In what will become one of the most memorable years of this man's life, a long-time PASL player who played for several teams including Local 802(going back to 1985 or thereabouts), Friars Club and more recently Jaded Waiters Dave George has been in Iraq for most of the year. He was notified late last year that he would be getting deployed to Iraq as a member of the NY National Guard. Little did he know that softball would become a part of his life there. In fact where he is located there is a league with anywhere from 30 to 50 teams playing in each of about 4 "seasons" throughout the year. Dave would become his team's pitcher- a natural for him since he had been pitching for the Jaded Waiters and other teams when last in New York. A number of differences in playing conditions and rules were to be discovered, among them: and all dirt field where bad hops are the norm and balls often roll all the way to the fence. Dave even got a home run on a grounder down the third base line! Everyone starts with a 1-1 count- to speed things up- and all games are arc style pitching, so it's a real hitters game. Typical scores are double digits for both teams, sometimes going beyond 30 for the winning team! But it's a form of recreation and one of many that's offered in Dave's location. Of course not all soldiers are so lucky, especially the ones in the "hot" zones where insurgent activity is higher. Dave would love to hear from his fellow PASL players back home and relate some of his war stories. And next summer, if all goes as planned he'll be back home in NY playing ball somewhere in Central Park or one of the other fields around town
