After visiting several venues in northeast Ohio we have decided to bring Caged Madness 10 back to Chapperells on June 27th in Akron Oh. Chapperells is a small venue that allows everybody to be close to the action. With the smaller venue selection we will only have 1200 tickets available to the public. Basically buy now!

As I veer off on another baseball tangent I must point out I was a little disappointed by an email I received this week. Let me first start by saying for several years I have stated what I thought was my idea to several friends. I told them that if I ever have a kid that I would train him (hopefully him) to pitch with both hands. (a switch pitcher) As most of my friends just laughed at the farfetched idea I pointed out how he could play the lefty righty theory by himself. He could pitch both games of a doubleheader. Most friends were really laughing at this juncture in the conversation so I would point out that he could start a game one way and close the same game with the other arm. I don’t think they realized I was serious. Surprisingly the email was a link to an article by ESPN’S Rick Reilly that brought my idea to life. Pat Venditte Sr did exactly what I hypothetically planned to do. He molded Pat Venditte Jr of the Yankees single A affilliate Charlestown Riverdogs to be an ambidextrous pitcher from the age of 3. Venditte Jr (23) wears a 6 fingered glove with two thumbs allowing him to change arms in the middle of an inning. I’m rooting for this kid to make the majors with my idea. Now that I think about it, it was his dad’s idea first.

http://www.explosivefightpromotions.com/

This blog might seem a little corny after several fight related entries but I felt the need to expand the horizons of my weekly blog. After hearing the unbelievable story of Texas Ranger outfielder Josh Hamilton many times through various media outlets I finally felt compelled to buy his book. (Beyond Belief) I certainly don’t consider myself qualified to write a book review but I must say that I couldn’t put this book down. In the final pages of the book I caught myself wishing the book wouldn’t end. It’s a real life story that takes you through Hamilton’s surreal life journey. It begins when Hamilton was a six year old that was scared to hit the ball too hard at his fellow little leaguers in fear of injuring them to becoming the 1st overall pick in the Major League draft out of High School. You feel like you know this phenom as he becomes a multi- millionaire at the tender age of 18. Later he describes plummeting to the point of giving his wife’s wedding ring to drug dealers due to his four year self-destructive crack addiction. Hamilton describes his faith in God and how his faith brought him out of his downward free fall that would have inevitably killed him. As baseball fans know Hamilton was an All Star last year and hit 13 straight homeruns during the Homerun Derby that put an exclamation mark on his continuing comeback. For what its worth I recommend the book to everybody, but especially to athletes with addictive personalities as many of us have. It’s a fantastic book fueled by a story that is literally beyond belief. Read the book and you will understand why its about more than baseball.