Posts Tagged ‘life’

The Goal of all of This….

Posted: January 14, 2026 in Uncategorized
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You all know how I loved doing the stats for all the teams and keeping them up to date. Now, with the Verdugo288.com website and AI….its staggering what you can find out about Verdugo and any one of our guys who played for us.

AI is a little rickety….but it’s only going to get better. For example, you can type in a player’s name for Verdugo, add “post 288 American Legion Baseball” behind his name ……wait for results to come up (there may be a few) but then go up to the bar up top and click “AI Mode” and you’ll be blown away at what comes up.

The reason I did the stats so complete back in those days was to get you guys as much press as I could. Be patient….I will continue to do the same for verdugo288.com

I’m learning that how I write the stories will give AI a better chance to “get its shit together” and get your names correct and the correct numbers. Like I said….it’s a little rickety…I ran one search and it told me a guy named “Corey Gantt” was one of our pitchers in 1993. I mean….WTF!?!?!

So maybe my style of writing will change a little…but I’ll keep my humorous leanings and hope AI doesn’t get “confused”…

The goal is to have a google search with just “YOUR NAME + Verdugo Hills Post 288 Baseball” and a detailed synapsis of your “career” with Verdugo will crop up….with some stories (and your stats) about YOU to come up as well.

I ran a search and started laughing….The AI “bot” asked the question “just how versatile was John Rogers defensively for Verdugo in 1990?” I didn’t even ask it about John Rogers!! it was incredible!!!

OMG!!! I ran a story on the blog here several years back about how Rogers had played every position on the diamond for us back in 1990 and it (AI) gave John a great write-up!!!

You guys may not give a damn about all of this right now…you guys are old, but not GEE old!!! But some day when you’re sitting in your rocking chair and tell one of your grandkids to run a search on you ….YOU will get to see your grandkid go “oh wow look at all of this! whoa….everything’s spinning man!”

It’ll be a good way to check and see if your grandkids are watching any Cheech and Chong movies!

But with all the foul language and questionable analogies I use…maybe you don’t want them reading about it at all !!!!

“The Call” (Part ONE)

Posted: October 26, 2025 in Uncategorized
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Yeah Verdugo won. Yeah yeah yeah. I got the call. I hadn’t talked to this guy in a while. Not since I was the head coach of his JV Team last season. The head coach of the CV Baseball Team called me to congratulate me on “a helluva season”….

I was asked back to coach at the high school for the ’92 season but declined. We were on good terms with one another.

I mean it was a good call. It was good in that he made the call and that he was like “jeez coach you’re 22-3……I’ve been reading about it and following it in the papers all season long.” It was nice that he acknowledged what we had accomplished.

We spoke for about a half hour or so. He was curious about some of the players he had coming back next season. I don’t blame him for it. I gave him whatever information he needed or wanted and was happy to discuss where everyone was at in their “careers” and shared a few funny stories that had happened during the season.

“well who do you guys play next?” he asked……….

I told him but I was getting a little “concerned”……

“where is it being played? what time” By this time I was really bummed out. I couldn’t say to him “look….do me a favor and don’t show up…..I think it will be a distraction to the players”

I couldn’t say to him what Nancy Canale said to me on more than one occasion when she said “the players look forward to playing Legion more than playing for the high school because it’s like they let the animals out of their cages”

Don’t get me wrong I was happy that he acknowledged our season. I got along with him I would say very well. He knew me well enough from my coaching days with him to know about my propensity to establish “rituals” with the team. And how I was very superstitious.

We knew each other well enough to where we could both let the four-letter words fly, too. I knew what I could say to him, and what I couldn’t.

I tried like hell……

“hey coach you know how I feel about winning streaks” I told him……”yeah I sure do” he laughed…..”you know how I always say ‘you don’t fuck with a winning streak’ right” I said ……”oh yeah” he said.

“I’m going completely over the top to keep everything exactly the same before every game coach…..I wanna make sure they don’t SEE anything different, or HEAR anything different ….you wouldn’t believe the lengths I’ve gone to keep this winning streak going coach…I think we’ve rattled off six in a row now coach…..all we need is one more win…..and after we win….I don’t care what happens…..I’m just trying to protect these guys and this streak……You know what I’m saying coach?” laugh laugh laugh laugh

“Oh yeah I know……” he laughed

He didn’t get the message …..and I’ve spent the last 33 years wondering…..why the fuck did I answer the phone that day.