flubbed grounder
the warmth of the benchwarmer’s place
on the bench

9 Responses

  1. Mike Schoenburg Says:

    my own backyard

    I forget

    to love it ?

  2. Marie Shimane Says:

    I keep seeing this and I keep liking it!

  3. Alan Summers Says:

    Ah "flubbed grounder" is a popular crossword puzzle clue with the answer being 'boot' but also something about getting to second base? <grin>

    There have been times I haven't wanted or appreciated another person's bottom warmth, but when there's a bitter winter, and I do not have enough appropriate clothing… :-)

    A definition reads:

    What is Benchwarmer?
    A term used to describe a player on the roster who never or rarely sees any playing time.

    Sporting Charts explains Benchwarmer
    The term refers to the fact that this player's body temperature heats up the bench for his or her more active teammates.

    So it was all innocent all the time! :-)

    Unwelcome heat can sometimes be welcome heat, as in a New Zealand evening becoming so cold, without winter clothes, that…

    Rotorua twilight
    the coolness draws in
    around warm sulphur

    Alan Summers
    Pelican Club Europe (Japan, 2002)

    For those who don't know about Rotorua or sulphur, it is the bad egg smell, sometimes recreated by juvenile delinquents at schools, high schools to college onwards. <grin>

    Sulphur can be a fishy smell despite not smelling in the least like fish gone off, and grounders can be a two bouncer in sport or Percopsis omiscomaycus which go rather well with French Fries. :-) Or Egg and Chips (fries). :-)

  4. papagreenbean Says:

    I have played much baseball beginning in Belgium as a 9 year-old in Little League. Some coaches will pull a player after making an error, like missing (flubbing) a ground ball. Flub implies that the ball was not a difficult ball to handle, and the fielder should have easily handled the ball and thrown the hitter out. Normally, the batter would not advance to second base but just make it to first base safely on the flub.

  5. Alan Summers Says:

    Not unlike cricket, fumbling a catch silly mid-on or Mis-field where a fielder fails to collect the ball cleanly, often fumbling a pick-up or dropping a catch.

    Basically butterfingers really.

    Alan

  6. Garry Says:

    One can imagine the benchwarmer?s heat being not entirely comfortable, resulting in a blush of embarrassment at being replaced by the benchwarmer for poor play. So that warmth is not entirely a happy one.

    And for Alan, the hitter advanced, though not necessarily to second base. ;-)

  7. Alan Summers Says:

    I do remember accidentally committing second base when I had to throw out a violent gatecrasher at a performance poetry gig. It was an instinctive act to push her out of the way of a broken glass pint mug. It wasn't sporting of him to cut one of the women politely asking him to leave. Thankfully it wasn't an ER/A&E injury.

    I understand much in the USA but flubbing the grounder had me flummoxed. I've only mostly played contact sports, but did play a game of rounders once at a school. ;-)

    Alan

  8. papagreenbean Says:

    Being taken out after flubbing the grounder, but warming up in the spot of the bench warmer… therefore, time to think about the flub, and time to rest.

  9. Bruce Says:

    Garry, I really enjoyed your poem! Here's one I published in 2016 bottle rockets which has some
    resonation:

    the same dream
    I watch the game
    from the bench

Leave a Reply