WEEK 12:

TEUTONIC TICKLER TAKES CHARGE,

CHIEFS IN FIRST

In what can only be characterized as one of the longest and most deliberate comebacks of all time, B.T. “The Teutonic Tickler” Krause declared tribal war on the rest of the league and with tomahawk in hand and steed underneath, raced his bloodthirsty Chiefs into the Hot Stove League lead through twelve weeks of play.  Although still awaiting confirmation, it appears that this may be the first time since the Chiefs won it all in that glorious year of 1996 that the Chiefs find themselves in the enviable position of first place. 

Owing to his status as one of the most beloved HSL members of all time, there were an astonishing number of postings on the Message Board this past week, offering B.T. heartfelt congratulations and feelings of good will.  In fact, I apparently even posted such a message on the board one evening, although I have absolutely no recollection of doing so.  However, there are many things that I do late at night, as sleep is about to overtake me, that I later cannot remember, so there’s no reason to think that anyone other than myself posted this message. 

Here are the standings through twelve weeks of play:

Here are the point totals during the twelfth week of competition:

Interesting that the lead has already changed hands two more times between Sunday and today, with the Skipjacks of Chief Bender first overtaking B.T.’s Chiefs, and then Screech, proud owner of the Boisterous Butterflies, wresting the lead from Itchie.  This one promises to be a donnybrook right to the very end of the campaign! 

TRIP POSTSCRIPT

Thanks of course to Itchie for his wonderful recounting of our fabulous 25th anniversary trip to the Big Apple and Cooperstown.  My only regret is that the four days with the fellas went by way too fast, and we now have to wait almost a full year until our next trip.  While the visits to New Yankee Stadium and Citi Field were fantastic, and my third trip to Cooperstown was just as good for me as the first and second sojourns to the Baseball Holyland, my favorite part of the trip was just hanging out with the boys and listening in on all of the great baseball banter and the reminiscing about baseball trips past and present.

I have heard through the grapevine that one or more league members may have been just a tad bit disappointed with Cooperstown, and while everyone is certainly entitled to their opinion, let me weigh in on this issue just for a moment. 

My first comment is, What’s not to like?  A beautiful, old, historic building in the bucolic village of Cooperstown, loaded with great exhibits, pictures, articles, busts, and everything that you could ever want to see and learn about baseball, including the cost of building Exposition Stadium in Montreal.  I mean, for crying out loud, it’s a M U S E U M, not Worlds of Fun or Six Flags over Texas or Disneyworld.  I know some of you are so used to being entertained on a constant basis that you can’t sit still and just read about something great, but I have a hard time understanding what it is you were expecting to see that you didn’t get at Cooperstown.  Ben Stiller riding a pterodactyl across a recreated Ebbets Field?  A giant robotic Babe Ruth engaged in a murderous battle with a fifty-foot tall mechanical Sadaharu Oh in a Japanese remake of Godzilla vs. King Kong?  Paid actors dressed up like Walter Johnson, Cy Young, Grover Cleveland Alexander and Ty Cobb, on stilts and juggling flaming chainsaws while reliving their greatest baseball moments?  Please, get your expectation levels where they belong, and recognize this great baseball shrine for what it is, not what it isn’t.

NEXT YEAR’S TRIP

I absolutely love the idea of going to The Bob for Opening Day (if there is an Opening Day game there), preceded by our Draft on the Saturday before Opening Day at B.T.’s luxurious digs in Scottsdale, followed by a second junket to Minneapolis in a rented, newer, better, cleaner, higher tech Mobile Sewage Treatment Wagon.  We won’t be able to top the 2009 Trip, but that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t try.

Thanks for the memories, boys.  Have a great 4th of July weekend. 

                                                          Skip