I tried to keep up on college ball a bit while living in the Arctic, but I didn’t catch much of it.
(You can find northern lights and sled dogs on my Instagram.)
But now I am in the land of sobriety and sunlight. Of course I headed for the ballpark as soon as I could, catching the Baby Birds a day after flying home before an illness knocked me to the ground for several days.
The ol’ Mo State Bears finally played a home game last night against Mizzou. Certainly I support the Tigers in many sports, but not baseball.
Some photos tell the story: a most unsavory tale.
The mood was joyful at first: pitchers and a coach playing hacky sack like they knew who Dave Matthews was.
More pictures, because adorable:
Despite the startling appearance of Sasquatch (far left, aka “Logan Wiley”) I found the scene quite darling.
Then, a fabulous junior catcher caught a few pitches before play began.
By the way, MSU players wore green to highlight the need for organ and tissue donations.
I said hello to the fellas, like MacGyver here:
And saw a couple of old pals from the team that advanced to the Super Regionals, who I’ve written about a fair amount.
The mood is always jovial before a game:
And things started out as they always do – with shots of water among players, and more sprayed on the starters. I always hope players don’t hit my camera with water but instead hit other photographers with company-owned lenses.
Mustn’t jinx myself.
The game started out okay, with a high number of pickoff attempts:
Plays at the plate:
A photographer’s lament: Oh, reader, I have photos where the runner is in focus but partly obscured by a coach’s white cap. I … don’t like to think about it.
And then this: when you trip over third, you make an entrance at home:
Teammates were … amused:
All was well in paradise (Hammons), but it didn’t stay that way for long. I spent all winter evading wolves, but Alaska bears remained huddled in hibernation. So it seems here, as well.
They tried new pitchers:
And coaching methods:
Now – here is where I say the dugout is a sacred space and I don’t repeat anything I overhear. As several presidents have said: “Mistakes were made.” As another said: “Read my lips.” As I said: Maybe don’t.
Suffice it to say no one was happy in the dugout – and this coach was in the bullpen.
Even this kid watched the Tigers in awe:
Until he couldn’t stand it:
Who could?
Final score: 14-6, Mizzou.
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