Guitar Center has a yearly corporate retreat for eligible employees. Last year, I had worked at GC less than 2 months before I attended, so I knew very few of the hundreds of guys who were there. Besides the all-night jam rooms, one of the long-standing retreat traditions is softball. It's a required event and considering the number of people in management now, just organizing it must be a feat.
As a child, I played teeball poorly (that damn tee was always getting in the way) and I was no star at softball either. I was usually placed in left field where I spent the majority of games humming, daydreaming, and every once in a while mustering up enough energy to yell "hey batter, batter, batter." I was marginally better at soccer which I played for a couple of years; my field hockey career OTOH was cut short when a monster of a girl landed her stick right into my gut. I've always been much better at individual sports like tennis, hiking, skiing, and more adventurous activities (I'm dying to learn how to hang glide!). Team sports...not so much.
When I found out I had to play softball, I was imagining a game or two at the most. Little did I know that this was the big leagues. Yes, I know, the fact that "winning" is one of Guitar Center's 7 core values should have been a tip-off.
I ended up playing from 4 in the afternoon to 1 in the morning. That's right--9 hours of almost continuous softball. My coach was Dave Weiderman who is in charge of the Hollywood Rockwalk. This guy was serious. A softball nazi. No drinking anything but water and almost no eating allowed...no nuthin' to come between us and the ball. People were diving left and right like we were in the World Series and the ambulance came to treat the injured (apparently also a yearly event). After all that, what do you know--we ended up winning the championship. I even got on first base. (It was the cheers of "pigtail power" from the sidelines that inspired me.)
This trophy's the proof. When I told my mom, I'm pretty sure she thought I was lying. Tomorrow, I'm off to this year's retreat. Wish me luck!
