I’m not quite sure why I remembered this today, but I figured that I might as well put it on the site before I forget about it.

I was thinking about dominating performances and the single most dominating performance I saw wasn’t by a professional athlete. It was by my dad.

My dad used to play baseball in San Jose’s Men’s Senior Baseball League. I was about twelve years old or so and I got to see him play a lot of baseball. There are a few performances that are very clear in my memory, including opening up the inaugural season at Municipal Stadium.

But the one that I always think of when I think of the greatest games I’ve seen him pitch was one in which he struck out 23 batters. There are only 27 actual outs in a 9 inning game. He pitched the entire game, which he always did, so that wasn’t such a big deal. I think he might’ve only given up one hit. But out of the 27 times he got the other team out, 23 were on strikeouts. I think the Major League record is 20 in one game. It’s very hard to do.

I remember looking at the score book and just being amazed at how many of the boxes were scored “K”.

It wasn’t really fair. The other team didn’t have much of a chance. He was just on his A game. It was domination.

At that moment, as I was rooting him on and thinking that my dad could strike out everyone else’s dad, I wondered if I’d ever have that kind of dominating performance in sports. The answer would eventually be no. I think the most hitters I ever struck out in a game was 14. But that’s not really the point.

In order to be great at something, you really have to lock yourself in and want it very badly. You also have to love it very much. It doesn’t just have to be about sports. It can be about anything in life.

You know what? My dad could still probably strike out yours. Actually, I’m sure of it.

The boys, my dad, and I went to the Giants game yesterday. We had great seats and had a fun time, except the Giants’ bullpen gave up the game. It was quite pitiful.

Sometime in the middle of the game, the umpire came over to where we were sitting and tossed a game ball to JJ. That was cool. I told JJ that I’d probably been to over 50 Giants game as a kid alone, and never did an umpire throw me a ball.

Bri-guy and I decided that maybe if we made it known that we wanted a ball as well, another nice person would give us one. Our best shot was either the ball lady or the Brewers’ pitching coach. There were three times that the fat Brewers’ pitching coach walked by us and instead of tossing out one of the balls, he just put it into his pocket. And of course, the one time he did throw a ball out, he threw one to a guy wearing an old Robin Yount jersey. So no ball for the Bri-guy.

Here are some pictures I took with my phone and put on Facebook.

This site is my personal blog. I am a divorced dad of two young boys, whom I love with all my heart. I’m single. I am great friends with my ex-wife and her new husband. I work in the Internet industry. I enjoy pro wrestling, MMA, and the regular sports like basketball, baseball and football. I have a fanatical love for things like Beverly Hills, 90210 and American Idol, so if that makes you uncomfortable, this may not be the place for you. But if you believe in the three words, “Donna Martin graduates!” then this place may be for you.

GG (7/9/08)

PS: You can also find me writing at Fight Game Blog and Sonic Clash.

The Cast Of Characters

I write about many people in my blog. Sometimes you need a scorecard. Here’s your scorecard.

Brian (aka – Double Bri, Bri-Guy, Luchador 1) – my oldest son who is smack dab right in the middle of the banner above. If there is someone on this earth who is most like me, it’s him.

JJ (aka – Jonathan, Double J, J-Guy, Luchador 2) – my youngest son who is second from the left on the banner above. If there is someone on this earth who is most like Carol, it’s him.

SHE – the ex-girlfriend who I am protecting from blog stalkers.

Carol (aka – C-Boogie) – my ex-wife and also the mother of my two sons.

Jesus (aka – Jesse) – new husband to my ex-wife and father of the Jo-Man and Ceci.

Tawni (aka – Sis, Lil’ Sis) – my little sister who supports me dearly.

Big Daddy (aka Big Daddy OTA) – my dad who shows up in comments from time to time.

Mom (aka my dear mother) – she’s my dear mother.

Eddy Zucko (aka Sir Edsolicious Zuckolovich, The Professor Of Zuckosfaction) – my best friend and Godparent to my two boys. Also writes for the Basketball Blog. Well, at least once or twice.

Dave Meltzer (aka Big Dave, Dave) – one of the greatest men walking on earth.

Cousin Miko (aka Tomiko, Miko) – my close cousin who I helped bring back to the Bay.

The Coach (aka Coach Dan – Tomiko’s boyfriend who is in the banner on the far left. He was trying to bring sexy back all at once in that picture.

Young Randall (aka Rando, Randy, Big Sexy The Giant Killer) – friend and former baseball teammate who is also soon to marry HJ. He’s in the banner, third from the right. Has also written once for the Basketball Blog.

HJ (aka Hea Jin, H-Jizzle) – friend and the soon to be wife of Young Randall.

Mystery Cow (aka The Precursor, aaron green) – we used to run tha Block together. Writes about the Lakers for our Basketball Blog.

Shaved Asian (aka American Male) – friend, hardcore Warriors fan and all around nice guy. Writes about the Warriors for our Basketball Blog.

Speeddemon Mike (aka Money Mike, Mikey) – friend who I first met on Epinions and now write with and hang out with whenever possible, even though we live on different coasts.

Low Jones (aka Blake, Blakey, Round Head (Cactus Jim’s, not mine)) – friend and former co-worker who is a brand new daddy.

Cactus Jim (aka Jim) – during 9/11, I was on a business trip with him and stranded in Houston, Texas. Bonded by that moment for life.

The 2008 Nakamoto Walk Or Run For Fun is now over and I am so glad. I won’t have to run for a good six months and my body can rest from the pain and punishment I have been giving it.

It was a successful event as our friends and family raised over $450 for the Boys And Girls Club in San Jose. The club, where many of my Uncles spent some time in their youth, was the place we donated to last year. This year, we voted on three places, and it won again.

I know what you’re all thinking. Who won the race? Was it the defending champion Eddy Zucko? Was it GG? Was it someone else.

Well, you’ll have to watch the video.

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First off, happy mother’s day to all the mother’s in the world.

On Friday, I took the boys to my old high school baseball field to watch my dad coach his last game at Mount Pleasant High School. He’d talked about hanging it up before, but this was for real.

(For the entire batch of images I took at the game, check out the gallery I created.)

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Fortunately for me, I didn’t have to watch the latest 49ers debacle live. I was in class all day on Sunday and didn’t watch the game until Monday morning. I actually tried to make sure that no one told me what was going on. I even ignored my daily 49ers text message. I called Double Bri to make sure he was doing ok and I made sure that he didn’t tell me what happened during the game. He said he didn’t know anyway. Then I called my dad and he said he wouldn’t tell me a thing. I even called Eddy Zucko and he said he wouldn’t tell me anything. But not Young Randall.

I saw Young Randall Sunday night and I think before I even shook his hand, I told him that I had the 49ers game on Tivo and that I didn’t want to know what happened. The great man that is Young Randall agreed not to give it away. But then he immediately followed up with this quote.

I wish I was in class with you guys so I didn’t have to watch that game.

Thanks Young Randall. Thanks for spoiling it when you agreed not to. But if you think about it, he couldn’t help himself. I could read it on his face anyway. When you’re a big fan like he is, losses take their toll on your well being. At least for a little bit they do. He just couldn’t not give me an idea of what he was thinking. As a fellow fan, he had to show some disgust. Because in a way, his showing disgust was a way for him to get back at his team for playing so badly.

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My dad and I had a different outlook on the game last weekend, in which the 49ers beat the Arizona Cardinals in overtime. He was just gracious for the victory, while I was kind of left with a bad taste in my mouth with how the Cardinals gave the game away. I’ll go line by line and follow his words.

To win is divine. The game was played with enthusiasm and meaning.

I really can’t say anything about that. The 49ers, especially on offense played with tons of enthusiasm. And you can look directly at Frank Gore, who I said last week is one of the only guys who looks supremely upset at how the team is playing. He definitely willed himself to be a difference maker in the game. He was obviously playing hurt, but playing with the kind of motor he played with all last year.

You couldn’t tell from the get go that this was going to be a win, especially since Zona scored first.

You couldn’t tell necessarily, but you could tell very early on that the 49ers were at least going to be competitive. My only worry was that Trent Dilfer wasn’t going to play well enough to stay with Kurt Warner and the Cardinals. He proved me wrong.

What I liked most about the game was that it wasn’t sloppy, there weren’t a lot of penalties, though there were a few dropped passes.

It wasn’t sloppy from an offensive perspective. From a defensive perspective, it was terrible. They gave up nearly 500 yards passing, and gave up a Hail Mary pass at the end of the first half that resulted in a touchdown for Larry Fitzgerald. Who gives up Hail Mary’s except when Doug Flutie is throwing?

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When your team has lost eight games in a row, there aren’t too many things to be thankful for. But I’m going to think of some. But before I do, here’s what my dad had to say about losing to the Rams.

We are the saddest team in the league.  It is going to be tough to watch the rest of the year.  I even heard Brian say the Niners suck.  Wow!!  We need someone to make us cheer again.  It is probably not going to be Alex Smith, or Trent Dilfer.  How about Michael Robinson at QB?  The game was full of dropped passes, poor throws, bad tackling.  Poor play calling. I think what you have been saying from the beginning (is right). The coaches have no faith in the offense, so they call a run up the middle on 3rd and 10, or an onside kick to make us think that they are pulling out all the stops.  Their hearts are weak. Oh were have you gone Joe Dimaggio?  Oh Obi Wan were are you?

So in that last part, I think my dad was trying to recreate the scene from Star Wars, where Princess Leia was saying, “Help me Obi Wan Kenobi, you’re my only hope.” Either that, or when C3PO was chastising R2D2.

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Ah, how time flies.

Just something like 14 months ago, I was for once, completely on my own. I wasn’t living with my parents, nor Carol, and it was just me, and every other day or so, the boys. It was definitely a struggle. Not so much having to do with the daily life stuff that I once shared with someone else, but more so, just learning how to deal with the silence. I’ll give you an example.

I’m not sure that since the kids were born, that I slept completely soundly throughout the night. I’m a light sleeper as it is, so any sort of noise would wake me up. Any sort of worry about the kids would wake me up. Any rumbling of someone running into my room would wake me up. Today, those little things still wake me up, but just less frequently. Since the kids don’t sleep over every night, the noises from above my apartment wake me up, and I’d be ready to go check on them, but then silently just fall back asleep dejectedly once I remember that I’m not living at the house anymore. In a sense, it saddens me to wake up and be ready to protect, and have no one to protect. But it’s also just something that I have to get used to. I’m still not used to it.

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Cool is the rule, but sometimes, bad is bad.

Ok, maybe Huey Lewis and the News didn’t mean it the way I mean it, but sometimes, bad is bad. In the case of the 49ers, bad is worse. Could it be that the San Francisco 49ers, a team that some prognosticators thought would win their division and make the playoffs, are the worst team in the NFL? Technically, no. The St. Louis Rams and the Miami Dolphins are still win less. And the NY Jets only have one win. You can make a case that they’d beat the Oakland Raiders as well. But that’s probably it. They had a chance to show that they are above the bottom dwellers of the NFL last week at the Georgia Dome, but all they proved is that they were definitely in the bottom dwelling class.

I did get two pieces of feedback and they are both from very angry men.

Young Randall started early. He’s ready to kill someone.

Could this season get any worse? 2-6 and showing really no signs of getting better. Yes, we were competitive right down to the wire with Atlanta, but it?s freaking ATLANTA! We just let Joey Harrington beat us. If we lose to the Rams in two weeks, I don?t know what I will do! I just can?t be held responsible for the carnage.

My dad was not as angry as YR, but he was still bummed out.

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