 | Your Junk my Happy Zone | |
| by Brandon Corbett |
I have looked at more weather forecasts in the past week than a lottery junky does their fifty daily three tickets clutched in hand while drooling themselves into a coma staring at the screen. I have watched the first five and last five minutes of every local newscast and dug up new weather websites with the same aimless hope in mind as those daily lottery losers: just hoping for one thing to break my way. April is a terrible time for wiffleball; it is wet, windy, and can snap back to cold in one day’s span. Right now, it is sixty degrees, clear skies, and the wind is calm, but today is Wednesday not Saturday. In my continuously ravenous watching of Saturday’s forecast there is at least one lucky break: it is getting warmer! Into the mid fifties, now! However, the chance of rain keeps climbing, up to eighty percent now, and today has thrown in a wild card, the arch-nemesis of wiffleball, twenty-one mph winds. *Sigh*… So, close. Got one number right with my picks!
Whatever the weather chooses to throw at us on Saturday, WSEM will be playing our Preseason “Wind Up” Tournament as our final Spring Training event of the year before league play starts up in two weeks. This will be the first time for most league teams that (mostly) complete rosters are on the field together instead of pick up squads, so we will get our first look at how the teams look in 2011. Six of WSEM’s teams will brave the elements: Belgian Wiffles, Flying Squirrels, Git r’ Done, Jason Mattseals, Westside Warriors, and Wiffling DeLoppes. We will also be hosting, and possibly sheltering, two non-league teams: the Donkeys and “Travelers.”
The Donkeys have played in a couple of our tournaments over the past two years, and are captained by (P) Joe Seto of the Campus Commandos. The Donkeys were asked to join the league, but Joe was unable to get the commitment from the other guys for a full season. Later when Commandos team captain, Adam Grant, wanted to sign a regular to his roster with wiffle pitching experience, Joe, excited to get out and play this summer, answered the call and joined their roster. While they could not commit the time for league play, the Donkeys, like their captain, were quick to jump at the chance to play when the seventh and eighth tournament spots were left open by the Commandos and Ass Kickers. In their first tournament with us the Donkeys put up impressive numbers and went on a good run, however, in their second time out last September they did not fare as well. Still, the team is capable of good offensive numbers and Seto’s pitching is solid enough to give them the opportunity to win games.
The “Travelers” (an unofficial name, given since some of team is traveling down from Bay City) are captained by Jay Mac of the Belgian Wiffles. As parenthetically mentioned this team consists of Wifflehouse veterans, and even though they may only be bringing a three-man roster, they should still be considered dangerous… as well as VIPs who are important to impress.
As for the league teams, some will be coming with makeshift rosters. Belgian will field Buhr, Strawser, Lewis, and fill in gaps with two non-league players brought down from Bay City by Lewis. If there wasn’t already a healthy rivalry built-in having one of their players captaining another team for this tournament, then maybe having Bay City players on both teams, as well, will get the two teams after each other. The Flying Squirrels will fill McKinnie’s key spot in their outfield with the range and good hands of former Squirrel, Ryan Bullard, currently from the non-participating Ass Kickers roster.
Other league teams are either playing without pieces or still unsure of how many or who will be on their rosters. Git r’ Done will be without Nick Braden for most of the day, but do sound as though they will have four men in the field. Westside is certain that Shore, Malloy, and Whelan will be present, but are still uncertain if they will have a full four-man roster. If the Warriors do play with three, this will be their second consecutive tournament doing so; in September they placed second with only three players. The Jason Mattseals will make their first Spring Training appearance. Captain Imran Kakli has expressed that he wants his whole team to be together Saturday for the tournament, though it is unclear exactly which members of their roster will attend. Even the host team, the Wiffling DeLoppes, are unsure which pieces of their roster will be playing, but do expect to field at least four. The DeLoppes may be the one team excited for the wind and rain, even if it means their yard getting torn up, as the weather may keep Todd away from the action.
The two round-robin match-ups are set up for each team, and the schedule will be announced later this week. With rosters incomplete and consisting of replacement parts it makes calling the favorite a little bit tough. On top of that the weather conditions make calling the favorite even tougher. As forecast, the winds out of the south will favor lefties and opposite-field hitting righties. Westside, DeLoppes, and Belgian all have lefties in their lineups, so they get a slight bump from Mother Nature. The wind will mess with all pitchers’ stuff and make it impossible to make a call until Saturday when you can see who is capable of having what pitches working.
Betting men never miss a chance to play the odds, though. We put our best statistician on it and he came up with these numbers for odds to win the 2011 Spring Preseason “Wind Up” Tournament. So, get ready to pick the numbers that get you hard, clench your papers in hand, glue your eyes to the action, and zone out all else around you. The oddsman has your big money making opportunities on the Jason Mattseals as your long shot at 50:1, the Donkeys at 18:1, the Travelers at 15:1, Git r’Done a little safer at 12:1, and the Flying Squirrels at 10:1. The safer picks begin with the Westside Warriors and Wiffling DeLoppes both at 8:1, still bringing a good payoff if they win out, and leaving the Belgian Wiffles as the favorite to win it all at 5:1. “Safe” bets in this field with these conditions are anything but safe, really, and that is good luck in itself, since anywhere you put your money down you will be getting a good return. Okay, so maybe this really is more like playing the lottery than placing intelligent bets, but that is a great thing early in the year: the field is wide open!
Whatever the weather chooses to throw at us on Saturday, WSEM will be playing our Preseason “Wind Up” Tournament as our final Spring Training event of the year before league play starts up in two weeks. This will be the first time for most league teams that (mostly) complete rosters are on the field together instead of pick up squads, so we will get our first look at how the teams look in 2011. Six of WSEM’s teams will brave the elements: Belgian Wiffles, Flying Squirrels, Git r’ Done, Jason Mattseals, Westside Warriors, and Wiffling DeLoppes. We will also be hosting, and possibly sheltering, two non-league teams: the Donkeys and “Travelers.”
The Donkeys have played in a couple of our tournaments over the past two years, and are captained by (P) Joe Seto of the Campus Commandos. The Donkeys were asked to join the league, but Joe was unable to get the commitment from the other guys for a full season. Later when Commandos team captain, Adam Grant, wanted to sign a regular to his roster with wiffle pitching experience, Joe, excited to get out and play this summer, answered the call and joined their roster. While they could not commit the time for league play, the Donkeys, like their captain, were quick to jump at the chance to play when the seventh and eighth tournament spots were left open by the Commandos and Ass Kickers. In their first tournament with us the Donkeys put up impressive numbers and went on a good run, however, in their second time out last September they did not fare as well. Still, the team is capable of good offensive numbers and Seto’s pitching is solid enough to give them the opportunity to win games.
The “Travelers” (an unofficial name, given since some of team is traveling down from Bay City) are captained by Jay Mac of the Belgian Wiffles. As parenthetically mentioned this team consists of Wifflehouse veterans, and even though they may only be bringing a three-man roster, they should still be considered dangerous… as well as VIPs who are important to impress.
As for the league teams, some will be coming with makeshift rosters. Belgian will field Buhr, Strawser, Lewis, and fill in gaps with two non-league players brought down from Bay City by Lewis. If there wasn’t already a healthy rivalry built-in having one of their players captaining another team for this tournament, then maybe having Bay City players on both teams, as well, will get the two teams after each other. The Flying Squirrels will fill McKinnie’s key spot in their outfield with the range and good hands of former Squirrel, Ryan Bullard, currently from the non-participating Ass Kickers roster.
Other league teams are either playing without pieces or still unsure of how many or who will be on their rosters. Git r’ Done will be without Nick Braden for most of the day, but do sound as though they will have four men in the field. Westside is certain that Shore, Malloy, and Whelan will be present, but are still uncertain if they will have a full four-man roster. If the Warriors do play with three, this will be their second consecutive tournament doing so; in September they placed second with only three players. The Jason Mattseals will make their first Spring Training appearance. Captain Imran Kakli has expressed that he wants his whole team to be together Saturday for the tournament, though it is unclear exactly which members of their roster will attend. Even the host team, the Wiffling DeLoppes, are unsure which pieces of their roster will be playing, but do expect to field at least four. The DeLoppes may be the one team excited for the wind and rain, even if it means their yard getting torn up, as the weather may keep Todd away from the action.
The two round-robin match-ups are set up for each team, and the schedule will be announced later this week. With rosters incomplete and consisting of replacement parts it makes calling the favorite a little bit tough. On top of that the weather conditions make calling the favorite even tougher. As forecast, the winds out of the south will favor lefties and opposite-field hitting righties. Westside, DeLoppes, and Belgian all have lefties in their lineups, so they get a slight bump from Mother Nature. The wind will mess with all pitchers’ stuff and make it impossible to make a call until Saturday when you can see who is capable of having what pitches working.
Betting men never miss a chance to play the odds, though. We put our best statistician on it and he came up with these numbers for odds to win the 2011 Spring Preseason “Wind Up” Tournament. So, get ready to pick the numbers that get you hard, clench your papers in hand, glue your eyes to the action, and zone out all else around you. The oddsman has your big money making opportunities on the Jason Mattseals as your long shot at 50:1, the Donkeys at 18:1, the Travelers at 15:1, Git r’Done a little safer at 12:1, and the Flying Squirrels at 10:1. The safer picks begin with the Westside Warriors and Wiffling DeLoppes both at 8:1, still bringing a good payoff if they win out, and leaving the Belgian Wiffles as the favorite to win it all at 5:1. “Safe” bets in this field with these conditions are anything but safe, really, and that is good luck in itself, since anywhere you put your money down you will be getting a good return. Okay, so maybe this really is more like playing the lottery than placing intelligent bets, but that is a great thing early in the year: the field is wide open!
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