Random Labor Day: Everything Else

I had a limited time yesterday and I only got through two of the items I wanted to I'm going to try and bang the rest of the weekend before I go to work in 30 minutes.

DISC GOLF FUN
Since it has been so hot and I well, had a thumb and wrist injury I could not disc golf. I don't know what got into be, but I wanted to disc golf the weekend away. As usual I had high hopes and wanted to get 4 courses in. Well, I only got two in, but I had a lot of fun.

The first course was out n Zebulon, I've played there before, but it's kind of a haul (35 minutes), it's a pretty drive in the country and I get to see a lot of the tobacco fields in the area. The course if fair at best. The holes are not well marked and you have to play around some ball fields and a gravel road. It didn't help that I couldn't throw a disc straight and more than 5 feet off the ground.

On Sunday I left church and went out to Durham because I heard of a great course. Luckily, the course was really good and worth the 50 minute drive. It reminded me a lot like a mixture of the three courses I played in Columbus, lots of trees, fairly straight shots on a lot of the holes and pretty well laid out. The biggest problem I had, besides throwing a disc, was the hills, it was all up and down. For the last 6 weeks all I have done is sit at a computer at work and that dropped my stamina a little, so it was more tiring than I had hoped, so I struggled the last few holes. I'd defiantly come back to this course when I have a lot of free time and extra money for gas.

GAME NIGHT
Shawn, Melissa, The Wife and I have tried to have a game night for a few months ago, but things like vacations, work schedules and general bad luck have forced us to cancel every time. Well luck turned and we actually had game night. I cooked up some burgers and chicken, they brought some drinks and some games and we had a good time. We only got one game in, because it took forever! We played 90s Trivial Pursuit and I forgot how tedious the game can be. You have to land on a specific square to get a game piece and it took forever. While playing we did learn one thing. I know way too much about absolutely nothing. If you dropped me off in the middle of nowhere, I'd probably die within the first 10 minutes, but ask me who was the first person to climb to the top of the Murderhorn and then leave his wallet, I'd tell you it was Homer. Maybe I need to rethink my life..... Nah!

There was more that happened during my time off, but I can't get the words to flow to describe them. All I will say it was a great near five days off and I have no desire to go back to work.

Take Me Out to the Mudcats

Only only does the Triangle have the Durham Bulls, but they have the Florida Marlin's Double A team the Carolina Mudcats. Our church decieded to have an outing to see a game so I though I'd give them a shot.

The first big difference from the Durham Bulls is that the Bulls are in an actual city. The Mudcats... not so much, they say it's in Zebulon, but truthfully Zebulon is currently a blip on the map of eastern Wake County. I'm guessing that's why the team uses Carolina not Zebulon, and to be honest Carolina sounds cooler, unless you went with the Z-town Mudcats. When you get to the statium it is very plain on the outside, most of the time when you go to a newer minor league park they have a front of the station, here they have kind of a side entrance that is not well marked. Inside it's not too bad, nothing special just your run of the mill park. We have seats on the third baseline near the outfield.

Once we get to our seats I realize I'm the only one interested in the actual game, which is fine yet odd. I know there will be a lot of socializing, but the last time I did something like this was in Columbus and the Senior adults were harassing me for wearing my Mudhens jersey (The Clippers just happened to be playing the Hens). I start watching the game and the girl, Sommer, who set this whole thing sat down and after five minutes I realized that she knew nothing about baseball. I had to explain everything to her. The hardest part was explaining Double A ball. For those who don't know baseball has levels: The lowest levels are Developmental and Rookie leagues, next is Single A, then Double A, Triple A and finally the Major Leagues. The best part was when she was asked, "Why are the Braves playing the Mudcats?" She didn't realize that the team from Mississippi and happened to be apart of the Atlanta Braves farm system.

I finally made some head way and started to watch the game. I had never seen a Double A game, I've mostly watched the Majors and Triple A, while in West Virginia I did shoot a couple of Single A games, but I still try and block that year out. The first thing I realized is that... this is not very good baseball, it also doesn't help that the Mudcats are below .500. From what I gathered from this one game is that Double A is like the adolesence of the baseball world. You're not ready for the Majors, but too good for Single A, but not quit ready for Triple A as well. There were four errors, a couple of passed balls, bad throws to the catcher and not so good pitching all the way around. The worst baseball of the night was on a bunt the shortstop Chase Lambin makes contact and the ball rolls down the line and could go foul, so he stands just outside of the batters box watching the ball. The third baseman charges the ball and it stays fair, he grabs teh ball and throws... it... over the head of the first baseman. FINALLY Chase starts to run and barely beats out the second throw. I hope he got reamed for his laziness, you always run on the play, you never know when a ball will stay fair or there is an over throw or both.

Even though the Mudcats lost and I may be a little harsh on the play, but a night of baseball is still a good night.