| Props to the Kids Vol. 2 |
| I know what you're thinking; finally. Finally you get the second volume of the most popular BWL inspired article of all time. Well here it is, the result of utter boredom at the nation's first land grant institution and a nostalgiac attack to the heart. Where to start, where to start. First and foremost it is important to acknowledge how great this past season was. Many, at times including myself, seriously doubted that the league would ever return to the glory of the 2001 season and especially after the disasterous 2002 attempt. Congratulations to everyone for pulling it off. I don't know that I enjoyed the 2001 season as much as I did this one. It just seems as though every Sunday we pulled it off without any trouble, without having to worry about thunder keeping Davis' sorry ass at home or sending Brett under the cover of the sacred Trogden basement. It was a great season, full of good catches, great throws and even better home runs. The best thing that may have come out of this summer of BWL is the drive on almost everyone's part to play again next summer and have things just as they were this summer, almost as perfect as possible. Let us start off with the perennial champion North Stafton Islanders, stocked with talent and ready to piss off the league. I know that they only won one championship and that their performance this season was less than impressive, but there is just some kind of mystique about them that is entirely too reminiscent of the New York Yankees. This season started off roughly for the NSI with several consecutive losses and continued to get worse until somewhere around half-way through, when Harris came out of the woodwork with super hitting and Nick began to pitch just as horribly as the first half, except we started swinging. Richie "Richiro" Trogden slumped off this season from his 2001 numbers, but like his powerful counterpart Mr. Harris, even with him down you were always fearful that he would pull something magical off. The right fielder always has to shift a little farther down towards the first base line leaving a huge gap up the middle because even though his average was down, he still has that ability to put it in whatever gap there is. The NSI lost in a heartbreaker of a playoff series to the Greater Cincinnati Gophers but that won't keep them from contending in the 2004 season, even if Brett "The Threat" Harris does in fact retire following in the path of previous BWL retirees Charles Martinez and Kerry Nordstrom who opted out of their contracts in the prime of their careers. Then there were the Gophers. Eloquently named by former Gopher Charles Martinez in honor of them going "0 for" in the first several games of the 2001 season, the Gophers put a stacked lineup on the field in 2003 with plenty of fielding to back it up. Unfortunately the Gophers had a serious lack of pitching with both Lance Sizemore and Damon Trogden having a hard time getting men out, and Josh Davis continuing his role as a career outfielder. Home runs were plentiful by all three of the Gophers and had any of them made it to all 18 games they may have challenged myself for the season home run title. Things were solid for the first half of the season, but in contrast to the Islanders their hopes fell off the table after the halfway point when loss after loss piled up to give them a sub-.500 8-10 record. On a brighter side, I would say that some of the finest catches in the league were tallied by the Gophers, including a diving stab by Damon in right field that I dare to call the most outstanding play of the season. The Gophers took out the Islanders in the playoffs and used their huge bats to dominate the first three games of the World Series until their pitching gave in, sacrificing the third, fourth, and fifth games and subsequently the season title. It was a well fought battle and I look for the same lineup to produce just as much power next season, with improved pitching to make up for the stupid runs lost this season. And finally, my boys, the Crabs. This first year squad anchored by former Untouchable Stephen Porter (myself) on the mound and flanked by newcomers Mark Cribbet and Zach Faris had no trouble getting through the season with the league leading 13-5 record. I was for the most part great while pitching, smashing the single season record for strikeouts previously held by Nick Owens and coming very close to his single season record for wins. Cribbet had a hard time for a while making plays in the field, especially the simple ones, but when it came right down to it he got the job done and helped us to our great record. Faris wasn't without fault in the field but made some really great plays and some even better throws to get outs when they were needed most. As for at the plate, I lead the league in just about every hitting category except batting average (which Brett beat me in by 1 hit) and in almost every one of those categories Mr. Faris was right behind me in the number 2 spot. This is not to say that Mark didn't contribute offensively, he had many clutch hits including one in game three of the World Series that allowed Zach to get up and hit the game winning walk-off home run. Everything just seemed to come together for the Crabs this year much like it did for the Islanders of two years ago, and it is our only hope that we will be able to pull off an equally impressive season next summer. Yes, the rumors are true, we are the new boys of summer. Watch the first video in the Ken Burns Baseball documentary and see what those guys went through to get baseball started up and going strong. That is us, 150 years later. The BWL is only growing stronger, and I can't wait until Opening Day 2004. -Stephen Porter |