Throwing Out the First Pitch, Update 2

The glove and baseballs, purchased at Replay Sports in Kalispell, remain unused and in the garage. In the meantime, an 80-year-old woman, throwing out the first pitch in St. Louis, delivered a strike to the catcher.

Is this new standard too high?

First Pitch Update

Thursday I was on the way to the airport to pick up my wife and daughter when I saw one of those "play it again" sports stores, the ones that sell used equipment.  Jack and I stopped and bought a glove and two baseballs for $8.

I now have the requisite tools to begin preparing for August 21.  If I only had shoulder muscles.

On Throwing Out the First Pitch....Without Throwing Up

There will be much more to come on this subject, since I'm due to to throw out a first pitch Sunday, August 21 at Wrigley Field where my beloved but currently wildly inconsistent Cardinals will be playing the Cubs. It's July 21 and I've yet to practice, so I plan on intensive training for at least a couple of days beforehand. I've also considered whether I should learn how to chew tobacco or chew and spit thousands of Sunflower seed shells all over the floor in preparation. I've waived both of those ideas.  

I did Google up throwing out the first pitch and found a simple, very simple, answer on e.How.  Seems all I need to do is.........

If there is a baseball team in your area, you may one day be asked to throw out the first pitch. Throwing out the first pitch is a way to recognize someone who is famous or is being honored before the start of a baseball game.

Difficulty:

 

Moderately Challenging

Instructions

1. • 1
     Confirm the time and date you are to throw out the first pitch of a baseball game. You should be given at least a couple weeks to prepare. While it's not mandatory that you throw out a perfect strike, it's best to prepare if only for safety reasons. You can injury your arm by throwing a baseball if you haven't prepared for the throw.
   • 2
     Set aside a couple days to practice. Get a baseball, a glove and go to a field with a friend. Start off throwing to each other from about seven feet away to loosen up your arm. As you get comfortable, get further and further apart. Limit your first session to about fifty tosses, and don't throw harder than what feels natural. If you go out to practice again, you can increase the number of throws you do the second time.
   • 3
     Arrive early to the game. Throwing out the first pitch occurs before the official start of the baseball game, so show up to the game at least an hour early. Before you go to the pitching mound to throw out the first pitch, warmup your arm by playing catch for a couple minutes.
   • 4
     Remain calm as you walk to the pitching mound to throw out the first pitch. When you are ready to throw the ball, throw it using the same motion that you have practiced. Wave to the crowd as you leave to the mound.

     
     

     The next thing I Google is What to do if the Cubs' catcher starts laughing.

Steak Knife Contest Answers Revealed!

We left Chicago on a steamy June 30 and arrived in an even steamier St. Louis, Missouri mid-morning.  The first place (last time I looked) St. Louis Cardinals new home stands in the foreground of the St. Louis Arch, gateway to the west though St. Joseph, Missouri town fathers are still steaming because they believe the Oregon Trail started there but who the hell would go to St. Joseph, Missouri?  Come to think of it, not that many people go to St. Louis.

During our stay we visited world famous - no exaggeration - Ted Drewes Frozen Custard on Hampton though there is one on South Grand as well.  This man could have franchised a thousand times over but has stayed in two sites and is ten-deep at every window all day long. This stuff is amazing and the concrete is a shake that will not fall out of the cup unless you buy it on a typical 98 degree St. Louis day.

We left St. Louis July 1 and traveled to Hays, Kansas where we spent the night then awoke early to drive to Steamboat Springs, Colorado and the Rabbit Ears Motel. The sign in the picture was built in 1952, my birth year, and is a town landmark even if it is incredibly kitchy.  While in Steamboat Springs, we visited our favorite ranch in the west, Vista Verde. I guess you'd call it a dude ranch but more like a guest ranch that an occasional dude wanders into.  We spend Christmas there every other year and fortunately 2011 is that other year. I discovered a lot of features I'd never seen under fifty feet of snow.

We left Steamboat Springs at 4 a.m. July 5 driving through Wyoming and on into Jackson and through the gates of the renown National Elk Preserve.  We went from asphalt to gravel to a really uneven and rutted and rock strewn and frightening forest service dirt road that led to a little piece of heaven called Flat Creek Ranch.  Only five cabins and only 12 guests but with the food service of a five-star Paris restaurant and a wine list that would make Robert Parker feel at home.  And a setting that leaves your mouth ajar or agape or just plain wide open.

After four lovely days at Flat Creek, we left Jackson and crossed over the Teton Pass into Idaho, and I immediately had a hankerin' for a big, fluffy, butter and bacon filled potato.  After a long hard day of driving through Idaho and Montana we arrived at 1161 Whispering Rock in Bigfork.


A couple of days later we drove up Going to the Sun Road in Glacier National Park.  Due to heavy winter and spring snows, it only opened July 13, the latest opening since the 1950s.  During our drive we encountered Heaven's Peak.


Bryan Sanzotti submitted a close, but incorrect answer so he will get a steak knife not knives.  Thanks for playing Bryan.  Get a life.

Family Vacation Contest: Put these in the right order from east to west and win a set of steak knives

Read While On the Road

During our stay in Steamboat Springs, I tracked down a Wall Street Journal, Weekend edition.  I read the book reviews and often buy books or not based on the review.  Recently James O'Shea authored a book called The Deal From Hell about the Tribune Company's merger with Times Mirror and all the wrong that fell out of that deal.

I'm not buying the book, but......

There was a paragraph in the WSJ article that caught my eye.

Few human activities are less dignified than trying to manage decline.  The final days of the golden era - during which publishers scrambled to locate silver-bullet business plans and newsrooms tried to cope with endless rounds of buyouts and groan-inducing management-consulting sessions - deserve the kind of comprehensive clear-eyed look that newspaper vets claim to specialize in.


Let's, for a moment, re-write this and see if it isn't relevant for the healthcare industry.

Few human activities are less dignified than trying to manage decline and the intrusion of a government legal apparatus determined to separate investible capital from its rightful owners.  The final days of a golden era - during which drug companies, insurers, benefits managers, hospitals, doctor practices scrambled to locate silver-bullet business plans and sales, marketing, finance, operations, regulatory, medical, legal tried to cope with endless rounds of buyouts, acquisitions, mergers and groan-inducing management-consulting sessions and team-building programs - deserve the kind of comprehensive, clear-eyed look that Chairmen, CEOs, COOs, general managers and vice-presidents claim to specialize in.


In what region of hell will healthcare find its solution?