Pre-game Skits

The past few years our hitters had to line up in two lines (Lefties and Righties)  in the outfield and "visualize" a sac bunt, hit and run, driving the ball the other way, etc as our coach would wind up and would pretend to throw a fastball, curveball, slider, or change up.    It was comical for the pitchers to watch.  Our hitters hated it and would wait in the outfield to "visualize".  What started out as a joke for the hitters became a pre-game ritual for our whole team.  Fans would watch and scouts would even come up to our other coaches and tell them they thought the skit was great.  Our coach's walk to the outfield was annoyingly slow so we had plenty of time.  The first skit started out of sure hate for this coach.  As he was walking to the outfield the hitters took their bats and "visualized" using them as guns.  It looked like an 18th century war re-enactment.  Guys were crawling on the ground pretending to fill their gun like a musket.  Someone actually got it on tape and it was featured on the video at the conference tournament banquet.  Needless to say it was an instant hit on our team and a lot of thought went into these skits.  Some of them had to do with the team we were playing, some had to do with current events, and some were just because.

One of my favorite's was when we played Miami.  The stage was set for Doug Flutie's 'Hail Mary'.  Now, we could have just used Flutie and Phelan (wide receiver) but that would be too easy.  Pitchers got involved and we had all 11 on offense and defense.  The quarterback put on the #22 jersey to add emphasis and the stage was set.  Hats were used for the end zone and four guys were used as refs.  We could have gone at half speed but come on we're better than that.  This skit was dangerous because with a bad pass or if the receiver happened to drop the ball the skit would be terrible.  I can't forget to mention we were using a baseball instead of a football to make it more difficult.  The ball was hiked and "Flutie" threw the ball towards the end zone.  It seemed like the play was unfolding in slow motion.  As the ball came down the defender jumped and I'm pretty for sure I could hear someone yelling "NOOOOOO" because it barely missed his fingertips and the ball fell to the outstretched arms of the receiver.  We went crazy-- jumping around like we were actually there.  What could have been a disaster was an instant classic.

Other great skits included the Jewish wedding, bench clearing brawl, team picture, 100 meter hurdles, NFL draft, golf, cheating in class, bench press, Phillies' fan getting tazed, and the list goes on.  Unfortunately, with a new coaching staff this year, we don't do visualization anymore and the skits haven't made their way into our pre-game but they have not been forgotten.  We can only hope they will be brought back.