie (HOWARD SCHWARTZ, who was subbing) was really pitching a great game and it got a little uneasy at the end, but we found a way to win. Now we have to continue that into our next game.”

TEAM KRANTZ took an early 4-0 lead, three of them were unearned. TEAM GROH got one back to set up a dramatic sixth inning.

DAVID SNYDER started it off with a double to left field. After an out, CRONSTEIN bunted his way on and after an intentional walk to sub TAIT CUNNINGHAM to load the bases, sub DAN GREEN, wearing an off-color Philadelphia Phillies cap, hit a sacrifice fly to score SNYDER. NICK O’BRIEN singled to score CRONSTEIN and after a walk to RYAN BAUM to load the bases again, BRYCE ANSLINGER lined a single to plate the final two runs to give TEAM GROH the lead.

“I was zeroed in on something good to hit and was fortunate to get a pitch that I could hit. I love helping the team in any way,” ANSLINGER said afterwards while giving an interview to the media.

It should be noted that the ageless wonder, STU WEINSTEIN, pitched another gem of a game in giving up just one earned run and getting out of a huge jam in the top of the seventh inning when the first two hitters got base knocks. The play of the game might have been when CRONSTEIN, who was catching, yes…..made a play on a bunt to nab the runner at third base and later threw a runner out at first on a semi-botched play on a grounder to WEINSTEIN……maybe CRONSTEIN has found his new position?

Next up is a fourth meeting with TEAM GOLDHOFF…….

“It should be a great game. We know them and they know us and there’s a little bad blood brewing when we face off,” ROGER ROSENTHAL said. “They’re a great team, no doubt, but we think we’re pretty good ourselves.”

GAME TIME is 6:01 with the game aired on TBS. STEVE JARNICKI will handle the play by play and CHARLES BARKLEY will do the color.

The first 1 fan in the gates will receive an autographed ball from the winning team…….

Next we move to Team Fogel vs. Team Wolf 

Jeremy for the winners:

Going for the season sweep of Team Wolf, it was evident from the jump that it would be no easy task for Team Lox to advance to the semifinals. The first round of the tournament was filled with exhilarating games, and this one was no different. Fast forward to the bottom of the third, with Team Lox trailing 3-0 after being shut down offensively through the first two frames.

Ian Conwell was the rally starter in both big innings, helping turn the order over with runners on base. With two in scoring position and one out in the third, and already having plated a couple runs in the inning, El Capitán stepped to the dish and ripped a line drive over the right side of the infield, clearing the bases and helping Team Lox reclaim a lead that would not last long. After taking a 4-3 lead, Team Wolf answered with a four-run inning of its own. The momentum in this game did a complete 180 when two key plays were made defensively in the middle innings. One being a bases loaded force out from Wertherhammerstein to Ricky Lefton at home plate to get the first out of the inning, and then Brad Gallop unleashing his cannon from right-center field, throwing out a would-be insurance run to end the inning.

This sparked another rally by Team Lox, again starting with Ian Conwell and Mark Franklin. After Wertherhammerstein drew a walk, the bases were loaded for El Capitán. With the stage set and his pup in attendance, he launched a deep drive into right field that he thought was destined to clear the fence. However, the in-season training program has had him out of the gym, and the ball one-hopped the wall for a bases-clearing triple. The inning was not over there, as the middle of the order kept things rolling, capped by a two-out line drive up the middle from Will Coleman.

Key defensive plays kept the Wolf offense at bay in the final innings, while Team Lox tacked on a few more runs to cap off a 13-7 first-round victory.

Two more to go.

And last but not least on Field 4 it was Team Solomon vs. Team Silverman

Stu for the winners

Team Solomon pulls out a dramatic win 10-9 against Team Silverman. 

The game was a defensive gem as both teams played great in the field. Big shout out to Peter “Paul and Mary” Brownell on playing a great shortstop. It seemed like the ball was a magnet for Team Solomon batted balls. Kade “York” Carlyle made some very nice running catches in the OF. 

For the offense, which at times was offensive for both teams. Team Silverman got on the board first with a 3-run first inning. A very close pitch that should have been strike three but was called a ball extended the inning leading to a two-run double. Stuart “MVP” Solomon got the offesne started with a lead-off double in the 2nd, moving to 3rd on a single by Seth “Third Son of Adam and Eve” Berland. Stuart and Seth came around to score on two ground outs to the right side from John “Not Toxic” Spears and Scott “y too Hotty” Raskin. 

The offense stalled for the next few innings. Team Solomon was down 7-2 going into the bottom of 5 when the offense exploded for a 5-run inning. John Spears and Seth Berland started the inning with singles. After the first out, the bottom of the line up came alive with 4 straight singles from Alex “Jones” Kraus, Zach “Preppy” Michelson, Brandon “Ingram” Lindsay, and Keith “Henandez” Kombrinck. 

After giving up 2 runs in the top of 7, Team Solomon came up with the bottom of the line up at bat. Two big singles from Zach and Brandon, Keith grounded into a FC at 3rd. Adam “Pacman” Heldman drew a key walk to load the bases for “Uncle” Drew, who hit a single to score Brandon, putting Keith at 3rd and Adam at 2nd. Kade came up and hit a deeeep fly ball to LF scoring both Keith and the fleet of foot Heldman to win the game. 

So this sets up the first chalk final 4 semi finals match ups in a very long time. On Wednesday night, we will have Team AJ vs. Team Ken and Team Stu vs. Team Jeremy. Come out and enjoy the action.

LEAGUE NOTES

As Adam mentioned, a huge thank you to Gig for treating all of us to wings once again.


A belated happy birthday to Griff Harris

The Reds yesterday was like watching our games in real time. Giving a team more outs, walks, errors on the field it, a dramatic comeback that fell just short, it had it all. But you know what else it had? Two dopes playing on Field 3 in July with sunglasses on their F’in HATS and not on their eyes. A front office that leaves the manager to put in a guy who doesn’t have a hit since the All Star break (Friedl) and then when he has to hit in the bottom of the 9th, he can’t pinch hit for him because for some reason the team has 3 catchers on the roster.  We are currently giving playing time to a guy who was cut by the Rockies. I could go on and on about how the Reds are the worst hitting team in all of baseball, lead the league in runners stranded at 3rd with less than 2 outs, have the second most strike outs and have on any given day 3 or sometimes 4 guys currently under the Mendoza line. I could tell you all of that but I won’t. Oh and by the way the Reds farm system is ranked #25 so not a lot to hope for in the next couple of seasons. 

Wednesday was a pretty good night for Cincy Sports teams. Reds won, FC was home and won and the tennis tournament was going on. A lot of good pub for the city across the country that night

The Oy Vey 5K is back. Who can beat Adam? Come out and try on October 18. The Bengals are on a bye so you have no excuse. All of the money raised goes back to the JCC and the Blue Jays program. Please sign up and continue to support the J.


I did a lot of weird and dumb stuff at Alabama in ZBT, but trafficking COKE was not one of those. My favorite part of the story from Penn State is that they had the pledges cutting and bagging the drugs as part of their pledgeship. Fun times in college these days…
I’ve had to eat it since IU crushed Bama in the Rose Bowl last year but the fact that they backed out of the ND series in order to play teams like Valpo or Bellarmine is pretty weak. Then to say ND should come to Bloomington 2 times to 1 time going to South Bend is pretty funny to me. 


Let’s give it up to Joey B and the Bengals. It was nice to hear him say this after the Bengals practice with the Hammond Bears…”this is the year I’m tired of saying next year next year next year this is it! Your life is too short to keep pushing things down the road.” Good for him and maybe maybe the Bengals are starting to listen. Also hopefully Phil Castellini can get that message.


Good luck to everyone still playing next week. Marc

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August 16, 2026: Championship Game and The PIG

Mother Nature smiled on us this weekend as we were able to get the Regular Season Championship and the Play-in-Game in on Sunday. 

First for the Play-in-Game AKA the battle to not wear the Pink Shirts, it was the battle of the Marc’s, Team Brafman vs. Team Simons. 

Mark Simons for the winners:

Sunday Mornings Play-in-Game took place on Sunday August 16th in muggy conditions between team Simons and Brafman.  Team Brafman lost the coin flip and team Simons selected last licks, the home team. Team Brafman drew first blood with some good hitting in the first inning.  Team Simons responded in the 3rd with 7 runs, which team Brafman matched and they went into extra innings. Neither team could pull away until the top of the 9th when team Brafman unloaded on team Simons for 3 runs, making the score 12-9 going into the bottom of the 9th. Team Simons chipped away, one run at a time until there were two outs and they were down 12-11. Jamie Kurtzer decided he was fed up with various shenanigans and sprayed a liner over the right fielders head. One run scored, and Dan Bernstein came around 3rd for the winning run to seal the game at 13-12.  Capt. Brafman would like to add that Joel “Hallelujah” Buckley had a great day at 2nd base and at the plate, Michael Askin made every play in the field and was terrific at the plate  and a special thanks to David “Slim Shady” Wertheim for subbing. 

Capt. Brafman would like to thank all of his team for a fun season. While the season wasn’t what we wanted we always played hard and had a good time doing it. Let’s all wish Mark “The Purple Haze” Levine a speedy recovery on his knee surgery. 

And on Field 2 it was Team AJ vs. Team Groh for the Championship Game.

AJ for the winners:

It was a great morning on Field 2 as Team Orange Crush defeated Team Groh 16-6 to capture the Regular Season Championship.

As has been the case all year, this was a true team victory with contributions from everyone throughout the lineup.

We came out swinging, scoring six runs in the first inning behind two hits from me, along with hits from Landon Hawkins, Harry Meisner, Ryan Small, Eric Zied, Todd Wasserman, and Ian Conwell.

From there, our defense really took over after a small hiccup in the second inning. We were able to keep their dangerous lineup in check while continuing to add to our lead. In the second, Tyler Stansbury launched a home run over the fence, and in the fourth inning, a Harry Meisner triple followed by a Joel Fogel double helped extend our advantage.

Leading 9-6 entering the bottom of the fifth, the floodgates opened.

Tyler drove me in with an inside-the-park home run, and Harry followed with a back-to-back shot over the fence. Joel added a double, Ryan Small singled, Eric Zied drove in a run with a single, and Todd Wasserman followed with a two-run single. I then came up and singled home Zied to cap off the inning and secure the 16-6 run-rule victory in the fifth.

I’d also like to recognize a couple of teammates:

  • Mike Gray once again sacrificed his body to make a key defensive play. He has been an absolute beast for us all season, and we appreciate the effort and toughness he brings every week.
  • Todd Wasserman went 4-for-4 today and has consistently delivered for us all season, both at the plate and at first base.

I’m extremely proud of this team and everything we’ve accomplished together. We look forward to carrying this momentum into the tournament this week and continuing our success.

League Notes will return after the games this week.

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August 5, 2026: The Fogel Edition

Coming off a frustrating Game 1 resumption that saw Team Lox let a first-half championship slip through their grasp, Ricky Lefton gathered the troops in the dugout before Game 2 and got the juices flowing once again. There were plenty of words shared, but the only one I’m able to repeat on the blog was something along the lines of, “beat the f*** out of them.” The message was clearly received.

After a clean top of the first inning, tensions rose quickly on the field. Between a not-so-bang-bang play at first base being improperly called, a questionable strike zone, and the heat of the beaming sun, both teams were feeling the pressure of a second-half game with major implications.

The most divisive play of the evening came in the middle innings, when a Brad Wagner ground ball resulted in a rugby-like scrum at first base that left Keith Kombrinck pancaked on the ground by the base runner. Credit to James Swan in right field, who immediately made it known that the contact was incidental, but the force of the collision was enough to send both benches onto the field and raise the stakes for the remainder of the game. Brad attempted to make amends with the Team Solomon dugout after going chest-to-chest with catcher Alex Kraus, but that only led to more screaming and tension between the squads. Back to the action…

A pair, trio, or possibly quartet of Kade Carlyle home runs, I genuinely lost count, kept Team Solomon within striking distance as Team Lox attempted to pull away on multiple occasions. Credit to the Team Solomon bats, all the way down the order, for squaring up some tough pitches and refusing to go away, but the game finally broke open in the sixth inning.

With the bases loaded, Mark Franklin stepped to the plate and promptly destroyed the best ball he has hit all season, sending a deep drive to center field fence that cleared the bases and sparked the onslaught that followed. The extra-base hit blew the game wide open, and the top of the order followed by stringing together a few more hits and piling on runs to the dismay of opposing pitcher, captain, and future first-round draft pick Stu Solomon.

Team Lox capped off a 12-4 regular season with an exclamation-point victory, setting the stage for what lies ahead in the postseason tournament. For the record book: Team Lox finished 12-0 in games that were not resumed in the third inning, were not played without pitcher Jimmy Lefton, or featured the presence of El Capitán. From my perspective, that qualifies as a history-book season.

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August 5, 2026: Games Recap

Another nice night at the fields on Wednesday as we wrapped up the regular season (finally) with a doubleheader.  Congrats are in order to Team AJ for winning the first half of the season and for Team Groh for winning the second. they will battle it out for the regular season champ on Wednesday. Meanwhile Team Brafman will take on Team Simons in the dreaded play-in game also on Wednesday night. Reminder that Big Gig will generously once again buy wings for all of us at the Spring House. So even if you aren’t playing, hope to see ya out there on Wednesday.

On Field one we had team Brafman vs. Team Silverman

Team Brafman won the first game 5-3 and Team Silverman won the night cap 11-6. With the win in game two Team Silverman avoided the play-in game. 

On Field two in a preview of this weeks title game Team Groh played Team AJ

Roger for Team Groh:

TEAM GROH 8

TEAM GOLDHOFF 1

After losing the continuation of the first half and in a “must” win game in order to win the second half, TEAM GROH, put together perhaps their best game of the season….. 

With the victory along with victories by TEAM KRANTZ and TEAM FOGEL, the second half ended up in a three way tie with records of 6-2 and the tiebreaker was awarded to TEAM GROH with run differential being the deciding factor…….

Everybody contributed both on offense and defense, but without a doubt the story of the game was the ageless wonder, STU WEINSTEIN, in a game that NOLAN RYAN would be proud of.

“I pitched well, but the defense behind me made all the plays and that made it a lot easier, “WEINSTEIN said while signing autographs after the game.

The one defensive play that stood out was an unbelievable catch in right field by CHRIS KUNKEL that saved a couple of runs. Also, DAN MCGRATH was a vacuum cleaner in LCF as he made all the plays.

First to KUNKEL, “I knew I had to hustle to the ball and wasn’t sure I’d make the play, but I was determined to help the team and the rest is history, “

Second to MCGRATH, “I just want to be the best out there and help the team in any way I can. I got some good jumps on the ball and the rest was easy.”

With the victory, it sets up a rematch with TEAM GOLDHOFF with the regular season championship on the line.

“Give credit where credit is due. Stu pitched a hell of a game and I tip my cap to him,” team captain AJ GOLDHOFF said afterwards. “We get them next week in a winner take all and it should be a great game, but I have confidence in my team that we’ll bounce back in a big way.”

TEAM GROH captain KEN GROH stated afterwards, “We played well on the defensive side. Of course STU pitched a hell of a game, but I think we have more in the tank, especially on the offensive side, including me. With that being said, I expect we’ll get their best shot next week, but we’ll be ready.”

Rumor has it that TEAM GROH will be spending the night before the game dining out at an exclusive not-to-be-named steak house and then off to a not-to-be-named hotel to prep themselves for the game……STAY TUNED.

NOTES…..

STAR SIGHTINGS…..Former JCC softball star, STEVE OSTROW……he looks like he could still go out there and play……

FOOD FOR THOUGHT……Since one MARC BRAFMAN can talk sports, here’s my take on a few things…..

The CINCINNATI REDS aren’t out of the playoff picture quite yet……as of this writing, they trail by five games in the wild card race, however seven teams are ahead of them…….the five games ain’t much, but the seven teams are….

The UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI men’s basketball team is winning games this summer against weak competition……I remind you they beat the eventual NCAA champ, MICHIGAN last season in an exhibition game…….as you should know, I’m a BIG Xavier fan, so the words have already started……lol

Finally, my favorite team (LOL), the CINCINNATI BENGALS, look like they made some nice moves in the offseason and look great on paper, but I do remind you that the owner is still MIKE BROWN……

Feel free to have me eat crow if my words come back to bite me…….

OTHER NOTES….

The regular season finale with TEAM GROH vs TEAM GOLDHOFF will be aired on ESPN with BOB COSTAS and TED KANTOR, former JCC star, handling the broadcast……

Tickets go on sale at $10 general admission starting Friday 8/7  at noon on the JCC website…….each fan will receive a 8 x 10 picture of former JCC star ALAN LESSURE.

On Field 3 it was Team Stu vs. Team Jeremy. Stu for the winners of one of the games:

Recap of Game 1 between Team Solomon and Team Fogel

Team Solomon had a rousing victory to end the “First Half” beating Team Fogel 12-4. 

During the first segment of this game, Team Solomon scored in the bottom of the first on a 2-run double by team captain and instigator, Stuart Solomon. The third run was an RBI on a sharp single to RCF by James Swan. Team Fogel ended up with the lead after 2 1/2 innings 4-3 highlighted by Jeremy “Spoke in Class Today” Fogel. 

Starting yesterday’s affair down 4-3 with a runner on first and no one out, Drew “Better Man” Hart laced the second of his 3 singles to put runners on 1st and 3rd. Stuart “Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town” Solomon roped a line drive over the LF’s head for a double scoring 1. James “Even Flow” Swan, Alex “Alive” Kraus, and Scott “Yellow Ledbetter” Raskin all singled totaling 5 runs in the inning. 

The bottom of 4 started with a walk from Adam “Corduroy” Heldman and another single by Hart led to a monsterous 3-Run slam by Kade “Animal” Carlyle. Up next stepped Solomon who hit the first pitch over Jeremy Fogel’s head and over the fence for back-to-back homer’s. This was the first time this season that Carlyle and Solomon hit back-to-back shots. 

During the bottom 5th, tempers flared due to an undisclosed member of Team Fogel ruthlessly attacking Keith “Black” Kombrink at first base. Many are saying this act occurred due to Team Fogel’s inability to handle Team Solomon’s success.

Game Two Team Jeremy run ruled Stu for the DH split.

Finally on Field 4 it was Team Krantz vs. Team Simons

Landon for the winners:

In game one, Team Krantz took on team Simons on Field 4 to finish up the doubleheader. We were already in the fourth inning of the game and I cannot remember everything that went down nearly 2 months ago. At the end of the day, team Krantz won 7 to 1. Lead off man Ryan Marcus went 3-4.

In the second game, for the first time I can remember, a seven inning game ended 1 to 0. In the top of the first, Griffin Harris hit a long flyball double that drove in Jamey Drennan who tripled in the at bat before. And that was it. No more runs were scored for 6 1/2 endings. Without a doubt the stars of the game are Jamey Drennan and Jamey Kurtzer, who pitched a combined 14 innings with one unearned run and maybe 9 hits? Bizarre game. Krantz sweeps the doubleheader.

League notes 

As Roger mentioned, the Reds are “only” 4 or so games out of the Wild Card and have passed two teams in front of them this week with their sweep of the A’s. Now there is a part of me that says the Reds will go all Cleveland Indians “Major League” and try to win to spite the front office. But then I realize that from August 28 through September 20 (almost a month) the Reds play in order Cubs, Pads, Brewers, Dodgers, Brewers, Dodgers, Cubs oh and on Sept. 22 start a series with the Braves. So let’s hold off on the World Series parade shall we?

The trade deadline: It’s not often that I am left speechless watching TV but watching the last 10 minutes of the ESPN trade deadline show and realizing that the Reds made almost no moves I couldn’t believe what I was watching. Mo Egger had the best point the other day. The Reds had three options

a) try to get better for this season

b) try to get better for next season

c) none of the above

For reasons that made no sense then and less sense three days later the Reds did nothing to improve the team this year OR next. In fact they will be a lot worse next year when Burke, Stephenson, Singer etc. leave as free agents. 

Here is Lance’s McAlister’s post after the trade deadline since he can say it better than me.

The trade deadline has come and gone. Somehow, the 2026 Cincinnati Reds didn’t get better, and the 2027 Reds didn’t get better. So what exactly did Nick Krall accomplish?

That really is a masterclass in front office failure.

What did his offseason plan of adding multiple players to 1-year deals net the Reds?

-$250K in International signing bonus space.

-A 19-year old pitcher

-A group that will walk away at the end of the season.

-Last place

Krall took a 2022 team and tore it down in order to rebuild it. Today, they are the 12th best team in a 15 team National League, given a 2% chance at the postseason.

The depths of the organizational malpractice truly are incredible.

There are 51 games left. Now what? Try not to lose 90?

It’s just so disheartening and frustrating. Exhausting.

The Angels fired their GM this season and brought in former St. Louis front office executive John Mozeliak on an interim basis. Mozeliak has gone to work overhauling the organization.

I was struck by this tweet by Sam Blum, who covers the Angels for The Athletic.

“What the Angels are doing today is unrecognizable from their method of operation, and long long overdue. If they someday turn this around, be it next year, the year after that or even 2029, today will be a necessary first step.”

For years, decades, that’s what the Reds have needed. But they’ve refused to do things differently. Refused to change the eyes on this organization. Refused to take from the blueprints of success offered within their own division. Refused to take the necessary first step.

In lieu of change, I can only take this as acceptable to the organization. That’s the galling part.

In good Reds news, if Sal Stewart is not the hands down Rookie of the Year in the NL, someone needs to explain to me how a guy leading all rookies in just about every offensive category, plus playing a decent 1st or 3rd base, isn’t the run away winner.

Last baseball note. For those that say the Dodgers are bad for baseball because they got the pitcher from the Tigers, let me remind you that the Reds or any other team could have put a package together for him. They didn’t and the Dodgers play to win. I am jealous of the Dodgers for that. 

I like what Curt Cignetti has done at IU as they were great champs last year. I don’t like his non Big Ten scheduling which now doesn’t include the always overrated Notre Dame team. Instead I believe they are playing MAC schools and Indy State. Does it matter with the playoffs? Not really, I just think it stinks.

Speaking of IU, nice of the new Purdue AD to say come to Purdue if you want to win. Win what exactly? Did he not see IU win the football championship just this past year? There are dumb comments, and then there is that.

If you have Netflix I am sure you have noticed that they have all of the Rocky-Creed movies currently on there. So for the last few weeks I have watched all 9 movies (6 Rocky’s and 3 Creed movies) so you don’t have to. My unofficial rankings of the movies

Rocky III (Mr. T and Hulk Hogan) the best training song

Rocky IV (Drago and Rocky ending the cold war)

Creed II (Also with Drago plus we get to see Mrs. Drago who looks like she is made of plastic)

Rocky Balboa (the saddest of all the movies but the best one with Paulie)

Creed

Rocky (the original is not as much about boxing as it is about Rocky and his story) somehow this movie won the Oscar over Taxi Driver, All the Presidents Men and Network.

Creed III, I actually liked the fight scenes but the plot is dumb .

Rocky II, not that its a bad movie but I don’t like it as much as the others

Finally Rocky V has to be in the running of the worst movies ever. Not Rocky movies, I’m talking worst of all time. There is nothing good about this movie. The acting is terrible, the plot is terrible, everything about it is terrible. 

Happy birthday to both James and Frannie Swan, born on the same date. I’m not sure if that is a good or bad thing if you share a birthday with your wife.

And happy 25th anniversary to Corey and Jodie Norris. 

See everyone at Wings Night on Wednesday.

Marc

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July 29, 2026: Games Recap

Maybe the best night of the year for softball happened on Wednesday. With all sorts of crazy possibilities for both the first and second half championships, which will be decided next week let’s get to the action.

On Field one it was Team Krantz vs. Team Silverman

Landon for the winners:

Let’s go down to Field 1 where the fans got every penny’s worth in a game that had more twists than a pretzel and ended with the sweetest words in softball: walk-off winner.

With the score locked at 8-8 in the bottom of the seventh, Pat Feldman took center stage, lining the game-winning single to seal a thrilling 9-8 victory for Team Krantz. The boys carried him off the field like Rudy Ruettiger, and rumor has it they are putting the ball in Cooperstown.

Feldman was the definition of clutch, finishing a perfect 4-for-4 at the plate and delivering the night’s biggest swing when it mattered most. Not to be outdone, Griffin Harris finished 3-for-4, including two doubles, and repeatedly came through when runners were on base. Jamey Drennan delivered an inside the park HR and went 3-3 with 4 RBIs. Brian Goldberg chipped in with a multi-hit performance as well.

Meanwhile, in the Team Silverman dugout, Ryan Silverman was everywhere. Three hits, multiple RBIs, and enough loud contact to keep the Krantz defense on its toes all night. He and Corey Norris formed a one-two punch at the plate, each collecting three hits.

Matthew Silverman flashed the power with a double and a little league homer. Andrew Gollin delivered clutch RBIs, and Anton Loon sparked the dramatic seventh-inning rally with a huge double that nearly stole the show. Team Silverman’s defense turned two crisp double plays, reminding everyone that flashy gloves matter just as much as hot bats.

34 hits in tonight’s game, 17 for each team

If you blinked, you probably missed another base hit. Team Krantz is headed home with a final season game next week against Team Simons.

On field two it was Team Brafman vs. Team Solomon

Stu for the winners

Another day, another win for Team Solomon as Team Solomon beat up on Team Brafman 16-6. 

The game was close as Team Brafman jumped out to an early 5-0 lead after 1 -1/2. In the bottom of the 2nd, Team Solomon took hold of the game and never looked back. Stuart “Fort Necessity” Solomon started the inning with a walk. He would later come around to score on a Single by Alex “Battle of Monongahela” Kraus. The inning continued with a 2-Run Double by Scott ” Battle of  Lake George” Raskin. The inning was capped off by a 3-run Home Run by Kade “Battle of The Plains of Abraham” Carlyle. 

Offensive shout outs to Zach “Saratoga” Michelson going 3-4. James “Breeds Hill” Swan also went 3-4. And Alex “Lexington and Concord” Kraus going 3-4 as well. 

Defensively, Adam “Chickamauga” Heldman made several nice plays at short, including a nice over the shoulder catch. Zach “Vicksburg” Michelson had a similar catch at 2b to end a promising inning for Team Brafman. Keith “Shiloh” Kombrinck made a nice play on an off-target throw to tag the runner at first. 

Team Solomon looks to continue its winning ways against Team Fogel in a match up which could determine regular season championship and playoff seeding. 

Capt. Brafman would like to add that Mark Tenenholtz and the Living Legend, Howie Schwartz each had 3 hits. Michael Askin also had a great game in the field.  And a tip of the cap to Kade Carlyle whose home run swing was on a pitch at his eyes that he crushed. 

On field three it was Team Wolf vs. Team AJ

Wes team won recap coming later

Finally on field four it was Team Groh vs. Team Simons

Roger for Team Groh

TEAM GROH 24

TEAM SIMONS 10????

“Why can’t we do this every game. I don’t think 24 runs a game is too much to ask for,” team captain KEN GROH said after the game in the joyous clubhouse.

The game started off like it would go down to the wire, when after five innings it was tied 6-6, however that’s when the floodgates opened thanks to a offensive explosion and some not so good defense.

The scorebook was too unreadable so if you want stats for the game, please contact GROH…..LOL

Everyone on the roster contributed to the offensive onslaught with CHRIS KUNKEL leading the way with five runs scored….DAVID SNYDER scored three runs and needed oxygen when he hit a triple to the LF fence….STU WEINSTEIN, who could have had a monster game, got some key knocks, but was thrown out twice from the outfield on would be hits….NICK O’BRIEN scored three times, but had to endure the wrath of ROGER ROSENTHAL the whole damn game.

“I’m just trying to help the kid. If he listens more to me, he’d be one hell of a player,”, ROSENTHAL said.

On the defensive side of things, WEINSTEIN pitched five solid innings before giving way to GROH. “I was out of gas plus I’m an old man,” WEINSTEIN said afterwards while being treated by the team trainer……SAM KLINKOWITZ, who again played well behind the plate and made one great play by coming out from behind the plate on a little tap and throwing a batter out on  a bang, bang play. “I’m not old enough to have seen JOHNNY BENCH play, but I think he’d be proud of that one,” he said afterwards while signing autographs for many of his fans.

NOTES…..

*Here’s hoping DAN MCGRATH is 100% come next week’s battles vs. TEAM GOLDHOFF……

*GROH made maybe the PLAY OF THE YEAR in a play at the plate when, while covering home plate, he backhanded a ball on a throw and tagged the runner…..

*Special thanks go out to BENJY KOTZIN, who hit a dinger, subbing for the team with the absence of ZACH MAYER, out for the season with an off-the-field injury.

NEXT WEEK…..the continuation of the first half game and then the second half finale………GAME WILL BE TELEVISED BY TBS with special announcers……all-time great, BOB COSTAS, and and all-time great JCC player, JERRY KIRZNER……the first 50 fans will receive get an 8 x 10 photo of future JCC star JACOB BRAFMAN…..rumor has it that the first 100 fans will get a voucher for an autograph…..GET THERE EARLY!!!!!

League notes

A lot of alumni birthday’s this week

Jacob “JZ” Zeidenstein

Tait Cunningham

Ben Sandor 

The different ways each team can still win the first and second half titles are too complicated to mention. Glad that Ryan and I who play on Wednesday don’t have to worry about it. We are in the toilet bowl on Wednesday.

It amuses me to no end that people keep comparing the Reds to the Brewers. Like the Brewers always know when to trade a player and get a great return for them before they start to go down. Well how does that fit into our current front office which is so bad that we traded for the worst hitter in baseball, have so little bullpen depth in the minors that we continue to run out guys that can’t throw strikes and are “rebuilding” again after only 3 years of a rebuild. I have so little faith in Krall that if he traded Hunter Green and got a young Tom Seaver back in return I wouldn’t believe it. This is the same front office that three years ago, when the Reds were actually good and exciting said, “We are good with Luke Weaver and only added Sam Moll.” How are these guys still in charge? 

Jacob and I went to St. Louis last week to watch a couple of Reds/Cards games. While the “best fans in baseball” talk is just that (talk) we had a great time sitting in the outfield with fellow baseball fans enjoying a nice Saturday night. One guy who was keeping score in an old school scorebook has been to over 50 stadiums between MLB and the minor leagues. Jacob and I are up to 7 which lags far behind Joel and Jeremy who have been to 29! Also, parents of younger kids, I can’t recommend enough going to the City Museum in St. Louis. It’s so much fun.  

It is good to know that the Reds lead the league in both K’s and bullpen walks. That is a good combo.

I saw today that Joe Burrow is not ranked in the top 40 NFL players. Are there really 40 NFL players better than him? 

I am going to really enjoy watching Chase Bank and Sofi and their almost 20 million dollar jersey patches as OSU and ND continue to not win the National title. I can understand the Chase bank one for OSU. They have one of the biggest brands in the country across all sports. But ND? Are they good in anything other than football? And honestly what have they won in the last 40 years? As much shit as I give OSU fans, they are a great program which in the history of college football have never really had a down time, which is amazing. Even Bama had the dark years of 1996-Saban (of course the time I was at school). 

Have you ever wondered where Roger gets his stuff for his website? Apparently he has a “guy” that goes all over the city and buys books, cards etc. How does one become that guy? That sounds like a fun job. 

See everyone on Wednesday night.

Marc