the REAL 'March madness'..........

Over the weekend, we had one of Louisville's mid-winter weekends that makes everyone just ache for the warming weather of spring and the outdoor activities that come with it.

I saw dozens of people out on the golf courses, jogging, walking their dog, in the park playing frisbee, riding bikes, etc. I even saw many local HS teams out practicing their various sports, as well pickup games of basketball. Yep, the warm weather brought out all of the people who love sports and enjoy playing them, if only on an ad-hoc basis. Personally, I took the chance to fight with other 'fair weather' fishing junkies and was trying to land that prize pre-spawning bass. Something I failed to do, but I have NEVER had a bad day fishing. But that is another blog.

There were other things going on also. This past weekend, along with the beautiful weather, many of the summer sport leagues began holding their sign up periods for their sports. Summer softball leagues held their meetings, as well as summer basketball and swim leagues.

One such league that also met this weekend, that gets little attention, but has a very big underground membership is the Louisville chapter of the Men's Senior Baseball League.

They held their sign meeting this past weekend And the Courier-Journal on their website posted this information:

Men's senior baseball is gearing up
By Derek Poore
dpoore@courier-journal.com
The Courier-Journal

Louisville's chapter of the Men's Senior Baseball League will hold an informational meeting from 2-6 p.m. on March 2 in the Community Room at Jefferson Mall on Outer Loop.

Anyone interested in joining a team in the league's 18-, 25- and 38-and-older divisions is encouraged to attend, league organizer David Allison said. Teams and individuals who need a team are welcome.

The league plays at parks throughout Jefferson County and Southern Indiana in the spring and summer. The Men's Senior Baseball League is a network of about 1,000 leagues nationwide.

For more information call Allison at 594-0872 or 935-0095 (after 6 p.m.) or e-mail allison83@bellsouth.net.

If you have never heard of this, please let me enlighten you. This is a group of guys, mostly older ones that just love the game of baseball, even though the days of playing the game in any real organized way has past them by.

They play for the love of the game, and because softball is not the same game. This is a real baseball game. Played with fast pitch baseball and only a slight change of the rules regarding substitution and pinch running. Afterall, with the knees and years of beer and fried food, that is enough of a handicap for most of us.

But make no mistake, even though the arms look like rubber, the fastballs never getting over 65MPH, the speed of the running looks like guys wearing army boots running in sand, and the only sound from the spouses sitting around the field are from the cell phones who have 911 on 'speed dial', these true 'boys of summer' play the game as if it is the World Series. That does not mean that they are so serious as to not have fun and ridicule those of lesser talents or skills. Because as I noted, time is the biggest leveler of talent and skill. No, they take the game seriously, but they also take back the joy we all remembered of playing those after-school playground pickup games. Of the times in the backyard with our dads, brothers, uncles, even MOM's, playing 'catch' to teach us to throw and catch.

It's a way to remember the past and celebrate the game we love. And it's a perennial reminder that summer is always just a warm spring weekend away.