WE HAVE A NEW CHAMPION!

Congratulations to Str8 Ballin who defeated the Terminal Digits at Nicholl Park yesterday to claim the 2013 FHFB Softball Championship.



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BRICKS TO REMAIN INACTIVE IN 2013

The FHFB Softball League will play without us again in 2013. There are coaching commitments with youth baseball programs, injuries, and scheduling conflicts that would have made it impossible to field a full squad. I hope everyone who still wishes to play will catch on with another team as many of you did last year. I'll be in touch again next winter to see if we can assemble a team for the 2014 softball season.

SITTING THIS ONE OUT

It's official -- the PC Bricks will be not be playing in 2012. Between scheduling conflicts, other obligations, and summer vacations, we won't have enough players to field a team this summer.

I have mixed feelings about this. On one side, I've been pretty fed up with our squad's lack of enthusiasm the past two seasons. We had a small core of players who were really into playing softball and being a part of the team. The rest seemed to view our team as something to fill their time when they didn't have something better to do. I grew to resent my weekly struggle to get our players to attend practice and show up for our games. When the season was over I was relieved.

On the flip side, I enjoy the game immensely and I'm sure I will miss it as the summer wears on. I will miss the camaraderie, the competition, and the process of developing a cohesive team. I will miss making new friends with the players who join our team and those with whom we compete.

I hope those who still wish to play will catch on with another team and enjoy the season. It may prove to be a good litmus test for the Bricks. If those who play elsewhere have a more fulfilling experience this season, we'll know our team has run its course. If they find it unsatisfying, there may be enough motivation to get the band back together in 2013. We can revisit this next year to see where everyone stands.

I won't be joining another team. I'm going to be on the East Coast from July 4th-28th so I would miss a good chunk of the season. I will probably join a couple of summer bowling leagues and go to more baseball games this year. No doubt I'll still make my way over to Nicholl Park to watch the games when I can. I hope to see many of you on the field and in the stands.

POLICY CHANGE

A pathetic coward has recently seen fit to post a personal attack upon one of our teammates. This will force me to restrict permission to comment on our blog. In the past I have allowed anyone to comment but obviously that has to change. I apologize to those who were exposed to the pack of lies recently posted on this site. The posting has been removed.

MORE OLD PHOTOS

This isn't directly related to our softball team but I thought you might find some amusement in these old photos taken long before many of you were born.

That's me at age 12

I'm in the back row on the left. We won the championship that year.

OLD SCHOOL WNPSC SOFTBALL

Donnie Stance of Crittle's Critters.

I located some photos I thought you might find amusing. They were poached from Dave's Mack's AFGE Local 1122 Group on Facebook. (Clicking on the photos will enlarge them.)



When WNPSC relocated from San Francisco to Richmond in the mid-1970s, our office building wasn't home to the San Francisco Regional Office, the Teleservice Center, the Richmond Field Office, the gym, or the childcare center. All of those things came much later as our office was transformed from WNPSC to the Frank Hagel Federal Building. But we did have organized recreational sports. There were track meets, several bowling leagues, a volleyball league, and of course, a softball league.

THANK YOU, PETE SPENCER

I snapped a few photos at Pete Spencer's retirement party today. Unfortunately, we weren't able to get everyone together for a team photo with Pete. We did manage to gather a few members of our Richmond Bombers tournament team for a photo. We can only hope our next Regional Commissioner will be a man of the people (unless he's a she) and a supporter of our softball league the way Pete was. Pete was at Nicholl Park the day before his retirement shindig to throw out the ceremonial first pitch at our league's championship game. I'm adding some photos from the championship game as well as some shots from Pete's appearance at our game with the Mod Squad. So long, Pete.We'll miss you.

STATS

I saw Quinton at the championship game yesterday. He mentioned that some of you guys had a bet on who would have the highest batting average this season. Maybe there were some other bets too. For the record, here are the stats:

BATTING AVERAGE (BA)
.821 Carlos
.771 Quinton
.683 Brandon
.680 Richie
.615 Derrick

PLAYERS CHOICE SOFTBALL

Mariza plays Tuesday nights in Hercules with a team called "Players Choice." Her teammates include several women from our FHFB softball league. Among them are Rachel from the TD's, Khala from SWAT, and former Bricks, Darlene (Str8 Ballin), Lena and Gena (Str8 Ballin). Gena's husband, Darryl (Str8 Ballin), is also on the team. Their league championship game was played last night at Hannah Ranch Park. Unfortunately, they came up on the short end, 13-7. (I thought I heard the umpire say the final score was 12-7. If so, he missed a run, not that it really matters.)

A group from the office came out to show their support. Richie (with son), Mamie, Leretha, Kathy, Mavis, Ken, Regina, The Coach, and myself were in attendance. Here are the photos I shot at the game:

LEAGUE ALL-STAR GAME & BARBECUE

Our annual All-Star game and barbecue were held this afternoon at Nicholl Park. I think we set a new record with our All-Star game starting only about thirty minutes late. Once we got it going, the game was a lot of fun for players and spectators alike. As usual, it was more of a pick-up game than an All-Star game as anyone who wanted to was able to play..

Once the game concluded, the hungry players and spectators marched over to the picnic area of the park to enjoy an enormous selection of ribs, burgers, links, salads of all sorts, baked beans and desserts. The feast was incredible and it was great to spend the afternoon hanging out with our friends and colleagues from the office.

PREPARING FOR THE UNTOUCHABLES

The only feedback I received about this week's practice was four requests to skip practice on Monday and hold a light workout on Wednesday. That's what we will do..I'd like to get everyone a few swings and a few reps at the position they're likely to play on Thursday. We'll be playing without Richie and Mariza throughout the playoffs (as long as we remain alive) so there will be some defensive adjustments.

So let's make every effort to be at Washington Park on Wednesday at 5:00. If we can get started on time, we should be done in time to zip over to Nicholl Park and catch the end of the playoff games.

OUTLAW TOURNAMENT

Another Outlaw Tournament was held this weekend. This time it was in Fresno and several of us participated. We return from Fresno with good news and bad news. The good news is, we won the tournament championship. The bad news is we lost Richie and Mariza for the rest of the season.

It's a pity this tournament couldn't have been held after our season was done. We've already been hit with season ending injuries to Lawrence and Gabrielle and now we have to carry on without Mariza and Richie in the playoffs.

PLAYOFF SCHEDULE

The results of yesterday's games confirmed that our opponents in the first round of the playoffs will be the Untouchables. We play next Thursday, 5:15 at Nicholl Park #2.

Our last meeting with the Untouchables was our low point of the season. We had to play with six of our women absent and we lost Gabrielle to a season ending injury before the game was called by the umpire for conduct issues instigated by one of our opponents.

For our rematch, we need to be prepared. We know they have a player who will attempt to disrupt our focus.. It's imperative that we tune him out and ignore all attempts to distract us. We can do our talking with our bats and gloves. If we have a good practice and stick to our game plan, we can win this game and keep playing for another week. If we show up unprepared and let their antagonist provoke us into another meltdown, our season will be over.

TD's 20, PC BRICKS 18

It was a noble effort yesterday. We almost pulled it out despite being extremely shorthanded. A special tip of the cap goes out to Mamie and Stephanie who stepped up for us once again. Without them we would have forfeited the game.

Luckily, it was a game we didn't need. We were going to finish in fifth place whether we won or lost. From here on out, the games mean something. The experimentation time is over.

It's almost a lock that our first round playoff game will be next Thursday against the Untouchables at Nicholl Park #2.

It's important that we get everyone to practice Monday. We continue to shoot ourselves in the collective foot with the kinds of mental mistakes that are common of teams that do not practice. Gentlemen, you know we have a surplus of male players. If you skip Monday's practice, don't come to the park next Thursday with expectations of playing. That goes for all of us.

We have a solid core of about six players who show up to our practices regularly. That isn't enough for us to perform our drills. When you don't come to practice, you are not only hurting yourself but you're hurting your teammates whose sharpness is dependent upon your participation. For your team, PLEASE get to work early enough on Monday to reach practice at Washington Park by 5:00. The same six players can't carry this team through the playoffs on their backs. We need EVERYONE to pull together and contribute.

LAWRENCE'S THUMB SURGERY

The surgery on Lawrence's thumb was performed yesterday. Evidently, Lawrence found the only surgeon in the country who wasn't playing golf on a Sunday morning.

PC BRICKS 17, WESTERN LEGENDS 9

Unfortunately, the video came out blury on the camera I aimed at the left side of the field so I can't give you much of a highlight show this week. Also, the umpire shielded my fully functional video camera part of the time.

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH

It's interesting how so many people who weren't present at our game with the Untouchables think they know what happened that day. People who should know better offer up idle speculation about our team. We've heard it all. Some of the gossipers had four of our players clamoring to play for the Untouchables. Others had the entire team packing it in and folding up. And almost all of them are blaming US for the incident that caused the game to be halted.

COACH'S ATTITUDE RATING

Please grade the Coach/Grandpa attitude for yesterday's game against the Western Legends. The rating scale if A+ to F. I will have a prize for the winner at practice on Monday July 25. Who ever matches what i think i did wins.

WEDNESDAY'S GAME - WESTERN LEGENDS

You already know about Brandon's departure and Lawrence's injury. We'll also be playing without Richie tomorrow.  Richie is playing.

On the positive side, Mandi, Nina and Kedi will be back.

Let's show everyone the chatter about our demise was premature.

PC BRICKS NEW THEME

THE NEW PC BRICKS THEME WILL BE: LET'S HAVE SOME FUN!!!!!!!!!!!