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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

WHITHER THE BRICKS?

Thank you to the handful of players who showed up to practice yesterday and to the couple who let me know in advance they couldn't attend.

We have less than of a third of our team showing up to practice. Almost nobody responds when Gary or I try to take roll call. Our players show up late for the games or skip them entirely.

2011 SCHEDULE

The 2011 Schedule is out and can be found here. That's the schedule for the entire league. You can also check the calendar and team schedule on our team's website. The upcoming games listing can also be found on the home page. You can even click on the SCHEDULE tab above.

I'm not going to have fifteen different people call or email me to ask when our next game is, right?

NEWS

We have a new addition to our team. Jansa Williams, a BA in Mod 3, has agreed to join our team. She has a class on Thursdays through next week but she will be free to play Thursdays after that. Jansa is available to practice on Mondays so we'll see her at Fernandez Park next week. We now have seven women on our roster which gives us a greatly reduces the chances of a forfeit. It wouldn't hurt us to add one more.

That reminds me, our schedule will be made soon and Paul Martin wants to know if there's a specific week we would prefer to have our bye (a week without a game). We're going to be without Mandi from June 26 through July 21. I will out of the state from June 23 through July 8. Does anyone else have leave scheduled during the summer? If we have a week we know we're going to be missing some players, that's when we should have our bye.

The players from outside SSA we thought we had lined up to play with us had to drop out. So for now, we won't have any players from outside SSA on our roster.

ROSTER UPDATE

As most of you have heard by now, James has opted to join the TSC Outlaws this season after three seasons with the PC Bricks. Also, Lena has decided not to play this season.

Chiniqua informed me that she most likely won't be able to play this year because of injuries and time constraints.

We picked up a new player as we added Kedi Seyoum to the team. She works with Nina and Brandon at FO 976 in Berkeley. (How much longer before they boot Brandon back to Richmond?) Welcome to the team, Kedi!

WE HAVE A NEW PLAYER

Nina Makalena, a Service Representative at the Berkeley F.O., has joined the Bricks. She is an experienced player who should fit in very well with our team. Many thanks to Brandon for finding Nina while on his detail to the Berkeley office. We should be able to meet Nina in the next week or so when we get our first practice scheduled. Welcome aboard, Nina!

GETTING STARTED IN 2011

It's time to dust off the blog and get things rolling for 2011.

Paul Martin called for a league meeting on March 31st to begin charting our course for the new season. Most likely, we'll be starting in June once the Richmond Little League's season is over and the diamonds at Nicholl Park open up. I'll let you know what transpires at the meeting.

No Contest

Richie has a new team playing Thursday nights in Napa's fall league. The team is known as No Contest. Richie has Tanya and Mariza playing with his team. They played their first game on September 2nd and won it, 16-8. Richie has taken up pitching and he did well in his first game, holding their opponents to only eight runs.

We have links to No Contest's website so you can keep up their season. I was thinking we might work out a field trip or two to see them play.

All-Star Game & BBQ

The game and barbecue have been pushed back two weeks to September 11th. Also, the game time has been changed from 1:00 to 12:30. While this may have been good for the league, it certainly wasn't good for our team. We selected Lena and Gena to represent us at the all-star game and neither will be able to attend on September 11th. James has Army Reserve duty that weekend so he and his daughters won't be able to attend either. In all, the change in dates will cause us to lose nine participants including family and friends.

CHAMPIONSHIP GAME, ALL-STAR GAME, & BBQ

We played our last game of the season but we still have a couple of league events on the calendar. First, the league championship game will be played next Wednesday, August 25th. Let's get out there and show some support for our league. I'm going to keep score and write up a full game report. I hope some of you with digital cameras will come and take lots of photos and maybe even some video.

Game With Untouchables Postponed

Once it was learned the verdict in the Johannes Mehserle trial would be announced at 4:00 PM yesterday, many of our employees had to leave work early. It was expected there would be more rioting in downtown Oakland after the verdict was read so BART commuters and those with kids in Oakland child care facilities were urged to make themselves scarce before things got out of hand.

Getting Back to Softball

Gena, Chi Chi, and The Coach have done a great job of keeping me up to date with our team while I'm away. I learned that we're opening against the TD's this afternoon. I thought I would have to miss the first game while on my road trip but it looks like I'm going to get back in time to be there.

Out of Hibernation

It's about time I get our website and blog up and running again. We've lost a player, added a few, had some practices, ordered new uniforms, and we're just about ready to break into another new softball season.

BBQ/All-Star Game Cancelled

I just received news that we won't be having a post-season barbeque and All-Star game. Instead there will be a league pizza party at Round Table in Pinole (next to In N Out Burger) on Saturday October 3rd from 4:30-6:30. The cost is $10.00 per person with the money due by COB, Monday, September 28th.

The City of Richmond will present us with our trophies for winning the championship at this event. I hope everyone will be able to attend. My daughter, Shannon, and I will be there.

No softball? Let there be bowling!

In case you missed the fliers and emails, Brandon has organized an office bowling league that begins play tomorrow. We'll be bowling Monday nights at 6:30 at Pinole Valley Lanes..It's a handicap league that's open to all skill levels. It doesn't matter if you're a beginner or an experienced bowler. There's a league meeting at Pinole Valley Lanes at 6:00 tomorrow. It's not too late to sign up. Be at the meeting if you want to bowl.

NEXT OUTING

NEXT TIME, WE'RE GOING TO SACRAMENTO, TO SEE THE TRIPLE AAA AFFILIATE OF THE A'S, THE SACRAMENTO RIVERCATS. WE WILL BE GOING BY TRAIN FROM RICHMOND, THERE'S LOTS OF SHOPS IN OLD SAC WALKING DISTANCE TO THE RALEY FIELD. THE TRAIN RIDE IS VERY NICE. BUT I KNOW SOME OF YOU ARE ON LOCK DOWN AND HAVE MICHAEL VICK BRACELETS ON AND CAN'T HANG OUT. JUST LETTING YOU'ALL KNOW. HAVE A NICE DAY!!!