5 Things on a Friday: The Last Saturday Night EVER!

We’re back!

The hiatus was unintentional, but I hope you missed me nonetheless.  Did you miss me?

5 Things on a Friday: Farewell My Bluefish

Happy Friday, everyone.  The forecast this week is for sun with a chance of Nuclear Winter.

Enjoy!

Bridgeport Bluefish Report for July 7, 2017

We went out to the Ballpark at Harbor Yard last night to watch our beloved Bridgeport Bluefish take on the New Britain Bees for the first of a three game home series.  This year's Bluefish team is the best that Bridgeport has fielded since at least 2010.  The team is talented and fun to watch, and before last night's game, they sat a mere half-game out of first place in the Atlantic League's Liberty Division.

The Bridgeport Bluefish

Still, we weren't initially planning to go last night's game.  I got an email late in the week from the team's Social Media Director asking if Hannah could sing the National Anthem before the game and accepted gladly, though it's been over a year since Hannah had her last voice lesson.  Sally therefore scheduled a last-minute warm-up session with Hannah's old coach, and we made plans to get to the ballpark early, so that we'd be ready for the big moment.

5 Things on a Friday: Don’t Beat the Fluffy!

Keeping it short this week.  We've had a lot going on at our house, and anyway, the actual news remains as depressing as ever.

Happy 4th of July!

Yesterday was a pretty good day for me despite the fact that I had to work.  It was R-Day, which is always fun so long as I don't have to participate, and I closed out the day with a Bluefish win over the York Revolution down at the Ballpark at Harbor Yards.  Even the Yankees won behind a suddenly resurgent Masahiro Tanaka and good hitting.

5 Things on a Friday: Move Over, Babe Ruth!

The Yankees are on a roll, the Giants took a pass-catching tight end, and the Bluefish open tonight at Harbor Yards.  

We’ve got a lot to talk about, folks.  Let’s get to it.

Learning Baseball: Early Season Thoughts

I’ve never been a big baseball fan.  But my first job in New York was as a construction supervisor in the Bronx, and that was enough to make me a casual fan of the New York Yankees at the tail end of their late-1990s heyday.  My wife Sally and I then started going to Bridgeport Bluefish games last year, and we really enjoyed ourselves.  One of the highlights of our sports year was renewing our wedding vows in front of the home crowd at the Ballpark at Harbor Yards, and in the months since, I’ve started to think of myself as an honest-to-God Bluefish Fan.  Which can be a frustrating experience in its own right, but the Bluefish at least have a top-flight beer garden right off the first base line.  

I try to keep my sports frustrations in perspective.

5 Things on a Friday: The Battle for Number 2

This turned into an unexpectedly interesting week.  Let’s get to it, shall we?

Early Season Preview: 2017 Bridgeport Bluefish

The 2016 campaign saw my Bridgeport Bluefish get off to a decidedly slow start before bouncing back with one of the stronger showings in the Atlantic League in the season’s second half.  This was not quite enough to get them out of the AL’s Liberty Division basement, but it made going to games a Hell of a lot more interesting.  I’m no baseball expert, but signing Mets’ legend Endy Chavez certainly seemed to help, and for whatever it’s worth, I thought Chavez was the club’s best player whenever I saw him on the field.  He clearly had the team’s best statistics—.345 average with 55 runs and 39 RBIs on 132 hits.  But 2017 is a new year, and the Fish have a new General Manager, Paul Herrmann, who was promoted up from his previous position as assistant general manager and director of baseball operations.  

What does this mean for the coming season?

Odds & Ends: Last Day Before Vacation

Today marks my last work day before we start next week’s vacation, and I am super excited.  We don’t have much in the way of specific plans, and for once, we’re not going away.  Nonetheless, I can’t wait for a little time off.

Don’t get me wrong.  2016 has been a pretty good year.  We joined the Housatonic Boat Club, the oldest yacht club in the state of Connecticut, and got our kids enrolled in sailing and ballet and ever more gymnastics.  They both also did very well in school.  All that stuff is great.  But it keeps us hopping, and for as much as I enjoy the club, reality all summer has kept us away more often than we’d have liked.  It’s been hot these last few weeks as well, and we’ve had a bit more excitement at times around my office than I’d prefer.  

Bottom line, I can use the break.