Interview: David Buhr

		Captains Corner
		with David Buhr  Carl Coffee  turning the tables

Name: David Buhr
Birthday: June 12, 1983
Height: 5' 10" (I've grown one inch since the end of 8th grade)
Weight: 182 and dropping

1. How did you get involved in competitive wiffleball?

I'm not totally sure, but I think I found you, Carl, after I had attended a certain church service specifically centered around college age kids and I added one of them. On the page of one of those people I added I found a link to some wiffleball rules and was interested to see what it was and I think I contacted you, but I actually don't fully remember how that happened. I remember coming to play with you guys on a beautiful Saturday in June where I ended up diving into glass leaving a big gash in my wrist, but there's no way something like that would ever stop me from coming back to play!

2. What made you decide to captain a team in WSEM?

Well, at first I just wanted to join a team, but there didn't seem to be room at the beginning of last season so I decided I'd try to find a few guys who I thought would play and I did. Little did I know that one wouldn't be able to play weekends, another would hurt his shoulder in the preseason tournament, and one would leave halfway through the season.

3. What are you most looking forward to in this upcoming season?

You mean besides playing the sport? Well, there's the new field, new teammates, and how's it going to play out, how good are they going to be factor that excites me. Also, I'm really looking forward to seeing how that pitching rule pans out with teams and seeing how much more competitive our league will be.

4. How did it feel to win the NWLA ‘Team Nickname of the Year’ award?

Man, that was awesome! I love that and as always I have to give my sister-in-law most of the credit since I didn't completely come up with the name- she said how about Belgian Waffles and I just changed one letter. I love telling people about that award and I love that a team in Rochester, New York decided to use it. It puts a smile on my face.

5. What was your favorite sport growing up?

When I was little it was actually soccer, but once I hit 6th grade, there was just something about baseball that I fell in love with. It's just a beautiful game all around.

6. Favorite hobby?

Collecting baseball cards, singing, and climbing trees

7. Did you ever have any interesting or cool nicknames?

Oh man, did I ever! Where shall we start? These each have a story behind them, but I won't tell them here. Stilts, Ol' Man River, Wolverine, Hustle, Davy J, Josh Groban, Dabadooey, The Jewish Looking Kid, and most recently Adam Sandler

8. What are your true feelings towards Chris Lewis? Any bad blood?

I harbor no hard feelings toward Chris. He has a passion for the game and for winning and I admire that. He also started getting along with Dennis and his guys from the start so I'm totally okay with it. Yeah, it could be rough without an experienced pitcher this year, but it's okay. It's all about having fun.

9. Do you have idea who your opening day starting pitcher will be?

No clue. I think there will be at least 3 guys on my team that can pitch and I'm really hoping that's true. If Josh Lovell can pitch, I'll probably use him. He seems like he would be able to and he's got that confusing lankiness like Maclin that could be used to throw people off.

10. How on earth did you hit that ~130 foot HR at Constanti Field last year?

I have muscles. Seriously though, Mike just put it in the right (or wrong depending on perspective) spot, I caught up with it and I've always been more of a power hitter except for that summer that I first played with you guys.

11. Who would you take if you needed to win one game, Pearson or Bischoff?

Without a doubt, Bischoff. Here's my reasoning- Pearson can blow anyone away with the speed on his pitches, but he doesn't necessarily always have the accuracy. If the other team is patient enough, they will get walked. Yes, his accuracy did improve some by the end of the season, but he still has a little ways to go and if he can harness that accuracy with his speed, he will be the worst pitcher to face. Bischoff has alread harnessed that accuracy with good speed, not as fast as Pearson, but still fast. Along with the speed and the accuracy, his pitches also have serious movement. He is in my mind, the best pitcher in our league. We'll see if that proves true this year.

12. And lastly, do you think the Belgian Wiffles will do better or worse than last season? (2011 record: 13-15)

That's actually hard to say right now considering the fact that I'm the only one on the team who's not a rookie. I've never even met one of my players, though I'm told he's a good ballplayer which has the potential to translate into a good wiffleball player. The other three on my team, well, I've only seen them play soccer, but they're good athletes. I believe we should do better, but it depends on how good my pitchers are, and how well we all do hitting. Our speed is our biggest threat. You don't want us on the basepaths, but I plan on us being there!