From the email:

Electing Clowns

In not-so-surprising news to me, our school board is at it again.
 
I doubt it’s national news but we have school board situation that’s kind of embarrassing. Over the last couple of elections, the two communities that share a single school district here locally have essentially gone off the rails when it comes to finding normal leaders to lead our students. It’s a microcosm of what our nation has seen at the macro level: extremism, shaming, blaming, fire-throwing, name calling, and generally less-than-mature behavior. I’ve stayed out of it for the most part but I’m not totally ignorant to what has gone on. 

(the rest of this was on an old email newsletter that shut down, thanks TinyLetter)

Life in Grapevine, Texas during the 1920’s to 1950’s (from the Star-Telegram archive)

A while back I stumbled across this post from the Star-Telegram of photos from our little town back in the day. Because too much on the internet gets lost, I decided to grab a copy of it all as an archive for myself. Your mileage may vary.

A couple things I’ve noted looking through them:

• #1: We attend this congregation though neither the building or the location are the same as this photo.
• #7: This school building still stands and has been a place of education for both of my boys (currently the younger one still has 1.5 years left in it). It’s also a block from our house.
• #12: We’ve had the same mayor for over 40 years. The mayor before him? His dad.
• #19: The Lucas family has owned and operated a funeral home in Grapevine for decades. My current office used to be the place where they stored their caskets.
• #24: Ola Mae (Black) Hodges was one of our favorite Grapevine residents for years when we first moved here. She and her husband lived in the same house for almost 60 years and amazingly enough, had the same phone number for their entire time of owning the home. Her husband Bob was a war veteran, a varsity quarterback at Grapevine HS, and has forgotten more committed-to-memory scripture than I’ll ever be able to learn.
• #32: There are more cantaloupes in this picture than I’ve seen grown in this town in my entire time living here. I kind of wish I was around when we were a little more agriculture focused.
• #33: The tallest building on the left side of the street in this photo is my office (right above where it says Drugs).
• #36: This building is about 3 doors north of my office. No longer a bank, now it’s a steakhouse.
• #37: We live in the D.E. Box neighborhood of Grapevine. Prior to this photo, I didn’t know who D.E Box was.
• #43: Again, office on left side, tallest building.
• #44: A little more recent view of downtown to match it up with #43.

Just to be clear, I was standing behind an L-screen and my entire body was behind it when the ball was struck. What I wasn’t aware of, was the small hole that had opened up between the netting and the pole that it was attached to right about face-height for a pitcher as they follow through with their motion. The ball found it and my maxillofacial bones without too much trouble.

I was immediately turned and dropped with a handful of blood and a gaggle of 7th grade boys running to my side to check on me. While it happened fairly quickly, I remember most of it quite vividly.

Since I’ve made it about seven days, I figured I’d document a few things I don’t want to forget going forward:

• I am a lucky/blessed man. Depending on what your belief system is, I am fortunate on multiple fronts.
  • It could have been a lot worse. There’s a chance this story could have never been pinned and I’ve thought about that more than once.
  • I have people in my life who care deeply for me and I hope I never take that for granted. My wish is the same for each and every one of you… to have this and to know this (without enduring a similar experience). The calls, texts, food, prayers, emails, texts, calls, notes, kind words, hugs, etc. Y’all are awesome.
  • With all of it’s faults, we do have a pretty spectacular medical system in the United States; my journey isn’t over yet but the speed, the expertise, and the technology that I have seen over the last week has been pretty impressive.
  • People are understanding. Everyone has deadlines and needs but most I’ve dealt with have been understanding of my situation and provided grace as I return back to full speed.
• Protein shakes aren’t that tasty. I’m looking down the barrel of a 6-week soft food diet and trying to find things to keep me from wasting away. I’ve tried a couple so far and I had a buddy bring me a new mixable powder today but I can’t say that I’m ready to go all-in on a liquid diet forever, just yet.
• I didn’t realize how much I talked. Sorry all, maybe the next 6-8 weeks will train me to be a little slower to speak and quicker to listen. Strong verbs, short sentences. *
• It was only a matter of time. It’s kind of morbid to think about but I’ve been climbing into batting cages (or fields, bullpens, sand lots) for over 11 years as a coach/father and you just have to figure with the law of averages that at some point, I was going to get hit. I’ve taken plenty of arm and leg shots, but I’m assuming this will be the one I remember the longest.
• It wasn’t his fault. Note to self: You’ve reached out to both of his parents and will continue to do so, just help him to understand nothing about this was his fault. He hit a great ball and it was a total freak accident, don’t let him wear it.
• I’ll be back. It’ll take a minute and I’m sure it will rattle me a little, but I love those dudes and that game too much not to saddle up and give it another go.
• They know best and they mean well. There are days where your wife and your mom are probably right, even when you don’t agree with them. Let them be right sometimes.
• I’ve never had orthodontia. But I guess now is as good of a time as any.
• I turned down the plates and screws. It’s his job, it’s how he gets paid, obviously he’s going to recommend it. But I don’t have to do it. I’ll endure the protein shakes and mashed potatoes over metal and surgery. Sure hope I’m right.
• Medical stuff wigs me out. Pretty sure that CT Scan shot lasers through my brain and I didn’t like it one bit.
• Telling others is weird. Writing this post, telling people via text or phone, or generally sharing in any capacity feels odd. It feels like I’m bragging but I promise, I’m not. It’s why I haven’t posted on social media or anywhere else yet, I don’t want it to seem like I’m pandering for empathy. I know you care.
• I’m glad it was me. Do you know how bad I would feel right now if I had one of my players throwing batting practice that night to the other ones? I don’t think I could sleep.
• My business partner is a pretty solid dude. I’d have fired me long ago. He just rolls with it and continually picks up the slack.
• “At least 3 fractures.” Bones (and our bodies) are crazy things. They break and then they heal. Hard for me to reconcile that fact with other theories out there.

I’m sure there’s more.

I’m re-adjusting. It’ll take time but I’ll get back to 100. If you want to see me in rough-ER-aftermath-shape, I’ve added a picture after the break. I don’t blame you if it’s not your thing.

*Bernadine Healy

—

Youth sports is a machine now. It’s a money making engine. And it’s not just baseball; many of you parents do it for soccer, cheer, dance, lacrosse, swimming, basketball, etc.

I am fully aware that my family feeds into it.

1/x

There is a place for recreational sports, it doesn’t have to be ‘select’ or nothing.

My Saturday morning consisted of hosting Opening Day ceremonies for our local Rec program and it was amazing. The joy on the faces was contagious.

2/x

Parade of teams; first pitches; new uniforms; home run derby’s; T-ball kids running to the wrong base; and parents that were just excited to see little Johnny try something out.

Parents of young ones, if I have any advice, don’t look past those days.

3/x

Will there be a day that you need to move Johnny into something more competitive? Possibly. But I promise you, it’s entirely okay to allow them to play for fun.

Please don’t take the fun away. Not for an upgraded jersey or a $5 ring (or worse, your own bragging rights).

4/x

Let them dream of playing in the big leagues. Are their chances high? No. Do fractional statistics about their chances of playing SS for a living on the Yankees matter to a 10-year old? Nope. Encourage them to dream big.

5/x

Utilize team sports to teach lessons. Teamwork. Encouraging others. Dusting yourself (and others) off when you fail. Overcoming struggles and losses. Celebrating little and big wins. Building (and re-building) confidence.

6/x

I’ve seen it and said it 1 million times:

Parents ruin youth sports.

Don’t be that parent.

7/x

My rules for being a good sports (or other extra-curricular) parent:

1. Cheer for your player and their teammates.
2. Repeat.

Now, I admit that I break rule number 1. I don’t have it all figured out but I’m working on it. When I’m a grandparent, I’ll nail it.

8/x

When the game is over. Tell them you love them and that you enjoyed watching them play. Mean it.

They’re going to strike out. They’re going to make errors. They’re going to *insert every mistake you can think of for your preferred sport*.

Tell them you’re proud of them.

9/x

Some of the best lessons my boys have learned have come from things that have happened in the participation of activities with others. I’m thankful for those lessons, some of which I can’t teach on my own.

However, there are a couple I can teach; your mileage may vary…

10/x

Lessons that I have on my plate to teach them:

1. Love God
2. Know that God loves you.
3. Love your neighbor.
4. Know that your family loves you.

If I can get them to understand those, the rest has a good chance of working itself out.

11/x

If I ever make it my goal of teaching them that their worth is based on their performance, I failed. (And trust me, I have)

“I love you and I enjoyed watching you play.” – dad

If you can do that, you’re gonna nail being a sports parent.

12/x

My apologies, this tweet storm probably would have been a little more suited for an email or a blog post.

I guess the moral of the story is this: baseball is fun. Go play catch with your kid (or do whatever else it is that they love to do).

13/13

Last week was Spring Break for our kids. It wasn’t in the cards for us to do a big SB trip but we also didn’t want the boys to not have anything the whole week, either. We opted for a few days of mixed rest, chores, and play for them and them and then Melanie and I both took Friday off to hang and do a bit of a stay-cation date with them. If you’re local to DFW and wanting to pull one of your own off, here’s our itinerary and my feedback:

9:30a
La La Land Coffee (Oak Lawn)
★★★★☆
Cool spot. Lots of yellow. Plenty of parking behind the building. Wait was probably 15 mins from entry to getting coffee. Limited seating inside and tables were totally full, had to get it to go. Cohen got some sort of “campfire” drink that was pretty cool — they dropped some marshmallow cream on top and cooked it with a torch, crumbled graham crackers, etc.

10:30a
OSO Climbing Gym (Design District)
★★★★☆
If I could figure out how, I’d give this 4.5 stars. I had a blast and I think the boys did as well. Melanie enjoyed it but I don’t think it’s going to be her “thing.” OSO is a ‘bouldering’ gym only which means that there are no harness or ropes, just shorter walls that you climb down or jump off when you’re done and mats at the bottom. OSO was welcoming and friendly; the place was super-clean; they were cool with the boys being there; and I felt zero judgement from anyone. They had ‘routes’ for everyone from beginners to experts. We just bought day-passes which gave us access to everything but if I was 10 years younger and 10 miles closer, they might have been able to talk me into a membership. Lessons learned:

1. 1. Climbing folks are tough cookies!
2. 2. Your forearms and fingers will hate you for a day or two after.
3. 3. It’s physically impossible to do some of the things the regulars were doing, they had to have glue on their hands or actually be Spiderman.

12:45p
Hurtado BBQ (Arlington)
★★★★★
I’d never heard of Hurtado until Texas Monthly ranked them in the Top 50 BBQ joints last fall, and they are absolutely deserving of that award. So good. Brisket, ribs, burnt ends, birria tacos, smoked turkey, etc. We stood in line for probably 20-25 minutes and lucked out with an indoor table right as we paid. It was windy/cool that day so sitting outside would have been a challenge. They’re open Wed-Sun from 11a until 5p or sellout. The only thing that was sold out when we got there was the sausage and I believe we got the last of the burnt ends (my apologies to everyone behind us). The customer service was great and the prices were actually reasonable for BBQ. We got the El Jefe platter for $40 and it fed all four of us with some leftover to take home.

2:30p
Urban Air Adventure Park (Southlake)
★★★☆☆
This one was a fail on my part. On Thursday, I had looked up Crush It Sports in Grapevine and the times were wide open; I had no idea it would fill up so quickly on Friday. We showed up and they didn’t have anything available. We also looked at Free Play Arlington and Corky’s Gaming Bistro as options but when we asked the boys, they said they’d prefer Urban Air. As a parent, this place isn’t all that exciting but the boys had fun and it was what they wanted to do. They both played dodgeball, hit the trampolines for a bit, and Keegan drove the go karts one time. I’d give it 2.5 stars, your mileage may vary.

6:15p
Derby (Dallas)
★☆☆☆☆
This place had so much potential. We found it on our phones while sitting at Urban Air. We wanted to finish out the day with a fun dinner spot. The concept and ambiance were really cool, the execution, not so much. The idea is that they’ve got a pristine warehouse full of a variety of cool cars stored there (privately owned) and you eat dinner alongside it. There were old cars, new cars, motorbikes, etc. The only problem is? You can’t get out and walk around and get a look at the cars. You eat in a room next door with big glass windows but unless you’re a member, you can’t walk out near them. Let. down. To top it off, the pricing was a bit much ($18 hamburger) and the food was less than mediocre. I don’t think any of us liked our meals. The boys got a Cuban sandwich for $18 and they immediately pointed out that Wienberger’s (the local deli here in Grapevine) would kill it for half the price! Can’t recommend this place to anyone, even car enthusiasts.

7:30p
Howdy Homemade Ice Cream (North Dallas)
★★★★★
Where Derby failed, Howdy made up for it. I’ll eat ice cream just fine though I don’t crave it like some. And the ice cream here was very good but my favorite part about Howdy is that one of their missions is providing work for — and building up — the special needs community. We had the pleasure of meeting Hannah and Megan and I can imagine we will be returning again. Mission-minded businesses always have a good chance of earning my business, especially when they execute it right. Well done, Howdy.

— —

All-in-all, we had a really good day. It wasn’t skiing in the Alps but I think the boys enjoyed it. There was no fortnite-ing; very little arguing; and several, “thank you’s” throughout the day, so I call it a success.

This typically isn’t a travel blog so feel free to pass right on through if it isn’t your thing.

If you are in the Dallas area and need some other date-night or family-night ideas, hit me up. If you have any, feel free to send those along as well.

At the time of this writing, I’ve been married over 21 years. I bought this hat in college, prior to getting married, meaning that I’ve owned it for more than 21 years. As you can see, it’s been worn a couple times.

The bill shows signs of wear. A frayed edge; exposed guts; sweat rings; a faded autograph. There’s paint on it. The blues are muted and the whites definitely aren’t white when you set it next to something that is.

I don’t wear it that much anymore. Sometimes I’ll pull it out of the closet and toss it on backwards. The barrelled curve of the bill isn’t as trendy as it used to be, but more than that, it’s a little hard to finagle when wearing with my glasses. I’ve mowed in it. I’ve surfed in it. I’ve rescued it just before sinking to the bottom of the lake on a summer day. I’ve worn it to baseball games. I’ve tucked it under my leg while riding my motorcycle knowing that when I took my helmet off I would want something to hide the craziness of helmet-hair.

On the back, it has a ‘1974’ embroidered on it. It’s a commemorative hat. April 8, 1974 was the day that Hank Aaron hit career home run number 715, passing the mark set by Babe Ruth. Hammerin’ Hanks record (755) stood for another 30 years (and if you ask some purists, still stands today).

The lower case ‘a’ on the front is a throwback to the one worn by the Atlanta Braves in the 70’s. Today’s version is a capital ‘A’, sometimes combined with a tomahawk.

There’s controversy with the name. There’s precedence for change. The Football Team went first and then the Guardians. One has to wonder how much longer before the Braves become the Vipers, or the Pine Trees, or the all encompassing Team of Baseball Players.

My home state(s) didn’t have a professional baseball team growing up. We got one in an expansion era when I was in high school.

Funny side note, my cousin and I got tickets one time to go see the Rockies play in April. It was probably their first or second season to play. We got up early, made the 4-ish hour drive over to Denver, found the stadium, parked, got inside, grabbed our hot dogs, found our seats, and promptly waited in the snow for an hour before they postponed the game to a later date in the season. I was part of what was probably the first “snowout” in the Colorado Rockies franchise history.

Even though they came to my state, I didn’t really ever have many ties to the home team.

I already had a team.

I have no idea how Ted Turner is as a person. I vaguely recall stories of his ex-wife being “un-American” and if you Google him today, he’s got some controversial viewpoints of his own. His personal interests are of little consequence to me mostly, but I am grateful for his contribution to my life in one area.

For a time, Ted owned a medium-sized-market franchise baseball team called the Atlanta Braves. That in itself probably wouldn’t have too much impact on my life if he hadn’t also been the founder of a small cable TV channel called WTBS.

In the plains of eastern New Mexico and on the western slope of Colorado, we might have had a shortage of professional baseball teams but we had TV and access to a random cable network called TBS. And with TBS, we had baseball.

Real baseball. Live games. Skip Carey. 7th inning stretches. Dale Murphy. Take Me Out To The Ballgame. Intentional walks. Steve Avery. And so much more.

Leroy Thomas moved to Portales, New Mexico nearly two decades before I was born. From what I’ve seen with my own eyes, he’s been a small business owner; a preacher of the Word; a civically-minded stalwart in his community; a family man; a lover of grand kids; a lender of hands, feet, advice, love, and money; and I’m grateful for all of these things and for the example he’s set for generations. He’s far greater than even what I’ve seen with my eyes though.

I know him as Ponga. And today, the thing that I’m really grateful for, is my grandfather’s love for — and the introduction to — the Atlanta Braves.

It’s been a quarter of a century since the Braves had won the World Series. But this morning, they get to reset that clock again. It took them 6 games and unfortunately they didn’t even get to do it on their own field, but they are champs once more. Quite frankly, from a talent standpoint, they shouldn’t be the champs. They aren’t a group of mashers nor are they a set of 4 top aces that go 8-innings deep each outing. They’re not quite misfits but as Joe Buck told us 312 times, they’re mostly newbies around each other, only coming together in their final form at the trading deadline.

But they’re Ponga’s team. And by proxy — starting somewhere around the age of 2 or 3 — they became my team.

Ask many Braves fans and I bet they’ll tell you a similar story. The Braves were all we had. And for this short while, we get to tell you the story again.

I haven’t called him yet but I have no doubt that Ponga was watching last night. Unfortunately his eyesight isn’t what it used to be but I know he enjoyed it. The home runs, the double plays, the non-challenge in the first inning of game 6; I know he was as plugged in as I was.

“The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball.”
– Terence Mann

This morning I pulled my old hat out of the closet and carried it with me to work. Today it’s been on my desk, on my head, waived in the air at my luncheon, and prompted smiles from many. And I’m happy that it still fits.

So, lets cheers to old hats. And shared interests. And legacies. And baseball.

#ChopOn

via @cheapoldhouses