Hey there,
Great story yesterday in the Taiwan News. Taiwanese student in underpants chases thief, dubbed 'Captain Underpants'. That pretty much sums it up...some guy was breaking into dorm rooms, got caught by a guy who was getting dressed and then chased the robber out into the street. The reason to click on the link is to see the CCTV footage of the robber getting chased by Captain Underpants. Classic Taiwan.
Have lamented the last couple of times how the weather has been particularly sucky here this winter and was validated by the news that Taipei has had the most February rainfall in 11 years, which coincides with just how long we've been here. Another report said there has been rain in 47 out of 52 days this year. A lot of folks were feeling the affects of SAD, but this PNW'er felt right at home.
The cold and rainy spell broke last weekend, just in time for our baseball team's tournament in Taichung. Taichung is a couple of hours plus south of Taipei, but as it was a long holiday weekend, the trip took about 4 hours each way with the added traffic. We drove but most of the others took the high speed rail, which takes 48 minutes. Sometimes my desire to always drive bites me in the ass.
So this is now a baseball talk entry. A brief history. For 30-some odd years, our school played slow pitch softball for boys and girls. I don't know why they didn't play baseball, but that is what we came to in 2012. In 2016, our school, along with the 5 other international schools we are associated with in the region (Manila, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta and Bangkok) voted to change to baseball. As there is no little league per se in Taiwan, and we didn't have a pipeline of players to work on their game at school, we didn't have many players that were good at baseball, nor many that had ever played. Learning baseball in middle or high school is not gonna produce a competent roster.
And it didn't. We sucked bad early on and progress was slow. We have a couple of teachers that are baseball junkies and they have poured their beings into working with the kids. Our high school guy is a great teacher and knows the game, which helped shape the older kids into ones that not only got better, but instilled a love of the sport so that many of them now seek out training outside of school. The other guy began a program in the middle and lower schools that gave kids an opportunity to practice and play year round. He is the equal to the HS guy in that he is a patient and positive teacher that loves the game to the core. I have been fortunate to ingratiate myself with both of those guys so get to come out and be with all the teams a lot. I may not be a great teacher but bring what I bring and am the extra set of hands to help wherever.
So our Varsity boys have maybe won 5 games total since 2017 and that is being generous as I can't remember 5 off hand. We also have a JV team and they have been...a lot of words come to mind and they are all awful. They have not only never won a game but cannot think of one that was closer than 8-10 runs. This year, after 5 years of development, we are...decent?
Our JV team has won their first 2 games. That team is comprised mainly of Freshman that have been playing together for several years and they are nice players and know what to on the field. This may be due to my bias towards baseball, but it is hard to be good. I've played and coached other sports, and have watched them all intensely to some degree, and there is no doubt that baseball is the hardest to master. They say hitting a golf ball is the hardest thing to do. That ball is stationary and the club is 3 times the size and flat. The bat is round and the same size as the ball and is moving. Sometimes fast, sometimes with a break, and sometimes fast with a break...often times right at your skull. Every position needs to do something for every ball in play and that something is dependent on the number of people on base, their speed, and where the ball is hit...and if you don't instinctively react instantly to the hit with all those factors being considered, you haven't done your job. A lot of folks say that baseball players are soft. How about taking a pitch to the body going 60-100 mph. Or in the field when a ground ball takes a nasty hop and hits your face or nuts. Sliding into base is fraught with peril for both the baserunner and the position guy. Baseball players wear spikes, metal ones as you get older. Take a peek at the 12 inches of scars I have on my foot after breaking it as a 14 year old. And I shudder when I even think of what a catcher goes through on every pitch. Oh yeah...the best batters fail 7 out of 10 times, so if you are soft, how do you get back in the box with any confidence at that rate. The yips were invented by baseball. Every interaction on the field is a one on one conflict, but if the other 8 guys don't do their part, you lose, so it is both an individual and team sport. Most importantly, baseball has the best bench situation with lots of time to interact, so if that dynamic isn't just right, it can affect what goes on between the lines. And trust me, the dugout is not only the best bench in all sports, but might be one of the coolest places to be in the history of humankind.
Then there are those that say it is boring. Will eliminate those that don't identify with any sport, but those that are and say it is boring, I don't think you are stupid...I know it. Sure, there are boring parts and boring games, but that can be said of any sport. If you are a parent that had little kids play baseball and got into one of those walk fests, I feel your pain, but the boring parts are also kinda the point. Baseball games have the perfect mix of quiet time where you can have a conversation, and just enough action to get you out of your seat. You also have to be smart to keep track of the statistics and metrics that are in opposition to human error. I am always happy to debate this topic but you will lose.
Our first JV game was a week ago Saturday and it was a 45 minute bus ride away. The other coach had to drive so it was just me and the kiddies, and we went on the short bus, which I had to explain to them why it was appropriate for them to be taking it. Without the other coach, who is a teacher at the school, the boys felt a little freer to let their dirty minds loose. These are majority Freshmen boys aged 14-15, so they are learning how to be perverts. They are playing the regular filthy hip hop songs and then one of the ringleaders asks if he can play and rap along with 3 Big Balls
Jeezum Christmas...
They all knew it too. Apparently, there is a whole genre of gay rappers singing the most graphic of songs, but this thing is AMAZING! It's on Spotify and has found a place on at least one of my playlists. That the boys felt comfortable with me to share this makes me happy. Probably shouldn't be, but there it is. We have played against this team for years and they spank us bad every time, and we are losing 8-0 through 4 innings. We score four in the 5th and then seven more in the 6th and then end up holding them off just long enough to win 11-10. Wow. I could share a play by play and highlights, but suffice it to say that there were some big moments. After the game, coach is giving a little chat and he uses the word 'stiff' to describe something. One of the more perverted of the crew starts to giggle and brings the chat to a hilarious halt.
A lot of us then hit the road to the 12 team tournament in Taichung for games on Sunday/Monday. We end up winning 3 of 4 and finish in third place. It is weird here as due to covid, we were unable to compete as the school at the start of the season, but the rules changed and we can now, but had registered for some games/tournaments as our outside of school club team called the Renegades. All the same players, just not a school sponsored event. It also gives us some flexibility on rosters so we can mix up the teams instead of strict Varsity/JV designations. All of our games were joyous...not only cause we were successful, but that we got to travel and hang as a group at the hotel/for dinner with families, and the weather was postcard perfect (after the long stretch of rain detailed above). The baseball program at school is also unusual as we do not have a field on campus where we can play games, so all of our contests are off campus. Other than golf, we are the only program where that happens and all other sports are played at school. And no one has been able to get away for trips cause of covid except for us.
The guys are so effin' funny. So many gags and comments and good natured ribbing. Each one has a screw loose and they all know where to poke the other. I am typically the bench coach so get to hear all the chats, and as I am emotionally a 15 year old boy, we relate to each other and they feel free to include me in the banter. We are watching our guys in the field and one of the points out how tight our 2nd baseman's pants are. His mom gets them tailored to be that way and now it is all I see. Our 1st baseman is rough and everyone barks like a dog whenever he bats or makes a play in the field. We have a relief pitcher that throws so slow that his balls are more affected by gravity than velocity. An outfielder draws pictures of Homer Simpson in the dirt with a bat between innings. I could go through every kid and tell you what makes them special and weird, but what goes on in the dugout, stays in the dugout. I will share one moment from the last day. One of my jobs was to make sure the fellas are staying hydrated and not getting burnt, and as I was going around, noticed a couple needed to reapply some sunscreen. One of them is the biggest perv of the bunch so told him, let's call him Daniel, that he needed to lube up. Borderline I know, but that started the rest of them off . Daniel laughs and says 'why do you have to say it like that coach', and his buddies then interject that Daniel brought lube along with him to the hotel. And then they say, not only lube, but a big container of it and they then describe how big this bottle is for at least a few pitches with each description getting funnier and funnier. They finally run out of comments and then I say to Daniel...'sock or tissue?" They liked that.
This past weekend, we were able to reserve the local professional baseball stadium to play a round of our tournament games in. We got a deal from the city as it was also a charity event. Admission was free but we asked for donations that will all go to Taiwan Association Against Depression (TAAD). Have written about it before, but we lost a kid at the beginning of last season and TAAD was a part in the recovery process for our community. Our head coach has been really good in making sure that we collectively remember to take mental health seriously and to give back to the place we live in any way we can.
Such a fun day. Our two teams lost all three of the games we played, but we got to play in a big league stadium.
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