Dear dimwit on the phone

I knew there was a bar in left field. Have no idea about right field. I suspect they have bars all over the park.

I like how Fenway has walked the fine line between modernizing the park and keeping its historical attributes. But they need wider seats. People have bigger butts these days than they did 80 years ago.

 

My butt fits fine at Fenway.

 

You're hired!

 

There is what might be called "bar seating" (buy a small table and get some credit towards concessions, area has the feel of a bar, nobody else can be in the area), but it's not field level, it's on top of the roof. There is a bar behind the right field concourse that is for box seat ticket holders, but you cannot see the field. Maybe their was confusion about what "field level" meant.

 

So, here in Iowa the high school softball teams start tournament play this week.

The smallest class — Class 1A — started regional tournament play Monday. Class 2A and 3A start tonight.

We ran the preview capsules for Class 1A on Monday, 2A and 3A today.

Just took this phone call:

Caller: My daughter plays on Podunk's team, which is ranked 10th in Class 1A. I didn't know if you knew that. There was nothing in about their tournament today, but you had in Class 2A and 3A. My daughter and her friends are VERY upset.
Me: The Class 1A capsules ran Monday. The day the tournament started.
Caller: You didn't have the Class 1A pairings in today.
Me: Yes, we did.
Caller: Well, you must have hidden them somewhere.
Me: We don't hide things. Page 3, under PREP SOFTBALL, with the scores of last night's games and the upcoming schedule. And yes, I did know they were ranked. We also ran the rankings today, with Podunk's name in bold.
Caller: Well, you still didn't have anything in about their tournament.
Me: Yes we did. Page 4. Monday's paper. That's the day the tournament started. Your daughter's team got a first-round bye. Other area teams did not. They started last night. We mentioned your daughter's team, and your daughter.
Caller: (Slight pause) Oh, well, then....I guess we must have missed that.
Me: You must have.

 

As a graduate of a Class 1A school in your coverage area, I had to check. Thankfully, the school in question was the dreaded rival from down the road. Of course, my alma mater also lost in five innings, so it's pretty much a wash in the shame department for me.

 

Hey Hawkeye,

When does the season start there? I was researching something about Iowa and vaguely remember someone commenting that baseball and softball were played in the summer. Is that true for baseball also? What are the relevant dates? What sports get done before Memorial Day/

Thanks

 

I know the areas you're talking about, but they were adamant that they watched the game from a field level bar in right field. Don't know how the bar would be protected by that three-foot wall though. Also, it was a couple I was talking too and both straight told me I was wrong. I guess my credibility as having been going to the Fens since I was seven held no weight on the other coast.

 

This year, first baseball and softball games were the Monday before Memorial Day weekend. State track meet ended the previous Saturday, and that was the only spring sport that was done when the summer season started. There is a three-week overlap with the rest of the spring sports in their postseasons and the summer seasons starting.

We're now into the softball postseason, and the baseball postseason begins on Saturday. State championship games for softball is July 26, state baseball championship games are Aug. 3.

All of the seasons are pretty much crammed together here. Last year, we had a team playing in the state football championship on the same night we had the season openers for girls basketball. We get essentially seven weeks a year where there's no high school sports (if we get someone to the state tournaments), and in six of those weeks, we're working on preview stuff for the upcoming seasons.

The one thing that Iowa does that I really appreciate is no basketball games between Christmas and New Year's Day. No tournaments, nothing. It's nice to have a break, but coaches are pressuring the state associations (yes, there's one association for boys sports and another for girls) to allow them to have tournaments. Hopefully, it doesn't fly.

 

^^^Even growing up in Iowa, I never understood why there were two associations. It's not like it's difficult to have both genders under one organization.
As for sports scheduling, I can remember having maybe a week or maybe two off between sports from the start of football through the end of baseball. Kept us pretty busy, especially when combined with a job and 4-H/county fair.

 

So it sounds like prep sports are more of a year-round deal there than other places (at least places where I've worked). Wonder why that is? Not sure how I feel about that. On the one hand, it's nice not to have too many things all at once followed by long stretches of inactivity. On the other hand, summer was always my time to come up for air, cut my hours, do some enterprise stuff, etc.

 

The worst season to cover is the summer. Softball and baseball teams can play up to 40 games, and most of the current generation of coaches — the ones who came up coaching traveling teams — will try to play all 40, even if they don't have the pitching to do so. So you'll get 18-16 games (last night, one of the baseball games we covered ended up 20-11).

A few years ago, one of our baseball coaches at one of the smallest schools in the area scheduled just 30 games. He did it because a.) he only had 13 kids on varsity, b.) only 3 were good pitchers, and c.) it saved the school money (travel costs, umpires, etc.). At the end of the season, several parents complained to the school board that the coach wasn't playing all 40. So the next year, he scheduled 40, and some of the same parents complained because the games were lasting too long because nobody could get anyone out.