baseball...it's kinda.pretty.much my life right now

This weekend of baseball was boLth wonderful and sad... We'll start with the wonderful - Coach Weaver (far right) was in town!! On Friday afternoon we played Parkside (Coach Weav's team). Tyler got the start, lasting about 2 innings before he couldn't handle the pain any more. So he is going to red-shirt this year. So PLEASE keep him in your prayers, for anyone that is a competitor knows sitting out from what you love is the worst thing that could ever happen. Anyways -- Coach Weav's team took it to us Friday night. They played lights out and well, we didn't. This was by far one of the worst game's I've ever seen, but yeah, Weav 1 Arch 0.
Saturday was when USI, Wayne St, and Parkside came together to honor Coach Mags (2nd from right). Coach Mags coached at Wayne St and boLth Arch and Weav coached under him while at Wayne St. Coach Mags is like a father to boLth Arch and Weav as well as Disch(Wayne's current head coach). But yeah, Coach Mags is awesome and obviously has done an amazing job at teaching men how to coach the game of baseball successfully! We played Parkside on Saturday and we won. Sunday we played Wayne St and won again. Then last night was USI's first game under the lights on our own field. and WOW.. it looked awesome!! Our field is amazing!! We played Wayne St... Casey took the mound for us... Casey has been a project to say the least, he battled elbow issues in the fall of 08, was stubborn and hard headed (yeah, I can say this cause he knows he was also!) and finally in the spring of 09 he had Tommy John Surgery. So today was his first time on the bump in 2 years in a game. He was alright. He threw 4 shutout innings and seemed to get into a grove and did alright. Last night is was a close game, the kind of game where your heart races a lot and you get super excited and super frustrated at the same time. Poor ole Joe, the home plate ump, he struggled... Tyler would say "Joe, ya _____ us, ya ____ us.. you can fill in the blanks with the eff word.. it's Tylers thing when he doesn't like what an umpire decides.. We ended up winning and it was AWESOME!!
http://www.courierpress.com/news/2010/mar/08/eagles-light-up-the-diamond/

only one day till the weav returns!!

Tomorrow Coach Weave will be here!! WHOOOO HOOO!!

I am soooo excited! like, a lil kid waiting for santa -- seriously!!

I can not wait to get to the field and see him!! He is finally a head coach, yes I'm happy for him, but I'm secretly not cause I still want him to be an assistant here!!

I might be even more excited for the post game plans...prolly some dinner somewhere (turoni's prolly) and lots of LAUGHS!!

Man.. I can barely contain my excitement!! THE WEAV IS COMING BACK!!!

Well, I guess that's all i've got for now..

I do want to apologize if I seemed angry yesterday.. I really wasn't, I was just wanting all athletes to realize that at the end of the day when practice is over and y'all go home, an ATC's job is NEVER done... and I don't want you to think that for one minute it is! Remember to say thank you to your ATC's this month!!

it's been a while... sorry!!

So life as an athletic trainer is not always fun and games. Don't get me wrong, I love love love my job to much probably. But sometimes, it's extra stressful. I'll explain further in a min.. let's hit the great things first...
Baseball is winning games and doing some alright things they are currently 6-3 after beating Tiffin (a regional foe) this past weekend. Tyler (dispite a 100% crappy arm) had a great outting and kept Tiffin to 3 hits. Our other pitchers were not so great...our staff is struggling right now.. hopefully they figure it out before Friday when Parkside comes to town...
Parkside -- the home of our former assistant coach, Joel Weaver!!! I'm sooooo excited to see coach Weav this weekend. I miss him like crazy!! He is one of those awesome coaches that most ATC's don't get to work with.. and when he left, I was broken hearted.. But it is exciting to see him as the man in charge at his alma mater.. Good for him! But, we will still beat his team -- BAD -- hopefully!

Ok.. back to Tyler's arm.. On Monday we drove a quick lil 6+ hours to Birmingham AL to see Dr. Andrew's on Tuesday. Tyler, whom I have said time and time again is the hardest working athlete I've ever been privilaged to work with. His arm is hurting and it hurt last season also, none of the doctors around here that we have been to had given us any answers as to why, so we were off to see the MAN, or the KING of ELBOWS. - Dr. Andrews!! And he did not disappoint, he gave us answers and insite on why his arm was doing what it was doing. So he's going to continue pitching this season, and hopefully his arm will hold up and allow him to finish this season successfully. He will be in a pretty significant amount of pain, which breaks my heart, but he's super tough and he loves the game. So just say a lil prayer daily for him if you please could.

It's National Athletic Trainer's month.. how awesome is that!! I want all you athletes to take a min to say thanks to your athletic trainers!!! I'm not going to get on my soap box about this, but I honestly believe we have one of the most thankless jobs of all time. I wanna give you just a lil insite to this week in my life and maybe you'll understand just a lil about what I do and why I do it..
Sunday -- woke up at 530 did p90x legs and back and ab ripper, showered was at work by 8 and have had 2 cups of coffee. Got stuff ready to take to the baseball field, did pre-game treatments. BP started at 930 followed by a game starting at noon. Game ended around 4. Post game treatments after. Left work about 530 after making sure all weekend treatments were entered into our injury software. Picked up Lins for some dinner. Got home from dinner around 730. Opened an eval book and tried thinking of all the things I could think of to ask Dr. Andrews. Then the drama began... around 8 on the phone w/ Arch and David, dealing with stupid stuff that did NOT need to be dealt with. Its funny how hard you can work for people and yet at the end of the day, your best is not good enough... so after dealing with the drama -- I was SUPER angry, I called dad -- bless his heart, he had no idea what to say or do to make me happy, but he sure tried (this was one time I bet he sure wished that mom would have been home!) I then went to Jacks to just vent.. and then around 11 I came home and was in better spirits. I looked up a few more questions and finally laid in bed around 130, however I could NOT turn my mind off... so I got about 2 solid hours of sleep..
Monday - woke up at 520, did p90x and went to the rec and did an hr of cardio.. got home around 7, showered and was back to work by 745... did my morning treatments with my athlete's, wrote up treatments for tuesday (cause I was going to be outta town) had a meeting w/David, Arch, and Tyler to prepare for the Dr. Andrews visit. Went to lunch w/ Brendel. Did some afternoon treatments and paperwork, picked up a car for the drive to AL.. left for AL with Tyler and his father John around 245. DROVE and DROVE and DROVE.. stopped for some dinner -- Pizza Hut -- ole Steph thought I drank Dr. Pepper -- which I didn't.. and she couldn't get it figured out.. ate some salad and a piece of pizza and were off again.. Got to the hotel around 930.. did some (LOTS) of thinking and hardly slept at all again...
Tuesday - 6 am wake up.. went for a nice lil jog in the rain/snow in downtown Birmingham, shower at 7, straighten hair and got all ready for the appt. Checked outta the hotel, went to Dr. Andrew's office around 1015. Was there till 330ish.. Got in the car to head home -- STARVING -- found a cracker barrel.. ate some delish b.fast food for dinner -- yummmm! and headed home!! Got home around 1015, did some serious thinking and journaling about what I had learned at Dr. Andrews' office and FINALLY got some amazing sleep from 2a-6!!
Today -- I did NOT workout and was at work by 730.. caught up on paper work, read some txt book info about bone healing (just to refresh) had some good convo w/ David (my boss) and it's almost 7 and I'm waiting for Tyler to finish his workout to be able to go home and bury my head in txt books to figure out why and how modalities work together to do the best treatment possible to get his arm to freakin heal!!

So.. in general -- I do my job, work long days, and continue to keep my head in text books, to be the best I can be... I do this cause I love my job. I love seeing kids be able to do what they love doing. I really do have the greatest job ever... but I do work long long thankless hours all for others and sometimes I just need to vent about it!! lol.. tomorrow I'll do it all over again and love almost every moment of it. God has given me the ability to care way to much for others, sometimes I wander why he has given me that ability!!

3-3... and Goodbye MBB..

my baseball boys are 3-3... YUCK 3-3... I am a hard woman to please -- i know i know.. our team is way better than 3-3.. this past weekend we went to Russellville Arkansas, pretty good weather 45-55 degrees... way nicer than what we've been dealing with in Eville.. Anyways - Friday Tyler took on Arkansas Tech (the wonderboys) and Phil (the umpire) had a hitter friendly (?) zone.. Tyler is pretty darn good at keeping the ball down, and well Phil didn't like to call the low strike.. soooo, it was a lil crappy on Phil's part -- but Tyler got thru and got the win. Saturday we took on the stupid griffins from Mo West... whom is my least favorite school in all of america! I do NOT like Mo Wo Ju Co at ALL!! our infielders were just plain terrible... hitters 2 stike approaches could have been better... bullpin was below average.. starting pitching was alright... but we lost -- and I was not happy about it... Soooo.. hopefully my boys get back on track this weekend as we begin a nice lil home stretch.. Bring it on Tiffin, Parkside (DREAM WEAVER) and Wayne...

Well, basketball is done. Last night was seniors night. The girls won vs Quincy and clenched a home court advantage for the GLVC 1st round of the tournament. The girls also went undefeated this year at the PAC. Pretty awesome! The men also won, and their senior send off was after the game... VERY EMOTIONAL.. This girl, was struggling.. I'm gonna miss Andrew, the manager, always a great laugh -- yeah I laugh at him. Especially the day he was in a HUGE hurry and rounded the soda machine and his ankle didn't hold up... he bit the dust.. but popped right back up (def limping) and went on his mission... I laughed.. not nice, but it happens. Issac is an official eville family member.. he is in our crew.. and now i'm really excited to spend lots of time w/ him! he is reallllly funny and i look forward to more family dinners.. but will miss him hustling on the floor.. hopefully he'll come to baseball and pitch a lil for the screaming baseball eagles... Marvin and Ty's parents were unable to make it, but they still had pretty great years at USI this year.. I'll miss marv's give me that.... comments and Ty stole all the cookies I made for the boys.. real cool - NOT.. Boog's mom and Auntie from Baltimore were on hand, dancing in the circle and thanking the crowd.. Boog is excited to go to Los now that basketball is over and have a Marg... should be fun. Jamar will really be missed as well.. yeah, he is really freaking great at basketball, but it's the off the court stuff that makes me remember him most.. his songs, his laugh, his smile, and his stories about growing up... whirlpool and heat packs.. and candy stories -- i'm gonna miss that boy! And last but not least, Dori's family and friends from Ft. Wayne made it to the ceremony.. it was soooo great seeing them all there and the love that they have for USI and the respect for USI. it was awesome. I miss Dori so much every single day. His lil mini me was at the game also... talk about adorable.. he is!! lil Jamel is just sooo amazing! He has Dori's nose!! and I love it! ...

My friends are pretty much the best -- EVER.

Ok, I have always had a lot of friends... growing up my friends were the neighborhood boys. I played a ton of pick up basketball, football, and baseball. In high school I had 2 groups of friends my softball teammates (girls from all over NW missouri) and my boys. I'd never say I was popular or anything like that, but I don't think I was ever lacking in the friends dept. In college is where I got my BEST friends, those people that I can talk to any time about anything and NOTHING has ever changed.. that includes Jenn, Abby, Kyle, Jill, Steph and Codeman. In grad school a few more people were added to the list. Then the tricky part happened, I move FAR far away. Now I still have my college friends, all just a txt or phone call away (thank GOD for that!). I have a few more friends -- since arriving in Evansville, one friend in particular (yes we've had ups and downs) has been there the whole time, Miss Brooklyn. Arch is def on the best list... There are a couple others, that guy, bdub and kate... we got into a ton of mischief my first two years of real adult life, but have since settled down, unless we are all together -- then the "chit show" is on.. but thankfully it isn't an every day thing..only a once (maybe twice if we are lucky) year thing. The other group of friends that have always been around, but I didn't ever really consider them friends -- my family. Wow -- I have such an amazing family and am extremely lucky for that.
Friends make us who we are today -- and for solving the worlds problems last night w/ Jacks this is what we decided about friends --
1. Friends are people you know are going to be there whenever.
2. Friends are people you get mad at and get over being mad at in the same minute.
3. Friends are those whom you wanna be around, it's not forced.
4. Jack and I really have the all the answers in life.. so contact us if you have questions...

I LOVE LOVE LOVE MY FRIENDS...

2 and 1....

I know, I know.. it's been a couple days and you are all patiently waiting for the results of the weekend "According to Beck"...

Sunday -- Valentines Day (got a super sweet card, from a very NON Valentine -- making me tear up)... Got to the field around 10ish.. Game 1 started at 11... Wandy started the game w/ a homerun. Taylor threw really well and we won. Ole chomper was very smelly today, I told him about it also... yuck! For anyone that knows me at all, they know that smells are one thing I can't stand, smells make me really sick to my stomach.. So needless to say, chomper didn't really hang out beside me -- which was AWESOME! Game 2 didn't exactly go the way we thought it would, a rough bottom of the 8th put Armstrong up 8-7 and we couldn't rally back to get the W.. so we split for the day -- but won the series... We left Armstrong around 430ish and headed west... I slept and slept and slept, waking up periodically to a grunt or some weird noise coming from Michael Irving the bus driver, not the football player... and a snow storm was hitting Tennessee and Kentucky and Indiana.. so therefore the trip took a whole lot longer than we had initially thought it would. However, we made it back to Evansville safely at 6am Monday morning.

School was closed untill noon... so I took a lil nap till 10 and then got some errands ran.. had to get a new iPhone -- which I might add is FREAKING SWEET!.. and then I went to work. Got nothing done at work to speak of, did a few treatments on baseball boys, and before I knew it -- it was GAMETIME for basketball.

Basketball was playing KWC... the girls won, kinda a boring game, but a win is a win.. the mens game was started by a welcoming from Jon Mark to KWC.. it was a nice lil speech, thanking them for their greatness and respect of USI after the death of Jeron Lewis. Last time we played KWC was the last time any of us saw Jeron alive, he died during that game. KWC is normally a HUGE rival game -- now it isn't so much. USI men didn't play very well, Jamar was battling a bum foot and MOMO an ankle injury.. .our defense was NOT very good and well honestly KWC was just a better team last night. KWC spoiled the undefeated season hopes for USI. Bummer of a game, but I think that will be the only loss for this special team.

Grandpa Lloyd had a heart cath today.. got boLth good and bad news.. bad being that he has some blockages in his stint and in the area of his last bypass surgery, they put a new stint in and said it could last a year or 20... so who knows... good news for grandpa was that he still gets to drive the bus for the old folks home (no my g.pa isn't in the home, he just takes the old people where they need to go a few days a week -- my g.pa doesn't think he is an old man (he's 74 or something like that))... So just keep Grandpa Lloyd in your prayers as well as the rest of the family (mom's side).. You never wanna hear that your grandpa is having health issues.

23-0.... 1-0

Well yesterdays rain out had no effect on my lil baseball buddies. Today they showed up ready to do their jobs. And yep -- Arch and I were on the same page with the line ups!! I tell you what - he is pretty freakin awesome!! Our boys were alright today at the plate... most of the hitters looked alright... Tyler had the quote of the game "the ball looked like a mouse going into a hole" but yeah, hitters looked pretty good. Our defense was not good... While talking to my mother earlier in the evening, I said "I'd charge 2 errors on each single error cause we were mentally dumb today when fielding balls.." so yeah, defense was ugly!! I guess it is to be expected having not really taken balls live off the bat since mid Jan... I'll give them a break today.. but -- I hope to see improvement tomorrow! lol.. listen to me - like writing this like I have some pull or something -- which I don't.. but I guess that's why I blog.. to share my opinion with ya'll! lucky you. Tyler started the game on the bump and he did alright, I thought he was pretty darn good, but he says he was alright... so that's what we will go with. Trevor came in and finished the game and he was just alright also.. the miracle tape was working for him -- weirdo! But yeah -- today baseball was decent. Good enough to win, but we are way better than we played today. and 1-0 isn't to bad to start off the season... Tomorrow Taylor and Dan have games 2 and 3 of the series... so hopefully they will be ready!! I know I am! man I just love baseball...
I do have to gripe just a min, I don't really like ppl in my "space" or trying to talk to me during the games... and someone on our team DROVE me nuts today. This person was supposed to be charting something and kept freakin asking me a million questions -- i wanted to ask them if they just wanted me to keep the freakin chart cause it was obvious they couldn't pay attention. GRRRR.. I was super frustrated! This person whom we'll call "chomper" (he chews his food with his mouth open, which is also super annoying) has officially driven me nuts this trip. I'm praying for patience with him and for him to FIO before tomorrow, or at least before next weekend... I might just have to find a different home in the dugout -- or kick him to the opposite side! Let's all just say a lil prayer about that one? Maybe God will give one of us a hint on how to tolerate... ole chomper prolly doesn't even know he drives me bonkers!!
On to basketball, they are still undefeated!! perfect 23-0! and b.hogg was a thief today!! He led our team in steals and from what I hear, he was pretty darn good today! atta boy b.hogg!!
The women also won today -- they upset unbeaten University of Indianapolis (Indy)! Way to go ladies!
This girl is super tired and about to hit the sheets! Gotta LONG day tomorrow, 2 baseball games and a 10 hour trip back to evansville.. Monday is KWC basketball games and I have to get a new phone!! my iphone is dead :-( which makes me super sad! G'nite!!