batteh blog-o-rama

We had a wonderful weekend celebrating Matt’s 70th birthday!! We drove out on Thurs. evening, spent Friday hanging out with the family, had a big party on Saturday, and then drove home today. We enjoyed visiting Swim Lake, playing Bang! (a cool new game), eating yummy food, and celebrating the big “70″ with family and friends!! Michele put together an awesome PowerPoint presentation which provided pictorial evidence of Matt’s 70 years of michief!! Check out the photo gallery for some pictures from the event. Feel free to add your comments and well-wishes.

UPDATE: New pictures added to the flickr gallery

I flew down to surprise Matty to attend his state championship baseball games against Columbus (thanks to Liz for the great idea). Columbus was the defending state champion and had won the title the past two years. Behind two strong pitching performances from Eric and Evan, the Titans won 1-0 and 2-1 to take the state championship in Columbus. The two games were incredible- two of the best games I’d ever seen.

The first game was delayed for about an hour by rain/lightning (we stayed dry under cover). Matty DH’ed in the first game and went 0-2. Eric pitched a gem- only allowing two runners to second and rarely going to three balls on the hitters. Tim made an amazing diving stop in the hole between short and third, got up to gun the runner out at first, and really set the tone for some stellar defense throughout the game. Jonathan also ran down two deep balls in LC and RC later in the game. The games were played in a single A stadium that was 415 to dead center and that really hurt Columbus on a few deep balls. Tim also scored the only run of the game by getting a hit, stealing second, and scoring on an RBI single by Evan. I have to say that Liz was key to the victory- she called and was talking to me right when Evan got his hit. Pitching, solid defense, and some timely hitting were the keys to the win.

Matty also DH’ed in the second game and went 1-2 with a line drive single to RF. Matty got his hit leading off in the 5th but was forced out at second on a sacrifice bunt attempt. Evan pitched an awesome game and battled all through the game- really keeping the Columbus hitters off balance with a variety of pitches and arm angles. The game was nip and tuck all game long and was tied 1-1 in the middle innings. In the 4th Jonathan kept up his hot hitting with a base hit and advanced to third on a bloop single to RF by Jimmy. The RF dove for the ball and didn’t catch it. The second baseman picked up the ball and threw the ball home, but it skipped past the catcher. The pitcher was backing up home and thought the play was over so, with his head turned, didn’t see the ball skip past the catcher. Jonathan raced home on the play to put BT up 2-1. Columbus threatened in the bottom of the 6th and had a runner on third with 1 out. Their guy hit a line drive to RF that Jonathan caught. Coming towards home on the catch, he fired a one hop strike to the catcher to get the runner trying to tag from third (apparently he broke home and had to retreat to tag). The throw was on the money and the catcher caught the ball and had time to set himself before being plowed over by the runner. He held on to the ball and the runner was both out and ejected for not sliding. BT then got the last three out, including the last out on a K, to preserve the win. Mass celebration erupted with a pile-on behind the pitcher’s mound. This was BT’s first state championship in baseball. These were definitely two of the most amazing baseball games I’d seen with clutch plays all throughout the game. BT played error-free ball and took advantage of some Columbus mistakes.

I’ve posted a collection of pictures, both ones I took and some from others, on my flickr page. Here is a direct link to the photo gallery from the championship games:
BT Titans State Championship Gallery

For more photos from the games, check out this photo gallery from the Columbus paper and frankc’s awesome photos from the games (one gallery for each of the state playoff final games).

Here are a collection of links from the Columbus and Atlanta papers describing the two games:
Inning-by-Inning Blog
Errors Seal Fate for Blue Devils
Titans Throw Out Defending Champs
Titans Live Up to Their Billing
Maust Helps Titans to First Crown
Ogawa Can’t Deliver Magic Again

I’m planning on running the Race for the Cure again this year (if my slow pace can actually be considered running). Please consider helping me reach my fundraising goals by making a donation online via my secure personal donation page. I propose a competition between Family, Friends, BGBG, and GSHAS to see who has the most donors (we’ll have to figure out what to do with those who play on both teams). If one of the softball teams wins, I’ll provide post-game beverages. We’ll figure out something if the Family or Friends group wins. Feel free to leave your comments here and check back for updates on the effort. Thanks in advance for your support!!

Below is the updated donor count. Family is back in the lead with Friends just behind but the softball teams are coming on strong!!

Family: 8
Friends: 6
BGBG: 1.5
GSHAS: 1.5

We really had a nice time with the family over Christmas. Besides eating lots and lots of good food (thanks Mom, Liz, and Karen), we had a great time on Christmas morning (Matty enjoyed the traditional treasure hunt to find his new bat, getting Nano Matty up and running) and enjoyed each others company. We played lots of games of Catan, and Matthew and I had our inaugural “Batteh Madden Challenge” which ended in a tie at 3 games apiece. We also visited the new Georgia Aquarium- a must-see for anyone in the Atlanta area. The ladies also found time to paint some original pottery. Check out the photo gallery link below for lots of photos (be sure to scroll through the various pages to see them all) from the festivities, including some pictures from Majd and Karen.

Photo Gallery

We had a great time with the Ts over Thanksgiving. Liz made a tremendous feast of turkey, sausage and cornbread stuffing, sweet potato casserole, cranberry-orange ring, wild rice and mushrooms, pistachio cake, and a lovely and delicious apple pie with a homemade crust. Yummy!! Besides trying on the old school helmet, we enjoyed each other’s company, played cards and Settlers of Catan, and even went to see the new Harry Potter movie. Thanks for spending Thansgiving with us- we loved having you!! Check out the photo gallery link below for the blackmail photos (thanks to Joan for sending along her pictures as well).

Photo Gallery

Check out Matty in his Super Fly shirt for 70s Day during Homecoming Week!! It is kind of freaking me out!! Awesome!!

Full Image

Hanna and Yousef came up to visit and to take in the UM football game versus Eastern Michigan. We had a tremendous weekend!!

After their arrival on Friday evening, we hung out for a while before going out to for dinner. As we were heading downtown, there was an amazing sunset with the sky full of brilliant purples and oranges. After a yummy dinner at Zanzibar, we headed out to Cafe Oz. We had an argile, heard a little Arabic music, and enjoyed the belly dancing. Yousef even ran into an old friend from high school in Ramallah. Even the old fogies (i.e. Liz and I) managed to stay out late. We then went home for a few hours of sleep before the noon game on Saturday.

We got up early to do some tailgating before the game (early enough even to stop by Steve and Barry’s to get some Michigan gear- Hanna behib small T-shirts). We headed over to Annie and Chaz’s place (thanks again) to enjoy our pre-game meal on their new deck. Liz made a delicious breakfast casserole and Annie and Chaz made chocolate chip pancakes and fresh sausage. After filling our bellies, we headed over the stadium in a light rain. Our seats were great- about 7 rows closer than our previous seats when Chuck and Fred came up for the season opener against Northern Illinois. The game was pretty much a blowout (55-0), but there were a few exciting plays- Breaston had a nice punt return and a guy from Eastern made a great leaping grab on a long pass play. Hanna even perfected the picture-through-the-binoculars technique and got some cool shots. The halftime show was awesome as the band played music from Spamalot with their parody “Search for the Big Ten Grail” with mascots from the other Big Ten schools. Later in the evening, we went to Mongolian BBQ and enjoyed a delicious, all-you-can eat feast. Following dinner, we walked around for a while (gotta work off some of that stir fry), gave some lady bum directions to a bookstore (oops, my bad), went to the wrong dessert place, and then went back to the correct one. On the way home, we saw a beautiful moon and a deer on the side of the road about half a mile from the house. We then got comfy, had our dessert, and watched the UF-UT game (go gators!!).

We slept in late on Sunday and then went to our favorite breakfast place, Northside Grill. Awesome as usual!! After breakfast we did some walking around the UM campus. We visited the Law Quad, the Diag, and saw much of UM Central Campus (including packs of future sorority girls going through rush- sadly, Hanna was not invited along). We then went back home and hung out for a while on the patio (Hanna even taught me some important Arabic lessons). We had so much fun that we even left a little late for the airport. However, all was well as Hanna and Yousef made their flight. We had a great time and look forward to another visit soon. Thanks for coming up!!

Below is a link to our photo gallery (note that there are three pages). Feel free to leave comments/additional memories/random observations on this post or the pictures.

Photo Gallery

Chuck and Fred came up this weekend to visit and attend the UM-Northern Illinois football game. We had a tremendous time this weekend- everyone was fundamentally sound!!

Saturday was game day and the weather was beautiful- mid 70s with a bright, blue sky and a cool breeze. After breakfast, we headed over to Annie and Chaz’s to tailgate (thanks so much for hosting us). Well, we made it after Liz realized that I couldn’t start the Escape with the Focus keys- doh!! Liz set us up with brats, burgers, taco dip, and two cakes and Annie made a tremendous potato salad. Chaz manned the grill masterfully and morale was sky high. The walk to the field was cool- Fred even found an earring in his shoe (sadly, just one)!! Our seats were great and it was awesome seeing the team run from the tunnel and jump up to touch the banner (though Chuck thought that the cheerleader running with the M needed to work on his conditioning). The game was a blast as Henne, Hart, and the rest of the boys took care of Northern Illinois. We exhorted the defense to make plays, cheered as Henne repeatedly hooked up with Avant and Massaqoi, saw Mike Hart and Kevin Grady make some great runs, sang “The Victors” a bunch of times, got annoyed by the drunk dudes and their way too young hoochies that kept getting up and walking in front of us, and even saw SuperFan VI. At one point Chuck yelled, “C’mon Big Blue, you are my adopted team for the weekend.” After the game, we headed back to Annie and Chaz’s to hang out a bit and dip into the cakes (very yummy). We rested for a while at home, watching a little of the GT-Auburn game. We then headed out to Pizza House to eat some grub and watch the rest of the game (sweet win for GT).

On Sunday, we headed out to walk around the campus and take in the UM experience (side mission: find Ann Arbor legend Shaky Jake [pic]). We went to the Law Quad and happened upon the UM basketball team picture. After heading over to the Diag (be sure to avoid the M before your first final), we went and did some shopping at Steve and Barry’s. We decided to head over to Grizzly Peak and had to stop to take a photo with the Junebug poster at the Michigan Theater. Sadly, Shaky Jake was nowhere to be found but we had fun walking around A2. When we got home, we watched Michigan Replay and learned how to sing “The Victors” using your diaphragm. I think Chuck and Fred have it now- just ask them and I’m sure they’ll be proud to demonstrate. For dinner, Liz made us her famous ribs and we BBQ’ed them on the grill. Man, did we eat good- ribs, corn, mashed potatoes, and cake for dinner!!

This morning, we had breakfast at Northside Grill where we ran into Chaz and Annie (we had just said that we often run into them at Northside). We then drove out to Dearborn to visit Shatila and pick up some pastries before dropping Fred and Chuck off at the airport. Couldn’t have asked for a better weeeknd!! Thanks for coming up to visit!! Here is a photo album from our weekend- feel free to leave feedack and additional memories from the weekend via the comments.

Photo Album

We had a wonderful time at Karen and Majd’s wedding. The link below contains a photo album, courtesy of the Tabak family (note that there are 4 pages of photos so be sure to click through the index pages).

Wedding Photos

It was great seeing everyone and celebrating together- a great time was had by all and morale was sky high. Feel free to post comments about the wedding and pictures below. For more wedding pictures, click here for the professional photographer’s album, here for Yousef’s album and here for Kavitha’s album.

Matthew’s baseball team is in the state playoffs. Go BT Titans!! Here is a summary from Dad:

Several of you have asked me to keep you abreast of Matthew’s baseball season, so here it is. Matthew’s baseball team finished second in the region and made the state play-offs. The state play-offs are best of three series against teams from around the state in their region (AAA). They won their first series last Friday in a double header (10-0 and 9-0). Matthew got to pitch one (hitless) inning in the second game so now they are one of sixteen AAA teams still left in the state playoffs. They will have a tough second round this week against Cartersville, a team that has won the state AAA championship 3 years out of the last 4. In case you are interested, the link below shows some pictures of Matthew taken by a photographer at a couple of the games this past season.

You can view pictures of Matty playing using the following link:
Matty’s Baseball Pics

Congratulations to Matthew for making the varsity baseball team as a sophomore!! BT Titans in the house!! Check out this page for info on the Titans throughout the season.