Courtesy of the Milwaukee Brewers’ website…

Dude, Braun–LAY OFF. Prince just hit two homeruns in the game. He doesn’t need you trying to eat his head.

So, I may have missed the opening day countdown, but the Brewers are off to an 11-7 start without really playing offense, so I think that’s good enough reason to bring back this post! Ladies and gentlemen, it’s the 5th annual “Rank your Milwaukee Brewers” poll. Here’s the history to see what we’re stacking up against:

2004: Brett Favre Wins (don’t ask)
2005: Derrick Turnbow
2006: JJ Hardy
2007: JJ Hardy

Hardy has it two years in a row… will he make this year the trifecta? Will Turnbow make a comeback? Will we get someone new? Vote early, vote often!

GABE KAPLER, CF	JJ HARDY, SS	COREY HART, RF	BILL HALL, 3B	RYAN BRAUN, LF	DERRICK TURNBOW, P

It’s been nearly a 7 month hiatus, but I think I’m ready to get back on the tarapfeifer.com train! Softball season begins tonight, the Brewers are winning, there’s still crazy people to talk about in this world, and it’s almost summer in Milwaukee.

Welcome back readers… I’ve missed you!

7 years ago, I signed up to be on the season ticket waiting list for Packers tickets. I figured that by the time my name came up, I’d have enough money to be able to afford them. Well, at the rate I’m going at, I’m not sure I’ll be alive by the time my name comes up.

I don’t remember what number I was when I got my name on the list, but in 2005, I was #52,500.

2007 priority #: 51,225.

That’s a movement of 1275 spots in 2 years. At that rate, it will take 80 years for me to get season tickets. That puts me at 108 years old. Sure. That will happen…

Sorry for the delay everyone. I know you’ve been dying to know who this year’s most uncoordinated player is. Congratulations to all of the winners.

**Blooper of the Year: Jenny wiping out on the basepaths vs. Aurora

Here are the final statistical leaders as well:
Most At Bats: Mike with 42
Most Hits: Mike with 31
Most Singles: Tim with 15
Most Doubles: Dan with 9
Most Triples: Mike with 5
Most Homeruns: Hawes with 7
Most Walks: Jenny with 13
Most Runs Scored: Mike with 21
Most RBIs: Mike with 31
Best Average: Mike with .738
Best On Base Percentage: Mike with .744
Best Slugging Percentage: Not surprisingly, Mike with 1.548

So, Mike. Really. You don’t need to move to Cincinnati. You sort of do a few things for our team.

I’ve been playing softball with the Ball Busters/Club G’s/Jonny Hammers for just about 6 years now and that’s how long it took to finally pull in our first ever league championship!

Mother Nature finally cooperated (barely) and we got in our makeup makeup games last Wednesday. Although we split the double header 1-1, the first game was the one that counted. We were pitted against the team that we’ve been tied with for 1st place for much of the season. The scenario was simple. Win the game and win the championship. Lose the game and at bare minimum, tie for the championship. We pulled together a strong game though and won solidly 10-4. Sure, we might have lost the 2nd game, but we really did let our guard down since we knew the championship had already been won.

So, congratuations, Jonny Hammers, on a 12-2 season and the 2007 co-ed softball league championship. Our final stats are below. Some solid seasons by everyone.

As always, Coach Z’s comments…

Well, congrats again on by far the best season we have ever had. We were able to beat Aurora pretty easily and clinch the championship, which allowed us to relax a little bit against the hated Guerrillas since the game didn’t matter as much… Again congrats and thanks for your dedication this summer.

Lastly, I know there are some of you that didn’t get a chance to come out and see us play this summer and you’re probably quite sad that the season is over. Well, I have good news for you: The fall softball season is upon us starting this week! The schedule is below and the location is the same. Hope to see you at some games–they are Mondays AND Wednesdays in the fall, so no excuses!

Wednesday, Sept. 5 — 7:30pm
Monday, Sept. 10 — 6:30pm
Wednesday, Sept. 12 — 7:30pm
Monday, Sept. 17 — 6:30pm
Wednesday, Sept. 19 — 8:30pm
Monday, Sept. 24 — 8:30pm
Wednesday, Sept. 26 — 7:30pm
Monday, Oct. 1 — 8:30pm
Wednesday, Oct. 3 — 7:30pm
Monday, Oct. 8 — 6:30pm

So, I’ve been trying to put together the awards for the 2007 summer softball team and I couldn’t find the winners from 2006. Turns out I never posted the winners… so, while everyone waits with bated breath (I’m sure) for the final stats for Jonny Hammer’s and the end of the year awards, here’s a recap of who won awards in 2006.

Tim sent me a link to a message board on jsonline.com which is pretty funny. A guy who named himself “Fruitin up the town” put together a list of Ben Sheets’ injuries since 2001. Yes, it’s a funny list, but honestly. Ben Sheets never has a baseball sounding injury. He gets crap like a paper cut on his toe. How does that affect him playing baseball? Sorry for the crudeness, but that’s part of what makes it funny.

Ben Sheets has missed games due to the following “injuries”:

2001:
Dysentery
Clamidia
Athlete’s Foot

2002:
Bad Haircut (caused him to throw off-balance)
Halitosis
Loose, watery, and frequent stool

2003:
Jock itch
Paper cut to back of non-throwing hand
Fecal Incontinence

2004:
Chapped lips
Itchy anus (30 day DL)
Boner lasting longer than 4 hours

2005:
Hiccups
Bruised nuts after falling off exercise bike
Bit by chicken

2006:
Bad haircut (15 day DL)
Tummy ache

2007:
Blister on finger
Bee sting (15 day DL)
Diarrhea

The use of the “reply all” function on emails has long bothered me. I’m sure when the makers of email came up with the “reply all” function, it had good intentions. When you have information that you want to share not only with the sender of the email, but also with the other recipients, it’s great to be able to just push one button and everyone gets your response.

But’s it’s overused. And misused. And just used too often.

Here’s an example. Friend “Jim” (Names will be changed to protect the innocent and moronic) sends an email out to all of his friends asking if anyone is interested in going out for wings on some given Thursday.

Two things with this. One, if you don’t want to go, then no reply is needed. I doubt Jim is sitting at home saying, “ohh… I wonder if Sara is going to go or not.” No. It’s a general email and whoever is in is in. If Jim was really concerned about Sara going, he’d probably ask her directly.

Secondly, if you decide that you are going to reply, I’m willing to give you the benefit of the doubt and use the reply all function at this time. Perhaps Connie saying she’s going will influence Don to go because Don secretly has a thing for Connie. Or you could see that Dripp is going and that might make you say “no way I am going!” But the part that gets me is the people that reply all constantly after that. Say Jes says, “I can’t make it, I have a spa appointment.” There’s no reason for Ben to reply to all and say, “yeah, you need it!” A lot of times, everyone doesn’t know everyone else on the “reply all” list. So, it’s annoying when Ben and Jes have this bantering going back and forth and I’m stuck in a private conversation with two people that I don’t know.

I wondered if this annoyance was just for me; not surprisingly, other people are bothered by people misusing “reply all.”

First let me begin by discussing the annoying and inappropriate use of the “reply to all” button. This button is a very powerful one and one that should be used judiciously. I honestly think that anytime you hit the “reply to all” button there should be a secondary warning like “Are you sure you want to reply to ALL?” The problem is that there seems to be a group of very clueless individuals who can’t seem to find the simple “reply” button. Like when an email goes out to all employees announcing something like “There will be a quarterly business update next Wednesday at 1:00 PM” and invariably one or more peons reply to all with some sort of useless message like “Thanks Jim see you at 1:00″. Seriously, Jim doesn’t care and I care even less than Jim so quit cluttering my inbox and get back to work. Another example of the inappropriate use of the “reply to all” button happened a while ago when I invited a bunch of people from work over to my place for a get together. I invited about 25 or so people via email. In the email I gave details about date and time and other relevant information. I sarcastically mentioned that the event would “kick off around 4:00PM with pony rides and a marching band”. A number of people replied to me individually but one unfortunate soul replied to all and said “Oh, pony rides - sounds like fun! Can I be the first in line? See everyone Saturday!” Needless to say I instantly remembered why she annoyed me and why I didn’t want to invite her in the first place. I didn’t reply to her email since I didn’t think there was much point. One of my colleagues however wasn’t able to resist and replied “Yes, you can be first in line. Sincerely, Pony.”

Does this annoy anyone else, or am I being petty?

I know I missed a few weeks in here, but really, it’s only be a few games. Let me catch you up.

Today is August 13th. The regular season is over and we are on top of the standings with a solid 11-1 record. We have two make up games left, against two of our toughest competitors in the league: Auroras (9-3) and Guerillas (6-5-1). The good news though, is that even if we lose our last two games, the worst we’ll finish is in a tie for 1st place. I’ve been playing with this team for over 6 years now, and we’ve never done that. I’m a big fan.

That doesn’t mean though that you kids are exempt from coming to watch one of our last two games. We play this Wednesday, 8/15 at 7:15pm and next Wednesday, 8/22 at 6:15pm. Both early games. No excuses. I’m talking to you, Bonnie.

The most updated stats that I have are below. Tim forgot the score book from our last game, so this is only up until the game before that. Coach Z’s comments are below.

Well this is beginning to sound redundant, but congratulations on yet another win this season. We were able to get our bats going after a slow start and beat Puddler’s 9-4. Special congrats this week to Theresa for hitting the first homerun by a female this year, Tara for coming up with a clutch double and triple, and Hawes for hitting 2 more homers (1 complete with a grunt). We are now 10-1 on the season, and have 3 games left.

Giddy up kids. See you Wednesday at 7:15pm!

I see it’s been almost a month since I’ve posted anything. What can I say? I’ve been busy. I’ll give some updates on other things this week.

For now though, I present to you pictures from the 7th Annual Trifecta Camping Weekend up the Dells. While this year had a few new twists compared to previous years, we still had an excellent and relaxing time.

Some musings from the weekend…

Errr… sorry about that thing that happened in the car, Beav.

Alright, that’s enough for now. Enjoy the rest of the pictures by going here. Looking forward to Camping with some lesbians in 2008!

It was the game of the year thusfar: Jonny Hammers vs. Auroras, both with matching 7-1 records and tied for 1st place in the league. It had all the makings of a classic contest and the final score of 12-11 with shows that we didn’t disappoint in giving it our best. Luckily, Hammer’s came out on top, with Hawes driving in the winning run (me) with 2 outs in the last inning. A win is a win, especially against a team we’re tied with for first, so I won’t complain.

Extra thanks to Jenny, Erica and John for coming out for the 9:15pm game and being our best fans. This week, we play at 6:15pm, so no one has an excuse for not coming because of the time of the game.

As for me, I went 1-3, but my sole hit was a solid TRIPPle over the left center fielder’s head, so I felt good about getting some power back, finally.

On to Coach Z’s comment…

Congrats to everybody on a hard fought and well deserved win! Yes we caught a couple of breaks there in the last inning, but we also had a couple of tough breaks earlier in the game, so it all evened out. We got contributions up and down the lineup and we played great defense both in the infield and the outfield (Dan’s “web gem” especially). So, we are now in the driver’s seat in the league! So lets beat the teams we should beat from here on out!

Season Stats are below. I was going to bold the leader in each category, but basically, it all goes to Mike except for Doubles and runs scored (which both go to Dan) and walks, which go to Jenny. Therefore, Game ball goes to Mike… he took his first walk of the season and perhaps in a few years… poor guy didn’t even remember that guys get a double on a walk. Oh, and he singlehandedly drove in the tying run for the game.

I gotta say, I’m with her on this one…

“Is it just me or does it look like Prince Charles is going for a boobie grab here???”

The Prince of Wales, Colonel-in-Chief (left), gestures during a presentation of medals to 9 Regiment, Army Air Corps at Clarence House, London on Wednesday July 11, 2007. Prince Charles handed over service medals to soldiers who fought in Afghanistan. (AP Photo/ John Stillwell ,pool )

While I’ll be posting softball stats sometime this weekend, I had to post about the status of my leg. You see, I slid into 3rd base in the game last night (which, we ended up winning) and I tore up my leg in the process. About 3 years ago, Neill also tore up his leg playing softball and I thought mine was just as bad. Hardly.

MY LEG, July 2007	NEILL’S LEG, August 2004

I guess Neill wins.

I sat down in front the the TV last night as not only a Milwaukee Brewers fan, but a baseball fan as well. It was the All-Star game and there is some enjoyment in watching the best of the best get together and play in a game that means something (homefield advantage in the World Series), especially when the Brewers sent an NL best 4 players to the game. While the NL lost AGAIN (10 straight years, if you count the infamous “tie” year), there were a lot of other things that bothered me about the game this year.

I’ll start off by looking at the Brewers’ performances, which overall were disappointing to me.

And some other notes…

There were some good parts to the game too… it was cool to see Ichiro’s in-the-park homerun, it was cool to see the game was actually CLOSE at the end, and it was cool to see that people like Vlad and Junior actually have pretty good arms. But, overall, I obviously had a lot to complain about.

What did you think about the game?