This was going to be a Fourth of July Sports Report. Then I wrote out 12 pages before the Fourth and this became the “Midsummer” Report. Interesting sports events (mostly baseball) kept happening, and I kept compulsively writing them down. (I’ll stop as soon as interesting things stop happening.) This is going take a few posts. It all started with a Chihuahuas game I’d rather forget, but can’t.
6-5-21
This was a memorable Chihuahuas game for all of the wrong
reasons. Simply, El Paso had a 9-0 lead
in the fourth inning in Round Rock. Two innings later, the Express had the lead
and went on to win 12-9. At the end of the inning where they took the
lead, the crowd gave them an ovation. Tim Hagerty on the radio call was so
even and optimistic in his game call, you probably wouldn’t have known the
score just from his inflection of what was going on. Indeed, when the Express suddenly took the lead, I was like, “What the hell just
happened!” I’m sure the Chihuahuas felt
about the same.
6-6-21
I’ve been enjoying these Weekend Binges on the Decades
channel lately. They were doing a marathon
of Sledge Hammer this weekend. Not only has this show aged well, it’s
actually even funnier today than it was in the 80’s. I was still flipping around between
commercial breaks though. Mexican TV was
all about two events going on today.
One, it was national election day there.
Two, the US and Mexico were playing a match today for the
CONCACAF championship. (I’ve never been able to figure out what that
is.) They were playing at Mile High Stadium in Denver. So as usual, the US would be the visiting team
in front of a hostile Mexican crowd.
There’d been constant PSA’s on Mexican television
emphasizing how fair and honest their elections are in the run up to the
election. You won’t see commercials like
that on US TV; we all know our elections are a fraud. It seemed like there’s an embargo on election
results until the early evening. All the
stations ran the same show with the totals.
I noticed the time. The soccer
match was about to begin and all Mexican TV was doing election results. I could only imagine a nation of angry
Mexicans throwing chips and salsa at their TV’s. Imagine Sunday
Night Football being interrupted for election results. Yeah, then it’s not so funny.
Regardless, I turned over to Univision, which is technically a US network, to start watching the
match. I think I was actually just
waiting for something else to come on and thought I’d watch this in the
meantime to see how it went. It went
poorly. Mexico scored in the first
minute. They scored again shortly
thereafter. My God! It’s like a 9-0 lead in
a baseball game. This one is over. I thought.
I went back to watching Sledge Hammer. During a
commercial break, I flipped back over to see what the further damage was. The score was listed as 1-1. Okay, this was an odd turn of events. I’m guessing that second Mexican goal was
waved off and the Americans had scored.
I’m surprised there wasn’t a riot going on in the stands. I’d like to say this score intrigued me, but
it didn’t. I went back to Sledge.
Next time I tuned back, it was 2-2 at the end of
regulation. At this point, I actually
felt bad that I had bailed on this match so early. I still couldn’t be persuaded to sit and
watch though. I checked back a half hour
later. It was still going! All I’m seeing is the referee running
back-and-forth across the field handing out cards. I can’t watch.
My last check in, I see that the US had taken the
lead. They’re still playing, of
course. Soccer can’t do their timing
right (like stopping the clock instead of doing extra time), hard-to-come-by
goals are routinely waved off, and overtime doesn’t end with the first goal;
they play out the whole period. Alright,
I’m invested by this point. I’ll
watch.
Extra time is added to the overtime. This game will not end. It’s going on forever. Mexico scores the equalizer! But then it’s waved off. I’m waiting for gunfire to erupt from the
stands. Why is there a black bald chick
dressed as a line judge there? There are
fans suddenly running across the field getting tackled by security. Their goals are getting waved off too. Players are trying to do a throw-in from the
sidelines and getting hit by bottles from the stands.
Finally, for whatever reason, the game finally ended. The US wins.
I’m laughing my ass off. What a
ridiculous, yet tremendous, spectacle this has been, and now I’m waiting to
watch Mile High Stadium be destroyed from the inside out by angry Mexican
fans. Meanwhile at the US border, thousands
of furious Mexicans stormed across in an invasion. Oh wait, that’s every day. No change there. How did the Mexican’s lose? They’d injured the US goalkeeper and almost
took out his substitute.
I called Mike. I
knew his girlfriend would be watching this match and who she’d be rooting
for. I was calling to say “Goodbye,” to
my friend. He was still alive, but this
was only because he’d locked himself in his office. Back at the stadium, there were actual
cheering US fans there. The team saluted
them. None of these people will make it
out of the parking lot alive. Later, the
Mexican team will hijack their own flight and try to make it to Bolivia. There’s nothing but a death sentence waiting
for them in Mexico. Well, this was
actually an entertaining match, even if it wasn’t so much for the actual
competition. I might have to watch more
soccer.
6-7-21
Or thereabouts. I
didn’t actually write down the date for this.
Tim had a great deal of consternation in calling this game between the Chihuahuas and Round Rock. In the first
inning, either there was an immediate substitution after a half-inning or there
was a change from the announced lineup to the actual lineup. Tim was obviously frustrated and confused
trying to figure out the batting order and who was in the field. As a person who likes to keep a scorecard at
games, I completely understood his discomfort.
Tim eventually got it straightened out and passed his corrected lineup
to the PA, since the announcements were also off.
6-8-21
This follows up on the previous entry. In today’s (or thereabouts) Chihuahuas/Express game, an unknown El
Paso pitcher started an inning.
Obviously, this put Tim in a bit of a pickle trying to do the game
call. The player number wasn’t listed
the on roster and Tim didn’t recognize him.
After a few batters, Tim finally got a name and an explanation. This was an MLB waiver claim player from another team, who’d been sent straight
to Triple-A. Tim credited a fan who runs a Padres fansite for identifying the
player. The information was also passed
along to the confused official scorer.
Another note about this series, Tim noted that, for whatever reason, the
Chihuahuas have a large number of fans in the Austin area, and they came out to
support their team.
6-9-21
(Or thereabouts.)
In Oklahoma City against the
Chihuahuas, an odd play led Tim to question the official scoring. I forgot the details of the play, but the
ruling on the scoring could have gone a couple of different ways. Between innings, the official scorer polled
Tim and the OKC broadcaster on their opinions.
Sometimes, the scoring on a play changes after an inning, so now I know
how that happens.
I don’t remember if this particular incident happened here
or on another day, but right before the pregame chat that’s part of Steve Kaplowitz’s Sportstalk show, his
co-host Adrian Broaddus mentioned
that he was proudly wearing his Kaplowitz 20-th anniversary shirt. Steve has been doing the El Paso talk show
for quite a while. (I do remember
listening to the guy who preceded him in the 80’s, John Tischer.) Tim came on
right after and started off by saying, in a thoroughly indignant tone, “I’m
waiting for my t-shirt. I’m sure it was
just delayed in the mail.” I don’t even
think he was kidding about being annoyed.
6-11-21
This time I’m sure of the date at least. It was a triple-header of hard defeats
tonight. It seemed so promising to begin
with. The MLB free game was the Padres
against the Mets, which I was glad
for. Of course, the game video was
blacked out, since we’re in the Padres’ viewing area (?). Still, I enjoyed the radio call. Unfortunately, Jacob DeGrom outdueled Blake
Snell in a close game and a Mets win.
Right after that, I noticed that there was a second free day of the day and it was a Rangers game. This must be my lucky day. Of course the game video was blacked out, since Las Cruces, New Mexico is practically a suburb of Arlington. Since we lost our El Paso Rangers’ radio affiliate this season, I was just glad to get the radio call. I was glad until I started listening and Dodgers completely destroyed the Rangers. They were getting hammered so bad, it tested my loyalty and had me looking over to tonight’s Chihuahuas’ game versus the OKC Dodgers. It was the same story there. Darn Dodgers!
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