My problem with the new Ahern team name isn't that I dislike name changes. Though Candlestick will always be Candlestick and not 3Com and Teen Sexy will always be Matthew and not Matt. Last Call will always be Ahern to me. And that's not just when Bob Ahern plays on the shortstop side of second base when I weekly fly out to left.
My problem with the name "Last Call" is not that it can mean several different things. I'm a big fan of that kinda scene... It's that none of the ways it can be meant are happy. All of them suck.
The obvious "Last Call" is the kind at a bar. That ALWAYS sucks. I'm never happy about that. That's then followed by the lights coming on in the s-hole bar that I'm in and nobody needs to see the walls or the people there is good light. You can also say it has a baseball connotation, but the Last Call of a ball game is always the last out. I like playing softball. I'm not looking for the game to end and I certainly don't want it to be because our umpire needs to get to The Pink Triangle before happy hour ends. It could also mean it's the last time someone calls you. Unless you are talking about my alma mater always trying to suck another nickle out of me, people don't call me unless I like them. I don't want to think about a phone call being the last time I'm going to talk to someone.
I like the guys on Ahern. I don't think they suck at all. So I cannot find good vibes with that negative name. I don't want to think negative thoughts when I think of the Ahern name. We here at the Bad Gnus Name Generator have developed several new team names for them to try out.
a. B Diddy and the Funkybunch
b. Rural Jurors
c. Off Regularly (So I can have a headline of Bad Gnus Beat Off Regulary)
d. The Upper Deckers
e. If You Seek Amy
All of those make me smile. That's all I'm looking for in a team name when I think of my second favorite (a very distant second) Arden Park softball team.
Anywho, on to the game. Last year Ahern beat the Bad Gnus handlely a couple times. This year's Bad Gnus squad was out to keep this one close. We had several Gnus for the first time this season and we were missing the automatic hits Triple H always provides. So our offense was bound to struggle. And this reporter feels like he has some food poisioning from Tre on Saturday. (You can't be hung over for two days can you?)
This was a defensive stand-off. With the Bad Gnus playing very solid defense behind Greg's excellent pitching. With Erik Grotte providing all of the offense for the Gnus, they held a 3-1 lead going into the 6th inning. With two outs and nobody on, both Kirk and the Big Sexy missed relatively easy catches on line drives to put two runners on. Both of them had many several plays during the game to anchor the solid defensive effort. That was followed by a run scoring single to cut the lead to 3-2. The Bad Gnus failed to score going into the 7th, where GT hit a blooping, 2 run single to right to give Ahern the lead for the first time since the top of first inning.
The Bad Gnus had one more shot as John led off the inning with a solid single but another spectacular play by Masterlock Defensive Player of the Game, Eddie Shaldone, turned a hard hit ball into a double play. The Gnus were unable to score and lost their 2nd game of the year in the 7th inning, this time 4-3.
This is the first time that a player on another team has taken a post game award from the Bad Gnus, but Eddie deserved it. He made several super plays at third base taking away multiple hits. It didn't help that he brought his own cheering section. All of the future Good Gnus were hanging out playing wiffleball and couldn't give a spit about how their old men were doing on the field. Eddie's little league team was over their whooping it up. I know I've coached a couple of those kids before and I think they might have been booing me.
Eddie edged out Bill who made a great turn on a 5-3-2 double play at a key time of the game, made a tough throw from the third baseman look like a simple play and made a most indescribable catch. You really had to see the twisting body, flailing arms and dizzying route Bill took to the pop up behind first base to appreciate it. It was a very difficult catch and Bill made it for an important out. He didn't even come up bleeding after the play.
The Newcastle Player of the Game goes to Erik. He is straight stroking the ball right now. He's a line drive machine. We needed to find a way to get him up more often. An honorary NPoG goes out to the guys on Ahern who graciously shared their ice chest with several Gnus after the game. Not only were they generous, but there were surprisingly some good beers in the chest mingled with Brett's Coors Lights.
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