allaboutduncan is really Phillip Duncan and he's a web developer, a husband, a father, a T-Ball coach, the editor of Superheroes-R-Us, a WordPress junkie, a reluctant DotNetNuke builder, and a jQuery fan.
// June 8th, 2009 // No Comments » // Carter
Made it to our second Atlanta Braves game this past Sunday. It’s was a great game (Braves won). Close all the way until the end with both teams playing great.
Carter ran the bases once again after the game and I managed to capture it on video.
// June 2nd, 2009 // No Comments » // Carter
Here’s a photo taken after our last game on June 1.
On a side note—I think it’s time for a new glove. That one is starting to look small.
// June 2nd, 2009 // No Comments » // Carter
Carter (and the Dodgers) played their last game of the Spring season last night. We were up a against the undefeated White Sox. Even though we lost the game (16-8), Carter played possibly the best fielding game ever.
He was attentive, fast and ready for every hit. He knew where to take the ball every time and if he got an out, he’d turn around and check the other bases.
Here’s a video of him getting an out at first and then running home to try and get another:
Our regular first baseman had left for vacation (since school was out) or Carter could have thrown it to first, like he did at a previous game:
I couldn’t be more proud of him. He loves playing ball and wants to play (and practice). I won’t push him to play, but I do encourage him – because he’s good.
I’m looking forward to Fall Ball. I’ll be stepping up as head coach and hopefully we’ll have another fun season.
// May 25th, 2009 // No Comments » // Uncategorized
Say what you will about the Atlanta Braves—good, bad, like or dislike—they are easily the number one sports team in my book. True, I’m not a huge sports fan and baseball is the only sport I try to watch (with my son) on a regular basis.
However, there is one act that has pushed the Braves into a class all by themselves.
My grandmother (Granny) recently passed away. She passed on the day I purchased tickets for myself, my mother, my wife and our oldest son to attend our first ever Braves game at Turner Field. She was a Braves fan and she, in turn, got the rest of the family watching baseball.
Shortly before the game, I fired off a quick email to the Atlanta Braves organization with a note telling them about my grandmother and our upcoming trip. I asked if they could possibly dedicate the game we would be attending in her memory.
I figured nothing would come of it. The game came and went and we had a great time—described here and here. The Monday after we returned, I received a phone call from the Atlanta Braves office. They had read my email and were apologetic they didn’t get to it in time to catch us on our visit. We talked for a few minutes and I gave them my address.
A few days later, this arrived in the mail (Click to enlarge):
And that is why the Atlanta Braves are the best team in the MLB—at least to our family.
// May 22nd, 2009 // No Comments » // Uncategorized
Be sure to read Part 1 a few posts back to get the full story.
Check out that photo from the game. That’s how great our seats were. Section #113 tickets thanks to StubHub.com. I had a small zoom lens on the camera, but we were directly over the Braves dugout. Every inning when they came in from the field, Carter would run down to the railing overlooking the dugout, in hopes of catching a ball.
Aside from our great seats, Turner Field is incredibly nice. There’s a great Cartoon Network kids area, a few great restaurants (Bar-B-Q is the best), a kids only merchandise shop, and a Braves museum. The biggest surprise came from the entire staff at Turner Field. They were amazingly friendly.
While walking to our seats, if we passed a concession vendor not waiting on a customer, they would wave as you walked by. Everyone at the ballpark actually made the effort to converse with you. Several times I was asked if I (we) were having a good time or if this was our first game.
The usher to our section offered to answer any question we had. We I asked a question she didn’t know the answer to, she radioed a supervisor and informed me of the answer.
Even the the Braves didn’t win the game, it was a great game nonetheless. The game was full of great plays, close calls and was all-around entertaining.
After the game, we went to the Kids Run the Bases area and Carter got to run the bases on the field (see the photo in the previous Braves post). They even had a photographer on the field and we found Carter’s image online when we returned home and ordered a few photos.
All in all, we had a great time and we definitely plan on returning as soon as our busy schedule allows. We hope to make it in June for Brian McCann bat day, especially now the McCann is back in great form.
Check out the rest of the photos from our first Atlanta Braves game.
// May 4th, 2009 // No Comments » // Uncategorized
I live in a family of Atlanta Braves fans. That’s not a bad thing. It’s turned me into one as well. Growing up, it’s something I never would have guessed I would enjoy so much, but it’s become something that we, as a family, share.
This past weekend, Jill and I took Carter and my mother to Turner Field to watch game 3 of the Braves vs. the Astros. It was the first trip to Turner field for any of us. Before the game, we asked my mom how she got hooked on the Braves.
My mother is the biggest fan of the bunch. She subscribes to ChopTalk (the official Braves magazine) and can tell you stats, trivia and other facts. Since she spends so much time with Carter, it rubbed off on him at an early age. She was determined to get him into baseball. Since he’s now in his third season of playing T-Ball, I would say it worked. Being surrounded by it and helping coach Carter’s T-Ball team, I find myself wanting to watch as many games as I can. She’s passed her fandom on to us.
She started watching the Braves with my Granny (her mother). We’re not sure when Granny became a fan, but we think it was shortly after my grandfather passed away in 1993. At 78, she didn’t drive and we guess she started watching the Braves on TV to pass the time.
While she also watched Basketball, it was the Braves that she was always most interested in. From 2002 – 2006, I was lucky enough to work close by. I was able to eat lunch with her almost every day. She always looked forward to seeing me and I almost always found her waiting in the kitchen when I arrived.
Unless the Braves were playing.
In that case, she would be eating her lunch in her chair and I didn’t exist on game day. When I came in the door, I would give her a quick kiss and she would half-heartedly tell me what there was to eat in the kitchen. She never took her eyes off the game. She rarely spoke during the game. It was clear that during Baseball season, I ranked just below Chipper Jones (her favorite player).
Before the game, my mother joked that everyone always talked how Granny never said anything bad about anyone. That is, unless it came to the Braves. Mom remembers watching a game with Granny, only to hear her mumble something about Chipper Jones not batting as good as he should.
I’m sad to say that the day I purchased our tickets (great seats – row 17 – behind first base), Granny passed away. We never had our chance to tell her how excited we were to be going, but we sure had fun thinking and talking about her at the game.
I’ll continue this story in a few days with photos from the game and my impressions of the Braves, Turner Field and game day. Stay tuned
// April 13th, 2009 // No Comments » // Uncategorized
I’ve long embraced being a geek. It’s something I enjoy. Part of the reason I embrace it is because I know it does not define everything about me. I’ve picked up tons of things from my Dad. Every time he visits, he usually teaches me something else. He’s an uber-handyman, Mr. Fixit and amazing engineer. I can call him on the phone, describe a noise the car is making and he can point me in the right direction.
Although my Dad did read Uncanny X-Men and G.I. Joe with me for a few years when I was a kid, I would never have called him a geek. I do remember piles upon piles of old Sci-Fi journals, books and magazines when I was a kid, but again, I never would have called him geek.
However, that has changed. He recently sent me the photo on the left and it made me realize, he is a geek. He just geeks out about different things than I do.
This is a board for a game Carter and I invented one rainy day. Carter wanted to play baseball, but the rain kept us from going out.
We grabbed a dry erase board, some markers, a four-sided die, a six-sided die, and within an hour we had a fun and quick game.
The six-sided die determines if you get a hit or not. Numbers 1,2 = a hit, 3, 4, 5 = strike and 6 = pop-fly/out.
The four-sided die determines the number of bases your get if you roll a 1 or 2.
It’s all pretty simple, but fun and entertaining.
On our recent trip to Texas, I casually mention to my Dad—the night before we leave, no less—about this game Carter and I created and how he should make us a board to play it on. I quickly sketched it out.
Less than a week later he sent me an in-progress photo and this past weekend I get the completed image above.
Yep, he’s a geek. Give him a good idea and he makes it work. Somehow, if the internet were around 30-years ago, I can imagine him creating a site like Instructables.
It’s funny how much you pick up from your parents. As a kid, you think that you’ll never be like your parents. Later, you discover that you’re more like them than you’d like to admit. The final stage is realizing how proud you knowing they’ve taught you well.
I hope that my sons will look back on me (and Jill) someday with the same feeling.
// September 24th, 2008 // No Comments » // Carter
I’ve not posted a whole lot on the site lately and that’s for several reasons.
One reason is T-Ball. Never in a million years would I have imagined I would enjoy coaching T-Ball (asst. coaching) as much as I do. I was thrown into it in the Spring when Jill volunteered me at Carter’s first practice.
I’ve never been a big sports guy. Imagine that. A web developer/comic geek/pop culture geek not being into sports. Cliche much? Anyway…
I managed to take it in stride and appreciated her encouragement that she wanted someone out there to help the kids that would push them to have fun and encourage them. The first season in the Spring was so much fun that two of the other Dads and I decided to keep our kids together and coach a team this Fall.
Fall T-Ball is busy. Two games a week and none on the weekends makes for long days, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything. Not only is Carter doing great, but we’ve got a great team. Every kid has improved over the course of the season. It’s amazing. I’ll be sad when we play our last game next week.
I’ll be anxiously awaiting the Spring season in 2009 and hope that we can keep as many of these kids together as we can.
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