I Am So Ready To Cheer For Southern California
- Updated: August 5, 2018
(Southern California Little League’s crazy uncle poses once he had awaken Thu., Aug. 2, in a hospital post-operation recovery room, after having undergone the sports blogger’s 10th surgery in the past two years, the latest two of which were performed during SoCal’s all-stars tournament this summer. Photo courtesy of Rabbi Rabbs.)
In Why I Follow Little League Baseball, this crazy rabbi blogger declared: “My team is whoever represents SoCal” at the West Region tournament held in San Bernardino’s Albert E. Houghton Stadium. In Congratulations to SoCal’s Green Monsters !!, I confessed that attending “that annual tourney is probably my favorite week of each year.”
Well, folks, that special week has finally arrived, and I am so ready to root for my favorite team, Southern California, at the West Regional !!
I had even scheduled my recent stomach surgery to not interfere with the greatest week of the year. That is right, ladies and gentlemen. I had scheduled my hospital stay to take place during the quiet week that fell in between the end of the Southern California Little League Championship that was held at Aliso Viejo Little League in Aliso Viejo, and the start of the West Region tournament. That is what a true SoCal Little League fan does.
My surgeon had preferred from a medical standpoint to wait until this coming Monday or Tuesday to perform the procedure, but I had told him absolutely not. I would not take a chance of missing any of the games Chula Vista’s Park View Little League would play in San Bernardino, not after what happened two years ago when due to my-then transportation problems, I missed PVLL’s entire West Region tournament.
In addition, this SoCal fan had even remembered to bring with him his Green Monsters rally flag to surgery. I did not forget about my team, not even then. My stomach operation forced me to miss the SoCal team’s pep rally, but I would not let my 13 young men down. I too cheered for them that day. So, please do their crazy uncle a favor, and kindly make sure each of the 13 SoCal players sees that photo at the top of this article, taken during post-op only minutes after a stent was removed from my stomach opening. Perhaps that will inspire them to win.
Incidentally, I had undergone a prior stomach procedure on Tue., Jun. 26, in that same operating room. However, that surgery did not prevent me five days later, on Sun., Jul. 1, from driving 330+ miles round trip from West Los Angeles to cover two California District 42 tournament games held that day, which in fact, even overlapped, causing me to rush like a madman from one beautiful Chula Vista ballpark to another across that fabulous South San Diego County town.
It turned out to be great for CaliSports News that I worked so hard on that Sunday, because the article I wrote afterward about that day’s two games, one of which was played by SoCal’s Green Monsters, turned out to be CSN’s most popular article for the entire month of July, and among that web site’s most-read stories in all of 2018. That is a fact.
Working so feverishly during that Sunday in July also worked out well for this SoCal fan, because that was the day that I unexpectedly received a free Park View baseball cap courtesy of a very generous team mom. That has now become the official hat of the boys representing Southern California. Two weeks later, I received a complimentary Park View t-shirt. Together, from the first moment that I show up in San Bernardino, I will already be wearing the SoCal team’s gear.
I believe this will mark the first year that I will already own both Southern California’s hat and t-shirt in advance. Plus, both items were given to me for free, which I think is also a first among SoCal’s reps. Face it, Park View raised the bar very high, and I very much appreciate its generosity to me. Let us give The Green Momsters, as they call themselves, a great big round of applause! You each deserve it, ladies. Great group of parents. Love them.
Teams that rep Southern California in the future will need to up their game to keep pace with what Park View has done for this SoCal fanatic.
Getting back on topic, my gastroenterologist had inserted a temporary stent into my stomach opening only days before The Green Monsters played their first district tournament game on Sat., Jun. 30, and that piece of hardware stayed inside of me throughout Park View’s triumphant march to San Bernardino. The Monsters had gone 11-0 with that stent inside of their crazy uncle.
Here is hoping the Monsters continue to remain undefeated now that I do not need that stent any longer, thank G-d. Until then, stay with CSN, SoCal’s undisputed leader in Little League coverage.
Let’s Go SoCal !! Let’s Go Green Monsters !! Win for the memory of Joseph Coppo, Jr. !!
(I cannot wait to return to San Bernardino’s gorgeous Albert E. Houghton Stadium. Circled in black is me slightly hidden behind a pole in the front row. Former San Francisco Giants superstar Kevin Mitchell is shown standing in the middle of the foreground. Photo courtesy of ESPN.)
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