The Ibuprofen Invitational or "Hips don't Lie"

We are fast approaching the tournament start on Monday. Even though I don't know the other guys or even the manager I am eager to begin. We fly to Phoenix Saturday and have a practice on Sunday where we will all meet. When I moved to NYC in 1974 I played in a summer league in Queens. That was a fun team and included a very funny guy from Queens named Dick Mondello. Dick referred to himself as Teddy (as in Teddy Ballgame-from Ted Williams book on hitting) and Teddy called everyone else "Ralph" as if he were being interviewed by Ralph Kiner the Mets post game show Kiner's Corner. A typical greeting from Teddy upon arriving was Hey Ralph you know I am seeing the ball real well in here... and then begin to offer to provide hitting tips in case anyone was interested in improving his game..

anyway , I left that team around 1979 or so which coincided with my concluding playing baseball until I started up again around 2001. In 2005, I was playing in Arizona . A team was playing on an adjacent field and the third baseman looked familiar so i took a closer look and sure enough it was Teddy Ballgame. We chatted after the game and in fact my Rhode Island team played them next and beat them and we caught up between games. We kept in touch and discussed coming out again and he suggested his team would be a good one to play with so here we are--except Teddy chose to go with the 45's and is playing this week. But anyway, he assured me these guys are great guys and can play so we are eager to join them.
Playing 6 games in 4 days is harder on one's body that you may imagine. Guys tire get sore twist ankles hurt achillies and all sorts of injuries occur. I doubt any of the 55;s are taking HGH or steroids but plenty will be gobbling advil or ibuprofen to help the sore muscles. for me I take 2 Ibuprofen before I play and swim after I play. The swimming works the same muscles and pumps blood into the sore muscles and helps recovery. So I pack my swimsuit and plan to get in the pool after each game to stay fresh for the playoffs. I am not looking to go 3-3 out here but to get into the finals. There are 6 teams in the bracket and we are going to win- There I have thrown down the gauntlet and set the expectations bar up high--
We open Monday with a doubleheader and I will have more to report after those games. By then we will have learned a lot about our opponents and each other and perhaps in a few ways ourselves.