verdugo288

Everybody knows Verdugo had the most bad-ass Team, and the most bad-ass players who played in the greatest games ever played.  But what about the coaching staff?  Well, you’re about to see part of the reason we were pretty much able to always say “They’ve Done It.”

Just Four Guys on the staff heading into the ’92 Season.  Gee, General, Hank, and Weapon.

Many have commented on the bright and innovative minds that guided Verdugo to their final destination as THE KINGS of American Legion Baseball of All-Time.  And the “distinguished” members of our coaching staff certainly won’t try to stop anyone from saying such nice things about us.  Trust me….we agree.

Many envious coaching staffs from other teams have often asked “how did they do it?”…or “what did these guys know that we didn’t know?”

Well, that’s a good question indeed.  And I will address that right now.

One of the keys to our continued success and domination was the intense coaching staff meetings we held usually each week.  This was done pretty much year-round.

These were civilized and gentlemanly gatherings that would have most likely had the illustrious members of The Bilderberg Group green-eyed with envy!

Our coaching staff meetings would be held weekly at “The Dome” usually on a Saturday or Sunday during the off-season, and pretty much every night during the season.

All these coaching staff meetings had one thing in common. There was going to be a lotta drinking and a lotta arguing.  At each of these meetings, we all basically got totally hammered and plotted our next move(s) for Verdugo’s rise to the top.  It was just that plain, and it was just that simple.

Many of us referred to these classy get-togethers as “The MACALLAN Group”….

Now that’s what I call “distinguished”…..

Anything that was in our way wasn’t a roadblock to us, it was a TARGET.  Any player or coach from another Team that was doing well was soon going to be “Verdugo’s Bitch.”  We feared nothing.  We talked trash about umpires, opposing coaches, opposing players, and figured out ways to control them or get in their heads and take them out of their game.

Again….”distinguished” comes to mind …but so does the word “sophistication”…..right?

We had a bounty out for everyone and everything that got in our way.  Incredible amounts of alcohol were consumed by the four of us as we threw out ideas on how to get our deal to the next level. 

The only thing really missing here as you can see would be some cordovan leather penny loafers and a Herringbone Tweed jacket……

Many coaching staff sessions were spent pounding drinks and lamenting defeats from ’90 and ’91, and making pledges to avenge them. 

Incredibly loud HEAVY METAL Music was played at these coaching staff meetings.  We had a contant barrage of music that had lyrical content that spoke of victory, death to the opposition, glorious triumphs, the slave becoming the master, etc.  This got us all into a frenzy to dominate The 20th District.

Sometimes ….to really be “distinguished”…..you gotta get outside the box and put the Paganini and the Bach and the Chopin aside ….and we feel this was the best route to go 🙂

I had played in a Band called Warrior (name was later changed to Cold Fire) a few years earlier and we had a song called “Tonight We Ride”….my band played the song live from 1986-89 and the song ultimately was released on a WARRIOR album in 1997 when I was no longer in the band.

Ask Henry how much he loved this song.  Here were the lyrics:

 

TONIGHT WE RIDE

Prepare the Horses….bring me my sword!

Tonight We storm the gates at the castle of Nevermore!

Many will not return…but none will fear to die

We are the chosen ones….We’ve waited all our lives

Glorious heroes….they test our will

My wish….is your command….go forth and KILL!!

TONIGHT WE RIDE!!!  TONIGHT WE RIDE!!!  TONIGHT WE RIDE!!! TONIGHT WE RIDE!!!

Cold Armor kiss my flesh…..of heavy metal skin

Now I feel the strength….building from within

The final words of the hangman….never lose faith in the fight

Vengeance will be ours!!!!!……before the morning light!!!

Unleash the chainmare…..I’ll finish the dead!!

Scale the walls….destroy the Beast….Bring me his HEAD

TONIGHT WE RIDE!!!…TONIGHT WE RIDE!!!!…TONIGHT WE RIDE….TONIGHT WE RIDE!!!!

Hear me oh enemy…the end had been foretold

Messiah of the meek….shall burn your mortal soul!!!

Up from the ashes…the masses arise

Tell the wicked….the imposter….PREPARE TO DIE!!!

TONIGHT WE RIDE!!!…TONIGHT WE RIDE!!!…TONIGHT WE RIDE!!!…TONIGHT WE RIDE!!!!

written by my friend and former bandmate Joe Floyd

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I don’t know how anyone could listen to that song and not be able to accomplish anything!!!!

 

For (literally) YEARS…..the comments section of this blog were disabled.  They’re back up now….

Shoot us a note here….you’re never too old to still be QUICK!!!! PANTHER-LIKE!!!!

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Some of you may have noticed I got on a little bit of a roll in late 2018. I started pumping out some posts here and had plans to bring the blog as far along as I could. Unfortunately, my health got to the point I couldn’t even lay in bed and write about one of my favorite things: VERDUGO.

Yeah….I couldn’t even LAY AROUND in bed and write blog posts. I discovered in October 2018 I had a hernia. I read about them online and learned that the only way a hernia could be fixed is through surgery.

Surgery? Helllllllll NO. I then started to read about many people who live with them. Some their entire lives. Helllllll YEAH I was thinking. That’s what I’m gonna do! There’s a lot of stuff Ol Gee does….but SURGERY isn’t one of them!

Well…things got worse. Started causing pain on the left side. Then a couple of weeks later I had the same pain on the right side! There was just one problem…there was no visible hernia on the right side.

To make a long story short….I went to ER THREE TIMES (once in a ambulance when I couldn’t fucking BREATHE)….over the next couple of months.

Yeah….no joke.

I went to ER the first time because I couldn’t breathe. The other two times it was regarding pain on the right side of my lower abdomen. I kept telling the “Doctors” that I thought I had a hernia as well on the right side, too.

All they wanted to do is argue with me and keep giving me CT SCANS. I eventually told them all to fuck off totally Verdugo-style.

They didn’t like that…..

CT Scans and ultrasound and X-rays and blah blah blah and nobody could confirm what in the hell was causing the right side pain. They couldn’t “see” any hernia over there.

By the time I stopped writing blog posts here in mid-December 2018 I had scheduled surgery to fix the left side with a REAL DOCTOR I found after a lot of research. I told the Doctor we may need to do the right side too.

Around the time I stopped writing I was nauseated 24/7….I couldn’t eat….couldn’t sleep…..still couldn’t breathe…..had back spasms….(felt like both kidneys were ON FIRE)…..and I couldn’t WALK more than about 75 yards. The former 220 pound Gee tipped the scales at around 160 pounds. Remember I’m 6 feet 6 inches tall…..

Yeah gentlemen….it doesn’t happen to everyone who has a hernia….but in my case it FUCKED ME UP BIG TIME.

The surgery went down January 24, 2019. My wife and I have about as good of an insurance policy as you can get. But after these fools here in Los Angeles couldn’t even determine what was wrong with me, I decided to go out of network and pay a guy who knew what he was doing regarding hernias. He was in Las Vegas.

He needed to check me out the day before surgery to confirm I had a hernia. And that he did. In fact, he confirmed what I had been trying to tell the fools here in Los Angeles all along…..that yeah, I had TWO hernias.

The day before the surgery my weight was 154 pounds……I looked like a skeleton.

Double Inguinal Hernia Repair under general anesthesia for Old Gee. NO MESH. This Doctor I selected is one of the few guys left here in the United States (and earth for that matter) that performs what they call a “pure tissue repair.” NO MESH.

I knew the surgery was somewhat successful because as soon as it was done and up until today ….guess what? I can fucking BREATHE again. All the other things that returned to normal (eating, sleeping, walking, getting up and sitting down when I ate, tying shoes, getting in and out of cars) came back slowly…..but they all came back.

Here we are now about 14 and a half months post-op and my weight is back to around 200. I can hit golf balls. The first 6-7 months after surgery was not a very pleasant experience.

But it appears as though (and I am knocking on wood as I write this) that everything has turned out okay so far.

I was incredibly lucky to find that Doctor.

So this is what caused the latest delay in the blog. I’m gonna try to get some more posts done soon….but for those of you who are still out there reading this I wanted to let you know what happened.

Now we’re all spooked about this Covid-19. Start blasting vitamin C…..(3-5 GRAMS a day)…..mix in between 4,000-8,000 iu’s of vitamin D3…..(take magnesium as well so your body can absorb the D3)….and mix in a couple of doses of CHAGA mushroom powder daily. That’s right…..start “shroomin'” …..the Chaga will basically halt the reproduction of the virus and make it easier for your body to fight off if you end up getting it.

I know….30 years ago I probably would have just told everybody to chug down a twelve pack every day (and it probably would have worked)…..but times have changed and the old war-horse Gee is almost 24 years sober! That’s right! Not ONE sip!

Hopefully this time with the blog I can get on a roll and not have any health bullshit slow me down!

Recently I’ve been in contact with Turner, Canale, and Cowsill….they’re all doing well. I hope the rest of you are as well…..