STICHES…
Who knows the amount of stiches on a Major League baseball? Come on you guys, that should be an easy one, considering the success of most of the pitchers in the World Series this year, (both clubs). The amount of change that a baseball can adjust to within 90 feet away, that can make a batter swing at something that is six inches, (or more), away from his bat, can be ultra-funny, or disgusting, depending on which team is YOUR team. This year, I’m going out there, and asking anyone to try and challenge me on any World Series that was more impressive, exciting, knot-in-your-gut, sweat rolling, curse talking, highs and lows series of ALL TIME! You can’t, you just can’t! You all know that I’m a Cubbies fan, have been for 58 years; by the way, my brother is older than me,(for the record), my Dad and Mom,(almost 84/83), my Aunt Rosemary is 92, (still full of piss and vinegar), my Aunt Dorothy,(who had just passed into her eternal life the month before the series), had a Cubs hat at her side as she was laid down, and I’m sure was smiling after that last ground ball! I could go on and on about my family, cousins, (and yes, I know, a few of them are Cardinal fans, but I’m ok with that, our Grandfather played for the Cardinal organization, but he was a huge Cubs fan!), and let’s talk about the millions of fans out there, all over the world, who are big Cubbies fans! I mean, when the Cubs went on their parade throughout Chicago, over 5 million fans were there, 5 MILLION!!! As I may refresh your memory, that amount of people was the 7th largest human gathering of people, throughout history; just saying…
This is what made this years World Series the greatest series ever, don’t even try to out do me here!
Stiches. They can create big changes in games, especially when THAT game could be your last. Makes big decisions from two great managers, from batting, to pitchers, to stealing bases, and so on. So much to talk about.
Stiches can also change a persons decisions in life. You come up against a “stich”, and you have to make a change, what are your options? We can all complain, but what does that do? How about coming up with things that you CAN do, to keep you going forward. Personally, I came up against a couple of “stiches” in the last couple of months, and I had to change my path; life is full of paths, you just have to make an adjustment and adapt. As most people know, I’ve had a few stiches in my life, so I feel free enough to say that to keep moving forward, it’s really not that much to rethink the path that you’re on, and make a change.
I remember when I was 21, and had a job offer from Hughes Aircraft in El Segundo, Ca, (Los Angeles area). I was offered that job after a 5 minute interview, (not that I was such a genius, but at the time I thought I was!), had to go back to Peoria, gather my stuff, and drive back to L.A. to start my job, by next week! All of this happened so fast, (to a kid from Peoria), and I thought that my “change” in life was beyond me; could I handle this? I told my Mom at the time, was this to much, (hard to think that I could go there!). She sympathized with me, but encouraged me to make that change; you’re young, why not? So obviously, I did. You know what? Change is not that huge. It seemed so, at that time, but I realized as soon as I moved out here, it WASN’T that big of a deal; it was reality, and it made me realize that more of those decisions would come along in my life, and when it does, it would make me think back to that time in my life, when things get “stiches” in them, and we just have to adjust. You immediately realize that that you have the power to do that; know that, you can, and do have the power to do that! That is the most important decision that you make to yourself, that you have the power to change. This also means that you have to have faith, in yourself. If you don’t have that, then you might have a question on whether this is the right path to take. It is. In my personal believe, I put all my faith in God; I just trust that I have the power.
As Proverbs 16:9 says: “The mind of man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps”
Am I trying to preach a point here? No; this is just my belief. The point is, though, after I preached fitness my whole life to others, I had to handle 3 brain tumors, and how could I handle that, without being physical fit beforehand, to recover? Where did that information come from? That was my change, and without embellishment, I had to figure it out, on what I had to do, and guess what(?), it worked, (I guess that depends on who you ask!). Just know that you have the power to do that.
Pitching, hitting, adaptation; it all depends on “stiches”! We all have that, believe that. The Cubs do, and guess what; they’re gonna be up there for awhile, what a line up! When the rain came, in the 10th inning, I knew! I just knew that the Cubs had the game, no question. For those of you that know my brother, he was a wreck when the Tribe tied the score,( he was out here on business, so we had the moment to watch the game together!); the rain came, I knew. I had to tell him, we WILL win this, just settle down! And we did, in the best World Series ever played.
By the way, it was 108 years since we last won a World Series, and a baseball has 108 stiches on it. You figure it out…
