Missed catches and uncoordinated plays, punctuated by fleeting moments of magic on the softball field. The Granary Square Grizzlies were at their finest——one last time.

For the uninitiated, adult C-league slow-pitch softball is a comedy of errors, a lot of errors. Its a game where an easy out pop fly can turn into a single, then a double, then an in-the-park home run. The neon yellow ball can dance along the rim of a Grizzly glove, tempt you into thinking there might be a play, and still drop unceremoniously into the dirt.

The Grizzlies opened strong with a four-run first inning. They closed strong, too. It was the between where they bobbled and stumbled their way to ten runs down. Grounders rolled from infield to grass and fly balls fell just short of outstretched gloves.

A late inning rally brought the Granary boys closer, and the other team proved they could commit just as many mistakes, and our guys got back a few free runs.

“The humiliation is almost over,” said Weston Armstrong, the George Steinbrenner of slow pitch, at the start of the game’s final inning.

“It’s like tee-ball,” an exasperated Travis Armstrong (the team’s designated hitter) said from the stands, watching another simple play turn to utter chaos.

Despite their skill at having no talent for this game (its not really a sport, per se), the Grizzlies seem to be the only team with a dedicated cheering section. Mostly its parents, siblings and girlfriends of the 18 to near-30-year-old players, yet the boys on the field revel in devotion of their loyal-but-distractible supporters.

So they’re not the original Bad News Bears. Hell, they’re not even the remake. But for one glorious year, well, they’ve been something.

And its not that the Grizzlies are bad at this game. Most of them were high school athletes. A few even have college sports scholarships. But this isn’t a game to be taken too seriously. Regular practices, uniforms comprised of something more formal more than matching t-shirts and bright yellow tube socks, or a consistent roster would only lessen the enjoyment that comes with watching the guys in green and gold.

Go Grizz.

(My brother Nick was the Grizzlies’ pitcher. He played his last game Monday night before heading out to Indiana this morning. This isn’t China-related in the slightest, but that’s the wonderful thing about blogging.)

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 16th, 2006 at 11:47 pm and is filed under self-indulgence. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.