Our fall sports got off to a roaring start, with hundreds of kids playing ball on the fields. With 890 children registered, this should be a great season!
We’ve posted about 30 pictures from the day, with more to come in the near future.
On a cold, blustery night, more than 1200 “brave” souls from Mt Bethel “braved” the icicles and frigid temperatures of the nose bleed section in Turner Field to watch the Braves bunch their hits in a timely manner to beat the Oakland A’s 3-2 on Friday night, May 16th. This annual event organized by the Recreation Ministry once again kicked off with the parade of Mt Bethel athletes and parents around the warning track and some crowd pleasing t-ball play on the outfield grass. All of this was viewed with great interest by more than 30,000 fans in the stands on the Big Screen behind center field.
Chipper raised his .418 batting average with a 2 for 3 night and Brian McCann continues to demonstrate that he, not Frenchy, should have been on the cover of Time magazine in 2006 with 3 timely hits. This is definitely not the Braves of 2007 as the bullpen held the lead for the win. Also the game clearly proved that Tom Glavine will get into the Hall of Fame because of his pitching skills, not his bunting efforts.
Almost as much fun was watching all the fans in shorts and t-shirts suddenly realize around the 3d inning that summer has not arrived in Atlanta. They flocked to the stores to buy “bargain” Braves sweat shirts or sneaked down to the lower levels seeking defilade and protection against the arctic blast that kept our drinks cold for the evening. Atlanta was confirmed that night as the prostate capital of south; I have never seen so many men make so many bathroom trips in the course of a 3 hour game. I’m sure that the fact that the wash rooms were heated was strictly a coincidence.
Those hardy souls who stuck it out were rewarded with an incredible fireworks show sponsored by Publix. Of course those who rode the bus were forced into staying for the show because the director of Men’s Ministry didn’t answer his cell phone (yes you can queue 48 voice mail messages) from whiners who wanted to leave after the 4th inning. His very credible defense was that he couldn’t hear the phone ring over the howling of the wind.
A tip of the hat to Pam “White Shoes” Skelton and the Rec Staff for again organizing this wonderful event.
Blessings
Mike
Let me start off by saying the Thompson Fellowship Softball Tournament was a great success. Seeing people of all different ages playing together was a great reminder that we can all have a good time together in God’s glory. The morning started off early with people slowly rolling in, lacing up their cleats, and putting on their designated team color. Everyone started to warm up by stretching and throwing a few softballs with each other. We then all gathered to officially start off the day with the national anthem, sung by Shannon Herring and Cheryl Mosley, and a prayer by our own Jon Ponders.
The first round of games started early with feet getting wet from the dew covered fields. Not all games were back to back though, giving teams a chance to recover and rest up for the next game. Everybody got a chance to play at least three games. Teams closely followed the bracket mounted on the vending machines to see how they stood in race for the championship. The Recreation Department Team proudly went undefeated the entire tournament, with two games back to back to enter into the playoffs. We defeated the Belmont Bombers by a score of 4-1 in the final game to win it all.
The only downfall through the entire day was the heat, although it wasn’t too bad. There had been threats of tornado warnings rumored around, but the weather held and the tournament ended successfully and as scheduled. The tournament was an overall success with many sponsors supporting the Rec Department. As a combined effort, the tournament raised in upwards of $11,000 towards the maintaining and upgrading of the CAC and Fields of Dreams.
Jeff McKay
