Running the Bases at Village Idiot
QIC: Ziggy
Date: 2/21/22
PAX: Sea Man, Sour Mash, Singing Cowboy, Sassy, Starfish, Data, Ziggy Stardust (QIC)
For anyone unfortunate enough to have to grade student assignments (one of the more tedious and thankless tasks that exist), one often finds houses getting cleaner, yard work getting finished faster, and other acts of procrastination, all to avoid said task. Knowing that YHC had the Q at Village Idiot, and remembering the baseball diamond there, there was sufficient time to try to cook up something a little more complicated than the usual, and thus put off grading as long as possible.
Although baseball is a summer sport, and forecasts called for the usual mid February low 30s, spring training isn’t too far away and VI seemed a great spot to try out the Q plan.
YHC was hoping for at least 4 to show up (though Sour Mash thought another coffee outing might be a good idea). Eventually we had a Magnificent 7 and started off flatline style with a mosey to the baseball diamond for warmups:
one lap around the outfield, then:
Abe Vigodas
Whirly’s
Upward and Downward Dog 2x
Arm Swirly Things
THE THANG:
PAX lined up at home plate – one batter, the rest on deck (theoretically holding plank or Al Gore).
Each base (1st, 2nd and 3rd) had a bag containing cards with various exercises. Any drawn cards would then be discarded after the exercise was called.
At home plate the batter draws a card from a box (put back in the box after being drawn) with the possibility of the following:
Single = bear crawl to first base / 10 reps of called exercise drawn from the 1st base bag
Double = crab walk (omaha to lunge walk) around the diamond to second base / 20 reps of called exercise
Triple = lunge walk around the diamond to third base / 30 reps of called exercise
Home Run = all PAX run the bases and return to whatever base they were on
Strike Out = 10 burpees
Fly Out = all PAX run around the outfield and return to whatever base they were on.
Original Plan: With 7 PAX, 6 partnered up to make three groups, YHC was the 4th.
Runners would advance around the bases, so that a PAX on first would move to third base with a double drawn from the batter, etc.
The batter would then draw the card with the exercise from whatever base they reached, i.e. if the batter drew a double they would advance to 2nd with 20 reps of called exercise, etc. All PAX do the called exercise together, regardless of position on the field.
Exercises in the bags had a choice of the following:
Merkins / Diamond Merkins / Carolina Dry Docks / Mike Tysons
WWII Situps / American Hammers / Freddy Mercs / Low Flutter
Squats / Monkey Humpers / Copperhead Squats / Jump Squats
The ideal would be for a good mix of upper body, core, and legs through drawing and then discarding the cards, with some cardio via burpees and laps mixed in. In reality, mulligans were also called to make sure we stayed balanced.
THE GAME EVOLVED AS FOLLOWS:
First draw was a strike out so 10 burpees to start off. YHC had again hoped the laws of probability would provide some balance, but Ks and Fly Outs seemed to be drawn more frequently, so we agreed to mix it up with some mulligans. Singles, Doubles and Triples gave opportunities for Merkins, WWIIs, Mike Tysons, American Hammers, Freddy Mercs, Monkey Humpers, and Squats, mixed in with two more Ks (20 more burpees), a couple of laps around the outfield, and three HRs (approximately). PAX seemed to catch on pretty quickly and YHC ended up somehow in Singing Cowboy and Sour Mash’s group.
OMAHA
Sour Mash had a great idea to switch to single batters, with PAX on deck staying moving with exercise of choice (SSH, Mountain Climbers, Fast Feet, etc.) as batters drew cards. All PAX continued to do all called exercises whether on base or on deck.
We ended with time for Mary by committee back at the parking lot. Starfish called Nolan Ryan’s in keeping with the baseball theme.
Time.
PRAYER REQUESTS
Unfortunately the voice memo on the phone seems to have malfunctioned, but we lifted up friends and family struggling with illness and aging parents.
YHC took us out, thanking Him for the opportunity of all Fs, guiding us to be His servant throughout the day as we all get better together.
NMM:
Great to hear the news that Sea Man’s 2.0 Tomahawk made the high school varsity team! Congrats! YHC hopes today’s beatdown is a good omen for great things to come.
YHC couldn’t have asked for a better group of PAX to test run and fine tune a somewhat complicated beatdown, and kudos to Sour Mash for coming up with some great ideas for the next iteration.
Thanks for the keys Sea Man! I think I left them in the dugout somewhere.
—
YHC was lucky enough to experience the last years when baseball was truly the national sport (early 1970s) and recalls fondly his first job at 11 years old keeping score at the little league park ,with payment in unlimited hot dogs and snow cones. (child labor laws were more lax then). Baseball is a home grown American sport, and Jacques Barzun – a famous cultural historian, and immigrant -once wrote the following:
“Anyone who wants to know the heart and mind of America, had better learn baseball.”
He meant that baseball is an amazing combination of individualism and teamwork at the same time. Americans are often known for this emphasis on individuality, and baseball reminds us we also need to balance that with pulling together as a team. YHC would say that F3 is very much in the same spirit.
