COUNTDOWN TO 2012 SEASON...

“People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring.”- Roger Hornsby

LIKE A ROY HALLADAY FASTBALL, THE T.O.T SEASON IS COMING FAST....

Can anyone remember if Wiaton Willie or Punxsutawney Phil saw their shallow or not on Groundhog Day? I wonder if anyone keeps track of these little rodent's prognostications of how much longer winter would continue, I'm sure that if we checked, Willie or Phil would probably be wrong more often than right. This year one of them saw his shallow and the other didn't. I really think this year is a no brainer, there really hasn't been a winter, so how can we even get six more weeks of winter... Neither one of these rodents probably didn't even care if they saw their shallow or not... I mentioned in an earlier blog that I once worked for a conservation area and let me tell you, every Groundhog day was surrounded by tremendous hype and excitement. Groundhog Day was also a media frenzy .

Every year the curator would dress up in a tux with tails, a ruffled dress shirt and black top hat. There was an area fenced off (probably so the media wouldn't get up in the groundhog's face and risk that little, bucky beaver facsimile taking a bite out of some nosey reporter) and when the time came for Gary the Groundhog ( I'm not kidding, that was his name) to come out (he was always in a wooden box and not a hole in the ground... a wooden box, a groundhog's natural habitat) the photographers would take pictures and then the curator would say something like here ye, on this day, the 2nd of February, yada, yada, yada all from a rolled up scroll and Gary the Groundhog has seen his shallow and winter shall remain for six more weeks.

If you really want to know that winter is coming to an end , you just have to look to the T.O.T. Website or somewhere on Tottenham road for some kind of sign. Seriously there is a sign Tottenham road...Again this year we put up a sign to remind returning players to sign-up and attract new players to the league. Last season we recruited over 25 new players and with the addition of the new player we added a new team. With the number of new players there was a risk of one or more of the players being more skilled than the 10 or 9 rating that new players are slotted into in their first season.

This indeed did happen, the Dusty Cleats rated number 10 player was probably more like a 2 rating and the Dusty Cleats had a solid top to bottom team with a 22-2-0 record , they were the dominate T.O.T team for the entire season and the playoffs. The Grisslies had a solid season also, and I remember sitting outside with Rob F., Grisslies Captain, talking shop and the Grisslies had a couple of losses already, Rob said to me “ I can't believe we've lost any games”. This statement actually surprised me a little, but I guess the proof is in the pudding, as they say...


I think the Grisslies excellent 2011 season was overshadowed by the Dusty Cleats going undefeated until (wait for it) the Hurtin' Units finally dealt them their first loss on August 15, 2011 by a score of 15-14... Unbelievable, not a single loss until August 15, the season started in May and it took almost 3 1/2 months before any team could stop them, the Dusty Cleats only lost one other game in the regular season and only a single game in the playoffs as well, unfortunately for the Cleats that game was in the finals against the Grisslies. As a matter of fact, the Hurtin' Units only lost by a single run in first meeting with the Cleats and if memory serves me correctly, the Grisslies kicked the living snot out of Units in both games we played against them...

This upcoming season will be the third season for the Hurtin' Units, and Mike and I have enjoy the whole captaining experience. Our first season saw us win the league, which was more than we could have asked for, but our playoff run fell short of our expectations. Our second season team looked like it was going to contend, but we as a team, we couldn't  seem to get everything working together at the same time, when the hitting was there, the defense had a tough time and when the defense was there we couldn't get the timely hits. We had a couple of rough patches during the 2011 campaign and our standings finish was probably a little south of where it could have been. There was actually a stretch in the 2011 season where the Hurtin' Units went 44 days without recording a win, I don't think the Leafs have gone this long between wins. This stretch in the middle of the season definitely contributed to us finishing in 9th place in final standings...

In the 2011 Help the Kids Play tournament the Hurtin' Units looked great, going 4-0 (a free beer after every win) in the round robin portion of the tournament only to lose in the to the Lucky Stiffs 10-9, in the final inning, of the semi finals.

Since we became Captains in 2010, Mike and I have gained a wealth of experience. Our first season saw us have an outstanding regular season, with some bumps in the playoffs. We definitely learned some stuff about how approach playoff games and we tried to apply them going into the 2011 playoffs, a little better result, but we still need to work on a few things...Our second season saw some rough patches in the regular season as well as the playoffs, but again I think we gained more experience which hopefully will help us going forward in the upcoming 2012 season...

The 2012 draft is fast approaching and I must admit, I find the draft an exciting point in the season.

I have been poking along with this addition of the blog for several weeks now (not really a lot to talk about these days), but tonight (March 28) we have a captain's meeting, probably the most important meeting of the season, and tonight a bunch of decisions will be made concerning the teams... i.e. no. of teams, shirt colours, ratings, etc., etc...I will soon be able to add some upcoming season information... Saturday is the draft and then we will have the 2012 roster...

Well the captain's meeting was a long drawn out affair, 3 hours of decision making. In the end, the league has decided to use the green baseball in the 2012 season, there will be 15 teams again this season, two new sets of captains, 12 players per team again, 24 game unbalanced schedule, 75 minute game times and the season will begin on May 1st ( weather permitting). The majority of this meeting was actually centered on the player ratings, we went through all of the levels with a fine tooth comb and in the end I think it really like we got most of it right...

Thursday night is rookie night at the legion and Saturday March 31, 2012 is the draft.

I went to rookie night on Thursday and as usual the it was a fun evening... There was a good turn out of rookies and I thought Paul P. did a great job explaining what our league is all about. There were lots of laughs and I think we have a great bunch of new players coming in this season.

On Saturday the 2012 draft was held and I think the Hurtin' Units came out with a great looking squad for the upcoming season, however I think I have said the same thing over the last two drafts and I really wasn't far off. When we look at all the teams drafted this year on paper they all really look pretty good, but as the season progresses we start to see the cracks and by mid season we'll see which teams are going to lead the way... Less than a month to go until the start of the 2012 season...