Sunday March 02 2008
That story last week about the near brawl in Black Diamond brought to mind an even scarier incident in High River. Again it was the Red Deer Lake Warriors and we were playing in the Sheep River Fastball League. That league didn't have a normal playoff structure putting all the teams into a season ending tournament. We had two pitchers, myself and former National Hockey League linesman Wayne Forsey but when I got hurt in game one it was up to Forsey. I could still play third base and after losing the first we needed to win four in a row on Sunday to make the final. Forsey pitched three brilliant games and we were to face a team from Longview for all the marbles. Forsey, naturally, was tired as it was getting late on a Sunday afternoon. Longview managed an early lead and I took notice of the sun falling quickly in the west. For some reason my shoelaces kept getting untied and I needed regular meetings with my pitcher and then my catcher. I finally told the umpire that he had to call the game because of darkness before someone got hurt. In the stands was league commissioner Lee Ellison who came onto the field, agreed with me and declared the game would be replayed on the following Tuesday. I knew that members of the Longview team, and I can't remember the club's team name, were not too happy with the decision, nor with me for how it came about. For us it was a new life which we would never have to use because Longview refused to abide by the decision and gave us the title by declaring they would not show up on Tuesday. We were near the bench, and fortunately, not far from the parking lot when Big John Davidson, today the president of the St. Louis Blues, said "Billy you'd best get the heck out of town." I didn't need a second invitation when I saw a crowd of about 20 people headed our way and jumped into my car and could see some of the guys running behind me as I hit the road. They did not seem like happy campers. Nor would they have been happy when the High River Times ran a picture of the championship team in its next edition. I was not well liked in Longview for quite some time. But sometimes you have to do what you have to do to win. It's far from golf season I know but there's nothing like being prepared and as a result I spent a most interesting hour at the Callaway Performance Centre out there on 114th Ave. S.E. This week. It is tough to put into words the equipment they have out there that tells you everything you want to know about your golf swing and what clubs would suit you best. My instructor for the day was former Bearspaw assistant pro Jeff Rice and what we determined over the time spent was that I need to somehow increase my club head speed at the point of contact although on several occasions the ball speed off the club was more than 100 miles an hour. What he did was give me several different six-irons, all Callaways of course, and had me hit balls into a net It?s was interesting to find out that a six-iron is the club of choice because, oddly enough, it is the toughest of them all to hit. Anyway, each swing was covered by cameras situated throughout the room which told us how far the ball was going, how much right or left it ended up from contact, the angle it left the club and on and on. What we figured is that I could, if necessary, get my clubs off the rack because I need a standard-regular flex and in standard length. Others, though, might need longer shafts, whippier or even stiffer shafts, the possibilities are endless. But this is a giant step in the game for Joe Hacker, like yours truly, to improve their game. It takes about an hour, the cost is only $60 and they throw in a hat and some golf balls.
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