Sky's the Limit
Tom "Sky" Skibosh covers the Wauwatosa, Brookfield and New Berlin prep scene for Community Newspapers. If something is going on in local sports, Sky has an opinion about it. If you agree or not with what Sky says, we want to see your comments.
Sky's All-Star Highlights
Hello everyone!
I just returned from Los Angeles where I spent a week with my oldest son, Marty, who is a film editor in Hollywood. (His current show is 'White Collar').
While out there we took in a Dodgers-Cubs game on Friday and then on Saturday morning I watched my son, a two-time MVP at Brookfield East, play in his fastpitch softball league. He went 2-for-4 but his team lost a thriller, 8-5. I thought Jim Joyce was umping the bases in that game because two blown calls cost them the game.
We saw the movie 'Predators' on Saturday night (I know my wife wouldn't want to see that one) and then we took in our three days of All-Star activities.
On Sunday we went to Anaheim Stadium and saw the Futures Game with some of the top minor league players. Enjoyed watching Brett Lawrie the starting second baseman and the only Brewers' player in the game.
We then watched a few innings of the 'Celebrity All-Star Game'. Jenny Finch, the star Olympic pitcher, slammed a homer over the make-shift softball fence in center field, but it was still quite the shot. She also pitched - slow pitch, of course - but she did unleash one of her real fastball throws past one of the Hall of Famers and got a good laugh out of it.
The fact that they called it a 'Celebrity' All-Star game was a joke, because most people didn't know who the heck the non-baseball Hall of Famers were. Even the LA Times did a column on it the next day making fun of it.
The HR Derby on Monday was fun. Our seats for all three events were in rightfield and they were excellent seats. Seeing Corey Hart slam 13 homers in the first round and none in the second was an interesting high and low.
David Ortiz, one of only two lefthanded batters among the eight contestants, hit a ball that rolled across my lap. The ball went off a guy four rows in front of me,then it bounced off the gentlemen in the seat in front of me to the right, bounced off the glove of the 12-year old kid sitting next to me and rolled across my lap.
Four people behind me then bent me in half as they tried to reach for the ball and knocked it to the row in front of me, where a father, picked it up from between the seats in front of him and gave it to his son.
The was the high point of the night for me.
The All-Star Game itself was wonderful, especially since the NL won. The fact that Ryan Braun and Corey Hart had as many hits as I did was disappointing.
It was interesting to see the different fans from different teams sitting around us. We had a 300-pound Padres fan in the row in front of us and a Dodger fan with an Andre Ethier uniform top about 10 rows down and it was fun to watch them scream at each other for nine innings.
Late in the game the 300-pound Padres fan was asked to sit down by an elderly gentlemen (he was probably a year older than I am) sitting behind him. He kept yelling at the man 'What's your point?' trying to intimidate him. At that point I jumped in and politely told him 'what the gentlemen's point was' and he sat down.
Of course, my son, a 255-pound ex-bouncer, told me afterwards that I yelled some unflattering words at the large man and he was ready to step in to defend me. But I don't recall that.
It was so much fun the ushers had to threaten both of them (Dodgers and Padres fan), asking them to sit down and shut up or they would be leaving. Ahhhh, West coast fans, so laid-back.
But the most fun I had was spending seven days with my oldest son and getting some wonderful bonding time. He is 31 and it's seems like it was only yesterday that I was coaching his little league teams. Time does go by quickly.
No those are not tears in my eyes, I must have gotten something in them.
Talk to you later.
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