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Heads Down, Thumbs Up

The role of modern technology in our personal lives and now the instant replay in major league baseball both need one thing:

Balance.

Thumbs up or thumbs down for instant replay? My thought briefly on it is while I’m not opposed to it, we need to be careful not to take out the human element of the game completely. Managers kickin’ dirt at umpires is part of the past time as well as players’ passion rising and throwing their helmets on the ground. All I’m saying is…well, I don’t know, I don’t want to see “I, Robot” baseball someday with the human error element taken out completely. 

Before you read my rant below about balancing our lives, take a look at the list of MLB baseball players below.  Any idea what connects this group of guys?  Once you figure out what these men have in common (or scroll down and read to find out, whichever :), please feel free to add anyone else I may have overlooked or forgotten).

Ryan Braun

Bryce Harper

Marcell Ozuna

Dustin Pedroia

Yasiel Puig

Hanley Ramirez

Jose Ramirez

David Wright

We need a healthy balance in several different areas of our life from diet to sleep to making time with family and friends.  This mind I was created with, sometimes can NOT stop.  I have not located the off switch, pause button or slow down key.  I must balance my writing time or I will get burned out and/or neglect other important areas of my life like my children or even sleeping (I have strung some all-nighters together that would make a college kid proud).

Perhaps I am revealing my age here by asking how many of you recall playing the game “Heads Up, Seven Up” in elementary school? I LOVED playing this game as a girl in grade school!
Here’s the directions according to Wikipedia: 
          Seven Up (sometimes called “Heads Up, Seven Up“, “Heads Up, Thumbs                Up“, “Thumbs Up, Seven Up” or                      “Heads Down, Thumbs Up“)
  • To start the game, seven children are selected and come to the front of the room. In another version, two children are  selected.
  • The teacher (or selected player) says, “Heads down, thumbs up!” or “Heads down all around!”. The children  who are not selected then put their heads down, close their eyes, and put up one thumb each. The chosen seven (or two) circulate through the room, secretly pressing down one thumb each and then  returning to the front of the room. A variation is simply  tapping the person. This part of the game takes about one minute.
  •  The teacher/selected player then calls, “Heads up, seven up!” or “Heads up, stand up!” All children raise their heads and the seven (or two) whose thumbs were pressed stand up. Each in turn names the person       they think pressed their thumb. If they are correct, the thumb-presser sits down and the winning child takes their place. The game then starts again.
  • Children who go later have an advantage, especially if one or more pickers have been eliminated. To make the game fair, the teacher can alternate the order in which the children are called each time (e.g. front to back, or left to right of the room, or  around the room).
 I remember as I laid with eyes shut and face buried in my arms on top of my desk, hoping that any boys I liked (at least that week, haha) had been the one to tap my thumb down 🙂 I never realized until I read these Wikipedia directions, that teachers not only enjoyed this game because it was fun but also it showed them who has a tendency to cheat.  (If I peeked I wasn’t trying to cheat necessarily, I was just looking to see where the boy I liked was at in the room, after my thumb had been pushed down!) 😉
 
All the modern technology like computers, tablets and smartphones have peaked even the youngest of children’s interest. I recently had a Twitter discussion (yes, I do use technology, it’s great!) with a fellow baseball fan (thank you @FoulBallzMLB) about how amazing it is to watch our own kids navigate a smartphone! (I nearly fell out of my chair when my 4-year-old daughter asked me recently if I had downloaded any new games yet, haha!)
 
Technology is fantastic, it’s uses are endless.  I monitor my children’s time and use on the computer, tablets, smartphones to teach them they need to keep a balance in their own lives with such devices. Social media has obviously taken businesses, friendships, dating and family relationships to completely new levels. It definitely has it’s place. Just ask the MLB about how beneficial instant replay has been for the league. Indeed, it has had it’s ups and downs, it will be continually tweaked and opinions will forever be divided of it’s necessity and involvement in the game of baseball. 
 
Now back to our thumbs. I believe it was discovered that flame-throwing former closing pitcher Detroit Tiger, Joel Zumaya, injured his wrist playing Guitar Hero.  And he had a few other bizarre injuries as well that have kept him from playing in the majors and actually retired in February of 2014 from baseball.  If you are a fan of baseball (not just your favorite MLB team), you may be aware that both last season and this year, there seems to be a rising number of thumb injuries to players. Now can you guess what the list of men above is? 
 
Yes, hopefully you are correct, it is a list of those players that have been afflicted with thumb injuries in the 2013 and 2014 MLB seasons. And like I mentioned previously, please feel free to add more names if I missed a players with a thumb injury. And if I’m wrong about any of these, please correct me! Thank you in advance! 
 
I’m not certain how all the thumb injuries happened but I do know a good number of them happened from head first slides (and I hope I don’t hear talk about banning the head first slide). Personally, when I played softball in school, I had an injury to my ankle that forced me to learn the art of the head first slide. I ended up preferring to slide head first!  Perhaps the childhood game, “Heads Down, Thumbs Up” teaches a good lesson for where to place your thumb when sliding into a base? When a fellow classmate would tag you, you would tuck your thumb down into your hand. The same should happen when as a player, you’re about to be tagged at a base…keep your head down and thumb tucked in!
 

 

 

 

 

 

6-4-3

I LOVE my children (12-year-old son, two 4-year-old daughters) with a passion. This, combined with my passion for baseball, I decided when it comes time for my children to date (yikes), there will be a screening process:

If a date doesn’t know what 6-4-3 is…they’re outta there! 🙂

boymeetsgirl

Those are my thoughts for tonight my friends…baseball and parenting wisdom in one swing 🙂

1920’s Baseball in Smalltown USA

 

This is the left-hand side of a canvas painting I am in the middle of creating. I LOVE the 1920’s era: baseball, men and women’s fashion, a simpler time, etc. I love the idea of “1920’s Baseball in Smalltown, USA” and this is what has translated from my mind to canvas so far. Once I motivate myself to take a picture of the other right side, I will post that. I tried taking a photo of the entire canvas but I wasn’t able to capture the detail this early in the process. Stay tuned as I continue to add layer upon layer of black, white, gray and off-white paint to this painting. This is actually the first black ‘n’ white canvas I have ever done, I usually paint in color. The mental image in my head though has always been void of color to better capture this inspiring early 1900’s era. I prefer to create in a natural light so now that Michigan is warming up, I will find myself working on this-instead of raking leaves-outdoors 🙂

1920sbaseballsketch

miggycomparedtoaaron.png

Alright, my friends and followers….I began this little blurb before I became sick and  felt like staying in bed for the rest of my life. That being said, please note that Cabrera did NOT turn 31-years-old yesterday. However, our Triple Crown Winner came back with a vengeance during last night’s game against the Tiger’s division rivals, the Chicago White Sox. Miggy went 3-for-5 with an RBI double and a 2-run home run. His double went into right center field gap and his homer went into the seats in right field. I continue to hear, “Miggy’s back” but folks, did the man ever REALLY leave? Nah, he did not leave the building, however, the man’s ability to send a baseball out of any MLB stadium will continue to amaze us.

My family and close friends know I find Miguel “Miggy” Cabrera absolutely fascinating as a one of baseball’s most talented players, ever. In honor of his amazing abilities as an athlete and incredibly sharp baseball mind, as well as him turning 31-years-old, I thought I would share this photo which compares Miguel to Hank Aaron. I mean, wow, I’d say both men are in good company?

Anyways, I am in the middle of raking leaves (blah) and felt motivated to complete this during my quick break. Time to throw my Detroit Tigers sweatshirt back on and finish the yard before I watch Cabrera go yard tonight at Comerica. Yeah, I know…but his love of the game, his ability, his baseball smarts, his sense of humor…we get to watch this baseball player in action and I count it a privilege.

A somewhat-related trivia regarding Miguel: Did you know he wears two different cleats, one for home games and one for away games? And if you do, could you identify them? (And yes, yes I can but I was curious if others pay attention to this type of thing). I am tomboy yes, but I do appreciate coordinating outfits and style  as well!

 

Belle Was Placed On The DL

Belle Was Placed On The DL

That “DL” in the title of this post stands for the disabled list, for those of you following this sporty and witty baseball blog of mine. I have never been so sleepy in all my thirty-six…nope, I mean my thirty-seven years on this earth! I did not bring myself into the doctors not because I don’t have insurance or because I don’t have the time, but actually due to I strongly prefer not to go to the doctor when I’m sick. I always tell myself (and others that are irritated around me) that “it’ll pass and I will be fine.” Sooo, I was placed on the disabled list due to a fever, swollen glands and constant tiredness for more than a week. I am back and kicking around on the world wide web now, headache not so bad tonight!

I often Google vintage baseball articles or images and tonight as I was Googling (pretty sure that’s a verb?) I came across this humorous saying. Can you relate to it? I mean shoot, I have yelled at my Phillips television as I’m watching the Detroit Tiger’s baseball game plenty of times. Everyone remember the infamous Jim Joyce (umpire) and Armando Galarraga blown first base call to ruin his perfect game, right? In fact, if you begin typing in Armando’s name or Jim Joyce’s name, Google connects them automatically-those two men will forever be connected from that. Let’s recall though that Galarraga was amazingly gracious and forgiving of Joyce. And Joyce even shed some tears in later interviews, understanding he cost that young man a perfect game in the record books. Too bad he didn’t have the instant replay that this 2014 MLB season has, eh?

Anyways, baseball fans, it has just struck midnight here in Michigan and I am still yet trying to recover from this illness (whatever it was) and I should get to bed.
Remember, please look for the upcoming post in which I discuss one of the MLB’s best pitchers in the game of baseball today. I’ll be discussing basically his pitching mechanics and reveal one of the most important things he has going for him in which I believe make him an outstanding pitching and one that batters do not wish to compete against.
Time to turn the stadium lights off and go to bed!
Good night!