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Mother Nature said, “Hey I’ll let you guys play tonight, just don’t ask for the sun.” As it turned out we didn’t need it and a perfect night for softball was had by all. Let’s get to the recaps.

On Field 1 it was Team Wolf vs. Team Fogel 

I know Team Wolf won 6-3 in what was a pitchers duel. Team Wolf has still not lost a regular season game in over a year..

On Field 2, Team Solomon took on Team Tenenholtz 

Rick For the Winners:

On Field 2, it was undefeated Team Solomon hosting Team Tenenholtz. The home team got off to a quick start with hot bats and slick defense. Pitcher Ken Groh kept the hitters off balance as the visitors’ first two batters made outs in each of the first three innings. Thanks to great defense by David “Duke” Snyder (yes, the nickname needs to be paired with the last name, not the first) and AJ Goldhoff, Team Solomon led 4-1 after 3 innings. Things looked bad for the visitors when catcher Mike Rothstein was inadvertently hit by Ken Groh’s bat on the follow through, but Rothstein toughed it out and shined the rest of the game.

The visitors finally started to hit in the 4^th as they scored 4 runs in both the 4^th and 5^th innings and added 3 more in the 6^th thanks to 3-hit nights by Sam Castellini, Tait Cunningham, Mike Rothstein and Hall of Famer, Howard Schwartz. Howie was masterful keeping the home team’s bats mostly quiet in the late innings and Team Tenenholtz went on to a 14-8 victory. Defensive kudos go to Zach Michelson, who has completed his second week at Camp Rothstein, Tait Cunningham, Bryce Anslinger and Brian Goldberg.

Field 3 had a classic battle of veteran pitchers as Team Brafman took on Team Harris

Roger for the winners:  

TEAM HARRIS 14

TEAM BRAFMAN 7

After a rough top of the first inning that produced five errors, but only two runs, TEAM HARRIS took control of the game and never looked back.

Once again, veteran pitcher MARK WEISSER pitched a stellar game and if not for the many miscues by the defense, would have given up a lot fewer runs.

“I know they’re trying their best behind me. It’s our second game of the year and I know we’ll tighten the screws on defense. I like this team,” WEISSER said postgame.

Hitting stars were aplenty as rookie DAN BERNSTEIN got his swing together after a rough start to the season with a BIG fly . “I know what I can do at the plate and once I know the league better watch out,” he said afterward.

RYAN MARCUS, after missing the first game, showed why he’s very dangerous at the plate as he smacked a dinger in the bottom of the first inning to set the tone for the rest of the game. He was also walked twice intentionally with runners on base, a tribute to his hitting prowess.

The Moeller High School graduate said, “If they want to walk me, fine. I have confidence in my teammates to make them pay.”

Other hitting stars were the HARRIS BOYS. Captain GRIFF got on base three times with base knocks and father DEE had two hits and was robbed of a third. RYAN “ATOM” BAUM plated runs with hits and it should be noted he has lost 40 pounds and is ready to model men’s clothing (as opposed to women’s clothing).

EVAN WEISSER continued his hitting ways and father MARK also chipped in. 

A silent contributor was STU WEINSTEIN who didn’t have a hit, but had key at bats to bring in runs or move runners up. “I just try to do what I can to help the team,” he said. It should be noted he lined a shot to left field only to have MARC BRAFMAN make a nice catch on it.

Finally, JACOB ZEIDENSTEIN had a couple base knocks, but he needs to dial his arm down a little at SS as he threw a 103 mph ball over first base and made a dent into the fence.

TID BITS……

Before the game, MARK WEISSER offered ROGER ROSENTHAL $150 to be quiet for the remainder of the year……what do you think his answer was?

Does anyone know what teams are left in the NHL playoffs?……amazing how little people care about hockey, the most exciting sport…….there are a few of us…..KEN GROH…..GRIFF HARRIS……AJ GOLDHOFF…..any more out there?

Speaking of the NHL playoffs, ROSENTHAL and GRIFF HARRIS don’t have much in common on the field, but do share the fact that both their teams LA (Roger) and Toronto (Griff) got dumped in the first round…..again.

DAVID WEIL was missed last night at the local eatery, more so his comments about how bad the CINCINNATI REDS are and how bad a manager DAVID BELL is……MARC BRAFMAN wasn’t there either to spew his thoughts on the Reds either………and where was league mascot, alias JACOB BRAFMAN?

Finally, the state of college sports is getting worse……there are three reasons why players change schools……1. playing time…….2. coach……3. MONEY……..how about how good a school it is when it come to academics?

Capt. Brafman would like to thank Ryan Silverman, Danny Grefer and Peter Brownell for subbing and give a shout out to Eric Gruen, who I believe went 4-5 last night.

And on Field 4 last night Team Wagner vs. Team Kamrass

Pre Summary…The Hiudts are brothers, not cousins. My apologies for the confusion.

Brad for the winners:

Team Wagner run-ruled Team Kamrass on Wednesday night in front of a standing-room-only crowd on Field 4, 22-7.  Team Wagner scored four in the first, but the injury-plagued Kamrass team battled back and scored six in the bottom frame.  Each team then scored a run before Team Wagner took a 14-7 lead in the 4th and tacked on a snowman in the top of the 5th to close it out.  

Total team effort for Team Graphite/Charcoal.  Great defense by Anton Loon, Zac Hiudt, Micahel Askin, Joey Hiudt, and Landon Hawkins.  Corey Norris pitched a great game and helped his cause at the plate with one of three inside-the-park home runs.  Anton Loon and Matt Leader were the others.  Daniel Hiudt, Brad Wagner, Bob Pelberg, Mike Margolis, and Mark Levine also contributed offensively.

Team Wagner will take on Team Fogel next week on Field 3, with Oscar Robertson and Oscar Gamble on the call.

Team Kamrass will take on Team Grefer next week on Field 2, with Mickey Dolenz and Mr. T on the call.

League notes

Congrats to Eddie and  Brad Gallop for graduating from UC

I believe Ben “Weezy” Lefton’s daughter also graduated and was a huge scorer on her college lacrosse team.

And not to be outdone, Scott “Shorty” Adam’s son graduated from UK. 

Well done, everyone.

This is pushing it in league notes, but I saw that Greg Leader’s brother won his 300th game as a high school baseball coach. Too bad none of that rubbed off on his brother as a captain in the JCC league. 

It seems that every time I go to a Reds game I bump into Bryce. On Sunday he was the Skyline shuffle guy and was able to find the ball behind the 5 way and win a gift card! Way to go, Bryce!

While I generally agree with David Weil and Billy Kahn on the Reds, I don’t blame David Bell for the mess the Reds are in. Take today (Thursday) for example. The Reds tie the game at 4 in the bottom of the 7th. Fernado Cruz comes in and gets the first two outs then WALKS, repeat WALKS, the 8-9 hitters before giving up a  bloop single to Corbin Carroll as the D-Backs take the lead. How is that David Bell’s fault? Bottom of the 8th, Stewie Fairchild completely loses track of where a pop fly was hit on a hit and run and gets doubled off base. Now you can argue that Stewie isn’t a major league player and I would agree, but how are either of those things Bell’s fault? David and Billy harp on the lineup and who’s hitting where. Now that Friedl is back and Elly is hitting 2nd it doesn’t matter where anyone else hits. NONE of them can hit at the moment. You want to blame someone, blame Marte for taking PED’s or the front office for leaving Bell with a short bench. But I don’t see how an entire team not hitting has anything to do with the manager. 

In Roger world this week I found it interesting that he sets the market on Reds bobbleheads. I always thought that there was some Bobblehead Czar out there but it turns out it’s him. So when you see an Eddie Milner 1984 Reds bobblehead for 100 bucks, blame him.

Sorry this week isn’t more exciting I will do better next week.

See ya next Wednesday!

Marc

Last night was our end of the season dinner and awards night. A fun time was had by all at the JCC. For you guys that never come, I encourage you to come next year. It’s the final night you are with your team and we all get together until next spring. 

The winners were:

Ron Rose Rookie of the Year – “Pistol” Pete Brownell

Offensive player of the year – Matt “the Bobcat” Brodof

League MVP – Wes “Who Dey” Wolf (more on that later)

Comeback player of the year – Jack Cohen

Gold Glove Winner – Zach Mayer

Tournament and ASG MVP – Jeff Finkelstein

Frank Harkavy Goodwill Ambassador Award – Micah Kamrass

Markus Kruke Good Sportsmanship award – Pat “Sunshine” Feldman

Once again, a huge thank you to Ryan, Rick and Mr. Mike for all of your hard work to make our league what it is. 

Off season league notes

I am sure that I have missed a few but here are guys that celebrated birthday’s (that I know of)

Jeff Cohen 

Ryan “The One Man Gang” Marcus

Drew “Kung Fu” Brown

“The Special One” Mike Rothstein

Eddie Gallop

Zach Mayer

Brad “The Human Rain Delay” Wagner

Albert Weisbrot

Joel “Sparky” Fogel

Mark Weisser

If I missed your birthday, sorry 

Last month, Evan Gildenblatt and Ben Barnett’s mom won the Kovot award at the JCC annual dinner. It was an honor for me to present it to her.  Also at the meeting a plaque was dedicated to the JCC for friend of the league, Jeff Elkus. Make sure you check it out the next time you are at the JCC

Eric “Jeter” Goldstein and his wife, Anne, celebrated their anniversary this month

“Handsome” Sam Castellini and his wife had their first baby. Congrats to you, both

Speaking of babies, Jamey “The Rookie” Drennan and his wife are expecting their second daughter in November.

More Evan Gildenblatt news…he got engaged since the end of the season

Scott “Why can’t we be?” Friend started a new job at UD. Congrats, Scott.

David “Slim Shady” Wertheim is a man about town. You can find him on TV promoting one of his events or dressed in all white for others. And I guess I can’t even tease him about the 2-3 loss OSU team since I don’t think they lose until they play Michigan. 

Wes “Who Dey” Wolf has had an eventful offseason: Get married-check; go on long European honeymoon that the rest of us are jealous about-check; start new job with the Bengals in their digital sales department; check and check. Good luck with the Bengals, buddy. Who dey!

Roger is selling random old hockey programs. Not sure who is in the market for a 1998 Toronto Mapleleafs yearbook but I guess someone is. He also has a Billie Jean King teach your kid tennis book from at least 1976. Actually that one I might find interesting

David “the Doctor of Style” and I will be co-GM’s of the Reds next season. Between the two of us we can figure out how to get a starting pitcher better than Luke Weaver, what to do with Joey Votto, and why we should trade Jonathan India. Stay tuned for that.

Recently retired after 50 that’s right 5-0 years in the league, the Salsa king, Alan Lessure, has volunteered to help coach a team next year in the Ron Rose honorary role. He also said he will always bring his glove and catcher’s gear if any team needs a sub. 

In a random bit of Jewish Geography, Eric “The mouth of the Midwest” Gruen a couple of years ago worked with US Gymnast and all round Jewish hottie, Aly Raisman, on a platform for P&G. My neighbor’s daughter recently got engaged to her brother. When asked to comment, Eric said she (Aly) is a bit crazy but overall was a nice person to work for. Unfortunately, just like Seinfeld when he dated the Russian Gymnast, Aly didn’t offer to use Eric as the pommel horse.  

For those of you with Netflix, I suggest a couple of sports movies that I watched. One is Called The Swimmers, a true story about a couple of Syrian swimmers who escaped before the Civil War and made their way to Germany. A really amazing story. The other is the St. of Second Chances, a story about Mike Veeck. If you don’t know who Bill and Mike Veeck are, just google them. While the ending is sad, the majority of the story is really funny (this is a documentary).

The Oy Vey 5K is coming up in two weeks. Please sign up and if you can’t do that, do me a favor and share the link on your social media pages for me. 

Finally, not all the news was great this offseason as both Rick T’s brother died and just this week former long time player Mike Kadetz’s mom died. So sorry for your loss, guys. 

Let’s all keep all the guys in the league that know or have family in Israel in our thoughts. 

If you ever want me to post something in the blog drop me a line mbrafman14@gmail.com

Talk to everyone soon.

Marc

What a season that came to end on Sunday. Big shout out to Ryan, Mr. Mike and Ricky Lefton for another outstanding job of coordinating the season with Triple Creek and Angel Hernandez, award winning umps. (I kid, I kid) 

While League Notes will return with the All-Star Game blog, let’s wrap this up with the final Tournament game.

We had the Big Wolf Machine looking to match the 72 ‘Fins and go undefeated vs. the upstart Team Kamrass.  

Let’s get to the recap:

Breaking: in the biggest game of the year, a team was finally able to defeat Team Wolf. Congrats to them on an incredible season and winning the first and second half. However, the Tournament Championship this year belongs to Team Kamrass after an 8-5 victory in the playoff final.

After allowing 3 runs in the first on a monster shot from Matt Brodof, Fink settled down and was virtually unhittable the rest of the game. He got out of jams when he needed, including a key strike out in the 5th and a late caught stealing to end a run scoring opportunity.

In the third inning, Team Kamrass began with the bottom two in the order and plated five with a series of well placed singles, including another big one from Michael “cramps” Margolis and a rocket from David Solomon. Solomon also proved his fortitude by overcoming a foul ball that was later dubbed “the cup shot heard around the world.”

In the bottom of the 7th, Team Wolf threatened with two on and one out and the top of the order getting ready to come to bat. Fink induced a beautiful game ending 5-3 double play from Skinner to Raskin, and the team celebrated in true Reading Blue Devil style with a cooler of hard Mountain Dew. As the only college student, Ben Margolis was the favorite to win the shotgunning championship, but David Solomon was true to his Reading roots, and finished in first.

After the game, Captain Kamrass had this to say. “Tip of the cap to Team Wolf on winning the first and second halves, and also for their graciousness in defeat as we were declared the Tournament Champions. The year the Giants won the Super Bowl, the Patriots still had a lot to be proud of. This was a special group of guys. 15-4 and a Tournament Championship is as good as it gets in this league, and we did it all while having a lot of fun and enjoying our summer.”

Thanks to everyone who made it another great season for the league. Tip of the cap to Commissioner Silverman on dialing up great weather.

Post-Game Notes:

I’m sure all of you have heard of the Minnesota Stars forward Joel Eriksson Ek, who played in a Stanley Cup Playoff game after breaking his leg. Why do I bring this up? Because it has come to League Notes attention that winning Capt. Micah Kamrass played in Sunday’s game with a fractured arm. “I go by the mantra, ‘Rub a little dirt on it and all the owies go away,'” Kamrass said yesterday (It should be noted that like all the Reds injuries, Kamrass first went to Dr. Kremcheck who, of course, told him it was “just a bruise” before going to a real doctor who told him he had broken his arm). When informed of this story last night League Note’s wife said and I quote “You idiots and your softball!”

Once again, congrats to everyone on another great season. Team Wolf deserves a ton of credit for what they did as the first and second half champ and a big shout out to Team Kamrass for winning on Sunday. 

Hope to see everyone tomorrow night at the All-Star Game and at the Spring House.

Marc

On yet another picture perfect Wednesday night, two of the best games of the year took place on Fields 2 and 4. Could team Brafman knock off the Wolf Red Machine? Who would win the pitcher’s battle of “the Living Legend” Howie vs. Fink. Let’s get to the recaps to find out who is playing for the Youk trophy next week.

On Field 2 we had Team Brafman vs. Team Wolf

In a tight, well-played game from start to finish, Team Wolf came through in the end to continue their amazing run 7-6 in 8 innings. “Three times this year Team Brafman has tested us and each time we do just enough to win,” Wes said post game. Tonight was no exception. We had to battle back all game. Team Brafman jumped out to an early 3-0 lead with a couple of bunt singles, some good base running and a two out single by Ryan “the Hebrew Hammer” Baum. Eppy kept Wolf off the boards for the first couple of innings as Team Brafman led 3-1 into the 4th. The middle of the Wolf order finally got a couple of runs when Pete “The Straw that Stirs the Drink” Soltesz drove in a run with a single. Team Brafman pushed across another run to make it 4-2 going to the 5th. Wolf added another run on a sac fly to pull within one. Both teams played great defense all night. For Team Wolf, Wes as usual made every play at SS, Matt “The Bobcat” Brodof was a rock at 3rd and Mike Gray fielded his pitcher’s spot like he has all season. 

For team Brafman, Baum in LF made a couple of great catches, Griff, AKA Kelly Leak, in LF caught everything and Joel “Hallelujah” Buckley was fantastic at SS. 

Going to the bottom of the 6th, Wolf trailed by 1 before getting two runs to take a 6-5 lead going to the top of the 7th. Griff led off with a JCC double and was driven home by Jamey “The Rookie” Drennan. Then the fun started. A bang-bang play at first went against Team Brafman followed by a missed call at the plate (on a very good play by Brodof and “The other” Brian Goldberg) kept the score tied at 6. Neither team scored in the bottom of the 7th or the top of the 8th.

Wes led off with a double and got to third when the ball got past Team Brafman’s RF (Who will remain nameless) which forced Eppy to walk Tyler and Brodof to bring up Soltesz. Pete lifted a fly ball to RF deep enough to score Wes with the winning run and get Wolf into the title game. 

“We gave it our all a dejected Brafman said post game. This game will stick with me all off season.” Tip of the cap to Wolf they found a way to win. “I’m so proud of our guys Scott “Dire” Wolf said post game. We had to fight once again all game, but in the end we did just enough to win. 

Team Wolf improves to an amazing 18-0 and tries to run the table for what most believe will be the first time ever. Who will they play to try to be the ’72 Dolphins? Let’s find out.

On Field 4 it was Team Wagner vs. Team Kamrass

There aren’t words to fully encapsulate the craziness of the Team Kamrass walk-off win against Team Wagner. The game was tight all game because Fink and Howie were both lights out. Great pitching, great defense, and very little hitting best describe the first six innings. Team Kamrass came to the plate in the bottom of the 7th down one run. Team Kamrass was able to plate the tying run quickly, and had bases loaded with one out and a chance to walk off the game. Instead, Team Wagner turned a double play to send it to extras.

In the top of the 8th, Team Wagner scored 3, highlighted by super sub, Jeremy Fogel, putting a ball over the fence (Congrats to Jeremy, although it should have been caught).

After a huge single from David Solomon, Team Kamrass found itself with one on and two outs and Michael “Cramps” Margolis at the plate with the season on the line. Adam Heldman boldly predicted, “When Margolis gets this hit, we are going to win this game!”

What ensued was magical. First, Margolis came through with a single to left to make it two on with no out. James Swan had the hit of the season, with a triple over the head of both Fogels. He scored to tie the game on a single from Adam Heldman. With the game tied and Heldman on first, Zach Mayer came to the plate and ripped the ball over the head of the right fielder to score Heldman and end the game.

It was the best game I’ve ever been a part of in the league. This team keeps finding ways to win. We’re ready to conclude the season by scoring more runs than Team Wolf to claim the title.

The title game date is TBD at the moment as Team Kamrass is going to the FC vs Messi game next week. Stand by for the update on the championship game.

I encourage all of us to come out and cheer both teams on for the Youk. 

League Notes

The ASG is Wed. Aug. 30. please come out and support your teammates. We can all go out after the game for the final time. 

Since we got rained out last week, a sad start to league notes as Oren Shmoel’s mom (Also Ryan’s Mother-in-Law) passed away. While I didn’t know her, I read about her and she sure sounds like about 90% of the Jewish moms in the league. Oren and Ryan, we are sorry for your loss.

We’ve had a number of birthdays and I’m sure I missed a couple but Griff and Ryan Baum both celebrated birthdays over the last couple of weeks. 

Former Softball player and all round dad pun guy Drew “King Fu” Brown met Bruce Springstein last week in Chicago. Not sure how that came about, but pretty cool.

A big shout out to Mr. Mike and Anne Goldstein (wife of Eric “Jeter” Goldstein) who led the youth of Cincy to Florida for the Maccabi games last week. As usual the Cincy team brought home a lot of medals. Once again, please support the Blue Jay’s program, which brings me to your favorite note of the week.

The Oy Vey 5k is back again this year. Please mark Sunday, November 5th down to come and support the JCC and the all the programs. I/(we) will be sending out more info on this coming up. 

It’s Jewish Heritage night at FCC on October 4. For those that go to the Reds game this is always a fun night. I encourage you to sign up. To purchase tickets for this promotion, use this link: https://fevogm.com/event/JCN23.

You know you are old when, while at a party, the conversation turns to when you are scheduled to get a colonoscopy.

Sad news from the music world as on the same day Robbie Robertson of The Band and Rodriguez of Searching for Sugar Man fame died last week. I encourage all of you to listen to Music From Big Pink, The Band, Rock of Ages from the Band and the soundtrack to Searching for Sugar Man to get introduced to him  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bK5dx5RVuc

Good luck to all the guys going back to school (and their parents). It’s fun seeing all of the pictures.

Bryce last week went to both games of the Reds/Pirates Doubleheader. That is a lot of baseball for anyone, but his son loved it.

Finally, the Reds…It’s amazing how poorly you can play when your front office lets you down. Nick Krall had one job. Get anyone better than Weaver. He couldn’t or won’t pull the trigger. Meanwhile, Michael Lorenzen tosses a no hitter, Weaver loses all 3 of his starts since the ASG and, to make it worse, was asked twice to be the stopper of losing streaks. He didn’t and the Reds lost more ground. What I don’t understand and will never understand is why keeping prospects for 3 years down the road is more important than winning now. For every Matt McClain and Andrew Abbott there is a Nick Senzel and Taylor Trammell (Remember him? Yeah, neither do I). My point is I really don’t care how a Reds minor league AA player will be in 3 years for another team if the guy they trade for him can help the Reds now. When the history of this season is written and if the Reds don’t make the playoffs the total lack of any moves by the front office will be the headline. And the most sobering thought of all is what if Elly is “The Punisher III”? 

Hope to see everyone at the ASG on Aug. 30 and the finals when it is announced. 

Marc

Yet another picture perfect night at Triple Creek last night. A great first night of the post season. Let’s get to the action

On Field 1, we had Team Wagner vs. Team Fogel:

Brad for the winners:

Team Wagner Took down team Fogel and a great opening around tournament contest by the score of 8-7. Team Wagner led the entire way for a wire-to-wire win. Key hits came from Captain “the Human Rain Delay” Wagner, Camden “the Bearcat” Kirzner, Matt Grindle and Jerry “Doc” Kirzner. Special shout out to Josh Rosen for an amazing catch in RC in the first inning off the bat of Jeremy Fogel. Howie pitched a great game and Chris Kunkel played a wonderful second base. Team Wagner takes on Team Kamrass next week on ESPN8 with Sir Oliver Humperdink and Women on the play-by-play and Color. 

On Field 2 it was the Wolf Red Machine vs. Team Stu

Scott for the winners:

In a well played game Team Wolf won again in come from behind fashion with a 7-4 win. Team Stu took an early lead but Team Wolf tied it with a couple of timely hits by Pete “the Straw that stirs the drink”  Soltesz.  In the top of the sixth Harry “Hood” Meisner hit a homer over the fence to put Solomon up 4-2. Team Wolf came alive alive with six hits to score 5 runs in the bottom of the 6th to hold on for the win. A special shout out to Mike Gray who pitched another great game. Team Wolf tries to remain undefeated vs. Team Brafman next week on the CW. David Crocket and Gordon Solie will be on the call

On Field 3 it was Team Brafman vs. Team Lefton

Marc For the winners

Team Brafman started early and never looked back beating Team Lefton 15-3 (or something like that) Big hits came from all over the lineup but special shout outs go to Joel “Hallelujah” Buckley, Dee and Griff Harris, “The Mayor” Todd Wasserman Eric “The Mouth of the Midwest” Gruen and Mark “Bruiser” Wolfe. On defense, Alex Kraus and Gruen made nice plays in RF, Tait “Richie” Cunningham and Jamey Drennan also played well in the field and the battery of Eppy and super sub Steve “Curley” Z also played great. “This was our most complete win of the year,” Brafman said post game. “I’m glad I finally got my second all time win in the postseason. Couldn’t have asked for a better team and a group of guys to do it with. We look forward to the challenge of playing Team Wolf next week.”

Finally on Field 4 it was Team Kamrass vs. Team Grefer

Micah for the winners

In a game that featured the smallest strike zone in JCC softball history, Team Kamrass vanquished Team Grefer 19-11. Everyone contributed with the bats, with huge hits from Goldstein, Anslinger, and Michael Margolis. 

Fink overcame a challenging strike zone to pitch well and was aided by a big 4-6-3 double play to get out of a jam.

Tip of the camp to Jack Cohen with one of the best catches I’ve ever seen in the outfield, robbing Anslinger of a likely home run. 

We’re ready for Team Wagner. Our plan is to score more runs than they do next week.

To recap

Team Wolf vs. Team Brafman

Team Kamrass vs. Team Wagner

We will know field later this week

League notes:

Happy birthday to Joel “The Wrath of” Kahn, Dan Gilbert, Ben Sandor and Jacob Zeidenstein. Happy birthday, guys.

Last night Former Commish Rick Tenenholtz ordered a set of wings at the Spring House not realizing that Eppy orders enough wings to feed a small army. Rookie move there, Rick.

Kudos to the Fogels who drove in from their vacation in Michigan to play last night only to turn around and drive back post game. That is 10 hours in the car. That is dedication.

Roger has been pretty quiet this past week since the Nasty Nati team came into Cintas and beat the XU alumni squad called Zip Them Up in the millon dollar tournament. Now you might be asking what does Zip Them Up mean? Well only the nice Jesuit boys from Norwood would call themselves that after the famous fight with UC years ago where they said they would “Zip them up” as in dead bodies from UC post game. Keep it classy as always Roger and XU. (Actually, in Roger’s defense he has mentioned he doesn’t like the name but he still roots for them so he is complicit).

Leave it to the Rally House to put a display of Reds City Connect jerseys for sale online. What I found funny is instead of a Joey or India, Elly, McClain or even Diaz jersey front and center they instead have an Ian Gibaut jersey in the front. Who the hell is buying that other than his family? 

If you want to waste a lot of time at work I can’t stress enough that you should play the game called Immaculate grid. https://www.immaculategrid.com/

It’s a lot of fun and very hard.

On sad note, long-time fan of the league, Marc Kuhr, passed away on Wednesday. Marc never met a stranger, and was one of the kindest people you could ever meet. He will be missed.

A special shout out to Alan “The Salsa King” Lessure who is retiring from the league after 50 years! Congrats Alan, we hope you come out and cheer on the teams next year. 

This week with the Reds. Ugh, where to start? 36 runs in two games, a Reds position player finishing a game two games in a row for the first time since 1937? The chance to bury the Cubbies, but instead get rocked twice. Ben Lively becoming the first Reds started to give up 13 runs in like 100 years? None of that is even close to the train wreck that once again our front office left the team and the fans. There is no excuse NONE for not getting another starting pitcher who is better than Luke Weaver. I don’t know why you draft or trade for prospects which is code for haven’t done jack and not then parlay that into big league talent to help the current team. Ask the Mets, Cards, Yanks and Pads how much they thought they were going to win this year. Just because the Reds are playing well (minus the last two nights) doesn’t mean that they will continue this in years to come. Sure we THINK that will happen but the total lack of moves is another slap in the face of David Bell, the players in the clubhouse and us. I love this team…we all LOVE this team and the fact they are a year ahead is great. Why not go for it? And the narrative that the Braves are going to run away with it? Ask the M’s who won 116 games and lost the White Sox or the Big Red Machine in 1973 who lost to the almost .500 Mets. You only have so many chances to win and go for it. The fact that they stood pat and we are counting on hope that Hunter Green and Nick Lodolo, Tejay Antone and Vlad Gutierrez come back healthy is a crock. I will now hop off my soap box.

Hope to see everyone out at the fields next week.

Marc