Batting 1000

/0 Comments/in , , /by

Taylor was 3 for 3 in his game tonight!

It is interesting to think about the small differences between batting 1.000 and .000. Even the difference between .200 and .300. An extra bit of hustle. A good bounce. All lead to the ever-elusive hit. Almost every Hall of Famer gets out 2 of 3 times he is at bat.

In life and leadership, we all need to realize that more often than not…we will make an out. That shouldn’t keep us from swinging for the fences! We need to realize that even the best strike out–a lot!

Keep swinging!

Basketball Season in the Books

/1 Comment/in , , /by

Taylor has been playing basketball for 3 years now. He absolutely loves sports and really lives basketball. This year, we decided to play YMCA basketball instead of Upward. Nothing really wrong with Upward, except it is a drive and I honestly want to be around people who aren’t “professional church goers.” It has been fun hanging out with people that don’t all have a church home or background. I love working with the kids too! Our guys (and girls) have really improved over the last 8 weeks! The time has sure flown by! We don’t keep score in the games…but our kids say that we are undefeated–don’t know how that works exactly!!

Here are some fuzzy pictures at the game this morning.

Golfer shows extreme integrity

/1 Comment/in , , /by

Veteran golfer, J.P. Hayes, turned himself in for using a golf ball not approved for play by the United States Golf Association.? In doing so, it disqualified him from the Q-School tournament and he did not get a coveted 2009 PGA tour card.? There are many articles and blog posts about this event when you do a Google search. There is also a great discussion on Mike and Mike in the Morning on ESPN Radio here.

I played golf on my high school golf team (Go Chiefs!!–That’s for Ronnie!).? With those experiences, I learned a lot of lessons about integrity and life.? I also learned that the game of golf is officiated by each player and there is the possibility for a lot of cheating to take place.? I had an experience one time during a match where an opponant’s father was watching the match.? He came up to his son after we left the green and told him something.? The player then told the guy with the score card that he had not properly marked his ball on the putting green and would need to take a two stroke penalty.? Amazing couple of minutes for sure.? Turns out that his team needed those strokes to win and they lost the match.? Again, there is a ton of stories like this that come out of sports, especially golf.

So, for the weekend hacker, don’t kick your ball from behind the tree, play “winter rules” in the middle of the summer, take a mulligan every hole, and the list goes on and on.? Play the game with integrity and most importantly–enjoy the game!? Enjoy the day that the Lord has made!? Enjoy the people you are playing with (though it is extremely difficult at times!). Enjoy this terrible, horrible, exellent, frustrating game we call golf!

When have you seen someone show integrity when no one would have known?

flickr.com test with a great pic of Taylor boy!

/0 Comments/in , , , , /by


SANY0303

Originally uploaded by dalestine

I am trying to get an easy way to get pictures up on my blog and have come across flickr again. I think I will be able to post pictures from my iPhone and blog them with relative ease.

This is a great picture of Taylor is one of his last games of his season this summer. The guys did an awesome job of growing and improving this season and actually won the post season tournament. (I like to call it our own little World Series . . . but who’s keeping track!) The guys only lost one game the entire season–their first game against the Mudcats! They kept working hard and getting better. I am really proud of them!

Little League “Champs”

/0 Comments/in , , , /by

The Blue Bombers won their end of the season tournament tonight with two last inning come-from-behind games.? The first game, they won with a walk off base hit.? The second game, they beat the Mudcats, by far one of the best teams in the league, by holding on to a 3 run lead in the last inning.? The guys played awesome defense to win first place in their post season tournament!? It really has been a lot of fun helping coach with my friends (and making several new ones in the process!)? Here are some pics of the team with the trophy and their medals.

We are thinking the trophy ought to be like a traveling trophy like the Stanley Cup.? It could go on family vacations, children’s camps, school trips, etc.

Oh My Josh!

/0 Comments/in /by

Wow, just sitting here watching the Major League Baseball Home Run Derby, and Josh Hamilton from the Texas Rangers hit 28 HOME RUNS in the FIRST ROUND!!? He didn’t even have to hit in the second round to get into the FINALS!!!!? His pitcher, Clay Council is 71 years old!? Are you kidding me?? Amazing story.? Plus he had opportunity to talk about how awesome he is, but he chose to talk about how God has just changed his life over the last couple of years!!? Impressive indeed!

Friday Fun

/0 Comments/in , , /by

We got Tucker into the Cox/Freeman orthopedic surgeon yesterday morning to look at his broken wrist. The doctor is a really nice older gentleman that is a wrist and hand specialist.? He suggested that we wait until next week to let the swelling go down and keep it in the splint until Tuesday when he is going to do a “closed reduction.” It is not in the growth plate or anything complicated like that, so we are thankful for that!

We spent the afternoon trying to rest up a little bit.? I got some work done that I needed to do on Thursday and we managed to get Tucker a nap.? Before we knew it, we had to head across town to Taylor’s baseball game.? HUGE game against the Mudcats!! We lost pretty big to them the first game of the season, but our guys WON last night!!? Pretty exciting to see much the guys are improving!! Then, we had an unplanned double-header because one of the teams in the game after us didn’t show and so we went ahead and stayed to help the other team get a game in.? Our guys did really well even though they were all pretty tired by the time we had played 10 innings!

Taylor is really hitting well and playing good defense (played some catcher last night). It seems that all of the times in practice when we are trying to teach them game situations are paying off–they are knowing where the ball should go more often than not now.? I am really proud of ALL of THEM!!

We got an OFFER on our HOUSE LAST NIGHT!! It is a good start and I think we are going to have our house sold SOON!!? Praise the LORD!!? We are going to work out a compromise this afternoon hopefully and close as soon as possible.? The buyer wants to move quickly too!

Here are some pics of Taylor’s Game and teammates as well as our Tucker boy in his splint and fat lip.

Ozark Tigers State Baseball Champions!

/0 Comments/in /by

Congratulations to the Ozark Tigers Baseball team for winning the Class 4 State Championship last night at Meador Park in Springfield, MO.? That makes 2 state titles in the last 5 years.? Pretty amazing stuff.? Here is the article in the News-Leader . . . and a few photos.

“Oh, people will come. They will most definitely come!”

/0 Comments/in , , /by

I once did a speech at Missouri State on one of the greatest movies of all time–Field of Dreams. If you haven’t seen it, crawl out from under your rock and watch it on TBS or rent it sometime!! The movie is all about family and the great game–BASEBALL. And yes, I totally recited James Earl Jones’ monologue about the greatness of baseball! It was definitely a piece of work indeed!

I say all that to say that Tucker, Taylor and I went by the ol’ alma mater Kickapoo High School on Tuesday night to watch the Ozark Tigers thump my Kickapoo Chiefs in the baseball sectional game. We are planning on going to the quarterfinal game against Holt in Ozark tonight! There is nothing better than being able to watch Taylor enjoy this great game and root hard for his teams! Go Tigers!

Also on the baseball note, my buddy Kurt Simon’s son plays varsity baseball for Rogersville who are also in a quarterfinals against Webb City. Hopefully we will have a great representation of very local teams at the Final Four at Meador Park in Springfield next week!! Good luck Tigers and Wildcats!!

P.S.–Taylor boy won the pop fly contest at the end of practice on Monday!! All that practice in the front yard is paying off buddy!! He won a pack of baseball cards! One of my good friends in high school, Kent Greve, is the coach and my former co-coach, Dan Kennedy, myself and several dads are helping Kent out. It is really fun to get to hang out with high school friends that have kids the same age. We won’t hold it against Dan that he didn’t have the blessing to go to Kickapoo and had to endure being a Glendale Falcon!! Just kidding Dan! Not!!

Jon Lester No-Hitter!

/0 Comments/in /by

What an AWESOME story of cancer survivor, Jon Lester, throwing a NO-HITTER tonight against the Royals. Check out this article on MLB.com for all the details.

Too bad it happened against the Royals, but it is only the 2nd no-hitter against the Royals in their history. The owner of the first no-hitter against the Royals?? No other than Nolan Ryan in 1973, 35 years ago. So Jon Lester is in great company indeed! What a great story of what can happen if you work hard and never give up!