My Father's Day, First Pitches, and a Bit About Tim Russert

I don’t have a bucket list. I do have a mental list of things I’d like to say I’ve done, and yesterday I got to officially cross one off. I threw out the first pitch at a baseball game. Now, it wasn’t Fenway or even PGE Park as I have always imagined, but I enjoyed the opportunity tremendously.

It’s one of those things that is both easy and hard to check off of a list. DigiTel, the company I work for is a sponsor of the Mat-Su Miners based in Palmer, AK. Yesterday we were the primary sponsor for the game. It involved lots of giveaways, and the opportunity to throw out the first pitch. With my love of baseball and my years of playing the sport, I jumped at the chance.

The combination of baseball and business makes it fitting that this event happened on Father’s Day. When I was a kid, my dad would come home from a full day of work to play catch, catch my often wild pitches, coach third base at games (who loved to send base runners to steal home), and was always the most supportive dad on all the teams I played on.

My dad has been a great example to me in business too. He’s always said that having a firm understanding of how the little things make up the big picture helps making big decisions easier.

Years and years ago, I took a summer job working as a contractor for his company while they went through an inventory management system installation. My work consisted of lots of data entry and working out the kinks on the database as it was implemented to the warehouse. Spending as much time with the warehouse guys gave me a good appreciation for how the blue collar working guys saw my dad. Union tensions were pretty high that summer as a few other unions went on strike, but getting the perspective of the union warehouse guys of my dad and his role in operations management let me know that he wasn’t just another ‘suit’ to them. Whether it was because he understood the parts of the whole, or because he found common ground relationally with the guys, they respected him and his role whether the union appreciated that or not.

He’s been an example of how to lead, how to organize and how to remain loyal despite the company not always being loyal to you.

I'm a weekly watcher of both Meet the Press and Tim Russert's MSNBC show, so the sad news of his death and the tributes that followed have been showing up in my Tivo recordings a lot the last few days. One thing Tom Brokaw and James Carville talked about on the special Meet The Press yesterday was how Tim Russert would become a fan of what his friends were fans of, he'd call Carville about LSU touchdowns, Mike Barnicle even mentioned how excited he was Thursday night about the Celtics coming back to beat the Lakers (I can't share that enthusiasm) with a midnight phone call. My dad shares this enthusiasm not just about sports teams, but will go above and beyond to learn about what his friends and family are in to. Whether it means buying an album on iTunes, sending articles about a particular industry to a friend, or calling the moment the last out of the Red Sox winning the World Series, he's dedicated to finding or creating common ground.

Whether baseball, business, or life, my dad has been a great influence on who I am and who I want to be. Thanks, Dad for the example, the advice (the more true; the harder to take), and for making time for a game of catch (even as adults). Know that I’ve found those times priceless.

2000 New York Yankees

Is it me or does the Mitchell report looks a lot like the 2000 New York Yankees roster?

Chuck Knoblauch, David Justice, Glenallen Hill, Jose Canseco, Roger Clemens, Andy Pettite, Denny Neagle, Jason Grimsley

I'm not saying, I'm just saying...coincidence it was the last World Series they won?

Clay Buchholz Tosses No Hitter in Second Start

Clay Buchholz won't have to deal with being an anonymous sillouette for long after today's no hitter. Not only has Buchholz not been in the majors long enough to have a photo on file, but he's still waiting to get credit for the win on ESPN.com...hence the ND above.

Internet Appetite

It's clear that the College World Series. Two things make it clear; traffic comes in big waves looking for various parts of Erin Andrews' anatomy and the Oregon State Beavers are still playing baseball. Sorry there's nothing new on Erin in the news, but thanks for stopping by, anyway. It's clear the internet's appetite for Erin Andrews is strong...just wait 'til Monday night baseball on ESPN and Thursday night college football. So, for the record, I don't have any answers to your Google searches for "Erin Andrews Bielema" or "Erin Andrews _____ (fill in the blank with a body part and you're pretty safe to assume it's been a hit here)." Although the cup of coffee is always on the table, Erin. Go Beavers!

Randomness or What I Can Learn From Traffic Stats

It's pretty standard in the blog world that if your posting frequency drops off, so goes your traffic. Life's been pretty busy the last couple of weeks, but I really have no excuse for not posting. I'm adjusting to life in Alaska, but that's no excuse. I've moved into my new apartment (as sparse as the furnishings might be) and have spent considerable time unpacking and assembling furniture, but that's no excuse. I've been putting in longer hours at work to play some catchup, but that's no excuse. The catch-22 of blogging is that traffic can drive inspiration, but traffic requires content, content only comes by inspiration...and therein lies the rub.

Here are a few things that I can tell you from looking at traffic stats...

This post is likely to be read tomorrow (Tuesday), because there are very few visitors late in the evening. Alaska is an hour earlier than Pacific time, so I might as well be posting as you're drinking your morning coffee...or tea or Nescafe judging by the Chinese, Indian and Euro traffic. For some reason traffic hasn't dipped much internationally, just my perhaps finicky US readers have taken a hit. There are several hits that suggest some readers might be enjoying some Kaladi brothers while reading, which is encouraging as I'm a big fan of Alaskan traffic. There's something to be said for twittering or blogging about a pretty sweet overturned semi on the southbound Seward Hwy tonight or the cashier at Kaladi who never charges me the extra quarter for Vanilla in my 20 oz. SL. Or you might notice the events added to the sidebar are much different from Eric Clapton in San Jose or Son Volt at the Fillmore...instead you see Colin Hay and David Sedaris. Perhaps more on Colin Hay soon...

How about those Red Sox!?! Swept the Yanks in Fenway for the first time in 17 years or something like that. Sure the argument can be made that Boston had their best pitchers and New York's best pitchers are injured. Pettite's no slouch, and that's the way it works. Last year in the big sweep the Yanks put together I think the Sox threw Charlie Hough out there due to injuries.

I'm planning to get out this week or weekend to shoot some pictures, because let me tell you...there have been some beautiful days up here the last couple of weeks.

Opening Day

I went to the final exhibition game of the season yesterday and saw the Giants and the A's play in Oakland. I got to see Barry Bonds crush two home runs in his only two at bats. I can say there isn't much doubt as to whether he will pass Hank Aaron this season, he's in good shape and looks ready to play. He had the advantage of playing DH because of the AL park, so it will be interesting to see how playing the field will affect his at bats. Last night the Cardinals and Mets kicked off the regular season and Tom Glavine looked dominant against the defending champion Cardinals and the Mets lineup is going to make things interesting. Today is the big kick off of the season as 26 teams are playing today. Already the Yankees won and A-Rod homered in the 8th to solidify the win. With all the running around and last minute tasks for my move to Alaska, I wish I had the ability to watch some more baseball today...but I have promises to keep...and miles to go before I sleep...and miles to go before I sleep.