Conditioning

With spring training finally here, players show what they’ve been up to in the offseason.  In the case of the Dodgers’ Yasiel Puig, that includes putting on 26 pounds since last October.  Nothing says “fleet outfielder” like 251 pounds on a 6’ 3” frame.  Not to pick on Puig because every team has one.  I can still remember Greg Luzinski, who looked fat even for an offensive lineman.

Clare is already tired of practice in the gym; she wants to be outside, playing.  Subconsciously or not, she takes out her frustrations by conditioning, weights and yoga in particular.  You might say my daughter has limber “guns.”  She also has wisdom, gained from training last spring with the football conditioning coach.  Oh, those bloody boxes.

The coach had her jumping on boxes, six inches or six feet high I don’t know, for coordination.  At some point, she couldn’t go any higher.  So, Clare tried again, and again, until there were eight-inch gashes on both her shins.  That’s how she started last season, looking like she’d been gored by a midget bull.  Last night, Clare Tweeted 2013/2014 pictures of her shins.  The ugly mess has healed completely, I’m happy to say.  And Robocop has steered clear of those boxes.

But she still conditions.  I wonder what’s going to happen come season’s end.  What’s the motivation to keep lifting after softball?  If the Marines were smart, they’d recruit female college athletes to form an elite attack group, the New Amazons.  I’m serious.  American women are strong.  Some are probably strong enough and fit enough to spell Yasiel Puig come Opening Day.  Or Adam Dunn.