You don't know me

I thought that Paul Bearer was dead.

Not sure where I read or heard, but they may go with a 6 man rotation. I would prefer that they go with 5 provided that Flaherty is better than Hudson. I hate the idea of Hudson starting any games the rest of the way.

Hudson is just bad.

I was 2 years younger than everyone else in my grade. I was also small for my age, so I was the smallest kid until I was in 10th grade. 7th and 8th grade were hell. I was bullied quite a bit by a couple of other kids. It sucks keeping your head on a swivel all the time. I'm not sure about pressing charges, as nothing I went through came close to being pushed down a flight of stairs. I seriously suggest that you have a conversation with your son. My immediate thoughts, as a parent, are to press charges. Then when I think back on my experiences, I'm not sure that I would have wanted my parents to do that on my behalf. Kids are fucking brutal. I also highly recommend that you try to get your son to join the wrestling team (if the school has one or if there is a club) or get him into some self-defense classes as soon as possible. Kids don't tend to fuck with wrestlers.

Flaherty supposed to be back to start on 9/5. I really don't expect much, but I am REALLY hoping that he takes that spot from Hudson.

Seeing that Walt Goggins is in it. I have high hopes.

I can't believe that I haven't ventured into this thread yet. I'm a dad to 6 boys. One from my first marriage (the "boy" is 29) and 5 with my now wife (youngest is 9). My oldest gave me so much concern for his future. He didn't talk until he was damn near 4 years old, was in fights on a weekly basis up until he was probably in 4th grade, and school just never came easy to him. His mom and I got divorced with he was about 4 years old and I got primary custody. It took a lot of patience, but he has sure come into his own. He's now an 11 year veteran of the Air Force and has decided to stay in for at least 20. He's completed his masters degree and has not used any of his GI Bill for any of his school. The Air Force paid for virtually all of his school via tuition assistance. He just got married in December, he's well adjusted, and he's productive member of society that cares about others. He volunteers his time and he's been his unit SHARP (Sexual Harassment/Assault Response and Prevention) victim advocate. All of the "problems" that he had growing up tried me, but the man that he has become just fills me with pride. My next oldest, who is the first with my now wife, had his own issues growing up. I worried about him quite a bit. The boy was a 6'5" 270lb offensive lineman that that was a 3 year starter on the varsity high school football team and a very good high school wrestler at the 280 lb weight class. The time that he cried while telling me that he didn't have any "real" friends nearly broke me. This is a kid that is good looking, smart, and by all outward appearances had everything going for him. Being a teenager is hard and being a parent of a teenager is hard. Now, he's well adjusted and living life on his own without asking me or mom for much of anything except advice. Next one, oh man, this one nearly broke me completely. First, when he was 3 months old, I was working in downtown Austin and lived in Cedar Park. I got a call from my wife one day and she was frantically yelling into the phone "He's not breathing! His limbs are turning purple!". I told her to call 911 and that I was on my way home. This was before I even had a cell phone. Turned out to be okay (after a few days in children's hospital and a ton of tests), but if she hadn't checked him right when she did (he was down for a nap), he may not be with us today. Then less than a year later I went to Iraq for the first time. The wife and I dropped the boys off at the mother's day out program at our church before heading to the airport. I cried like a baby telling them goodbye. They were both too young to understand what was going on, but holy hell that was hard. Today, this one is currently in basic training, as he has joined the Iowa Army National Guard. After completing of his BCT and AIT, he's heading up to Iowa to wrestle for a small school up there on a half ride with the Guard helping to pay for the rest. The youngest 3 are still giving me grief every time they can. Of all of the sleepless nights, time spent apart, trouble in school, problems with girls, etc, I wouldn't trade my last 29 years for anything. I haven't done much for just me in quite some time. It's few and far between when the wife and I do something for ourselves. Every vacation, night out, you name it, has to be carefully planned. There's school functions, sports practices/games/tournaments that we are constantly going to and from. And you know what? That's okay. That's what our life is and I'm going to miss it terribly when they are all grown and out of the house. So, to have kids or not is a decision that each couple must make on their own. There are pros and cons. For me, the pros far outweigh all of the horrible shit that they put us through. And as much grief as they have put me through, they have given me far greater joy. I've seen 3 so far go from little human things that can't do anything for themselves to adults that are making their own way. I can honestly say that all of my boys are going to be better men than me. That's what we hope for, right?

Many years ago (about 20) I was coaching a post-season "all-star" team. We were rec league, so typically not a whole lot of emotion from the stands during the regular season other than parents/fans cheering their team on. I got roped into coaching the all-star team because, well, no one else wanted to. During one of the tournaments, some of our fans were yelling at the ump. I was coaching third, and when I heard our "fans" and could understand what they were saying, I called time out and went to the fence on our side and told them that we wouldn't start playing until they shut up. The fans that were being asses didn't appreciate it, but the other parents/fans and the umpire sure did. Fuck the idiots that suck the fun out of kids games.

When I was in boot camp, it was Tom Landry's last season. Early on, our senior drill instructor asked me where I was from and I told him the DFW area. He then asked if I was a Cowboys fan, and like an idiot, I said yes. I got the rundown every week from him on how horrible they were. He wasn't a fan of the Cowboys. For the Rockets first championship, I was in Guantanamo Bay. I remember watching the game/chase in the beer garden and having the same expression.

Damn.. Anyone watching the Bally broadcast? They just showed the video where Wynton Bernard called his mom to tell him he was going to the show. It got a little dusty here.

Heard from the boy on Sunday. Last week they took their first ACFT (he got a 550 out of 600 which was top 3, so that's cool), confidence tower, gas chamber, and some sort of problem solving/team building obstacle course. This week they do their first field exercise and also go to the rifle range. He sounds great.

I took the boys to the game last night. I was really looking forward to seeing the players and Whitey. I am afraid that Ken Oberkfell won't be with us much longer. He was still involved in professional baseball just a few years ago. Last night, he looked like the oldest person in the group. 66 years old and looked way older than Whitey. It took a couple of people several minutes to get him out of the vehicle that they brought him in. It also took quite a while to get him situated in a chair. He mostly kept his head down looking at the ground the entire ceremony.

And the wife has found several more that I didn't see. Imagine that. She's like "I can tell that's the back of his head" and there's like 100 backs of heads.

Thanks for that link. I found one picture of him there.

Yes, I found their Facebook page just now. There were several pictures to scroll through and found 1 and possibly another with him in it. Thanks for the push. Yeah, things have definitely changed since I went to boot camp. They do still get smoked, at least according to the boy.

No call from the boy over the weekend. Probably a "you all suck and haven't earned it" type of thing. I told the wife that it is all part of the game and nothing to worry about. No news can be considered good news. I did, however, get a letter from him today. He opened with "Dear Dad, I got all of your letters today. I'd be lying if I said I didn't cry a little. I didn't realize how much they would mean to me." Yeah, it got a little dusty in my office this afternoon. I try to write him a few times a week, just trying to offer words of encouragement. When I went through boot camp my dad wrote me one time. In that letter, he wrote that he was proud of me. First time I remember him ever saying that to me. I know he loved me and was proud, but to read it in his handwriting meant the world to me. I hope my letters mean half as much to my boy as my dad's meant to me. Looking forward to the next call, hopefully next Sunday.

Looks like someone rang the dinner bell.

Home plate umpire is horrible. Shitty strike zone for both teams.

Correction: All kids are shitheads. They'll find the biggest glass.....

I liked Bader's defense, but the Cardinals really needed pitching. The moves that they made strengthened the rotation and the bullpen, so I'm somewhat pleased with their deadline deals. I'm also relieved that they didn't trade the farm away for Soto. One bat was not going to make them contenders.

He was the absolute best. I'm not sure if others have done it, but being able to call games by himself, without a color analyst to fill some of the time, seems pretty amazing to me.

Saul was first introduced when Badger got busted. He and Jesse went to the strip mall office. ETA: At least that's how I recall it happening. He represented Badger and was trying to get Badger to turn on "Heisenberg".

Well, tomorrow the boy will be 2 weeks into his military adventure. He arrived at Leonard Wood on 20 July and went from reception to BCT on 25 July. The wife got a call from him on the afternoon of the 25th. She came downstairs and said that he called, but we was a bit of an "asshole". I explained to her that there was a drill sergeant standing there telling him that if he said anything other than his address or if he went over a certain amount of time, he'd pay. I also told her that move in day is likely the most stressful day of basic. She responded "Yeah, I heard someone yelling in the background". Moving forward to this past Sunday, he facetimed us at noon. They got their phones for 30 minutes. His head is in a good place. He said that some of it sucks, but it's not horrible. Said they get smoked from time to time, but even that's not that bad. He's in tremendous shape from wrestling at a fairly high level, plus the mental strength of that breed is a bit different, so I don't expect this to be something that he can't do. He will change, but it won't be anything that he can't handle. While on the facetime call with him, I could already see some changes in him. After we had spoke for about 15 minutes, I asked him if he needed to call his girlfriend. I said that I didn't want to hog his entire phone time. He responded "But I like talking to you guys". So that made me feel good. Girlfriend would probably be upset, but he's just never put any girl ahead of anything of importance in his life. When his time was running out, I heard someone yelling in the background and he stood up really quickly, yelled "Yes Drill Sergeant!", then said "I have to go". Click. Some things that I learned on the call... The Army has added a phase of about 10 days the beginning of BCT called Yellow phase. I think it's a semi-quarantine period. Sounds like all they do is learn about customs and courtesies, drill, and PT. They should be moving to Red Phase in the next few days. At that point, he will take his first Combat Fitness Test. I'm ready for next Sunday's call, if he gets one.

Tickets are purchased. Taking 3 of my boys. Wife decided that she would prefer to stay at home.

My parents went to game 7 while I was at home watching it on TV. As a 13 year old, I was very jealous.