The Poetry of Little League

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I love how people use language. It’s the reason why I love poetry. It never ceases to amaze me the way people can put words together in unexpected ways to convey meaning and emotion. I work hard on my creative writing every day on behalf of my clients. It’s a job that I truly enjoy and I learn more and I get a tiny bit better as a writer and editor all the time. What a blast. 

In my spare time lately, I go to a lot of little league baseball games. I mean like 5-10 a week. I can’t help but notice recently that coaches, fans and the players themselves have a language of their own. I enjoy using these phrases while cheering on my kids’ teams (Although sometimes I’m wondering if I’m using them right!)

Here is a list of my favorite baseball jargon..the weekly poetry that makes me smile. If you go to many kids’ baseball or softball games, I know you’ll be smiling too when you read this.

•Ball’s in, going down! (my all-time favorite phrase of little boy baseball players. It’s yelled by the catcher and means the practice pitching is over, time to start the inning) 
•Nice cut (Yelled all the time when a player swings and misses, but does it with authority) 
•That’s not yours (A “ball” that goes by and a player chooses not to swing at it, usually the first ball) 
•Now you’ve seen it (Same as above) 
•Everything after 2 (meaning even though there are 2 outs in the inning, the team can still get some runs, or a lot of runs!) 
•Blue (aka, the umpire... often used like, "What's the count Blue? Or, "Are you o.k. Blue?") 
•You’re up, You’re Up. (When a player is stealing a base,usually 1st to 2nd...it means don't slide!) 
•Back!!! (Or back, back, back!) (Yelled by Coach, when a player is trying to steal but needs to get BACK) 
•Wake up them bats! (start hitting, also known as “everybody hits”) 
•We’re on the board (meaning one run has at least scored-- there’s no better board than Wrigley’s by the way) 
•We have ice (to the batter who’s up to the plate, in case he/she gets hit by a pitch) 
•Take one for the team (same situation as above) 
•Fire it in (An encouragement to pitchers) 
•Can of corn (high, easy to catch fly ball) 
•Nothing above your hands (a direction to the batter to not swing at high pitches) 
•Good eye! (Said to the batter who didn’t swing at a pitch he/she couldn’t hit) 
•1 away (or 2 away-- which means 1 or 2 players are out)
•You’re in the hole (or on deck, meaning the warm up areas prior to coming up to bat) 
•Brand new ballgame (When a team that has been behind in runs, most often by a significant margin, ties up the game. It doesn’t mean that the game starts over just that neither team is ahead and the game continues.)
•Three ducks on a pond (3 men on base) 
•Skunked out (A game that ended by slaughter rule) 
•Chirping (not to be confused with chattering, chirping is when there is a lot of bragging going on by coaches, players or fans) 

Along these same lines, I love the new phrase kids use these days when they’re talking about their opponent… “Who are we versing?” Meaning “vs.-ing” or playing against. I hear some adults correct children when they say this, but I think it’s too cute to correct. 

One phrase I’m not a fan of… “Be a hitter!” Huh? Like the child wants to be striker-outer? 

What am I forgetting? What are your favorite sports phrases? I’d love to hear them… It would definitely help my baseball mom cred to have a few more in my arsenal.

The Muse

There is a fun blog/website I've been subscribing to recently-- called themuse.com. It offers up all kinds of information about how to find a job, how to keep it, how to impress, be inspired, get that next promotion and stay out of the dog house with the boss or client.

There's a lot of content like this out there-- but I think the themuse.com is one of the best aggregators for it, especially for people just getting started in their careers (and many days, I feel like that's exactly where I'm at right now.)

Check out their post today on how to create a name for yourself-- tips from A-Z. Cute infographic and some pretty solid advice for this ever-changing business hive we're all buzzing around in.

Do you have a Muse? Or at least a go-to person or place that gives you a spark when it comes to your work? Would love to hear about him, her or it...