NABA

Golf, Confederates Dominated by Bulldogs, misc

2009 Ducks Baseball, NABA, pittsburgh NABA


The First Annual Ducks Golf Classic is a “go’

4769 Gibsonia Rd
Allison Park, PA 15101

It’s not Bushwood, but it will be a fun day of golf.

best ball.

the foursome of:
Sorosky,Sorosky,Strom,and Gwin is ready to dominate.

Our winnings will be split between the Ducks and the Blues.

I have legitimate golf items to give away as well.

Anonymous,

Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption

The poster that conceals the hole in the wall.

nice number.

.
How about that Indians Yankees game?

The Pirates are a house of cards…

NABA News

Morale in Rebel camp is lower than my credit rating.

The Confederacy was no-hit by the Bulldogs, in an 11-0 shellacking.

BULLDOGS REBELS RECAP


Dominant

Hats off to Dr. Venkman (center) for 4 perfect innings.

Some guy with two last names closed the door, pitching 3 hitless relief innings.

What a way to start the season

The “Reb’s” have a strangle hold on last place already.

The Ducks are tied for first.

Black Sox Hurricanes, today at 5pm, in North Park.

quack.

Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption (Hope Spring’s Eternal)

2009 Ducks Baseball, NABA, pittsburgh NABA, South Oakland Ducks Baseball
2009 South Oakland Ducks Preview.

Say what you want about Mr. King, he can tell a story.
He also loves baseball.

(TPB loves referencing this film, I have been ripping-off their style for almost a year.)

***

There has been plenty of pre-season bs about new pitchers, and time spent courting free agents who flaked.
It’s hard to find something else to blog about in the middle of October.

This Duck’s season is not about who we didn’t get;
It’s not about who decided to play for old man Zalewski, who has to spend the summer driving up to Butler to play ball, or who Team Typo courted away from South Oakland.
It’s not about who the Owlz found in the “Who’s Who of Western Pennzylvania College Baseball Players, or the Black Sox improved pitching staff and the return of Matt Slavonic.
It doesn’t matter who Larry thinks he’s going to trot out behind Sorosky during our Saturday 8am game in a few weeks.
It doesn’t matter what The Don Henleys or the confederacy have up their sleeves after pillaging a very deep draft class.

It’s about our team;
who coach Bombay rolls out behind our starting pitcher on opening day.


Would it be gratifying to have added three pitchers who used to pitch in the minors and roll over everyone in the league?
Sure.
But it will be more gratifying to win with the guys we’ve got.
To lament missed opportunities to add players is an insult to the names on our roster.

Bring the Pain.

Our division accounts for five league championships:
Two by the Kenny Powers’, and one apiece by the Owlz, Confederacy, and Ducks respectivly.

This season is all about gearing up for the playoffs, the new format allows everyone to make the post-season. To put ourselves in position to make a run at the title.
The title that the Owlz will not let go of easily, a title the Black Sox think is rightly theirs, and that the rest of the league thinks they have just as much of a shot at as the team with the snarky blog and the gay photoshops.

I have a feeling that the sentiment around the league is that we aren’t as good as we say we are, that we overrate ourselves, that we’re all talk,
that while I’m blogging they’re injecting Winstrol, taking BP, and calling up Jose Canseco.
That’s fine.
We got one line on the league site’s season preview
a blurb about new players or something.
OK.
Maybe we’re not as good as we think.
It’s a possibility.

We can’t start quacking each other off before we take the field.

I do know that to play our team is to play South Oakland;
a part of town that’s dirtier and grittier than the Pitt brochures will ever let on or that most kids have the misfortune of discovering.

The last time I’ll talk about myself all season:

All I ever tried to do when I coached the Ducks was to embody the character of the team.
To lead by example: to refuse to be out-hustled, to initiate contact, to do something to help the team win even when I’m over-matched–especially when I’m over-matched. To be a tough out.

To play hard all the time.

If you can’t play ball that way, go find a hackie sack and a bag of mushrooms.

I write the retired numbers on the brim of my hat.
Those guys wish they could still play on this team.
If they had just one more game to play on the Ducks, how would they approach it?

I’ve never gone into an at-bat thinking I can’t hit the ball hard somewhere, and I’ve never gone into a game expecting to lose.
I’ve never gone into a season without the goal of winning a championship.

Individually, each game this season is winnable.
Some games we may have to be mistake free and get some breaks to win,
but we will not be out-hustled or out-worked.

Some games are won on the strength of big plays, but more games are lost becuase of walks and errors on defense, and by giving away outs on offense. Base running mistakes, bad at-bats, poor fundamentals.

This year’s team fundamentally solid, and has big play potential.

Strong up the middle, power at the corners.

The staff has some depth, (Novak) and they’ll have a defense they can trust.

It’s been great to play alongside some of the top talent in this league during the fall and winter, and I look forward to the Blues tourney in AC. But, for now, it’s all business and all Ducks.
In between the foul lines, when the ump shouts “play ball”, I have no friends who don’t wear green and gold. (power-blue on occasion.)

***

Your 2009 South Oakland Ducks

The Ducks bid a fond farewell to Garrett Moore, who will play in the over 28 league this season.

New players alphabetically:

Tony Casale inf.
Cheese util.
Darren Daulton C.
DB Award Winner, “Mantis”, P
Depo, 1b
Jesse Smith’s friend Matt, util
Mike Watson, inf.

(If I forgot you, you haven’t been at practice, haven’t paid any dues yet, or I’m a joke.)

Out of Retirement

Britton Dickey, inf.

Returning Players

everyone else.

Our backups have backups.
Teams need role players, the playoff format will allow coach Jones to get everyone playing time.
Ultimatly though, we need to find out our best lineup, and get those guys in shape down the stretch for the playoffs.

The competition for PT will make everyone better.

Dave Roberts,

A pinch runner sparked the Red Sox miracle comeback in the ALCS a few years back.

Teams need role players, and we have to trust that Dr. Jones has the team’s best interest in mind.

Easy for me to say, I don’t sit much, but I work hard to get better, to keep up with the influx of talent in the league.

There will not be any cake-walk games this season.
Every team has a chance.

That’s all we can ask for, and it’s all we’re given
a chance to compete this summer.
If we want the championship we have to take it.

“Get busy livin’

(Jesse Smith for MVP, the campaign starts now)
4/20/09


Bad News for the rest of the league

summer season starts soon

2009 Ducks Baseball, NABA, pittsburgh NABA, South Oakland Ducks Baseball
If you’re not excited about the season starting in a few weeks,
go kick yourself in the balls.

A couple youtubez.

If only there was a prominent player in the league named “Kenny” these East Bound and Down clips would be gold.

Owlz,/Black Sox Preview will be up Tuesday or Wednesday.
2009 Ducks Preview will be posted the week before opening day (tbd).

Links to all previous NABA Team Previews:

Oilers/Warriors

Bulldogs/Gray Bats

Eagles/Matadors

The Confederacy

Hurricanes/Phantoms

Bonus for Larry
a list of athletes who smoke cigarettes

***
Pittsburgh Blues starting pitcher Ben Sorosky is pitching for Pitt Greensburg against some poor unsuspecting college, at Pitt-Main’s field today at 1pm.
Should be some good baseball.

The blues are rounding out their roster for the Memorial Day Tournament in Atlantic City.
Ben Sorosky is now the Pittsburgh NABA Tournament Director, I’ll be assisting him until he finishes with school ball.
***


Ducks, Make arrangements to get your money in to Coach Jones.

We owe the league the rest of our $2,000 by tomorrow, and we need to get our uniforms ordered asap.

Quack

2008 Game Recaps and Ducks Awards

NABA, pittsburgh NABA, South Oakland Ducks Baseball

2008 record 11-9-2
Lost in wild card playoff to Black Sox

Here are the Ducks 2008 team awards as chosen by Manager of the Year, TC Jones, who also wrote the summaries.

Team MVP: Nick Homa.

Without a doubt Nick deserves the MVP award. Not only was he arguably the leagues best pitcher, but he put up pretty good offensive numbers too. Without Homa we would have been an under .500 team.

Offensive Player of the Year: Ben Gwin.

This may have been the hardest award to pick. I think this award could have easily gone to Chris Wojoton or Jesse smith, but I chose Ben Gwin because of his clutch and timely hitting. Any time we needed to drive in important runs, Gwin was the one to do it. The +20 RBIs on the season prove it.

Defensive Player of the Year: Coby Kolaja.

Can we argue with the diving catches, the flowing hair, and the absolute cannon of an arm? I don’t think so. Coby Kolaja surprised everyone on the Ducks with his good reads and surprisingly accurate outfield arm.

Quack Talker of the year: Jim Spagnola.

I give this award to the Duck who made his presence felt with his verbal antics. It was a close call between Jim and Rick Whalen (both had particularly disgusting topics to ponder on the bench), but my decision was made after Spagnola called out an “F— You” to an opposing pitcher after getting a hit.

Duck of the year: KT Murphy.

I give this award to the Duck who best accepted his position on the team as a role-player. KT was at every game and never complained. He was also our most timely pinch hitter and made the most out of every opportunity he got.

Most Improved Player of the Year: Garret Moore.

To be honest, at the beginning of the season I wasn’t sure how much time I would be able to get this man. But his hustle and ability to put the baseball in play during at bats gained him the starting role as the DH.