Dear SportsMom

If you are a sports mom, you are not reading this on Saturday morning. You will maybe get to reading this early Sunday morning, or maybe even Monday, but probably not at all on Saturday. You woke up this morning with a full slate of games and errands and corresponding actions regarding uniforms, equipment bags, water bottles, and snacks.

Maybe you're not even waking up in your own bed? Maybe you're in a hotel with your child's teammates for an out-of-town tournament searching through the Yellow Pages for a pharmacy to buy allergy medicine or somewhere to eat that isn't McDonalds (not that I have anything against McDonalds :)

Saturdays feel like all the sections of a woman's magazine smashed together for four different people in a twelve hour time frame: "10 Reasons to Warm Up Before Exercising," "Recipes for On-the-Go Families," "Travel Tips," "Getting Out Grass Stains," "What Not to Wear," "Handling Credit Card Debt," "Cleaning Your House in 15 Minute Intervals," and a feature article: "Real Life Drama: I Never See My Husband Anymore."

No wonder moms love the internet...we need a place to learn and share. It's that simple.

Sports Moms have lots of sites to consult if they are coaches or managers, or scorekeepers, or looking for information on concussions. But there are not a lot of sites featuring experienced moms who have a wonderful perspective on the craziness that sports bring to the average family.

I want to tell you about "Dear Sports Mom" written by Laura Mooney. I have a permanent link on the right side of this blog. Laura's family is deeply involved in team sports, from youth to college and even the professional level. Her husband runs BioForce Baseball, a popular local baseball instruction facility. As parents, coaches, and fans, they have first-hand knowledge of what's going on in the typical sports family. Bookmark her site, and enjoy her wisdom.

Full Disclosure: Though I have never met Laura in person, our son worked out at BioForce this off-season. It was a time and financial commitment that we were lucky enough to be able to invest in. The confidence and skill development helped move him onto a team this spring that he only dreamed about...but I'm gonna write more about that later :)

We're in the Oregonian!

We're a special club, I guess, the boys and girls of summer, who tough it out in the spring :)

"Oregon Baseball Fans Left Out in the Cold"
4/22/08, The Oregonian newspaper

LL Game Becomes the Big Show

What happens when an improv group turns a routine Little League game in California into a Big League affair, much to the surprise of the teams, coaches and parents?

Click HERE and find out!

An afternoon game in Hermosa Beach between the Lugnuts and the Mudcats suddenly features dozens of adoring fans, mascots, peanut vendors, a JumboTron and even NBC Sports' Jim Gray with the "play-by-play."

Love it!

Rain out? Snow out?

Did you know that May 2 marks the hundredth anniversary of our nation's "other anthem?"

On May 2, 1908, the U.S. Copyright Office received a copy of the song "Take Me Out to the Ballgame."

Here is a link to a great way to spend an hour on a rainy day and you can't go outside to play some ball:

America's Pastime: Historic Baseball Resources from the Library of Congress

You're welcome :)

A Baseball Weekend

There are few things I love more than standing in the middle of Sunset Park with games going being played on all four diamonds...

Do you have one of those parks in your community? The snack shack is in the middle and four LL-sized diamonds are jetting out like dirt-infield rays of sunshine. We finally had a break in the rain this weekend so there was glorious, glorious baseball and softball GAMES going on!

We traveled from Central Oregon after a 4-game tournament for our son's 14-year-old Junior Baseball Organization (JBO) team straight to the machine-pitch Little League Majors tournament at SP. Two teams from our former LL were playing in this tournament, which features majors teams from throughout the District.

With the Oregon weather typically wet and cool in April, the beginning of LL season is always hit-and-miss, with a last-minute emails whether the game or practice is ON or canceled, or "please get there early to help rake the base areas and we'll try to get the game in."

Here are some shots from the Giants game last night. The championship game is tonight, and wait, what is that coming through the window? Sun? We just might have a string of four days of dry weather and glorious, glorious baseball?