What were your priorities in high school?  If you said “frozen pizza and beating all the Mega Man games consecutively,” then congratulations, you were in my basement.  You were probably also there when I finally best Back to the Future for NES, too.  So you’re clearly in awe of how great I am.  Did I mention I run web site?  Yeah.

But for some people, high school is a time to sharpen skills and look for opportunities, not discovering the cheap liquor bottle you hid under your mattress has exploded and made the entire second floor of your house smell like the toilet in a college dorm the night before somebody swears off rum forever.

For instance, I’ve heard high school athletes in particular love performing in the clutch.  Clutch performances obviously lead to career advancements.  Except for defeating Skull Man in Mega Man 4, which leads to the Skull Barrier and an assurance from your sister’s boyfriend that you’ll probably be a virgin forever.

Sometimes it’s tough to know what’s popular anymore. Steve Mitchell-US PRESSWIRE

But the Lakewood BlueClaws aren’t going to let that happen to any high schoolers, anymore.  They’ve started the BlueClaws Baseball Academy Showcase, and it’s just the sort of thing that launches a career that we’ll read about one day on Wikipedia.

Very soon, it will be October 20, and FirstEnergy Stadium will overrun with greasy teenagers, all hoping to impress local college scouts for the chance to ride a scholarship all the way to the World Series.  Will many complete that trip?  Almost zero of them.  But the point is, if just one of them makes it, it’s a success.  And if nothing else, it will keep one group of teenagers out of the grips of huffing tube socks soaked in car oil or whatever teenagers are doing these days for an afternoon.

So if you’re an adolescent baseballer in Jersey over the weekend, don’t stop to question why you’re there or how you got there.  Just head over to where the BlueClaws play to make your future even brighter.  Which is easier to do, I’ve learned, if you get outside once in awhile.

But the truth is, yeah, all we’re really looking for is a reason to let out our inner gigglepuss. (more…)

Mark Parent is gone; he made his choice.  Now he’ll spend the next year filling out lineup cards for the Chicago White Sox and taking over if Robin Ventura gets thrown out of the game.  It was a career move, not a personal one, but it sure felt personal when he sat silently in the corner at First Energy Field during our birthday party, then said he was going out to get some cigarettes and he was taking everything he owned with him for some reason. (more…)