One night I was driving to the downtown Colorado Springs library. Of course I had the radio tuned to the SkySoxs game. During the game they were discussing the YourHub section in the paper. I was listening but what really peaked my interest was the opportunity to throw out the first ceremonial pitch at one of the SkySoxs games.

Now ever since I was too old to actually do anything about it, I've had these dreams of being out on the ball field, crowd cheering me on. This was my chance to live my dreams. Since I was still driving and since I don't have a good enough memory to capture all the information I needed, I managed to get just enough information on how to contact the person responsible for setting up the first pitch.

Once I was at the library, and after spending a few minutes on the internet, I fired off an email begging for an opportunity. Things happened fast and by the next day I was scheduled to be the first person throwing out a pitch sponsored by the YourHub.

I told the family and a few friends about it. I was then flooded with advise. And I was also reminded of the possible trajectories of the pitch, most of them not so desirable. I had to practice, tennis ball against the wall, phone calls (not returned) to Nolan Ryan, and finally I got my wife out with a glove and a real baseball.

The day of the big moment arrived. The first person I met at the stadium was a gentlemen who had thrown out a first pitch last year. He told me about his pitch sailing into the backstop. This was a new possibility, since I was mainly worried about bouncing the pitch to the catcher. Once inside the stadium, more advice. A lot of advice on how to throw off the mound. I kept reminding myself, no problem, I've throw off a mound before. I also kept reminding myself that it was 20 years ago and there was no crowd and the pitch really didn't matter since I was just pitching batting practice to my sons. They could hit anything and they made fun of me no matter what.

Everyone with the Skysox's and the Gazette were great. They all put me at ease, gave me more advice and got me out on the field and ready to go. Just seconds to go, they announced my name and had me up on the big video screen on the scoreboard. Of course I had to turn around to see and all I saw was the back of me looking up at the scoreboard. Great start. No time to think now, so I turned and fired a beauty to the catcher, who, by the way, didn't have to move to snag the toss.

Out of the crowd I hear one lone voice, "Ball....ball one".