This morning, I woke up early (relatively speaking) to go to the old grounds of Tempelhof Airport in Berlin. The airport was shut down in 2009 and was the site of the Berlin Blockade in 1948-49. There are two baseball fields there (maybe softball), and that's where my team—the Berlin Black Sheep—held its first official practice today.
I had high expectations for myself and the team going into practice. Within the first few minutes though, it was clear that we had a lot to work on. I missed a number of ground balls hit right at me and also misjudged at least two fly balls. On the few occasions that I did field the ball cleanly, I ended up throwing wide of first. I feel like I need to practice just to practice.
Some of the others on the team did fine. Those would be the guys who are veterans on the team. They had little trouble with their fly balls and only a few miscues in the infield. It also seemed like we might have some good spots for folks. I felt most comfortable at second base, which was what I had expected coming in anyway. Outfield would be fine too, but my arm is more suited for the infield.
Hitting ended up being pretty pathetic for me too. During our first round of hitting, I batted left-handed, which is what I've been doing for the most part since 8th grade. It was pretty bad. I fouled a number of pitches straight up or rolled over on at least half of the pitches. I might've gotten two hits total out of the infield. Embarrassing.
In the second round of hitting, I decided to hit right-handed, and surprisingly, I had much more power even though I felt my form was way off. Apparently, my veteran teammate thought so too. He said it looked much more natural from the right side. Funny, since I haven't hit right-handed in a long time. Frankly, I hadn't hit in a long time, period.
The weather was pretty wonderful. The sun was out, a number of clouds, but not rain. It was certainly chilly and brisk, but once we started running down balls, it felt just fine. Sadly, it's supposed to snow tomorrow. But I suppose I'm lucky to be migrating to Italy for the week.
After practice, Michelle and I headed over to Brandon's house. They had both been at practice too, so we headed to Brandon's together, picking up some groceries on the way. We decided to have a little grill party on Brandon's balcony. Before then though, he cut my hair. Nice of him to do that and another fine job, I think.
As we spent the afternoon prepping all our food (more like just Michelle and Brandon prepping food...I was cleaning up all my hair in the bathroom), of course, I took pictures. Brandon and I finished off some of his carrots. Then we had salad, potatoes, sauerkraut, bratwursts, and bread. Delicious!
For dessert, we had grilled apples with lemon sugar. Good stuff. They made fun of me because I asked if it was okay to eat the skin. Yeah, I suppose I knew that already, but there was burnt parts on mine so I asked. They laughed.
We ended up heading out to pick up a movie. We wanted to watch The Social Network but it was not available. Every single copy at the store was taken. So we picked up Das Parfum instead. We also got some more beer and popcorn.
Normally, I only buy microwaveable popcorn, so today I learned how to make real popcorn. 'Twas pretty fun. When we ate our second round of popcorn, I convinced Brandon to add butter and salt. So unhealthy but so delicious.
Sadly, the movie didn't work on Brandon's computer, so we watched a couple episodes of Family Guy. Pretty funny. Overall, we had a great day and a very enjoyable evening.
Tomorrow morning, I'll wake up and pack for Italy. Then respond to a few emails that I have yet to reply to, eat lunch, and then head to the airport. Looking forward to hitting the road again!
Till then,
Sam
I had high expectations for myself and the team going into practice. Within the first few minutes though, it was clear that we had a lot to work on. I missed a number of ground balls hit right at me and also misjudged at least two fly balls. On the few occasions that I did field the ball cleanly, I ended up throwing wide of first. I feel like I need to practice just to practice.
Some of the others on the team did fine. Those would be the guys who are veterans on the team. They had little trouble with their fly balls and only a few miscues in the infield. It also seemed like we might have some good spots for folks. I felt most comfortable at second base, which was what I had expected coming in anyway. Outfield would be fine too, but my arm is more suited for the infield.
Hitting ended up being pretty pathetic for me too. During our first round of hitting, I batted left-handed, which is what I've been doing for the most part since 8th grade. It was pretty bad. I fouled a number of pitches straight up or rolled over on at least half of the pitches. I might've gotten two hits total out of the infield. Embarrassing.
In the second round of hitting, I decided to hit right-handed, and surprisingly, I had much more power even though I felt my form was way off. Apparently, my veteran teammate thought so too. He said it looked much more natural from the right side. Funny, since I haven't hit right-handed in a long time. Frankly, I hadn't hit in a long time, period.
The weather was pretty wonderful. The sun was out, a number of clouds, but not rain. It was certainly chilly and brisk, but once we started running down balls, it felt just fine. Sadly, it's supposed to snow tomorrow. But I suppose I'm lucky to be migrating to Italy for the week.
After practice, Michelle and I headed over to Brandon's house. They had both been at practice too, so we headed to Brandon's together, picking up some groceries on the way. We decided to have a little grill party on Brandon's balcony. Before then though, he cut my hair. Nice of him to do that and another fine job, I think.
As we spent the afternoon prepping all our food (more like just Michelle and Brandon prepping food...I was cleaning up all my hair in the bathroom), of course, I took pictures. Brandon and I finished off some of his carrots. Then we had salad, potatoes, sauerkraut, bratwursts, and bread. Delicious!
For dessert, we had grilled apples with lemon sugar. Good stuff. They made fun of me because I asked if it was okay to eat the skin. Yeah, I suppose I knew that already, but there was burnt parts on mine so I asked. They laughed.
We ended up heading out to pick up a movie. We wanted to watch The Social Network but it was not available. Every single copy at the store was taken. So we picked up Das Parfum instead. We also got some more beer and popcorn.
Normally, I only buy microwaveable popcorn, so today I learned how to make real popcorn. 'Twas pretty fun. When we ate our second round of popcorn, I convinced Brandon to add butter and salt. So unhealthy but so delicious.
Sadly, the movie didn't work on Brandon's computer, so we watched a couple episodes of Family Guy. Pretty funny. Overall, we had a great day and a very enjoyable evening.
Tomorrow morning, I'll wake up and pack for Italy. Then respond to a few emails that I have yet to reply to, eat lunch, and then head to the airport. Looking forward to hitting the road again!
Till then,
Sam
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