This summer the gang has been up to it's usual antics of trying to play softball. 'The Gang' is actually an ever changing array of mostly Irish folk with a few yanks thrown in to keep the diversity levels up. As in previous years Jude again managed to secure a permit from the Boston Parks and Recreation Department for a good few games and this Motley Crew have been making the most of it. This pic was taken at the game on June 28th when the Irish Red Lobsters beat the Boston Green Sox 8-7.
Here are tonight's version of the Boston Green Sox lead by 'St Louis' Jim there in the light green top. He's dishing out pre-game instructions to his team. By the looks of things he might need to repeat himself a few times ....... I mean that bunch is not what you would call 'pro players'. Very dodgy looking indeed.
'Ehhh ... sorry Jim ...... could you repeat that please, what do I do when I hit the ball? asked Sinead. Oh dear .... it could be a long night!!!
Talking of dodgy looking players - here's Jude also dishing out the instructions as he tries desperately to motivate this bunch, the Irish Red Lobsters. That's Nick from Philadelphia on the left, Jude, Sascha from Co. Cork, Gareth from Co. Clare (who forgot to wear red!!!), Clodagh, Olivia and Grace.
Jim is from St Louis (wearing green.... actually it's borderline blue but nevermind) and Nick is from Philadelphia, and both are very good players, I mean they grew up playing this game and so they brought a full bag of skills and tricks to proceedings to raise the tone somewhat. When picking the teams Jude always aims for a fair balance and so these two were split up and selected on opposite teams.
Naaiy ...... to the action ....... Jude pitches ......
........ and before long he has them all struck out. Jim is not impressed mind!!
Then it was Mark's turn to pitch. The last time he did this Mark made a complete edjit out of himself as he got flustered in front of an audience which included 3 random tourists, his grandparents and a pesky Boston Globe photographer (who was there to do a story for Jude's work at the IIIC). Anyway, that night Mark pitched the ball over the top of a 60ft fence which is darn well near impossible to do even if you tried it 20 times. How would he fare tonight?
Tonight Mark is actually making his comeback on the softball pitch after being away home for nearly a year.
'Here, have you lot nothing better to be doing rather than watching us edjits make wallies out of ourselves', Mark asks the viewing public.
Jude was sensing a weakness here .....stress perhaps ..... and he........
....... duly took full advantage as he bagged a run in stunning fashion ..... doesn't he just look well pleased with himself there. 
There was some dodgy fielding from the Green Sox ........ here Karen and Caoltan look like they know exactly what they are doing.
Clodagh nails one.
Nick steps up to the plate.
'Hey .... I'm Mark ..... I crash my work car every other day ..... sure it's great craic ..... I hit a kerb here .... I hit a kerb there ..... I cause accidents of the freeway ..... I'm a really crap driver actually, but hey I can play softball pretty well ..... I'm the best batter here, just watch this', said Mark.
Ehhh .... what's a freeway Mark?
Grace has arrived on the scene this summer and is always keen to play the games and get involved in the craic.
Like it was said earlier the faces in 'the gang' are ever changing. That's the nature of living in a city like Boston ...... folk come and go, it's ever changing. But one person who has always been there is Lindsey. She was the first person Jude met when he walked into the Irish immigration Center on a snowy day in early 2009 and she remains a regular softball player ....... and friend.
Tom's fully focused and Rob's saying, 'what do you want from me?
Mark chucks one.
That's Kevin, he's from Meath and he's good at getting struck out ..... but not tonight .....
...... as he makes it on base. Yes, they are both wearing green ..... well that's because Karen forgot what team she was on and arrived in the wrong top. Some mothers do have 'em!! Wha?
Is she singing, is she dancing? Who knows, but Marissa is meant to be catching.
Yoo hoo, take my pic ...... yoo hoo.... over here!! Grace pleads to get her pic taken.
'Hey look at that Lindsay', said Jude. 'What is it Jude? She replied.
'It's only a huge bloody Eagle that's what, look at the size of it', said Jude. This Eagle was two foot tall and had a real mean look in it's eye. Scary!! 
Blog readers may remember Jude's mucker Tom having a 'leaving party' back in May when his visa ran out. Well he went home then but he's back now. Jude could not believe it when he got a text one day a few weeks back exclaiming, 'I'm Back!!! Tom managed to brilliantly bluff his employer into thinking he is a good worker and amazingly the employer bought it .... hook, line and sinker. Talk about being sucked in goodo ........ so the employer forked out for a new visa for him and he's back. Suckers!!!
Lindsey is all smiles as 'The Mit' keeps score.
Here's Michael making his debut. Michael was a great addition to 'the squad' and he really proved his worth by making some great plays in this game. Meanwhile Marissa is still concentrating 100% on her catching role.
Jude makes a catch from a popped up hit. But look at the greyhound in the background scooting from 1st to 2nd ...... that's Grace showing she's no slouch!!!
Emer plays Camogie at home in Cork and it showed in her abilty to play softball, she was an excellent player in tonight's game.
Roberto Di Matteo is an auld hand at this lark now, he's been cracking hits, throwing folk out and dropping catches for the best part of four years now. I suppose you could call 'the Mit' a Veteran.
Mark nails one of Jude's pitches.
At the end of every game, no matter the score, everybody shakes hands and congratulates each other on the game, even if they were totally crap (which is usually the case). Then it's time for what is seen as part 2 of the evening .... 'Apres Softball'.
This is now a tradition that's been running for 4 years where everyone piles up to Emmet's on Beacon Hill for some grub and a few swalls. The softball evenings just would not be complete without it. Here Mark, Kevin, Tom and Michael enjoy the craic.
It's really great to have both Mark and Tom back this summer, they really love their sports and they both love the banter. Perfect!!
What could this conversation have been about? Maybe it went like this - 'Here Grace, what happened to your head? asked Michael.
'Oh I've had too many beers and it's tipped over', replied Grace.
Perhaps!!
Meanwhile over in the winners corner Jude, Marissa and Lindsay ask Karen if she had seen the dodgy looking red team the night before (Jude always sends the teams out by e-mail the night before the game) and thought to herself, 'sod that for a crap team, I'm going to turn up in green'. But her plan did not work as she had to play on the Red Lobsters team.
'Whaaassssuuupppp? The craic is flowing in Emmet's as usual and Michael has blended in like a duck to water.
Tonight's result saw the Boston Green Sox beat the Irish Red Lobsters 9-4.
Cheers!!!
Ok, so how many Irish men does it take to turn a table around? Every night during 'Apres Softball' after a couple of beers are sunk someone always decides to re-arrange tables. Tom's usually in the middle of it all. Often it is a necessity because there are so many players to be seated and then when folk start to drift off home the tables are returned to their original positions. It's all very technical as you can see. Tonight the 3 stoogies Mark, Tom and Kevin took a full 5 minutes to turn this table around. It was like something out of the Krypton Factor crossed with Laurel and Hardy.
Or was it 10 minutes?
Meanwhile the craic is ninety as the Green Sox continue to celebrate their big win.
Lindsay goes all 'Hip-Hop'.
Since Tom and the rest of the 'Derry Boys' left Boston, the 'Apres Softball' evenings had been ending somewhat earlier ........ say around 9.30pm or so ....... but now that he's back ....... well things now run on until 11.00pm - 11.30pm. It's all Tom's fault of course, he being such a bad influence and all that. 
You know Jude is well past his bed time when he starts boogying while sitting in his seat in Emmet's. Wha? Yep...... time to go home.
The gang head home at the end of another great evening of 'Apres Softball' in Emmet's.
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