Thank You!

It's only been a couple of days and I am missing the MudCats already! With two days to think about this season and the untimely ending, to which I was not expecting to happen when it did, I have had chance to think about many things. Most I will save for our end of season party, but a few things I wanted to tell you all.

First, I would like to thank all of you for your support for the MudCats this season. We had the best cheering section in the league. Thank you for being there for the boys. I hope you all had as much fun as the boys and coaches did.

I would also like to agree with Brett's statement that there are some talented Tarheels around us. Thank you so very much to Erin for all the wonderful pictures and videos taken throughout this season. Erin, your work adds so much to this experience for all of us. My kids would be asking from the time we got home from games, "do you think the pictures and blog are up yet". To which I would have to say, "no, I think Ms. Erin is still trying to corral "The Hammer" in from wall ball at WR". Win or lose, we all would be checking on the hour to see if those fabulous pictures from the previous game had been posted. You did a fantastic job Erin. Thank you for the hours you spent taking and editing those pictures. We all appreciate you and your talent.

To the coaches, I meant to thank you guys after the game and express my gratitude for all of your work with these wonderful guys this season. I know they appreciate it, maybe not as much now as they will when they are older and have had many coaches after us. They will appreciate what great coaches you were and great men you are. There are not many out there as good as you guys. You each have a wonderful way of working with and teaching these boys. You guys were the best staff in the league. I wish we had three more years together down there on the ML field. I hope you had as much fun as I did.Thank you Matt, Jamie and Adam. Thanks to Rob and Brett for their help on the field during practices as well. You guys were a big help!

Speaking of Adam, as usual he fails to give himself any credit. His last blog left out any mention of himself as part of the team "graduating" to the next level. I got to know Adam 3 springs ago as Asher and Gavin joined the MudCats together with Brenner. As you all know he is a tremendous writer with a great wit and humor and a terrific knowledge of the game. What most of you don't know is all of the other things he does to make the team tick. He provides an amazing update for me from each game, complete with stats on each player, both hitting and fielding down to the numerous positions each player played complete with chances, put outs, assists, etc. He charted where each player's hits went in the field. Prior to each game he would go through the opponents line up and give me a spray chart of where each player hit the ball in each at bat in our previous game against them. He keeps the "straightest" score book in all of West Raleigh the land (learned the strike through from Adam)! He actually coached 3rd and first this year while keeping the score book at the same time. Between games he had to listen to me go over each player on what they were doing well and what they needed to work on, what we should cover in practices, and the list goes on and on. I didn't imagine 3 years ago that I would become so dependent on someone other than my wife, Liz. She calls Adam my "baseball wife".  My daughter Regan calls him her "favorite coach of all time". That one hurt a little :-) I call him a good friend and a great asset to the MudCats. Thank you Adam for all you've done for me and the MudCats over the past 3 seasons.

Finally, I would like to thank my wife, Liz. She puts up with me and my incessant baseball discussions.  Between Mudcat games and practice and hitting instruction she doesn't see much of me during the season. I appreciate the sacrifices she makes that allows me to do what I love doing...coach. Thank you Liz! And thank you to the other coaches wives as well for allowing your men to be out there with me and the boys!

Thanks again to you all! It was my pleasure to coach your sons and to get to know each of your families. You are a great group and I will miss you as we move "up the hill". Once a MudCat, always a Mudcat!

Many thanks!

Sean