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Where Are They Now? Dmac.....

By Bronzed Nuts, 11/26/07, 5:41PM HKT

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Find out what Dmac's been up to since leaving Hong Kong....

What have you been up to since going back to Canada?

 

Hey Greg, being back in Canada has been a whirlwind…I am now in my third year back, and on returning went back to school full time to complete my Masters in Counselling. I am now counselling at the Nova Scotia Community College and have a small private business providing career development and facilitating groups. On the home front, it is great to have a home, and a yard, but I sure do miss the travel, the afternoons at the ballpark and those tournaments around Asia with Gas House and the Turkeys!

 

How’s the wife and kids?

Jacinda is doing great, and is very happy to be back in Canada. Jaden is now in grade one and started playing ball last summer and hockey this year. Ella also started school this year and doing gymnastics and dance! Its kinda sad though how little they remember of HK, particularly since they were born there.

 

Are you playing ball?

After two years off during my schooling and a year getting my career back up and running, I got back on the field this year…so it was a painfully long time away. Of course I went out here to play slo pitch and it just was not the same…the league was weak, and the camaraderie of HKSPSA was no where to be found – could have something to do with the availability of beer ALL DAY LONG!  So I hooked up with a competitive fastpitch team and rode the pines most of the year, but finally got in the lineup at the end of the year, and wouldn’t let them take me out…  We ended winning the Eastern Canadian Championships…fun, but not quite as satisfying as those winning years in HK.

 

Are you still teaching and is there any chance of you coming back?

I do have a few barriers…I am consulting with Long Hair. I want the league to agree to put home plate back where it belongs. I can’t concentrate at third base with all those yahoos above me. I will reconsider if you put a chalk line above the 30th story windows in right field, and remove the home run restriction!

 

But really, I am hoping to come over to facilitate some personality/teambuilding workshops with corporate groups… I am working on it. Where there’s a will there is a way!

 

If you could be a shark or a whale which one would you be and why?

Shark, I’m not so comfortable with that blow hole…There’s some real weirdos out there!

 

You won a lot of championships with Santa Fe.  Which one was your favorite year and why? Being a rookie, and just starting to get a feel for the league…I remember playing against guys like Dom, Mac, Noonan, Rhino and Cody, and thinking are these guys serious?? This is Slow Pitch…on a soccer field! What’s wrong with you guys? …But when I started to realize how important the HK softball and the Santa Fe dynasty was in the hearts and minds of all 7+ million Hongkeneze…I bought in hook line and sinker.

Oh ya, favourite year? Winning in 2001 was pretty important, since I changed my wedding day to allow me to play on the final day, under heavy pressure from John & Dave So (that’s the truth – I didn’t remember but my wife did). I also remember drinking a beer from Tim Meade’s boot…Of course they were all great, but 2005 was probably most memorable, being my last year, and having some doubts as the league was becoming much more balanced. Then there was that ridiculous John So play, and of course having the rookies drink from my boot!

 

Hoover, Dmac, Dukie, Johnny Lau….  Has there ever been a better middle of the order in Hong Kong?

You better add Dean Croy to that, cause in 2003, that lineup was just silly. Now, you might want to check that with the guys who have been around for like 20 years, but I can tell you I never played in a better lineup… there was no real pressure on you knowing those guys were there…but you know, the best thing about our team was that it was always a full team effort. Everyone bought into the defence first philosophy.  Meade, J So, Cormier, Hawley, PK and Phil who always seemed to come up huge on both sides of the plate. There is NOTHING better than winning as a team!

 

When Dmac was a little kid who was his idol? 

Mario Lemieux, Kirby Puckett and Wade Boggs

 

Favorite teammate?

Oh man, that is so unfair…Hoover in his red Thai silk shorts, Meade with his pearls of motivational wisdom…PK with that great grin, John So and Hawley’s knowledge of the game…Croy, Cormier…Phil Cam’s classic e-mail recaps!… but really I don’t think anyone will hold it against me when I say playing with Johnny Lau…that guy just never ceased to amaze and surprise me…walking around in those flashy fluorescent warm up outfits…the shades, the hair, the swing lessons…oh man, what a guy, what a ball player…makes me smile!

 

Favorite team to play against?

 

I loved playing against Ronny Moss – Awesome guy! he gave me way too much respect, and he always tried to play those head games, he used to say, “you are the best hitter out here Dmac, I hate pitching against you, do you know what your average is against me?….” Little did he know that if he had said, “you suck Dmac, I’ve had your number all year”, I probably would have believed him and choked every time…Of course Ronny is probably the nicest guy I played against in HK. But by far the most fun was in the days against coyote, such a explosive team…but then the way things would fall apart on them… I remember one time Cody made this great play from short and fielded a ball from the middle of left field- threw it like a  laser… an easy out at first and the guy dropped the ball, Cody’s glove must have gone 40 feet in the air!!! You knew the beer was going to taste a little bit sweeter on those days!

Oh ya, I like beating up on you too Flynn. You NEVER should have left Santa Fe!

 

Do you remember the time we decided to take turns throwing that little foam rugby ball at each other from five feet away?  You nailed me right in the eye and the whole place erupted!!  I instantly knew I was in trouble and went right over to the ice box to keep down the swelling.  Three days later I had to give a speech in front of 300 people and had the slightest bit of a shiner.  My boss was questioning whether I should give the speech or not!!!  How moronic were we??? How satisfying was it when you heard that loud thud of the ball exploding on my face and everyone erupting in laughter??

 

Ahhhhh! I forgot about that!  I remember thinking you were going to snap, I was looking for an exit… That compares only to the championship night we were at  Dukie’s and I was sitting with a beer on his stationary bike (yes Joe had one – it wasn’t working for him though), and Hawley out of nowhere comes through the air with a flying-cross body as though from the top ropes…the bike folded up like an accordion on the floor, under both me and Hawley. That was the end of Joe’s aerobic days…

 

Please give us your comments on Rob Cormier….

Cormier is the ultimate gentleman, and I can’t say that there would be a nicer guy in all of the HKSPSA…There is also nobody more committed to softball in Hong Kong, as evidenced by the amount of time Santa Fe has sponsored a team in the League. He is a guy you always wish you had more time to get to know, not only because he’s a great guy, but because you always wanted to learn how to crush a beer can with your head from a hand stand position!

 

Who would win in a fight- Mike Tyson from 1987 or Muhammad Ali from 1965?

Ali, no question.  He’d knock him out with his vocabulary.

 

 Which one looks more like a Keebler Elf- Peter Klimenko or Tim Meade?

Meade…Klimenko is more like a Hobbit

 

Who looks more like Confucius- John So or Phil Kam?

John So, he just needs is the Goatee

 

Do you miss Hong Kong?

Twice a day, at least…but not nearly as much as Kings Park on a Saturday afternoons. Oh, and Elevator Rumbles with Hawley…

 

Do you keep in touch with anyone from the league?

I remain on the Santa Fe mailing list and touch base with many of the guys on an individual basis, now and again. I am pretty jealous that Dean Croy is back…

 

Your greatest memory from King’s Park is……

The steps in centre field.

 

Do you still check the web site and follow what’s going on in the league?

Absolutely, I love the u-tube addition…and the history, great stuff! Sorry to see Gleyze has left.

 

If they want kids to stop sniffing and eating glue why don’t they change the smell and make it taste worse than it does now??  I was playing with my little cousin last Christmas and he was gluing together some Christmas ornaments.  Of course I put a little Elmer’s Glue on my finger and it tasted just as good as when I was a kid!  It’s not the kids fault damn it!!

 

You did well to reinforce your cousin’s more nutritional food of choice. 

 

Name the one player that you played against in Hong Kong that you respected the most?

 

1) Dustin Ford: what a glove…

 

2) Dom Martinetti’s photographic memory and ability to describe every critical event of each game for at least the last 15 years, both good and bad… Dom is a gem…

 

Anything you want to say to the fellas back in Hong Kong?

 

This goes for EVERYONE, 1) get out on that field more often than your life will reasonably allow you to, and 2) stay at least one beer longer each week than you need to… If anyone is ever in the Halifax area, I would love to hear from you and share a few stories over a couple of beer…derrickmceachern@gmail.com .