It's been a year of experiences, that's for sure. Beginning with the Polar Plunge to a bumpy ride with the Blue Angels to an ill-advised burger eating competition to today's charity home run derby, they've all be interesting.
Unfortunately, none of them so far have ended all that well.
Frankly, after last week's failed attempt to eat four pounds of cheeseburgers (full recap coming next week), I wasn't terribly concerned about how this year's derby would shake out. Unlike these other adventures, I wouldn't leave feeling nauseous, overheated or hypothermic. The worst I'd be left with was an injured ego.
And after hitting zero home runs (despite a scoreboard that said I hit one), indeed, my pride is a little sore. But the AirTran event raised $10,000 for the YMCA of Greater Milwaukee, and I had a little fun chatting with my peers. It could have been worse; at least I got to shoot the breeze with host Ryan Braun for a while, and I'm pretty sure he didn't see my awful performance at the plate.
At last year's event, I hit two home runs over the short porch at Helfaer Field, and almost hit two more. This year, I was 12th and last in the lineup, and after standing around for 90 minutes waiting to hit, the stands had cleared out, and I just wasn't feeling it.
I won't use the excuse of being "iced" to explain my power outage today. The guy before me, last year's champion Greg Matzek, hit double-digit dingers after waiting nearly as long. In fact, my first two swings yielded fly balls to "deep" center. After that, it was a series of scorching line drives, foul balls and pop ups.
It just wasn't my day.
Admittedly, I haven't picked up a bat since last year's derby, and I didn't hit the batting cages in advance this time around. Honestly, I'm a decent contact hitter and always have been, but my power wasn't there today. Oh well; I wasn't the only guy participating who went "oh-fer."
As these opportunities to try new and fun things come along, I'll keep taking them -- then crossing them off, most never to do again. No, I don't plan on jumping into another frozen lake or getting weightless with Blue Angels. I don't ever want to attempt to eat four pounds of burgers again, but I will participate in the State Fair cream puff eating contest in two weeks.
However, if Braun and AirTran will have me again next year, I'll redouble my efforts to prepare. There's no reason I can't hit a handful of softballs out of a little league park, given a little luck. Hey, even Braun, himself, went 0 for 2 in this year's All Star Game. It can happen to the best (and the worst) of us.
Andy is the president, publisher and founder of OnMilwaukee. He returned to Milwaukee in 1996 after living on the East Coast for nine years, where he wrote for The Dallas Morning News Washington Bureau and worked in the White House Office of Communications. He was also Associate Editor of The GW Hatchet, his college newspaper at The George Washington University.
Before launching OnMilwaukee.com in 1998 at age 23, he worked in public relations for two Milwaukee firms, most of the time daydreaming about starting his own publication.
Hobbies include running when he finds the time, fixing the rust on his '75 MGB, mowing the lawn at his cottage in the Northwoods, and making an annual pilgrimage to Phoenix for Brewers Spring Training.
