.:: DonnieNix.net ::.

We played our first game last night. It was not pretty. We were “mercy-ruled” in the 4th inning, 17-2.

I think the problem was that we just didn’t have all the bugs worked out. We have some good players, everyone just seemed a little lost or rusty. I know I was rusty.

I played SS and batted 6th. The first ball hit to me, I hesitated just a fraction too long on the throw, and the guy beat it out. On the second ball hit to me, it was more up the middle, and I made a good play to field it, but for some reason I was thinking there was a runner at 1st, so I almost threw to second. I was then off-balance and made a weak throw to first and missed the guy.

I bobbled a ball that I barely managed to get to that was hit over the 2nd base bag, so that sucked. I made a good play on ball to my right, but the dude was FAST and I was deep in the hole, rushed my throw, and threw a curve ball that faded away from the 1st baseman. I don’t think we had him anyway.

I made a Derrick Jeter catch on a pop-up hit over my head. With my back to the infield, I ran it down, managed to get my glove on the ball, but it hit just below the pocket and bounced, and I grabbed it with my right hand.

I wasn’t the only one having issues. Missed cut-off men, overthrown balls in the infield, bad positioning….we just had problems that came from not playing a lot.

At the plate, we hit alot like the McKesson team I played on: grounders and pop-outs. I was so anxious that my swing was drooping and too early, and I only managed to slip one ball past the third baseman for my only “hit” of the night.

On my first at-bat, I hit a weak grounder to SS, and he almost knocked the 1st baseman down with his throw, but the 1st baseman dropped it so I was safe. I was pissed that I got such a weak-ass swing, but I died at first base.

On my 2nd AB, I drilled one at the 3rd baseman, a worm-burner, but he just flat misplayed it. We scored a run on that play, but still, I swung too early, and hit the ball off the very end of the bat.

It all just showed me that I need some practice, as much with keeping my head in the game as with fielding and hitting. I need to focus on the situations so that I don’t try to throw to 2nd when there’s no runner, or throw to third on a relay when there’s a runner heading for home.

I need to hit the cage. My swing still has a few hitches in it that are driving me nuts. So that’s the plan. Hit the cages, focus more, and figure out some way to get some grounders.

I think our team could be good if we had more practice. You can’t become a better team just by playing once a week.

I’ve been listening to The Beatles a lot lately, and just finished Hunter Davies’ book on their golden era, from the beginning through 1968.This was the only guy that was given complete access to the Fab Four during that time and he traveled with them for a long time and got to know them pretty well. He interviewed all the family members, and even Pete Best, and compiled a wealth of personal information on the group and their lives coming from the rough neighborhoods of post-WWII Liverpool.

After I finished the book and listened to their catalog (I have a rotten commute and a lot of time to listen) I’ve decided that The Beatles phenomenon was simply nothing more than “right place, right time”. The world was ready for something a little more daring than the sappy pulp the Beach Boys were passing around. The surf music scene didn’t appeal to anyone that didn’t live near a coast. The burgeoning folk music scene was too mellow; Elvis was back and forth at this time between sappy love songs and what-not. Chuck Berry and Jerry Lee Lewis were churning out song after song that sounded exactly the same.

The time was right for a revolution in rock and roll and The Beatles just happened to be there.

The Beatles honed their style in Hamburg Germany, where they played 5 sets a day, up to 12 hours per day. They pretty much were a cover band at that time, rehashing old blues tunes and mixing in a few original compositions. Most of their early original songs were just love-story slop if you get right down to it. The lyrics are just a bunch of “I love you, she loves you, we love you, blah blah blah yeah yeah yeah”. The thing that won them fans was the energy and the style. They played with such a different style and performed with a collective energy that no one had seen before, and the world was ready for it.

By the time that Ringo joined them and they signed with EMI, they were so efficient with their songs that they blasted them out in the studio in just a few days. The hype machine helped them, and Brian Epstein was a master of promotion. Beatlemania followed, but it was more out of a lust for the boys than a lust for their music.

Their music was different, no doubt. The frenzy and mania over the group was unprecedented. Still, the first few albums were just a lot of sap. Love songs for the teeny-bopper. It paved the way though for more experimental stuff, and their music seemed to grow with their audience. By the time they came out with the white album, their core audience, the ones that had fallen over and fainted at the site of them, was smoking dope, holding peace rallies and using the Beatles music as a rallying point.

It is almost like no one really sat down and listened and tried to understand the lyrics at all. I mean, the first 4 albums are pretty much the same song, over and over, with a different beat and tempo. The subject is the same at least, only worked different. Rubber Soul, Revolver, and Sgt Peppers are honestly the only revolutionary albums the Beatles truly gave us, and even there, some of the songs are just rehashed ego trips. By the time Magical Mystery Tour dropped, John was so weird that none of his songs made sense, and he didn’t care. I fully believe that in the back of his mind, he said, I can put out whatever tripe I want and these numbskulls will buy it and call me a genius. How else do you explain the lyrics for I am the Walrus?

Seriously though, they have had flashes of honest-to-goodness brilliance, where the lyrics and the music came together and created magic, but hasn’t that happened to nearly every band that has been signed?

The Beatles were set free to experiment in ways other bands never dreamed of, and they had that early on due to all the screaming success of the first albums. That experimentation has been hailed by critics and fans as the epitome of rock and roll. I agree somewhat that it changed the direction of music, but if it hadn’t been them, I really believe someone else would have. Brian Wilson had a good shot in 1966 with Pet Sounds, and has actually been credited with pushing the Beatles in that direction. If you listen to Sgt Peppers, you will hear the Brian Wilson sound all through that album. The only problem was that Brian wrote love songs. The world was still looking for something different. Revolver and Sgt Pepper’s were different and so the Beatles gained even more leverage.

Their last several albums though were pretty much brain dumping, and they really didn’t care about each other at that time and they really didn’t care about The Beatles. If you listening close enough, it’s obvious they are carrying on simply because it was expected. None of them wanted to be there, and that’s why they started recording their own stuff without the others being around. John’s music in Abbey Road, Let It Be, and the White Album is some of the worst crap that the Beatles recorded. George was so into his peace and love Indian phase that his music makes your teeth hurt. Paul was the only one still trying to pound out good rock and roll songs, or at the least, decent pop tunes. To me, this era for Paul was just the beginning of his Wings period. The songs that Wings pumped out were the same as the late Beatles McCartney songs.

Paul caught and still catches the most grief over the Beatles breakup. It’s a little unfair because in reality, he was the only one that really wanted the band to continue on, and he was fighting for that until the end. John wanted to be elsewhere, George wanted to be on a different spiritual plane, and Ringo just wanted to go.

Despite all of this, what I’ve read over the last several years, what I’ve listened too, and what I’ve written, I still love the Beatles and can listen to them any time of day. I just do it now with a more realistic view of what they were about and what their music means.

The image above was taken in May of 2004 when I hiked up to Chasm Lake, about 2000 feet from the summit of Long’s Peak. The tall mountain peak in the center is Long’s Peak, the shorter, rounder one to the right is Mt Lady Washington, and you can see a part of Mt Meeker to the left. Long’s Peak is the 15th highest peak in Colorado, but is only 188′ shorter than Mt Elbert which is the 3rd highest peak in the United States.

The problem with taking pictures on a mountain above tree line is that there’s no reference points so that you can guage the distance. Some of my pictures from that day make everything seem smaller and closer. In the banner image, I was still about a 3 mile hike to the peak, but it looks a lot closer. Some of my pictures have trees way off in the distance, but they look like shrubs. I have to explain to people that they are full-grown spruce pines. Then they understand the size and grandeur of what they’re seeing.

I am going back to Colorado on vacation this year and I cannot wait. I miss it alot. (but I’m glad to be home)

I decided that my old blog looked like crap. It was also a pain in the rump to maneuver around in the thing. And it kept logging me out so that I had to first log in as a user and then login again as the administrator. What a hassle. So, I installed this puppy.

This is WordPress and I’m going to use it instead of blogger.com and other blogs or content management systems. I have comments turned off because I’m not looking for validation or reassurance. If I post a blog crying about what a crappy biker I am, or how much my tooth hurts, I don’t want people telling me to “Man up, you pansy, it’ll be okay”.

So, there you have it. I’ll try to post more often, but since only one or two people read it regularly, I’ll probably just call them and rant about whatever’s on my mind instead of posting it here.

Eh, whatever.

I wreck too much. I can think back on all my wrecks and there’s one thing in common: I was careless.

That’s pretty much me in a nutshell. Careless. I’m not very careful. If I’m working on a car, I usually end up leaving something off or losing a piece. If I’m working on a web site, I usually have to re-edit the thing a hundred times before it’s right.

When I’m riding, I try to be careful, but usually end up doing something stupid that ends up with me flying over the handlebars. My first wreck was a fall-over at Heil Ranch in Colorado. I pulled over to the side, forgot I had clipless pedals (I’d only had them for 2 rides), and promptly rolled down the side of the hill.

My second wreck was also a fall-over in Moab. I’d just tightened up the cleats and my pedals a little. They felt a little too tight, but I told myself I’d adjust them later. I tried to make a turn on the slickrock, hit something, wobbled, tried to wrench my feet out of the pedals, and fell over with my feet still clipped in.

The third time I wrecked was a bad one. I was going to fast at Hall Ranch, came around a corner, was distracted by some people coming up the trail, hit a rock, and launched myself down the embankment. I broke some ribs and skinned up my arms and legs. I just wasn’t careful enough.

The next wreck was at Rabbit Mountain. I was on some loose soil, turned the bar too much, and went over. That didn’t hurt, but pissed me off. Freaked my brother out too. I knew I was on some loose stuff. I don’t know why I did what I did.

I wrecked at Green Mountain because I was going down a steep hill, and I was too far over the front. That was just bad form. That one cost me a wheel, tire, and tube.

My latest wreck was at Chicopee in Gainesville, GA. This is the dumbest one ever. I pulled over to take some pictures and saw a photo op up the trail a bit. It looked smooth so I kept the camera out. I figured I’d just do a slow roll up to the spot. Well, steering with one hand is not a good idea when there’s a root in the path. I hit the root, it kicked the wheel a little sideways, I over-corrected because I couldn’t control the bar with one had, and went over the side again. Luckily I was going pretty slow, but it still banged up my ribs. Stupid!

They’re just bruised, I guess, because it’s not as crippling as when I wrecked at Hall Ranch, but it still hurts.

We ride our bikes because it is good exercise and a bit of a rush. We ride mountain bikes because we like to get back in the woods, away from the things of man, and we enjoy the thrill of slamming down a sweet piece of singletrack, hitting the turn, launching from the berm. Wrecking is part of the business. If you don’t wreck, you aren’t riding hard enough, or so I’ve read.

The funny thing is, I don’t wreck when I’m hitting it hard. I wreck because I’m farting around and being stupid or careless. If I could be less careless, I would find that mountain biking is a lot less painless. So that’s my goal from now on: be less careless, in life as well as in biking. I think that things will go a lot smoother from here on out.