fandomhigh | Contact Sports: Building Character (And Possibly . . .), Danger Shop, 6th Period [7/14]

Entry tags:

sports

Contact Sports: Building Character (And Possibly . . .), Danger Shop, 6th Period [7/14]

Students had been ~~handwavily~~ notified (via email, as well as via written notes on paper with the corners cut off) to meet in the Danger Shop today. Upon stepping through the doors, students would find themselves in the first-base dugout of a major league ballpark. The basepaths were neatly groomed, the chalk lines were fresh, the fountain in the outfield was bubbling away, and Anders, all decked out in full uniform (Fandom High colors with GREMLINS across the chest), was waving at them from the pitcher's mound. Sure, the school grounds or the park would have sufficed, but as if Anders wasn't going to go all out for his second favorite sport ever?

"Hey, everybody," he said, grinning like a kid in a candy store, "since the All-Star Game was yesterday I thought we'd cover baseball this week, so . . . since this is where the game was held this year, welcome to Angel Stadium. Pretty big, huh?"

The question was more for the benefit of the kids who weren't familiar with it at all, but he'd never stop being a gleefully dorky kid about it himself, and he pointed toward the outfield fences. "It's 400 feet from home plate over there to straightaway center, 330 feet to each of the field poles. Now that's gonna be a little different from ballpark to ballpark -- Minute Maid Park in Texas is frakkin' ridiculous, it's 436 feet to center there -- and every stadium's got its quirks. There's the Green Monster at Fenway, that stupid outfield hill at Minute Maid, the Twins used to play at the Metrodome which was a pain in the ass with its astroturf and white roof and --"

Anders seemed to realize, luckily, that he could ramble on forever like a giant sports nerd, and cut himself off there. "Anyway. That stuff's not important. We're here to learn about playing the game. When you boil it down to the real basics, it's simple. You stand at the plate, the other team has a guy throw the ball at you." He held up the ball in his hand, and tossed it up and down a few times, gesturing vigorously toward various parts of the park as he continued his explanation. "Swing the bat, try and hit the ball between the chalk lines and run over there to the first base bag before they track the ball down and tag you out there. Point is to get all the way back around to home plate again, and that's not that easy when the other team's got nine guys on the field. Hitting the ball ain't easy either, when it's going about ninety miles per hour from here to the plate, and almost never in a straight line."

He went on in that vein for a few more minutes, explaining the basics of play and the scoring . . . illustrating his points with video clips that came up on the giant scoreboards in the outfield. "Okay, enough of that. Time to get out there and play, maybe get a little dusty. There's gloves, bats, and balls over there in the dugout you guys came through on your way in." Anders's expression turned serious as he warned, "Do not let me catch you taking a bat up to home plate or running the basepaths without a batting helmet on. Anyone I see doing that gets detention. Now come on, plenty of room out there on the field, guys, so play ball!"

You could tell he'd just been waiting to say that.

"At the end of the period, everybody back here to the pitcher's mound, and I want you all to tell me at least one way you think you could use baseball skills in a non-game situation, 'kay?"

[OOC: ~~Please continue to do your part in staving off the possibly inevitable Cylon invasion by waiting for the OCD.~~ The Cylon invasion has been put off for another week, thank you.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Like you've just stepped into a holy crap this place is huge ballpark.

Kyle Reese

Calvin

Princess Ariel

Makita

Jason Todd

Noah Puckerman

Diana Hansen

Dana Scully

Roy Harper

Listen (or not) to Anders, wonder why the hell there's a fountain in center field, roll in the grass because you know you want to.

Kyle was listening to Anders, but his attention was mostly elsewhere. He couldn't help but stare and look around at the giant ballpark. He hadn't seen it like this, and never from the inside. Seeing it with pristine grass and stands and walls kept his attention for a while.

If Calvin looked like he was eyeing the balls as if they suddenly might come to life and attack him...well, it was a very real concern for him.

This place was just about nearly as impressive as the concert chamber back in the palace! It made it a little difficult to concentrate on learning how to play baseball when she sort of wanted to explore it, but she also wanted to learn how to play baseball. So Ariel was doing her best, although she was basically just boiling it down to 'hit things with a stick, run around a lot, and catch and throw.' Which did, admittedly, sound like fun.

..and, yes, rolling in the grass and playing in the fountain both came to mind.

The field's actually set up like it would be for team warmups, with various stations:

Take your fielder's gloves, pair up or split into groups, and get out there in the left field grass to toss a ball around.

There's a couple of friendly Danger Shop coaching assistants out there in right field, ready to provide you with some high fly balls to run down. Spectacular diving shoestring catches completely optional.

It's ninety feet from one base to the next; team up with your classmates or the friendly NPC Danger Shop coaching assistants if you want to actually try and make it safely to base without getting tagged or thrown out.

Anders has been working on his curveball and slider, and he's more than happy to lob a few your way. If you want a real challenge, he's got a pitching machine (http://baseballtips.com/pitchingmachines.html) out there too.

The bats in the dugout rack are both wood and aluminum; the latter are there out of consideration, even though it killed Anders's soul a little because really. That clang is nowhere near as fulfilling as the crack of the ball against a Louisville Slugger.

Oh. This was probably a terrible, terrible idea.

But Ariel didn't really seem to care. Her grip on the bat was embarrassing, her swings were atrociously with abandon, and she couldn't stay in the box to save her life, but, darn it, she was determined to hit that ball.

She did manage a few knicks here and there. They were mostly fortuitous accidents, though.

Edited 2010-07-14 15:20 (UTC)

Puck wasn't much of a baseball player, but he knew his way around a bat ~~not dirty~~. He selected a woo bat, because aluminum sucked, and made his way out to hit a few decent balls. He didn't strike out or lob anything out of bounds, which he thought was pretty good for a guy whose main sports were football and basketball.

Scully had to smile, and then step up to start hitting a few balls, missing Mulder fiercely as she did so.

"I want you all to tell me at least one way you think you could use baseball skills in a non-game situation, 'kay?"

"Throwing a grenade," Kyle offered. "A baseball player could get a lot more range from a throw with a good arm."

"Good one," Anders told him, pulling the remote out of his pocket to bring up a play on the video board of a center fielder throwing a runner out at home plate. "And accuracy, too. Sometimes you've barely got a split second to get that ball out of your hand and exactly where it needs to be. More motivation if you're throwing something that explodes, right?"

He could hardly say he was surprised that kids in Fandom would come up with military-type examples first thing.

Kyle gave a nod. "Accuracy is pretty important. The things I have to throw grenades at need direct damage or they'll keep coming. And the distance is important because you don't want to get too close to them."

"And you don't want to overthrow and waste a grenade, either," Anders guessed, not from personal experience, but he'd seen enough movies. "Something you've done before?"

He sounded curious, but not disapproving; given the people he lived with, he could hardly disapprove anyway.

"Yeah," Kyle admitted. "I'm still learning how to make them myself, but I usually carry a grenade or pipe bomb or two with me at home when I'm out on a mission. They don't always get used if we get the stealth part right, but sometimes surprises happen."

"Smart man," Anders said with a quick smile, and now he really wanted to ask Kyle about this sometime.

Kyle returned the smile. "The base-running training is good too," he pointed out. "Anyone can run, but making sharp turns isn't easy." When Anders did ask, it was going to make for an interesting conversation and some comments about how crazy it was that things turned out the same on totally different planets.

"And stopping right where you're supposed to isn't easy either," Anders added, then more seriously: "If this helps you out at all, I'm gonna be glad."

"It will," Kyle decided. "And I got to see what my brother was talking about. Our dad brought him here for a game when he was little. He used to tell me about it."

Oh, well, that was simple.

This was when Ariel mimed, far too cheerfully, a situation where her bat was going to be a very, very nice tool for beating up sharks.

Whack, whack, whack!!

Good thing Anders didn't consider the possibility of beating up on sharks underwater, or he might have gone off on a tangent about water resistance and how that might be a useful training exercise.

"And that's a classic," he agreed, laughing. "Baseball bats are useful, huh?"

They were totally land sharks!

Ariel's head bobbed in a nod, giving the bat a little twirl that was intended to be smooth and impressive but just wound up clattering to the ground.

. . . okay, yes, land sharks were not to be ruled out of the equation.

If he'd been hanging around the usual bunch of jocks out on the CSUN campus, that would have been cause for instant laughter and mockery. In fact, Anders almost did just that -- and stopped himself just in time. That wouldn't go over so well if he laughed at his students, would it?

"Maybe some batting gloves," he suggested instead, a touch awkwardly. "Help you keep a grip a little better?"

Yes, the not laughing at the student was a very good idea, because laughing would have earned Anders a look that would truly make him feel sorry, oh yes...

At least, Ariel would be pretty sure it would have that effect.

Her head tilted, clearly interested in finding out more of these so called batting gloves.

It probably would, at that, and then where would Anders's awesome jock reputation be? Catapulted back to 2005 ~~OH DEAR GOD~~and those pictures of him covered in lipstick flower drawings, that's where.

Anders pulled one of the batting gloves out of his back pocket and tossed it to her. "Those might be a little big on you." No, really, Samuel? You think? Just maybe? "Over in the dugout, there's a bunch. Oughta be something your size."

Apparently, them possibly being a little big on her didn't stop Ariel from wanting to at least try them on. Come on, she had a new thing in her hand, and he didn't honestly expect her to wait until going all the way over to the dugout to at least get a good idea of how they worked, did he? She put it on, gave it a thoughtful look as she held out her hand as if to model it, and then rubbed her fingers together to see how it would help with the grip. A grin instantly blossomed.

So cool.

Hey, Anders still hadn't noticed the missing shuttlecock from last week's class, so well done there, Ariel!

"You see what I mean already?" he asked, crossing his arms over his chest. "Even better if you get a pair that fits you like . . . so that's where they got that expression from."

Well, she was virtually an experienced expert.

Bobbing her head again, as it was typically her most effective form of communication, she went ahead and pulled Anders' glove off and handed it back to him before dashing off toward the dugout to find her own gloves.

The thought wouldn't even cross her mind that she shouldn't take them with her afterwards.

"Being able to catch is always a useful skill," Jason said. "If someone's throwing something at you and you catch it, it'll usually throw them off for a bit so you can get away, or fight back."

"Or throw it back at 'em," Anders suggested. "Catching's all about reading the way something's comin' flying at you, and how to time your reaction. Whaddya say, think that works for trying to dodge something too?"

"Oh, definitely," Jason agreed. "Especially if something's coming at you that you don't want to catch. Knowing where it's probably going to land, and how hard it might hit are all good things to figure out."

"You're onto something there," Anders said approvingly, and tossed the ball at him, underhand.

"Running," Puck replied. "You have to outrun the ball and the other team. You can use that all over the place."

"And around here," Anders couldn't resist adding, "you've probably had to do something like outrun tiny bunnies who just wanna crowd you and hug the hell out of your ankles . . . those things make a return appearance?"

He's around, old-school baseball uniform with the high socks and all. Yes, he had that custom made.

Post in no way inspired by my unexpectedly getting invited to actually go to the All-Star Game last night. During which I was streaming a soccer game on my phone too. Really.

Look, we may as well just acknowledge that this class is basically "Shanie is a giant sports nerd."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Contact Sports: Building Character (And Possibly . . .), Danger Shop, 6th Period [7/14]

Sign In! [CS, 7/14]

Re: Sign In! [CS, 7/14]

Re: Sign In! [CS, 7/14]

Re: Sign In! [CS, 7/14]

Re: Sign In! [CS, 7/14]

Re: Sign In! [CS, 7/14]

Re: Sign In! [CS, 7/14]

Re: Sign In! [CS, 7/14]

Re: Sign In! [CS, 7/14]

Re: Sign In! [CS, 7/14]

Lecture/Mingling [CS, 7/14]

Re: Lecture/Mingling [CS, 7/14]

Re: Lecture/Mingling [CS, 7/14]

Re: Lecture/Mingling [CS, 7/14]

Play Ball! [CS, 7/14]

Outfield: Play Catch

Outfield: Field Fly Balls

Infield: Run the Basepaths

Infield: Hit Some Balls!

Re: Infield: Hit Some Balls!

Re: Infield: Hit Some Balls!

Re: Infield: Hit Some Balls!

Post-Game Conference: Useful Skills [CS, 7/14]

Re: Post-Game Conference: Useful Skills [CS, 7/14]

Re: Post-Game Conference: Useful Skills [CS, 7/14]

Re: Post-Game Conference: Useful Skills [CS, 7/14]

Re: Post-Game Conference: Useful Skills [CS, 7/14]

Re: Post-Game Conference: Useful Skills [CS, 7/14]

Re: Post-Game Conference: Useful Skills [CS, 7/14]

Re: Post-Game Conference: Useful Skills [CS, 7/14]

Re: Post-Game Conference: Useful Skills [CS, 7/14]

Re: Post-Game Conference: Useful Skills [CS, 7/14]

Re: Post-Game Conference: Useful Skills [CS, 7/14]

Re: Post-Game Conference: Useful Skills [CS, 7/14]

Re: Post-Game Conference: Useful Skills [CS, 7/14]

Re: Post-Game Conference: Useful Skills [CS, 7/14]

Re: Post-Game Conference: Useful Skills [CS, 7/14]

Re: Post-Game Conference: Useful Skills [CS, 7/14]

Re: Post-Game Conference: Useful Skills [CS, 7/14]

Re: Post-Game Conference: Useful Skills [CS, 7/14]

Re: Post-Game Conference: Useful Skills [CS, 7/14]

Re: Post-Game Conference: Useful Skills [CS, 7/14]

Re: Post-Game Conference: Useful Skills [CS, 7/14]

Re: Post-Game Conference: Useful Skills [CS, 7/14]

Re: Post-Game Conference: Useful Skills [CS, 7/14]

Re: Post-Game Conference: Useful Skills [CS, 7/14]

Re: Post-Game Conference: Useful Skills [CS, 7/14]

Talk to Anders [CS, 7/14]

OOC [CS, 7/14]