I hate the word obese. It is a hurtful word, and makes me seek solace in a Twinkie. I also hate the words diabetes and arthritis, though apparently not enough. I am not overly fond of the phrase prescription drugs, at least when it applies to the obscene amount Americans have to pay for the medicines they need. Pharmaceutical companies are oil companies without offshore drilling and pipelines.
I love baseball. I have since I was old enough to swing a bat. I miss playing the game, fielding a sharply hit grounder, throwing out the batter at first. I can’t say I miss hitting curve balls. If I hit one when I played ball in the 50’s and 60’s, it was surely by mistake.
I recently discovered that people my age
actually play baseball.
There are leagues such as the MSBL, or Men’s Senior Baseball League, and
there are Over-50, even Over-60 tournaments in places such as
I am obese-grossly grosses me out, so I won’t use it. I suffer from Diabetes 2, arthritis, and sleep apnea. If it is related to being overweight, I have it. I quit playing golf because bending over to tee up left me short of breath, so now I am talking about playing baseball? Well, yeah.
And I haven’t been able to lose weight. Finding out I had diabetes should have been a clue I need to lose weight. Wrong. Listening to my doctor tell me my quality of life will suffer if I don’t lose weight, and knowing he is telling the truth because it already suffers, has not been the motivation I need to lose weight. Weight Watchers has worked wonders. I once lost over 30 pounds on the program. Then let one slip move me away from the program, as I methodically gained all those pounds back.
Maybe I’m being too hard on myself though. I figured out that I had only gained an average of 3.5 pounds for every year I have been married. Of course Jane and I will celebrate our 38th anniversary this August.
The image of me in a baseball uniform one more time is powerful. I am not sure it is powerful enough to keep me on the path I MUST follow, but I hope you will help me. I hope you will encourage me as I start my journey to good health. I will certainly encourage you.
Be a part of the team as I step up to the plate. If you are into baseball, well, I learned to love baseball reading the Sporting News when it read like a baseball paper, looked like a baseball paper, and smelled like a baseball paper. I am a frustrated baseball writer, so believe me there is going to be a lot of baseball in Stepping Up To The Plate.
If you are losing weight, I hope my journey can inspire you, and your journey can inspire me. Part of this blog will be a daily weight loss/exercise journal. And I am not going to avoid talking of my struggles.
Welcome to Stepping Up To The Plate. I hope you will visit often.
Website by Graphic Design by Dianne
Copyright © 2008 by Ron Meyer. All rights reserved.
Revised: 06/25/08 12:42:25 -0400.
Photo by Fred Ensminger
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I am a hard-core race fan.
I love all kinds of racing, but dirt track racing is my passion.
NASCAR's
Sprint Cup, Nationwide Series, and Craftsman Trucks receive ample coverage
from newsstand magazines like NASCAR Illustrated, Speedway Illustrated, and
Stock Car Racing. There is no
shortage of magazines featuring IRL drivers.
But what about the rest of racing, the local, grassroots, Saturday
night racing?
A magazine I write for,
Dirt Late Model, does a wonderful job of covering national tours like the
World of Outlaws, the Lucas Oil Dirt Series, and the UMP Summer Series.
Regional tours like the WDRL, MLRA, MARS, NALMS, SAS, are well
represented. Flat Out magazine
does a great job of covering sprint car and midget racing, and open wheel
mega-events like the Knoxville Nationals, and the Chili Bowl. And, Three
Wide Media's
newest magazine Dirt Modified is on the scene for all the important modified
races such as the Fall Jamboree at Deer Creek Speedway, and the IMCA Super
Nationals in
I am
proud to say that both Dirt Late Model and Dirt Modified, magazines I write
for, go out of their way to find good stories on racers.
Every story is not about Scott Bloomquist or Billy Moyer or Kelly
Shryock, or other name drivers.
But one magazine covers late models, and the other one modifieds.
Other than results, and once a year specials, no magazine or racing
paper covers hobby stocks, stock cars, street stocks, pure stocks, pro
stocks, or sport compacts.
There
are 1,000 dirt ovals in the
Welcome to the rest of the dirt.
One thing I have no shortage of is opinions.
George Bush, Barack Obama, John McClain-yup, I have opinions about
each man.
College sports, prescription drugs, tomatoes,
vegans,
The price of oil-don't get me started.
The absurd salaries of corporate CEO's.
Children starving in
My wife says my brain is full of facts that aren't worth much.
The Black Hills of South Dakota, and riding
in a taxi in
I may be serious. I may be funny. I may be ironic. I will speak out. Blogging is cheaper than a therapist.
Ron
Meyer






