And Then There Were Two

The 2016 softball season feels a little different--not bad at all, just different.

Russ (left) and me

It was back in the summer of 2004 or so that a handful of us got together to form a men's rec league softball team. Russ Thomas, a relatively newly hired co-worker, took the reins as manager. We gathered up some friends and friends-of-friends. The core of the group included Russ, Jay Allen, Travis Munden, Greg "Rabbit" Myers and me. Before long we had a full roster and started a long run of spending our summers together in the same dugout and on the same diamond.

Not long after our inaugural season together, possibly our second go-round, Russ lined up a main sponsor that still faithfully sticks by us. That's why we're known to all we go up against as Taco Johns.

We had a lot of good guys, good players (and I mean a LOT) come and go. The first of Taco Johns' founding fathers to leave the nest was Rabbit. Greg moved away several years ago but was temporarily back in town and for a weekend tournament last summer. (Or was it the summer before last?) Anyway, we established ourselves over the years as one of the better teams in our division with one of the better records. I don't know the exact totals but we advanced to the Montana state softball tournament at least a handful of times and placed among the top 15 most every appearance.

And that brings us back to 2016. We're just five games into the new season (with a not too shabby 4-1 record I may add) but like I said, thing are a little different. Jay and Travis left their Taco Johns playing days behind and are no longer with us. That leaves just Russ and me as the remaining original founding fathers still trying to slug our way out of the batter's box. (Okay, still trying to bloop our way out of the batter's box.) And I find myself as the oldest guy on the team by almost eight years.

Travis, me, Russ & Jay (left to right) in what turned out to be our last game together
(Yeah, Travis has a really, really long left arm)

Still, it's great to be back on the diamond. It's great to be out there with the guys. It's great to play.

2011

2011

2015

2016

The Fantasy Slam

I have always loved sports. I love to play. I love to compete.I love playing alongside good teammates. (I love to win, too.)

Perhaps not so surprisingly, I started my professional career two weeks after college graduation by accepting a job as a television sportscaster in Topeka, Kansas. I spent ten years in Kansas before heading west to accept another sportscaster position in Spokane, Washington. After four years there, I'd covered sports on all levels for 14 consecutive years but it was time to move on. I left my sports days behind to move over one seat on set to accept a newscaster position in Missoula, Montana.  

No longer covering sports on a day-to-day basis as a profession allowed me to become more of a fan again. It was refreshing. And that's when I was introduced to fantasy sports. To me, it was a perfect way to keep up to speed on some of my favorite sports and teams without having to dive in the deep end and track every trend, statistic and happening on a daily basis.

That was 2004. Since then I drafted scores of fantasy teams from the NHL, NFL, MLB and filled out a batch of NCAA basketball tournament brackets. I don't always fare so well but I don't do too badly either thanks to 22 league "championships" from my 80 teams. But it wasn't until earlier this year that I finally racked up my personal version of the fantasy slam--consecutive basketball, hockey, football and baseball fantasy wins.

And it's a good thing I checked that off my bucket list because after checking tonight's latest standings, my 2016 fantasy baseball team just got smoked again and I dropped into 11th place in a 12-team league. Oh well, bring on football season!