Single?

Double? Triple?

That's right! It's time to talk baseball!

Today, I want to go over some basic baseball lingo that you can start using right away. I was about to write some posts on some of the rules of the game and I realized I might need to back up and lay a nice foundation to build our baseball house on first.

So! Let's get started with your vocabulary lesson for the day...

Take a look at the field and the positions... (awesome image from momsteam.com)

Notice all of the positions of the defense (the guys who play out in the field while the hitter/batter is hitting):
Pitcher: The guy who throws the ball for the hitter to hit. He stands on the pitcher's mound.
First Baseman: The guy who stands nearest first base
Second Baseman: The guy who stands between first and second base
Shortstop: The guy who stands between second base and third base
Third Baseman: The guy who stands nearest third base
Catcher: The guy who...um...catches. =) He squats behind home and catches the pitches.
Right Fielder: The guy who stands out in the outfield, on the right side, behind the 2nd Baseman
Center Fielder: The guy who stands out in the outfield, right in the middle, behind 2nd base itself
Left Fielder: The guy who stands out in the outfield, on the left side, behind the Shortstop

Now, you're about to learn how to sound cool...

Notice the numbers next to their names in the diagram. They are:
Pitcher - 1
Catcher - 2
First Baseman - 3
Second Baseman - 4
Third Baseman - 5 (it's tricky...it seems the shortstop should be next, but he's after the third baseman in the numbers)
Shortstop - 6
Left Fielder - 7
Center Fielder - 8
Right Fielder - 9

Ever heard someone say, "That was a 4-6-3 double play" or something similar? Well, now, you can know what that means! A 4-6-3 (this is said "Four, six, three") double play means the second baseman (4) got the ball. He threw it to the shortstop (6) for an out, and then the shortstop threw it to first (3) for another out. It went 4-6-3. If you hit a ground ball to the third baseman and he throws you out at first, that's a 5-3.

Let me assure you...you will rise to a whole new level of "amazing" in your sports-loving-friends' eyes if you are watching a game and say, "UGH! Another 5-4-3 double play for the Rangers!" They'll die, which will make conversation difficult...but they'll come back to life and love you more than ever.

Talk baseball!

Update: I meant to say this yesterday but forgot...
The reason the numbers exist is to help the score keepers. They can't fit "ground ball to the shortstop, he threw to first" or something similar for each batter, so they found a "short-hand" of sorts. They can write 6-3 instead. Or F9 ("F" stands for Fly Out). Or P4 ("P" stands for "Pop Up"). Etc, etc, etc. Get it?

Goal Setting Part I

Last week for Healthy Thursday, we talked about making the lifestyle change of committing to doing something every day.

How's that going for you? Are you feeling better when you finally lay down to sleep at night? You should be! It's a great step to be challenging yourself, even a tiny bit, each day. You're living  and that's beautiful!

Today, we're going to start talking about setting goals that will actually get you the result you're hoping for. In sports, we use goal setting all the time. It keeps us focused during practice and gives us a reason to high five and butt slap like crazy when we see those goals realized (the butt slap part was a joke...only boys do that...for some strange reason). Reaching a goal is a euphoric feeling that everyone has the potential to experience...if they just understand the "how" behind it. I believe there are four pretty crucial components to being a successful goal-reacher. We'll talk about two of them today.

The first is pretty self-explanatory...set some! Many people think goals are lame and a waste of time. As a self-proclaimed "goal apologist," it's my opinion that those people are either lazy and don't want to feel the challenge a goal presents lacking the motivation, or they've poorly set goals in the past that just caused frustration. Be honest with yourself for a second. What keeps you from setting goals? No (*shaking my mommy pointer finger at you*), I said to be honest  with yourself. Work on fixing whatever mental block you have against goals and allow them into your life. I promise they'll treat you well, once you've read the manual on how to use them (which is what I'm writing here, so you're in luck!).

When goals are properly set and a bit of determination is added to the mix, a very rewarding experience can be expected...not just hoped for. Don't be afraid of setting goals, and by all means, know that you are worth the effort  it takes to set and achieve goals. You are a creation of Christ, fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14). You are worth it.

Before you decide which goals you want to set, let's talk about the second component of successful goal-reaching...

Be reasonable. By all means, set goals that are easily attainable for YOU. Don't read a magazine and use the author's goals. Don't overhear a conversation your friends are having about their hope to run a half marathon in a month, and decide that's what you're going to shoot for too when you don't even know where your tennis shoes are because it's been so long since you've run (that sentence was probably a run-on, but it visually illustrates my point, so I hope the grammar police are still able to follow).

Think about where you currently are and determine what a small step to where you want to be would look like. Maybe it's "doing something" every day (like we talked about last week). Maybe it's jogging to the stop sign at the end of your block, then walking the rest of your normal evening route. Maybe it's only eating one helping of dinner when you usually go back for seconds. Whatever it is, be real with yourself. Choose small goals that you know you can reach rather quickly if you are determined to do so.

Set yourself up for success. Make your goals attainable and reasonable for where you are today. Once you've done that, you reevaluate and re-set new goals...once you've rewarded yourself. We'll talk about all of that next week.

For now, what's your deal with goals? Why haven't you set any in the past? Think about that and figure out what reasonable goal(s) you can set for yourself today...

Let's take care of these "vessels" God has given us. We can do it! I believe in you!

Understanding Restructuring

Ok, lovely readers...it's time for some Tuesday Sports Talk!

Since the NHL and NBA playoffs have concluded, our focus is now 100% on baseball (as it should be, in my little opinion). A hot-button topic in the world of Major League Baseball right now is "restructuring" the leagues/divisions.

My goal is to always help you understand what is going on in sports so that you can have relevant conversations with those who love sports and build better friendships or add a new, exciting element to your existing relationships. You know, shock your husband with sports talk!

To help you understand the restructuring talk, you have to first understand how baseball is organized currently. Today, there are 30 baseball teams divided in two leagues. The leagues are called American and National Leagues. Within each of the two leagues, there are 3 divisions. They are called East, Central and West in both the American and National Leagues.

They breakdown like this:

and...

For those who might have been confused by that image, I'll break it down by color... American league teams in red and National league teams in blue, all listed within their divisions:

AL (stands for American League) East: Yankees, Red Sox, Blue Jays, Rays, Orioles
AL Central: Twins, White Sox, Royals, Indians, Tigers
AL West: Rangers, Angels, Mariners, A's

NL (stands for National League) East: Braves, Mets, Marlins, Phillies, Nationals
NL Central: Pirates, Astros, Cubs, Cardinals, Brewers, Reds
NL West: Dodgers, Padres, Giants, Rockies, Diamondbacks

So, now you know what division (East, Central, West) and what league (National or American) your favorite team is. My two favorite teams are in the NL East (Braves) and AL West (Rangers). Where are yours? 

Now, back to restructuring. 

With the current setup, teams within the same division play each other more than they play other teams. For example, everyone within the NL West plays the other teams at their home field and  at the other team's field at least twice each! So the Dodgers would play the Padres, Giants, Rockies and Diamondbacks at Dodger Stadium...and  they would play each one at the other teams' stadium at least twice in both places. The Dodgers would then play all other teams just once at each place. Why does this matter?

Well, certain divisions in baseball are far stronger than others. The AL East is the powerhouse. The Yankees and Red Sox are perennial bullies, beating up on everyone else. Teams like the Rays and Blue Jays, who are also very good teams, have a hard time making it to the playoffs because they are stuck playing the Yankees and Red Sox so many times a year. On the other hand, the AL Central is rather weak historically. Many times, if the Rays or Blue Jays had been in the Central instead of the East division, they would have easily won and advanced to the playoffs.

To give you numbers, teams within the same division play each other 18-20 times per year. A team plays the teams in other divisions 6-7 times per year. It makes quite a difference.

So, the idea is to restructure the divisions to make them more fair. There are many ideas on how to do this. We won't get into all of them today just because it seems every sports writer has "the answer" and it's hard to say which will end up in affect. What I hope you understand is the current organization and the problems it presents. 

One solution that is somewhat the front-runner (today; that could change by tomorrow) is getting rid of divisions completely and just having two large leagues where the top 5 from each side would make it to the playoffs. Do you see and understand how that eliminates the problem? It opens a few more issues we won't get into today, but it does level the playing field and help teams like the Rays, Blue Jays and Orioles who are so used to playing the Yankees and Red Sox over and over each year.

Make sense? Now go grab a sports-lover and talk MLB restructuring with them! Or at least tell them what division your favorite team is in! Conversations like this can birth friendships and deeper relationships and those are straight up gifts from the Lord. So, go talk sports! =)

Did I make it obvious...

that I'm a Mavs fan!? If not, this will help...

GO MAVS!!!!

Do Something!

Emphasis on something.

Today is our first Healthy Thursday and while I intend to eventually give work out suggestions and nutrition advice I've picked up from years of athletic torture playing competitive sports, today is very simple. I think the first and most important part of living a healthy lifestyle is a commitment to do something.

All too often, a person makes the decision to start working out regularly and somewhere falls off the wagon. You've seen it. And judging by statistics, you've probably done it! You determine your plan and what you want to do each morning or night. You buy the clothes for it and any accompanying videos or literature necessary. You get the water bottles, sweat bands and iPod accessories needed. You're all set! And then...well, life happens.

You come home from an awful day at work and can't possibly think about any thing but vegging out on the couch, staring off at the TV while giving your mind a break. We've so all been there. Or, the kids were overly unruly all day long and you finally get them in bed and can't think of anything that sounds better than a bubble bath and an overly full glass of wine an early night's sleep.

My charge to you is to do something. Even on those days. Do something! You won't believe how much better you'll feel both for accomplishing something you set out to do, and for the biological fact that your body releases endorphins during exercise that help you relieve stress!

We will talk about setting personal goals that are relative to you and your current state next week, but let your first goal be to do something every day/night.

I define something, for our purposes here, as anything that elevates the heart rate to a level that is beyond your resting level, or anything that causes a muscle to burn.

My husband and I are committed to doing something every day. Most days, our something looks like this:
- He picks up our son and gets home before me. He changes his clothes and gets water for us and our son
- I get home shortly thereafter and immediately change clothes
- We jog around the neighborhood to one of the parks in the area and let our son play while we throw a frisbee or play catch
- We walk home and I cook dinner and proceed with bath, bed time, and Mommy/Daddy time

However, sometimes, my something looks like:
- doing crunches during my favorite TV show
- doing lunges during the commercials of a baseball game we're watching
- lifting my son repeatedly, intentionally, until my arms burn...putting him down...and repeating it
- going for an after dinner walk because something kept us from jogging before dinner and we don't want to barf think walking would be wiser
- lunging and squatting in the bathroom at work (I can't believe I just owned up to doing that...)(shows how much I care and want you all to find a way to fit something in!)

I think this is such an important step because this is where it becomes part of your lifestyle. It's not a crash diet or a New Year's resolution. It's what you do. Just like you don't go to bed before brushing your teeth, try not to go to bed before you've done something. I can't count the nights that I've done crunches by the side of the bed because I realized I'd let the day get away without doing anything that raised my heart rate or made my muscles burn. I've even laid in the bed with my legs slightly off the mattress for a minute at a time to get some ab burn in before we turned out the lights.

The possibilities are endless. Make it part of your life to do something and you will begin to see it become part of who you are. And taking care of the body God gave us is one of the ways we can honor him. Try to see this as an act of worship and not the pursuit of a body the world tells you you should want. It's a lot more fulfilling and God-glorifying that way.

Everyone can do something.

What will you do today?

Talking Foul!

Ok, lovely readers! It's Sports Talk Tuesday! My overall goal is to help all women understand and appreciate sports the same way I do. I feel like sports have enriched my life beyond measure! At least half of my friends were made with some kind of sport being the starting point of the friendship. They bring people together!

Currently, we are in the middle of the NBA finals between the Dallas Mavericks and the Miami Heat. Some say it's Good vs. Evil. I agree with those people. And Dallas is the "Good," so if you like things that are "Good," you are a Dallas fan at your next watching party. I don't have time to explain everything that caused my stance on this subject, but ask your husband about his stance on "The Decision" and if he likes sports, he'll have an opinion.

Since game 4 is tonight, we have to hurry and learn some terminology that you can use at your watching-parties...or even just to impress your husband while the two of you cuddle on the couch.

I was trying to determine the most useful vocabulary set I could think of for today...and I had one main inspiration.

There will be a TON of fouls called tonight...and too many of them will send Dwyane Wade to the line. So, "fouls" will be our topic today.

But before we get there, I have to derail this train for a second. I have GOT to get something off my chest. Can everyone read his name above? Dwyane. The announcers act like this is completely normal. They pronounce it "Duane" or "Dewayne" or any of the normal ways you've seen it. They never bring up the fact that it clearly says "Dwah - yane"...Dwyane. Not "Du - wayne" like they say it. I can read and I learned phonics. That says "Dwah - yane"...and so, I will call him that.

Ok, where were we? Right, foul talk. (that sounds like I'm about to get dirty)

Foul - Each player has to have a fair chance to make a play. If a player cheats by pushing another player or elbowing him, slapping him, etc...anything that keeps the player from having a fair chance to make a play, that is a foul.
Flop - what Dwyane Wade does. For real. But also...it has become an "art" in basketball to disguise what is actually happening and make it look as though you are being fouled. Players are well aware of where the refs will be located on the floor, so if I am standing in a position where Sally is behind me, I know the ref can't actually see Sally. I can launch myself to the ground and act like Sally pushed me and the ref has no option but to call a foul since something must have caused that. Right, Dwah-yane?
Foul Line - the line a player stands behind to shoot a free throw
Free Throw - when a player is fouled while shooting, or fouled after the other team has reached the penalty (explained below), he shoots two free throws. These are shots where he stands on the foul line with no one in his face and he has time to set up and shoot comfortably.
Shooting Foul - if Sally fouls me while I am trying to shoot the ball, I get two free throws, every time. That is a "shooting foul" because she fouled me while I was shooting.
Non-Shooting Foul - if Sally fouls me while I am dribbling the ball (she slaps my hand, which is called a "Reach In," for example) I don't get to shoot two free throws UNLESS Sally's team is "in the penalty." In the NBA, each team gets 5 fouls per quarter before they are "in the penalty." If Sally fouls me while I'm dribbling and it's just the 3rd foul of that quarter, the whistle blows, they count the foul, and my team regroups and starts again. If Sally fouls me while I'm dribbling and it's the 6th foul of the quarter, I am going to get to shoot two free throws because her team is "in the penalty." Get it?!

So tonight, shock your husband, boyfriend, father or sports-loving-girlfriend-like-me away by saying something like:
"Ugh! I hate it when Dwah-yane gets foul calls for flopping like that! No one touched him!"
"Great. There goes Dwah-yane to the foul line again...Grrrr."
"Thank goodness that wasn't a shooting foul [if Dirk slaps Dwyane in the face while he's dribbling] or else Dwah-yane would get two more shots!"
"Are the Mavericks in the penalty yet?" [if you want to know whether or not a foul will automatically send the Heat to the free throw line]
"That's a foul!!!!" [when Dirk gets a black eye and nothing gets called]

Are you guys starting to get it? Give me some feedback about if this is too hard to follow or way too simplistic. I'm not sure where most of the audience falls on the sports-love-ometer.

And enjoy the game tonight. The Mavs need this win or it's pretty much over. But more importantly than that, enjoy getting together with your sports-loving friends. Have good, fun fellowship and remember the Giver of those good times!

Reflections

When I had finished my first year of college, I decided to take a road trip. I loaded my then 83 year old grandmother and then 13 year old brother in the car and we took off to West Virginia to satisfy two strong cravings of mine- one for a road trip and one for some whitewater rafting action.

I rafted the New River alone while my grandmother and brother patiently waited at the hotel (ok, my brother wasn't patient at all...he basically hated me by the time I got back since I had to use our only car to get to the river). About ten hours after leaving them, I returned with a video of the river trip. I wanted them to see the awesome time I'd had since they couldn't be there with me. I also wanted to show the cute guy I was dating how cool I was. I mean, who takes on Class IV and V rapids without a buddy?! THIS girl!  (PS - that cute guy is now my husband...I totally knew he couldn't resist me after that!)

After watching the video, I asked my then-boyfriend/now-husband what his favorite part was. Was it when we took on "Dudley's Dip" with ease while the other boat flipped? No?

Was it when I jumped off "Jump Rock" and screamed, "God Bless Texas!" as I flew to the water? No?

He said that by far, his favorite part was when the camera man would show close ups of me before a rapid. He loved how my face would be stoic through the calmer waters and as soon as I could see the splashes of the rapid, I got a huge smile on my face and immediately started laughing. It's true. For whatever reason, I crack up when the scary parts of adventures come. I think roller coasters get me laughing the most. On the up-hill ride before a drop, you'd think Jerry Seinfeld was in mid-set in the seat behind me.

Fast forward eight years and I now have a toddler...a toddler who outwardly looks nothing like me. Almost to the man, when meeting my son, everyone says, "He looks just like Tim!" Great. I do all the baby-carrying, laboring, pushing, and using my body parts as feeding mechanisms and the kid looks nothing like me? Fair.


Over Memorial Day weekend, we went swimming at my parents' house. My son loves water and is a little too brave for his own good. Toward the end of our swim-time, I sat my son on the step so my arms could get a little break. I was standing right in front of him, so he decided to reach for me. He slid off the step, went under, and I quickly picked him back up and put him on the step. Well, he loved that and decided to do it over and over again. I would place him on the step and he would scoot forward, rocking from one tiny cheek to the other until he got to the edge. At the edge of the step, a huge smile would cover his face and he would erupt with laughter from the time his little booty left the step until he was under water.

Reflections.

He wasn't born looking like me, no. But I see sweet reflections of me in him. And I love them. I will forever remember his little face as he worked so hard to get to the edge, knowing something exciting was waiting for him. I'll always be able to picture his face light up as the adventure closed in, and the giggle that filled the air as he took it on, full-steam ahead. It's a reflection of me. And I cherish it.

And it made me think.

I wasn't born looking like Christ either. But I'm sure it gives him great joy when He sees small reflections of himself in Me. And just like the reflections of myself will become more and more common in my son as he ages and spends time with me, I hope the Lord sees more and more of Himself in me as I grow and spend more and more time with Him.

And I hope those are reflections my son sees as well. Those will be the ones that really matter.

Passion #2 - Activity

I've decided that my passions are best summed up by the unflattering acronym FATME. We've covered the "F" (Family) and now, we're covering the "A" (Activity) as I continue to introduce you to the passions I hope to use to bring about a deeper love of the Lord.

When it comes to activity, the bottom line is I love it. 

I love watching sports and playing sports. We will get much more into this in the coming days. I fully intend to develop a love of sports, or at least an appreciation of them, in anyone who reads this blog. But for now, some pics of sports and I loving one another...

Lots of the posts you'll read here in the future will surround this second passion and in each one, I'm going to challenge myself to see how my affections for Christ can be stirred by sports and physical activity. Like so many things, they can be an act of worship if my mindset is right. I would be lying if I said I constantly thought, "Glory to you, God!" while jogging in the humidity, about to die. I actually am thinking, "What in the We should move on.

I wholeheartedly believe all good things come from above (James 1:17) and to me, sports are good. Join me in future posts as I attempt to focus this passion on the giver of those good things.

Learn about the "T" in FATME right here.