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Little League IV: ‘Glory’
There was nothing like pole vault. Our equipment was flawed: old fiberglass poles with no give. Coach knew nothing about it and left us to our own devices. Half a dozen guys tried. Sprint hard as we might, the pole didn’t budge. We climbed it like pillaging savages. Between stints climbing the pole—8 feet, 9 Read more
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Little League III: Pole Vault
I tried out for high school ball the following year. I hit longer, straighter flies than I had at tryouts the year before. The coach—who slept on a basement bed in the very apartment where I delivered my middle school coach’s newspaper—already knew the story. ‘He’ll hit in tryouts. Goose-egg during the season.’ Rated beneath Read more
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Little League II: 0 for 12
My father ran bread routes for Wonder most mornings. He delayed the deliveries to throw me curves and fastballs when tryouts came around. He zeroed my hands and eyes, quickened my bat to the rawhide in the pre-dawn twilight. Confident still in the afternoon, I showed for tryouts with a quick bat and hit high, Read more
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The Little League Coach
The calendar tells us that it’s spring. But last Monday, the night before the season’s first Little League practice, snow squalls filled the sky. Over the weekend the manager gathered us on a beautiful day for pizza and whiffle ball. Then our second practice got scrubbed for snow, a Nor’easter that eventually dumped half a Read more
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National School Walkout
This requires very little comment on my part other than to say: The school system I fund through my taxes has expressed itself exactly as it should, and exactly as I would have done, if it were my call to make. This letter appears verbatim, bolded lines reflecting my emphasis. Well done, FCPS. FCPS does Read more
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Limits of Traction
No coffee this morning. This line instead kicked my day into gear at West Virginia’s Bill Scott Raceway: We’re gonna be at the limits of traction this morning… Limits of traction, and limits of digestion. Following the hard-braking exercises through the serpentine, I left the Crown Vic to hurl my breakfast at the woods. No Read more
Ben East Books 