Every year

[Snapolit1]

The reality hits that I won't have a baseball game to watch until another crappy winter has come and gone. Hate that feeling.

“[Baseball] breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall all alone."

Bart Giamatti

[clydepepper]

Originally Posted by Snapolit1

The reality hits that I won't have a baseball game to watch until another crappy winter has come and gone. Hate that feeling.

“[Baseball] breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall all alone."

Bart Giamatti

Steve- Thanks for sharing some Bart!

I feel the same way.


.

[Huysmans]

And yet for me, the winter season means hockey...
with the playoffs in the spring the king for post-season play in any sport.

[Snapolit1]

Originally Posted by Huysmans

And yet for me, the winter season means hockey...
with the playoffs in the spring the king for post-season play in any sport.

Not a hockey fan but it does seem like that sport rises to the occasion every post season. Too long (way too long) post season just like basketball if you ask me, but there is a real thrilling intensity when push comes to shove and the games actually count.

[pokerplyr80]

I actually watch more football than baseball so I don't mind this time of year. I went to the rams vs packers game and couldn't believe it when Ty ran that ball out of the end zone. I was hoping I'd get to see a Rodgers game winning 4th quarter drive in person.

[gregr2]

I am always saddened at the last out of the World Series. Being a big college basketball fan is the only saving grace as I wait for the start of Spring Training.

[clydepepper]

February 13 - Pitchers and Catchers report.


.

[Jim65]

Hockey is actually my favorite sport so I love this time of year.

[ALR-bishop]

The long dark tunnel

"People ask me what I do in winter when there is no baseball. I will tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring"... Roger Honsby

[dabigyankeeman]

I hate when no baseball is on tv!!!! I also follow Formula 1 auto racing and their season doesnt have much longer to go, and when its gone too its really bad for me with my two sports gone for months.

I was gonna try to get into football more than I have been the last decade or so, I love the NY Giants, but they are the dregs of the earth this year with a record of like 1-7 so far. Oh the humanity!!!!

[Huysmans]

Originally Posted by ALR-bishop

The long dark tunnel

"People ask me what I do in winter when there is no baseball. I will tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring"... Roger Honsby

I think Roger "Honsby" needed a few hobbies

[RedsFan1941]

Originally Posted by Huysmans

I think Roger "Honsby" needed a few hobbies

and an "s" on the end of his first name

[Rose4HOF]

As much as I love baseball, going to my sons high school games could give you frostbite and some of the playoff games Ive been to over the years with the wind/rain/ice storms combos....you would think your at Lambeau field watching a Packers game.

[Snapolit1]

Originally Posted by dabigyankeeman

I hate when no baseball is on tv!!!! I also follow Formula 1 auto racing and their season doesnt have much longer to go, and when its gone too its really bad for me with my two sports gone for months.

I was gonna try to get into football more than I have been the last decade or so, I love the NY Giants, but they are the dregs of the earth this year with a record of like 1-7 so far. Oh the humanity!!!!

I stopped following football closely years ago. No political related issue, I just find the nonstop time outs and commercials, and now near constant replays, to be a very boring way to spend a few hours. Just don't find the game itself that intetesting.

I tell my brothers I find baseball endlessly fascinating and football boring 99% of the time and they look at me like I've lost my mind.

Did you ever realize that with all the time in a football game and the omnipresent clock that the grand total of live action is like 8 minutes IN TOTAL a game? Seriously. That a fact.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by Snapolit1

I stopped following football closely years ago. No political related issue, I just find the nonstop time outs and commercials, and now near constant replays, to be a very boring way to spend a few hours. Just don't find the game itself that intetesting.

I tell my brothers I find baseball endlessly fascinating and football boring 99% of the time and they look at me like I've lost my mind.

Did you ever realize that with all the time in a football game and the omnipresent clock that the grand total of live action is like 8 minutes IN TOTAL a game? Seriously. That a fact.

If you take away all the endless time between pitches baseball probably doesn't add up to much more.

[irv]

Originally Posted by Huysmans

And yet for me, the winter season means hockey...
with the playoffs in the spring the king for post-season play in any sport.

Originally Posted by Jim65

Hockey is actually my favorite sport so I love this time of year.

Love hockey as well, but being Canadian, I don't imagine that was much of a shock to anyone.

This year is the first year in 10 yrs my son isn't playing hockey. I knew this day was coming but boy did it come quick!!

Being a trainer, an assistant coach and being on the bench is something I loved and looked forward too.

Their is a bit of hope as my son had a High School hockey tryout Monday night, which surprised me, so hopefully he sticks with that so I can catch a game or 10, but if one of his buds backs out, I'm afraid he will too.

On the bright side, and although I wouldn't change anything to watch my son play, at least I'll have more time for snowmobiling this winter.

On a side note, I went to the Oshawa Generals game last Sunday night and saw Bobby Orr!
He was back in Oshawa again signing books at our local Costco and decided to check out a game where it all started.
There wasn't much of a crowd at the game but all the 3,642 people who attended, all gave him a roaring applause/standing ovation.
https://www.durhamregion.com/whatson...-book-signing/

[Snapolit1]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

If you take away all the endless time between pitches baseball probably doesn't add up to much more.

True. . .but if you ask the average person they will say football is a sport of tremendous action. Which it clearly is not. It's a lot of routine plays (run up the middle, gain of 3) and the very occasional exceptional play.

[AGuinness]

Originally Posted by irv

Love hockey as well, but being Canadian, I don't imagine that was much of a shock to anyone.

This year is the first year in 10 yrs my son isn't playing hockey. I knew this day was coming but boy did it come quick!!

Being a trainer, an assistant coach and being on the bench is something I loved and looked forward too.

My son's soccer team this fall had a coach that wasn't a dad of one of the kids. His own kids are now in college, but he was willing to coach anyway because he loves the game. My son is 8, and the coach said he's interested in continuing to coach the group as they get older. Good coaches can be hard to find, and I bet your skills would be welcome on a younger team (although perhaps soccer in the US is not a very good proxy for hockey in Canada!).

[irv]

Originally Posted by AGuinness

My son's soccer team this fall had a coach that wasn't a dad of one of the kids. His own kids are now in college, but he was willing to coach anyway because he loves the game. My son is 8, and the coach said he's interested in continuing to coach the group as they get older. Good coaches can be hard to find, and I bet your skills would be welcome on a younger team (although perhaps soccer in the US is not a very good proxy for hockey in Canada!).

I have thought about that, Garth, and may just do it next season/year depending on how this winter goes with snowmobiling? Right now I have been fairly busy with retirement things, wills, finances and a host of other things that need doing off the Honey Do list as well as my own things.

Also, I currently have a bud whose son just started playing hockey this year at the age of 10. Starting at such an age has its disadvantages and it, according to his Dad, really bothers his son that he can't skate very good compared to the other kids on his team.
Not that I am a great skater myself but I believe I can help him with some things that I have learned over the years running practices and drills.
The fact remains, however, even if I can't teach him much, just being on the ice is what he needs the most.
My bud is seperated and neither he nor his ex know how to skate very well, or at all, so with the issues of work, who has him, etc, etc, getting him on the ice for a public skate or stick and puck is rather difficult.

I haven't ran it by his Mother yet but hopefully, when I get up with things, she will be receptive to it?
He's a great kid and I think both of us will enjoy it so I am looking forward to it.

[Butch7999]

Get him one of Laura Stamm's instructional books on skating.
Those have helped everyone from Atoms to NHLers.

[irv]

Originally Posted by Butch7999

Get him one of Laura Stamm's instructional books on skating.
Those have helped everyone from Atoms to NHLers.

I have never heard of her before but will look into/tell them about her.
Thanks.

This is a high school friend of mine's wife, Tracy Tutton. She has been all over the place training/teaching NHLr's skating techniques for more than a few years now.
https://denver.cbslocal.com/2015/07/...skating-coach/

Chris, Tracy's husband, and my friend was also a great athlete. In High School, I played football with him in grades, 10, 11 and 12.

Their children, not surprisingly, are super gifted/talented to say the least.
Chad, is a Professional lacrosse player who has won many awards.
Their daughter, Braeydan is a professional Volleyball player and to round it out, their other son is chasing an NHL career.
https://www.uslaxmagazine.com/pro/nl...loves-lacrosse
http://www.etsubucs.com/volleyball/r...raedyn-tutton/
https://www.eliteprospects.com/playe.../brodie-tutton

Chris is currently a Fireman here in Oshawa, who, like me, is soon to be retired as well.

[AGuinness]

Originally Posted by irv

I have thought about that, Garth, and may just do it next season/year depending on how this winter goes with snowmobiling? Right now I have been fairly busy with retirement things, wills, finances and a host of other things that need doing off the Honey Do list as well as my own things.

Also, I currently have a bud whose son just started playing hockey this year at the age of 10. Starting at such an age has its disadvantages and it, according to his Dad, really bothers his son that he can't skate very good compared to the other kids on his team.
Not that I am a great skater myself but I believe I can help him with some things that I have learned over the years running practices and drills.
The fact remains, however, even if I can't teach him much, just being on the ice is what he needs the most.
My bud is seperated and neither he nor his ex know how to skate very well, or at all, so with the issues of work, who has him, etc, etc, getting him on the ice for a public skate or stick and puck is rather difficult.

I haven't ran it by his Mother yet but hopefully, when I get up with things, she will be receptive to it?
He's a great kid and I think both of us will enjoy it so I am looking forward to it.

It can be tough to fit in coaching sports with all that goes on in life, but a great coach can make such a difference. It sounds like you have a lot you could offer to aspiring hockey players, I'll be rooting for you if you take the plunge.

I've had the chance to be assistant coach for my older son's soccer team this year and my younger son's t-ball team a couple years back. Both were fun and I'm grateful that I could do it (although I found that by the end of the season I was ready for a break, and in both instances there were a couple kids on each team that drove me a little batty). I also figured out pretty quickly when my oldest son was quite young that even just a different voice other than a parent sometimes has an easier way of getting through to kids.

I wish I had gotten an earlier start on hockey - I didn't start skating until I was probably 12 or so. We had a neighborhood rink and there were many pickup games of hockey down there, so I had to learn fast. It was a ton of fun, and I'm a bit jealous these days of my friend who plays in a men's rec league, which I would get destroyed in.

[clydepepper]

Maybe they can start televising the games from Central and South America...

[irv]

Originally Posted by AGuinness

It can be tough to fit in coaching sports with all that goes on in life, but a great coach can make such a difference. It sounds like you have a lot you could offer to aspiring hockey players, I'll be rooting for you if you take the plunge.

I've had the chance to be assistant coach for my older son's soccer team this year and my younger son's t-ball team a couple years back. Both were fun and I'm grateful that I could do it (although I found that by the end of the season I was ready for a break, and in both instances there were a couple kids on each team that drove me a little batty). I also figured out pretty quickly when my oldest son was quite young that even just a different voice other than a parent sometimes has an easier way of getting through to kids.

I wish I had gotten an earlier start on hockey - I didn't start skating until I was probably 12 or so. We had a neighborhood rink and there were many pickup games of hockey down there, so I had to learn fast. It was a ton of fun, and I'm a bit jealous these days of my friend who plays in a men's rec league, which I would get destroyed in.

I spoke with the boys Mom last night and she is all for it, except I found out through her he plays both Saturday and Sunday, and sometime Thursday as well.

In finding that out, I realized that won't leave a lot of open time for Stick and Puck but hopefully, if he has an early enough game on a Sunday morning, that he'll want to get out again for a 1pm skate?

Homework, of course, will come first but if he manages to get it completed and has the gumption still, then hopefully the odd Sunday here or there happens.

I agree a 100% with the bold, Garth. Most kids/boys tune out their parents voice of reason/teaching so having someone different there training/instructing definitely goes a lot farther for sure!

Thanks for the words of encouragement. Like I mentioned, we'll see how this winter goes then I'll decide next year.
With any luck at all, I'd be real pleased if I could get on my friends son's team? Aside from looking for assistant coaches occasionally, trainers always seem to be in demand.

[vintagebaseballcardguy]

Originally Posted by Snapolit1

The reality hits that I won't have a baseball game to watch until another crappy winter has come and gone. Hate that feeling.

“[Baseball] breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall all alone."

Bart Giamatti

I hear ya, Steve. When baseball is gone and winter is coming on, I start rewatching Ken Burns' Baseball and buying good baseball reads to get me through the winter. I started all that again this week.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

[MarcosCards]

Oh yeah - great idea! Ken Burn’s Baseball on YouTube - along with other great baseball documentaries and film clips. If I watch while on my Schwinn AirDyne, I can burn a few winter calories at the same time!

[Snapolit1]

Originally Posted by MarcosCards

Oh yeah - great idea! Ken Burn’s Baseball on YouTube - along with other great baseball documentaries and film clips. If I watch while on my Schwinn AirDyne, I can burn a few winter calories at the same time!

One thing I absolutely can't do -- despite how such I miss baseball -- is watch replayed old games in their entirety. SNY in NY shows "Mets' Classics". Some meaningless game where the Mets scored 8 runs in the 9th inning to win a May game from 2002. Sorry. Maybe if I happen to tune in for the 9th inning will watch, but am not going to watch some old game knowing how it ends.

On the other hand, been meaning for years to watch Don Larsens perfect game which I believe is on You Tube. That would be a hoot. And I think its like 90 minutes long.