Tuesday, April 29, 2008

The game last night was cold as advertised. Jeff and I were the only ones in section 414. The usher who watched over sections 414-418 made sure anybody who had a ticket in the 500s stayed there and not in his 400 sections. While I am glad he kicked 10 or so people out of our section, you really have to think--Does it matter? There were less than 20,000 fans at the game last night. All the fans could have filled the lower bowl and the bleachers, so why not? the game was on ESPN and I am sure it look very empty on TV. I think it would have looked better to fill the lower bowl and give the appearance of a full crowd. Anyways, the Indians managed to score only 2 runs in the 18 innings I saw over the weekend. They are now 1-3 in games I attend. Thankfully, I am not planning another game until June. Hopefully by then the weather will be warm and stay warm....Bayou

Sunday, April 27, 2008

I felt the need to post this picture of me and K. We went to see the Indians play the Yankees today. We finally had a beautiful day for baseball. It was sunny and upper 60s. The tribe lost the game 1-0. It broke their 5 game winning streak. I am going up tomorrow night with T's cousin. It might be another cold game. There is a cold front moving through the area tonight.
Bayou, DDS was not needed to remove K's front tooth. He was waiting to run the bases after the Indians game and it fell out. He was wiggling it during the game and finally came out. The other front tooth is loose and will fall out before long.
The Wildcat track team was at the Aurora Invitational. We finished 7th out of 8 teams. That is big news. We were the smallest team invited, but managed to score enough points to beat Berkshire. Here are the results. http://baumspage.com/track/aurora/res08.htm
Happy Birthday to my sister, Dawn. I am not allowed to write her age, but it rhymes with morty.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

It has been a beautiful week so far. I golfed Monday. Butch and I won our "best ball" match 2 and 1. We shot a 41 between us. We both hit the ball well. We made a few key putts to win or halve a hole. I will miss next week's opening night because I am going to see the tribe play the Yankees.
Last night the wildcats lost both of their dual meets against Rootstown and Garfield. But, we did manage to lower a couple of times in the running events. The field events saw a couple of personal bests. I think the weather being so nice for practice and meets has helped us get better as a team. I can only hope that will continue for the rest of the season. I can get use to sunny and 70 each day.
http://www.athletic.net/TrackAndField/TeamResults.aspx?Cal=73323
I don't think I can put it off any longer. I will mow my yard for the first time tonight after practice. With my busy schedule, I don't have many night available to mow. If I can't do it tonight, then it will be Saturday afternoon or Sunday.

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Call me Bayou, DDS.

I think I miss my calling as a dentist. I pulled 2 of B's teeth in the last 24 hours. She let me pull one last night and another this evening. They were next to each other and now she has a big gap on her left side. She will be losing another tooth, next to the gap, in a few days. Then, she will have a monster gap.
We had a busy Saturday. K had his first scrimmage in the morning. He looked ok batting, but dropped a fly he should have caught. He needs to remember to use two hands. His hits were solid hits into the outfield. The rest of the team did ok. We still need to improve our defense. I have been given the job of "left side defensive coordinator" and 3rd base coach. I get to stand in left field and position the fielders. We have a few more practices until our first game on May 1st.
We left the game and headed to Atwood to set up camp. Dad already had the camper on the lot when we arrived. We launched the boat and set the dock into place. We will need to go back and level both the camper and deck. I am happy camping season is finally here. I am not sure when we will spend our first camp, but I can't wait.
Til next time, the Dentist is out of the office.

Thursday, April 17, 2008

I have a little catching up to do with my blog.

Monday. K and I went to the Indians game. I could use the same picture from 2 weeks ago. The weather was the same. Clear skies and cold. The tribe lost to the Red Sox.

Tuesday. We ran against Woodridge and Streetsboro. It was a beautiful day again. We lost to both schools by 100 points. It wasn't even a fair fight. We did have a few kids do well, but even that was not good enough.
http://www.athletic.net/TrackAndField/TeamResults.aspx?Cal=73322

Wednesday. The junior high held their first track meet of the year. They had a few bright spots. Again the weather has been beautiful. I guess the bad weather will be here by the weekend.

Now it is my time to rant about the Indians. I am glad that Joe Borowski is on the DL. He can try to find the missing mph on his fast ball. I am not a big fan of his. He did convert 85% of his save chances last year. It just seemed like he needed a 3 run lead in order to earn the save. Now, the rest of the bullpen baffles me. They were the best in the league last year, now they can't get anyone out. The reigning Cy Young winning is 0-3 with a 13.5 era. How ugly is that stat? C.C. will be a free agent at the end of this year. He is pitching himself into a smaller contract each and ever start. If he wants the $20 million per year for 6 years, then he better wheel off 10 straight wins and get that era down under 3. Of course, I can't forget the position players. The left field and right field players (Michaels, Gutierrez) are both under .200 with only 1 HR and 6 RBIs. The infield has Blake and Cabrera batting under .200 with 0 HR and 12 RBIs. The team is 4.5 games back of division leader Chicago. I don't think it is time to make a change (fire wedge), but if things don't improve then something must be done. There is too must talent on this team to win 5 games.
The NFL released their schedule this week. The Dallas Cowboys return to Cleveland on Sept. 7. It is their first trip to Cleveland since 1991. I went to that game. It was Labor Day weekend and the Cleveland Airshow was going on at Burke Lakefront Airport. The crowd was about 200,000 people in the downtown area. The football game and the airshow ended about the same time, so there were a ton of cars on E. 9th St trying to get on 77 and 71. I should be able to get some tickets for the game. I would like to get to a Cowboys game in Dallas this year. I would like to see them play in Texas Stadium during their last season. but, it doesn't look good. I can wait to see them in the new Texas Stadium in a few years.

Til next time,

Bayou out.

To my Akron Zips friends.......Kent State beat Akron in baseball last night.

Thursday, April 10, 2008

I had a wonderful birthday dinner on the 8th. T and the kids bought me a new gas grill. I can't wait to use it. The weather stayed nice for the track meet last night. We did not win either meet, but we had several guys improve their times/distances. Here are the results from last night:

http://www.athletic.net/TrackAndField/MeetResults.aspx?Meet=52301

--Bayou

Monday, April 07, 2008

I know you are asking why I have a picture of a golf ball on my blog. Tonight was the first practice night of my golf league. I played like I haven't play since the end of October. I shot a 47. I did manage to par 2 holes. You can figure out there were a couple of 6s and 8s on my scorecard. So, why would I post a picture of a golf ball after that bad a round of golf? One word: EAGLE! I hit my second shot on the par 4 #15 at the Sanctuary into the cup from 125 yards out. It was my first eagle in a non-scramble round of golf.
The sun was out today. The temperature was over 70 and I made an eagle. It is not a bad way to start celebrate my birthday, albeit a day early.

Sunday, April 06, 2008

The entire Bracken family (minus my wife) gathered to celebrate a couple of April birthdays. April is a birthday bonanza. Josiah, Micah, Tim, Dawn, Steven and I celebrate our birthdays in April.

Friday, April 04, 2008

Here is a website for the track team's result from last night.

http://www.athletic.net/TrackAndField/MeetResults.aspx?Meet=49213

Here is the team page for the track team.

http://www.athletic.net/TrackAndField/School.aspx?SchoolID=7941

You can check out the results the day after the events.

Thursday, April 03, 2008

Here we are bundled up for the game last night. Tonight was not to bad for Mogadore's first track meet. We lost to Manchester but beat Lake Center. I don't have the results in front of me, so I will need to post them later.

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

Today was my first game as a season ticket holder for the Indians. Ok, I actually have a partial ticket plan, but I do get playoff tickets before the general public. The tribe won 7-2 and are tied with KC for first place in the AL Central. I took K to the game. I know my uncle would be upset with me, but we left after 5.5 innings and 2 hours. It is a school night after all. There were 6 people, including me and K, in our section and a total of 17,000 fans in Progressive Field. It was 34 degrees for the first pitch. I will post a picture tomorrow from the game.

Bayou out!