We are the champions -- again!

Well, my USA TODAY softball team won the championship of the Metropolitan Media Softball League for the second consecutive year this weekend.

We entered as the No. 8 seed and rolled through our competition, beating CNN 11-7 in the championship game. We went 5-0 in the tournament, avenging all of our regular-season losses in the process (AP, Team Video, Comcast SportsNet, AOL -- twice -- and CNN). It was a great weekend, winning the title after a 10-6 regular-season, and when I think many of the other teams thought we were vulnerable, especially after we won last year as the No. 1 seed.

I did get hurt -- what else is new? In the fifth inning while running the bases, as I headed into third base I pulled my right hamstring. I was so upset, especially because I had already had 2 hits and 2 RBI. But I knew whoever I put in there would do just fine, and I was right.

CNN made it close, scoring twice in the seventh inning, and had the bases loaded and the tying run at the plate. But a bounce-back to the pitcher ended it, and we took back-to-back titles, only the third team in MMSL history to do that.

So my softball season is officially over, as I go into surgery for the tumor on my thumb tomorrow (Ed and I named him Timmy). Timmy, it was nice knowing you for the past two years. Parting is such sweet sorrow -- NOT!

I'll be raring to go for the Gay World Series in Phoenix in October. Can't wait.

If it's not one thing it's another ...

... My softball nickname isn't Dora -- as in Dumb -- for nothing. Something always seems to be going on or wrong when it involves softball or picking up a hammer. And those two things have nothing in common except that I got hurt doing both this weekend.

My work softball team finished the regular-season 10-6, and is the No. 8 seed in the MMSL tournament July 14-15. I think it's a great finish and not a bad seed. But I was hurt in the second game Saturday, pulling my left calf muscle when I hit a divot in left field chasing a foul fly. Two days later and it feels like a bad charley horse. I have no doubt I'll be ready for our four games this weekend in my gay league.

Then, yesterday I was helping Ed with the Deck-O-Vation and hammered my left-flip off finger. It's swollen and blue today.

Now if I can just find somebody to flip off... Maybe Ed, since he went out and bought a new iPhone...

Softball's boys (and girls) of summer

It's almost July, so as one season starts to wind down, the other is going strong and probably will be well into the fall.

My work team started the season 0-3, but we then won eight in a row before getting our butts handed to us last week by AOL in a 15-1 loss. I've coached the USA TODAY team for more than 10 years and I can't ever remember us getting beaten that badly. I just hope we got it out of our system now, before the MMSL tournament gets here.

But we have to get there first. We have two games this weekend, but our numbers are not good at all because of a company golf tournament. I guess if there was a week for this to happen, it's this one because we finish the season with division games against AOL and the Washington Times, two great rivals.

As for my gay league team, DC Nitro, we are going to the Gay World Series, which is in Phoenix this year. It was moved to October (it's usually played in August) to avoid the heat. THANK GOD!!

Check out the Phoenix softball website. It's a good one.

Softball Opening Day (kind of)

The first of my two Opening Days for softball happened Saturday, with mixed results. My USA TODAY work team lost a heart-breaker in our first game against CNN, losing 7-6 when CNN scored four runs in the bottom of the seventh inning, all after two were out.

But we bounced back to win the second game 5-4, beating ABC News with a three-run rally of our own in the bottom of the sixth inning.

That makes us -- the defending champions -- 1-3. Not the start I wanted or hoped for. But I think we'll be just fine.

Check out the MMSL website here.

My next Opening Day is next Sunday when NITRO begins its 2007 season. Can't wait. I think we'll be pretty good this season (we say that every year). We have a different attitude and new uniforms -- you can never go wrong with new unies. Hopefully I'll have a picture to post after next week's games.

We'll be traveling to Philadelphia for Memorial Day. We were supposed to go to Chicago for July 4, but that tournament has been cancelled. Oh well.

The big tournament for us, though, is the NAGAAA World Series, which this year is in Phoenix in October.

Thank God. Could you imagine Phoenix in August, when the World Series is usually held?

Softball forfeit

I hate to forfeit softball games. Hate it.

While Ed and were running in the Urban Dare on Saturday, my work team was opening the season in the Metropolitan Media Softball League, where we are the defending champions.

Well, we didn't have enough women (it's a 7 men, 3 women league), but league rules specify that you can borrow or loan another team enough players to play the game. Which makes sense. You give up about 4 hours of a beautiful Saturday, driving around the Capital Beltway, and want to have something to show for it.

Well, the first team we played was cool with that, but the second team we played said they would not loan us a woman player (you can play with 2, we had 1), so we had to forfeit. Granted, it is their right not to loan us a player, but it totally goes against the spirit of the league.

That's all fine and dandy. It's going to come back and bite them in the ass when we end up defending our championship.

Talk about motivation -- they've gone and pissed off the wrong team.

The photo is of me during last year's tournament.

Updates to follow.

Softball season closes in

I actually, for a fleeting moment or two, thought about cutting down on my softball this season. I usually play in 2-3 leagues every season, which runs spring through fall. But because of my work schedule, I figured I'd go ahead and play. My schedule used to screw me up every year because I worked early on Sundays, and our league play was always on Sunday afternoon. But now I don't have to worry about that.

I coach my work team, and we play on Saturday mornings in Montgomery County, Md. (That's us above after winning the Metropolitan Media Softball League tournament last July -- www.mediasoftball.net). Playing in the MMSL was never a problem because I'm always off on Saturday. But the team that I'm really competitive with is the team I play for on Sundays, NITRO. We're a part of the Chesapeake and Potomac Softball League (www.capsoftball.org), which is a part of NAGAAA (North American Gay Amateur Athletic Alliance -- www.nagaaasoftball.org).

We had our preseason meeting Friday and it really went well. We decided to keep the name NITRO. (Some people thought we should change because they thought it was bad luck. Whatever.) We lost a couple of players, but we're also gaining a couple really good players, one from Boston and one from our own league who played last season for the Metz. We also voted to play in tournaments in Philadelphia (Memorial Day weekend, and we can drive!) and Chicago (pre-July 4 weekend. I can't wait!) The World Series this year is in Phoenix and has been moved to October because of the heat (the Series is usually scheduled in August). CAPS league play begins in May. Practice begins in March.

That's me in the photo at left at the 2003 World Series, which was held in Washington, D.C.