Softball, football and laundry

I'm stuck on an island without a single batting cage. They can play baseball year-round out here, but heaven forbid you go practice your swing somewhere! More on that later.

The Huskers are playing right now, but we can't see them. Apparently because we're in Hawaii and almost as far west as possible we get Pac-10 games most of the time. Now why anyone would want to watch Pac-10 football is beyond me. I have little to no love for that conference. USC, the Oregons, the Arizonas, Washington, etc. They all kind of irritate me. I'd much rather be watching Big Ten or Big 12 football. Heck, I'd take an SEC or ACC match up in place of a Pac-10 game. But here we are, watching USC play at Arizona State, when we could be watching Oklahoma playing at Nebraska, like a large swath of the middle of the county. (Including my peeps in Minnesota who seem to have taken an interest in the Huskers, trying to understand the man who is my husband.)

Zac gets cranky at the amount of tv time my Gophers get, whether it be football or hockey. Between the Big Ten Network and some of the Fox Sports channels I think I've been able to see all but one Gopher football game and most of the Gopher hockey games. At least the NCAA Women's Volleyball tourney is coming up soon, so hopefully we'll be able to catch some Husker action in that sport. Maybe I could petition ESPN to air some more Huskers games, in the name of marital harmony.

Zac played softball this afternoon. It's a slow-pitch league comprised of teams from different Navy commands. Zac didn't grow up playing baseball or softball, so much of this is new for him. I admire his desire to learn and to contribute. Not many people are confident enough as adults to try and learn a sport with as many convoluted rules as softball. Zac's team has had a rough season. They're not win-less, but they don't have a lot of wins. Today was another tough loss. I like to go and be supportive, but everyone gets pretty cranky about the outcomes. Zac is not a gracious loser, especially when he feels like he performed poorly. I can't understand how he can get down on himself when the team doesn't ever practice and the only time he ever gets to bat is twice a week where he sees maybe four pitches.

This brings me back to the lack of batting cages. I'd love to go with him to a batting cage so he can get 30-40 swings in. So we can work on form in a nice, controlled environment. (I'd offer to go throw batting practice to him, but I don't have 20-30 softballs sitting around the house to make it time-effective.) What I don't get is that baseball is pretty big out here. Some major league players have come from Hawaii. I can't imagine that there aren't a fair number of kids on Oahu that wouldn't mind taking batting practice. Maybe the schools have their own facilities. Regardless, it's still frustrating.

Well, the dryer stopped so I guess I'll get the clothes and fold them while I look at my laptop updating the Husker game ever couple seconds. Nothing says "excitement" like Gamecast.