(Picture is Jimmy Dean’s attempt at The Closer)
On a cool, but glorious morning, the PAX showed up with gloves ready for Spring Training. We each grabbed our balls (baseballs for you with a weak mind). These were to be kept with us the whole workout. Bing noted he hasn’t seen his since his wedding day. When balls were dropped, burpees were paid as a penance.
We started by inviting God to sweat with us, and then checked our balance with a ball on the knee. After an epic fail by all (meaning core strength needed work), we mozied down the road to give the F3 flag a little more publicity. Baseball games typically have 3 pitchers: the Starter, the Middle Reliever and the Closer.
The Starter was 6 exercises done for 45 seconds back to back, repeated 3 times. Faster each time. Twist/Push, Mummy Kicks, Ski Jumps, Push Jacks, Power Knees & Hit the Floor. Ripken graciously let us put our balls down to pick our water up between sets.
The Middle Reliever was a Dora of: 100 V-ups, 150 Merkins, 200 Squats, 250 Planks moving ball under body, and 300 Moroccan Night Clubs on one leg. Partner around the flag.
The Closer required our fielding gloves. Ripken fired fly balls into the air while the Pax sprinted after them trying to relive their Little League prowess. No one got clocked in the face, but few actually caught the game winning fly ball either. Obviously, no pro players in attendance today.
Lastly, we played Musical baseballs. 16 guys, only 15 balls. Then 15 guys and only 14 balls… Finally, the 2.0’s (Speedy & Fin) wrested for the last ball. Not sure who got it; all were winners. All in all, we had some fun, sweat our XXXX’s off and relived our childhood dreams.
Praise for a good 2017. Prayers for Drake’s wife, Bing’s back, Recall’s sick family, Pax dealing with marital issues and hopes that all the i9 Families watching learned that men can be Men when they come together for God’s glory.