Schiavoni Files

Summer softball on the mall between the Capitol dome and Washington Monument is one of the best things about living in DC. One of the rare DC-related activities that doesn't involve long diatribes about the the budget deficit, non-existent job growth or our complex electorate. But then again I have long loved the ball and bat. It began with a successful first base career on an all-boys little league team until it took a backseat to high school soccer (thanks dad for teaching me young not to throw like a girl). However, I put away my glove completely for 6 years until a the summer of 1999 as a Senate intern I played on the Feingold/Wellstone Senate Softball team. They used to put me in right field so that the guys would think i was the weak link and open up their stance only to find i had skill enough to catch a mean fly ball. My right field success inspired me to try out for college softball and though i had a statistically miserable career as a back-up right fielder for one season, it was still crazy fun. This year I will play with my surrogate family, my former employer EMILY's List and my other former employer The Rendon Group have a joint team called The Overthrowers. EMILY's List supplies the chicks and The Rendon Group comes through with the testosterone who also happen to be former Bill Bradley staffers with whom I also did a brief stint. God, this place is incestuous. But the game is still good clean fun! Oh wait, no it's not. We spend half the time trying to keep the beer cans away from the mall police. But that's beside the point. Softball on the mall brings out a rare, politically untainted bliss that even CSPAN dorks like me who work until 9pm every other night bend steel to make our softball games. I want to shout out to my shortstop Becker and my thirdbasemen/boss Kirstin.
|