Sports writing is like baseball.
When you are the starting pitcher, you hope you put your closer in a good position when she or he is called into the game. During the first four days of the American Legion Baseball State B Tournament in Webster, I hope I set up teammate Dave Vilhauer for success as he closed the tourney by covering championship day Tuesday.
I was getting shaky on both Sunday and Monday nights. After hours of providing tourney coverage 50 miles from home, I was questioning whether I had reported the right teams in the right stories on the midnight drives back to Aberdeen.
When you start doing that kind of thing, you know it is time to take yourself out of the game. Fortunately, I am surrounded by great teammates such as Dave, Ryan Deal, Shawn Werre, Cody Gustafson, John Davis, Michelle Sihrer, Joe Johnson, Hillary Beyer and others who know how to enter a game and close it out.
But of course, when you cover the first four days of a five-day baseball tourney, the numbers start to add up. Every morning for me started the same: up at 5, coffee with the wife, walk the dogs, an eight-mile bike ride and either off to Webster or the office and then Webster.
When I walked into the house late Monday night -- or was it early Tuesday morning? -- one of my labs was there to . . . growl at me? Now I know I haven't been home much lately, but how soon they forget.
If you can't count on your own dog to do a little dance, lick your face and give you a wag of the tail when you walk in the door, what can you count on in life?
Anyway, here is what I experienced during the first four days of the tourney at Bob Wiley Field:
- 3,494: Pitches thrown.
- 428: Miles on my pickup.
- 344: Pitches thrown by six pitchers in the Tabor vs. Miner-McCook game.
- 254: Runners left on base.
- 252: Hits.
- 211: Singles.
- 166: Strikeouts
- 159: Runs.
- 138: RBIs.
- 110: Walks.
- 108: Innings
- 91: Hours from when I got up Friday (first day of tourney) until I got home Monday night.
- 72: Errors.
- 58-1/2: Hours working during those 91 above.
- 51: Pitchers used.
- 44: Pitches thrown by Vermillion winner Colin Olson in a five-inning game.
- 42: Sheets used of 70 of my purple Mead 1 Subject Wide Ruled Spiral Notebook.
- 38: Stolen bases.
- 32: Doubles.
- 30: Singles in the Flandreau vs. Vermillion game.
- 26: Runners left on base in the Vermillion vs. Flandreau game.
- 24: Baseball pictures I took for the Friday-Tuesday newspapers (plus 10 more for other daily newspapers that I was helping out).
- 23: Baseball stories I wrote for the Friday-Tuesday newspapers, most from my new office in Webster - the garage that stores the lawnmower for Bob Wiley Field.
- 45: Game notes I wrote for my baseball stories for the Friday-Tuesday newspapers.
- 16: Strikeouts by Flandreau pitcher Jacob Patterson vs. Winner-Colome.
- 15: Minutes in my running pickup I spent with the heater going full blast Friday night as temperatures were headed to the 40s.
- 14: Batters hit by a pitch.
- 13: Games.
- 12: Errors in the Tabor vs. Winner-Colome game.
- 11: Bottles of water.
- 10: Extra Strength Excedrin taken.
- 7-1/4: Hours of driving to and from Webster each day.
- 7: Triples.
- 6: Aleve taken.
- 5: Saves.
- 4: Bob Wiley Brats eaten by me.
- 3: Double plays turned by Groton against Flandreau.
- 2: Home runs.
- 2: Pairs of contacts used.
John Papendick is the managing news-sports editor for the American News: jpapendick@aberdeennews.com.
Twitter: @jpapendick