The BackBlast:

Intro:

It was raining as we met at the Amphitheater. Any soul who showed up this night had made his peace, had been rinsed in Holy Water, and was ready to accept his fate.

Warm-o-Rama:

We had a special moment where Hass and 8-Bit tried to bail under the guise of “getting a rain jacket.” High Ball would have none of it and roasted them handily! Finally coaxed back out of 8-Bit’s truck, we rucked out.

The Thang:

If you weren’t there, you don’t deserve this Backblast. It took 12 days for Hooch to even convince YHC to divulge the details I will share here. Understand you are not worthy to know them because you were dry and cozy.

Fields of Dreams: You don’t play baseball in the rain. Everyone knows that, except YHC. Having identified the “fields,” gave the PAX a choice of which field based on what division they wanted to play in–South, East, North, and Northwest. We play on the road, so no games at home.

Game 1: East – We went out to play at Allen Temple AME Church. Their field is big. LONG base paths. They handed it to us. Hass hit a grand slam which beat us down bad! We won, about 150 reps to zero!

Game 2: South – Headed south to the Mortuary. Their field is sloped and crooked, like a few of the body parts in the dumpster in Right Field. In the 4th Inning, 8 Bit hit a homer that led to 40 ruck high pulls, and then High Ball hit another homer that led to 40 ruck-on Mountain Climbers. We were smoked. But we one about 1000 reps to 1. YHC missed a high pull and decided to leave it out on the field.

Game 3: We took our roadshow up North to Chatt Tech. We needed a break against a JuCo school. We thought the short field gave us a great shot at winning. Then the Storm came. And by storm, YHC means a freaking gullywasher of epic proportions. We hit well, lots of runs scored. SportsCenter showed up for a Top 10-worthy round of Low Slow Flutter Kicks in the parking lot wash. I’m not certain the fans weren’t throwing beer too.

Game 4: Northwest Corner. We finally made it to the smallest field in the area for a short game at Woodstock High School. The rain had subsided a bit, but we were soaked to the bone! Got started running bases and the fuzz shows up. Something about some creepy guys in black, in the rain, running around in the elementary school parking lot! Didn’t help that Hooch has just pitched an empty from his ruck hoping not to get caught. Wasn’t worried about the empty, as much as that we all noticed he’s drinking Mic Ultra… for shame! I asked the fine WPD officer if she wanted to join us for 40 squats. She declined on-premise that she’d mess up her hair while making High Ball look bad. But I’m pretty sure I heard her say, “Daaaammmn, them some fine looking men” as she watched us squat before rolling out. Game. Over. We won!

COT:

We hid under the cover of the amphitheater for fear that we were about to get struck by lightning. We prayed for each other and the men of F3. All other requests have since been prayed for or forgotten!

Naked Man Moleskin:

Write your backblasts early, boys, if you want to remember the details. If you want to remember the memories, wait a week, or two, and see what it’s become in your mind. I think I remembered it wrong!