The Postgame Spread

Here in the Coach Jeff Blog, I’ve covered various aspects of our experiences as a youth baseball team (and mine as a coach).

I’ve talked about some of the high points of our years on the field. I’ve written about the unique father/son relationship that was the core of 11 years on the field. I’ve focused on the young men who are now about to enter college and the ones who will soon be starting their senior years in high school. I follow their accomplishments and I’m very proud of them.

A topic I haven’t highlighted – something of great interest to a bunch of baseball boys – the postgame spread.

In sports parlance, the postgame spread refers to a large buffet (spread on a large table) waiting for the team in the locker room after a game. As we didn’t have a locker room per se, our ‘spread’ would be waiting for us in the form of a nice post-game picnic organized by team parents…or served by a local restaurant of our choice.

The idea for this posting came to me, recently, when our family went to dinner at The Pizza Kitchen over near the intersection of Pellissippi and Northshore. On my way back to the men’s room, I saw a nice display of team photos featuring one of our biggest rival teams in Farragut Baseball, Inc. As I mentioned before, it was their practice to change their team names each year, so there, on display I saw team photos for the Marlins/Rockies/Orioles/Cardinals/Reds.

It was impressive.

Of course, we have a nice collection of Choppers team photos and memorabilia on display at El Mezcal restaurant in Farragut.

Seeing the team photos of the Marlins/Rockies/Orioles/Cardinals/Reds reminded me that, once, we took our ballclub to Pizza Kitchen after one of our tournament games up at Rocky Hill. About the time all our guys got settled into booths, who should arrive but the aforementioned rivals!

You can imagine, a bunch of 12 year old baseball boys did some good natured jawing back and forth across the room.

We didn’t always go to restaurants for our team meals.

Sometimes, we’d scout out a nice park pavilion near tournament sites and that became a perfect location for a cool break, a light lunch and a chance to unwind between games. I remember one such spot, near Carter, which was specifically pleasant. And on a very hot weekend when we were playing at Badgett Field, the moms catered a nice snack featuring water and various light fruit selections (such as watermelon, strawberries and grapes).

Of course, no ‘spread’ was as fun as the post-season party. We did a variety of those – ranging from pool parties to cookouts to pizza parties (depending on the season and the interests of the team members). Naturally, a congratulatory cake was a must! 

No matter the location, the key factors for a successful spread: great food and lots of your buddies around to celebrate another excellent season!

JG

Originally posted 7/29/2013