Due to a commitment I have with a volunteer organization, for the first four days of the NCAA Women’s Softball World Series I was parked in my motor home outside Sacramento playing security guard for some mucky mucks who wanted to enter into restricted areas of a National Championship motorcycle race. Because of this, I found it necessary to record the entire schedule of games on my DVR, with plans to watch all the games when I returned home on Monday, and be caught up in time to watch the finals on Tuesday.

I’m very fortunate to have satellite (DirecTV) both at home and in my motor home, but since I was busy working at this event from sun up to sun down each day, I wanted to watch each game, in order to insure that I would be caught in the drama that usually builds through the tournament. Now my wife doesn’t have this same approach to watching these types of events, so as I sat outside the motor home on a few of the evenings at the race, my wife and a few others were inside watching that evening’s games.

But she was aware of my rule; you can not, in any way shape or form, alert me to the results of any of the games, so as not to spoil my marathon viewing that would start Monday afternoon. And she was able to keep everything under wraps for the entire four days. When we arrived home Monday afternoon, I got myself some refreshments, climbed into the recliner, and searched the play list for Game 1.

But search as I might, I could not find Game 1. It soon became apparent that the limitations on my DVR storage space had resulted in the first four games being dropped from my queue, which was a disappointment. Okay, so I go to game 5. Luckily, prior to each winner’s game, ESPN provided a little background on the teams’ first round games, so as I watch these games, I get a little feel for how the tournament is progressing. I realize that I have many hours of games to watch, so I fast forward through all timeouts and commercials in hopes of getting in all the games that evening so I can watch the finals the following night.

But it doesn’t take me long to realize that isn’t going to be enough. Half way through the game, I start fast forwarding between pitches, and triple timing it through commercials. Game 6 starts and again I realize that this isn’t going to work, so I start watching the game in fast speed and tripling timing it through anything that looked like a delay. Finally on to Game 7, but it’s getting late and I have to work in the morning. My wife is upstairs watching the first game of the finals, and I’m booking through an elimination game so fast I’m having a hard time understanding what is going on.

The speed I’m viewing at renders my Hi-Def system almost useless. As Game 7 draws to a close, I receive a call from a friend of mine. Immediately he says, “Are you watching the game?” I quickly tell him I’ve recorded the games and I’m starting Game 8, so please don’t say anything to spoil who made it to the finals. “No problem’, he states and then says, “I just called to ask if you ever realized how much your daughter looks like Mindy Cowles?” Damn it. He just told me that Arizona State made the finals, without really telling me.

Of course I don’t know who they are playing or who is winning or losing, so I forge on in high speed.

It’s almost midnight and I have the tournament down to the semi-finals. I might have dozed off a bit, and missed something exciting. But I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I think on Tuesday night, I can watch the reminder of the games, including Monday nights before tuning in the finals. I can do it. I knock off work a little early to make it happen.

Semi final one, done, semi final two done, going to the “if” game. Double speeding a bit now and at last I know Texas A&M is playing ASU in the finals. I watch the first final game in fast motion (back tracking to see big plays). Watch ASU win and then call the little woman down from upstairs to watch the finals with me. It’s after nine o’clock, the game is long over, but my DVR is still recording to make sure I get the third game and any extra innings.

I was able to watch most of the second championship game in regular speed (except of course the commercials), but once ASU put the game out of reach, I ended up watching the last few innings in high speed. I’m relating this long story as a lesson for those of you who may ever try this type of “catch-up” viewing in the future. My advice: don’t do it. There is no emotion in a fast forward game, no suspense, no build up. Everything becomes a blur, and it really ruins what I have always thought of as the grand conclusion of the college softball season. Now I wish I would have just sat in the motor home and caught what ever portion of what ever game I could have seen during the weekend, and watched the finals live when I got home.

Oh, congratulations to Arizona State University for winning their first NCAA Softball Championship.

FOUL TIPS

I’m getting excited. As I write this column, it’s just a couple of weeks before the ASA Pacific Coast Region’s 12 and under National Qualifier. As some of you may be aware, I’ll be the tournament director for this event. It’s been a long time since I’ve had the opportunity to be involved in this capacity for any type of qualifier, and I’m really looking forward to it * * * * I had the pleasure to put together a couple of teams to play against the Chinese National team for a five game series between June 16th and the 18th. While we didn’t win any of the games, it was a fun and exciting experience * * * * As always, you can contact me at floydeunslip@yahoo.com * * * * and so the ball rolls.