Week 6: A Swift Kick

The image that I cannot seem to erase from my gray matter is that of one I first viewed a couple of days ago. The setting is an upper-aged, novice baseball game and the image has a side view of the batter, catcher, and umpire. The source of this image is actually a short video of the at bat, but the single image that is tattooed onto my brain is what happens after the umpire calls the 3rd strike. Without hesitation, the batter takes one backward hop, and while facing the pitcher, does a back kick into the catchers face, and instantly sprints forward. During the point of impact, the batter has one foot out front and one foot in the catcher’s grill. His torso faces forward at about a 100 degree angle to his legs, but his head is turned down and backwards so that he can view the targeted face and make an accurately placed kick. The rest of the video goes on to show the catcher toppling over, the batter dropping his bat, and charging the mound at an incredible rate in attempt to attack the pitcher. The image that sticks though is the exact moment when this frustrated batter’s foot is in the face of the catcher as he simultaneously faces his next target, the pitcher. I think the reason this image has taken such serious root in my brain is because of the absurdity of the entire situation. When I first watched this I could not believe my eyes! It would have been unbelievable to have been at the game in person. What provokes a player to do such an act is beyond me, but the entire occurrence had me literally “ROTFL”. It especially cracks me up that even before he has ended giving a swift kick to the catcher, he already knows he’s going to run at the pitcher. He has an agenda of punishment to hand out, and he wastes no time. It may not strike some people as humorous as I found it, but I just can’t seem to get it out of my head. Please, enjoy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8lZLysEu1U