WHAT IF?

by Suzanne

Okay, those new to the blog may not know this, but I'm a big baseball fan. Yep, Love me some boys of summer!

Now given my love of western historical romances, you'd probably think my favorite team would be the hometown Texas Rangers. Uhm, I do root for them to win as long as they aren't playing my favorite team, The Cleveland Indians. That's right, I'm a fan of the Tribe! We pay to watch 162 Cleveland games every year on TV. Through good years and bad, we root for our Indians.

Now this past spring's scouting report wasn't very good. To we Indians fans it was dire. Hubby came into my office the week before the start of the season and said, "Suz, the Tribe is going to suck so bad this year they're not even expected to win 9 games."

Sigh. Such a pesimistic fair-weather-fan is my other half! I looked him straight in the eye and said, "I don't think they're as bad as that. In fact, I think the pundits are wrong. The Indians are going to surprise everyone."

So April 1st and the start of the baseball season comes along. The Tribe not only lost their first 2 games, they lived down to the expectations of all the sports writers and my dear hubby. They got killed!

But then something happened. The players said to each other, "What if we don't listen to everyone else and start listening to ourselves? What if we play ball like we love it? What if Masterson and Tomlin and Carrasco start pitching really well? What if Asdrubal Cabrerra starts making fabulous plays and hitting at will? What if Hanahan makes remarkable catches at third? What if Travis Hafner stays healthy for most of the season? What if Carlos Santana and Hafner have walk-off-grand-slams to win games? What if even in the bottom of the ninth we believe we can win?

What if the fans believe? What if the players believe?

Funny thing started to happen. My boys of summer started winning. Slowly rising to the top of the American League Central.

Well, the pundits had something to say about that. "They'll never be that far up come May." Then in May, the Indians managed to stay in the AL Central lead.

Pundits: "They'll never last through June. They just don't have what it takes."

Tribe: Continued to win, stayed atop the AL Central. Yes, the Tigers were closing in, but the boys from Cleveland were hanging tough, finding ways to win. Sometimes with starting pitching, sometimes with relief pitching from the bullpen, sometimes with great defensive plays, sometimes with great hitting.

Now it's August. Where is my Tribe? Well, we're not in first anymore. We're in second with a six game deficit between us and those pesky Tigers. With only 30 some games left, the possibility of catching up is there, but the probability is slipping from our grasp with every loss by us and win by them.

I pray they make it. I pray we can have an October of playoff baseball for these guys. They've played hard all year. They haven't given up. What if they get one final surge and make it to the playoffs?

If they don't, I can tell you they've certainly had a season of "what if ?" that no one ever expected them to have.

That's the fun part of "what if?". It's not expected. There are no expectations and more importantly, no limitations.

What if I hadn't met my husband? Would I have the kids I have or the grandbabies? Would I ever have ended up in Texas? Would I have met the writing friends who have helped me become a better writer and a published one? Would I have finaled in the GH? Would I have met the Banditas? Would I have met you, our readers?

As a writer, I love the possibility of "what if?". The freedom it gives me and my characters.

Here's some "what if?" 's:

What if an undercover FBI agent needs medical help for a material witness but can't go to a traditional ER and risk the dirty cops finding them? What if he kidnaps a nurse out of a dark parking lot? What if she fights helping him until she realizes the wounded witness is a child? What if that child is the same age her dead daughter would've been?

*Yeah, I thought that was good, too!* That's the premise of KIDNAPPED, my RS that finaled in the GH Long Contemporary category.

What if a small town sheriff finds a wanna-be private investigator digging through the local town's dumpster and she stimulates more than his curiosity? What if they find a mysterious murderer living in his town? What if she is the only one who can save him in the end? That is the second book in a small town series I've written, CLOSE TO HOME.

What if a young woman is hiding from the law and the outlaw gang she helped rob a bank? What if two U.S. Marshals ride into town and discover not only her identity, but that she is unaware of her own sexual submissive side? What if they use that to gain information about the gang's whereabouts? What if she's attracted to both marshals? Yep, the plot to THE SURRENDER OF LACY MORGAN.

What if a woman witnesses the murder of a U.S. Senator? What if she needs to get out of town and decides to take up the offer to be a mail-order bride? What if the man she marries is distrustful of women keeping secrets, but needs her help to care for his young daughter? What if she falls in love with him? Yep, that's the plot to my book, CANTRELL'S BRIDE, (formerly known as REFUGE), recently sold to Ellora's Cave Blush Line!

So I think "What if?" is a very powerful idea. How about you? Have you ever had significant "What if?" moments? As a writer, do you ever have "What if?" beginnings to your books?

Men Of Sports!

by Suzanne

Before I go any further, I'd like to announce that the pitchers and catchers have reported to spring training!! Whoohooo! The boys of summer are almost back!


Can you tell I adore baseball? I'm married to a Cleveland Indians fanatic, so I watch 161 games a year. I kid you not! But luckily for me, the scenery isn't too hard on the eyes.



There's Grady Sizemore out in Centerfield. He's beautiful and beautiful to watch, especially when he's stretched out going for a fly ball. They guy simply loves to play the sport and goes all out. And when he scores a run or steals a base, the grin he gives lights up his whole being!




Then there's Travis Hafner, the DH, who hopefully will live up to his potential. I mean the man is a farm boy raised in South Dakota...built like an oak and when he's on can hit the ball a country mile. Every time Travis comes to the plate there is a potential for a game altering swing of the bat! I love his intensity and focus as he eyes the pitcher and waits for the ball. And watching his body move to take it downtown...poetry!






And to my great pleasure, (and any other woman who's stared at the backside of pitchers on the mound) Jake Westbrook, the best looking behind on a pitcher's mound, is returning to the rotation after nearly 2 years. Jake is one of my favorite reasons for watching baseball. That and I consider baseball a thinking man's, or woman's, game.



Another sport I adore is football. American football. Sigh. Being a Cleveland Browns fan long before meeting my hubby, I've suffered many a disappointing season. There have been highlights over the years. Bernie Kosar's throwing. Clay Matthews (#57) 16 years as a fabulous linebacker who knew how to hit and tackle. And now the explosive kickoff and punt returns of Joshua Cribbs (#16) and the power blocking of Joe Thomas, I think there might be a light at the end of the tunnel for my boys. But because I rarely get to root for my Browns in the post season, I also admit to admiring Petyon Manning and the Colts. Peyton is one of the most beautiful passers ever to play this game. And talk about confidence? Mmmm.


Of course, there's always my Buckeyes. Jim Tressel is on the road to greatness as a coach, IMHO. Being an Ohioan transplanted in Texas, well let's just say I've had more than one occasion to boast about my home team!





Now, these are tried and true sports for most Americans. There are those who love basketball. My coach is die-hard Kansas Jay Hawke fan and my husband is ga-ga over LeBron James and the Cavs this year. However, I am not really much of a fan, although I do sit through my fare share of games. (Usually with my nose in a book, or working on the king-sized afghan for my son's bed...a Christmas present it will take me until next winter to make.)


But the other day I was vegging before getting ready to head to work, when my channel surfing came across something unique to TV in America.





RUGBY.



OMG!! It was like the heavens had opened up, a beam of light from above shone over me and I swear the choir of angels, (all female) hit a high C in perfect harmony!! (By the way, google rugby players and you won't believe the pictures you get...uh, not for publication on the Bandit blog!)





Have y'all seen this? I mean truly watched the game? It's like soccer, football and ultimate fighting all rolled into one glorious expression of male bonding and testosterone!!!


Super buff men in shorts...god they have great legs...no padding, literally beating each other up to get this huge football down the field. And when one of them is passing the ball in from the sidelines 2 guys lift a third way up in the air by his feet to catch it! Bloody noses, bloody lips, bloody eyes, dirt, twisted ankles and knees. (Yes, I'm slightly blood thirsty.) But I think I've found a wonderfully masculine game to watch.

Now, if I could just get the TV people to show more games!!

What does this have to do with books? Hmmm...well, I've read books with sports heroes in them. But I think it's the whole males competing against males that piques my interest and I'd love to see more books with heroes from sports. (And yes I've read all of SEP's books!)

So, what sport do you love to watch or at least don't mind watching the men who play them? (Yes Anna...I know you adore hockey!) Anyone love rugby like me? Which sport would you like to see featured in a series of books?

Go Indians!!

Baseball and The Boys of October!

by Suzanne Welsh

Yes, I know it's not quite Labor Day yet, but the run for the baseball playoffs is heating up! Especially in the American League Central division. The Cleveland Indians, my team, are leading by a slim margin of 2 and 1/2 games! And tonight they turned one of the rarest plays--an around the horn triple play. It was a thing of beauty.


I adore baseball. My mother and her two sisters in Tennessee were Cincinnati Reds fans back in the days of Johnny Bench, Pistol Pete Rose and the Big Red Machine. There was no such thing as ESPN and when the games weren't on TV we listened to them over the radio on warm summer nights out on the back porch with the crickets chirping and fireflies blinking.

Then I married an Indians fan and changed allegiance more from attrition than from their excellent play. This was back in the eighties and quite frankly I watched them lose more than win. They were so bad, they made a fictional movie about them, Major League.

What got me hooked is that they showed up every day. They practiced hitting, running, catching, pitching...all as if they planned on winning. Coaches made decisions and players were traded or sent down to the minors in the hopes of the team having a winning season. Or at least not being on the bottom of the standings. Some people would say they were paid to do these things. That a salary is what prompted them. Maybe, but it didn't make them play with passion and enthusiasm. They weren't the super-paid men in pin-stripes. Many were making low-for-baseball-players salaries. They were the underdogs, my heroes. They plugged away for the love of the game.

Then things started to change. After a new stadium was built, and management made some changes the team started winning. They played to 455 consecutive sell-out games at Jacobs Field. (A number the team retired in honor of their fans.)They made a run for the pennant. Omar Visquel was a thing of beauty on the field, almost a ballerina turning a double play! Jim Thome looked like a mountain of a man at the plate just before he knocked one out of the park. They played in two world series!! But didn't win either one.

Then time passed, they restructured the team and had a few rebuilding years.

Now they're in the race again, with guys like the gorgeous Grady Sizemore making flying and diving catches in centerfield. Designated hitter, Travis Hafner and catcher, Victor Martinez leading their offenses. Pitchers CC Sabathia, Fausto Carmona and Paul Byrd setting records and winning games.

That's sort of what it's like for me as a romance writer. I plugged away in the early years because of my love of the game, (writing). Then things started to click, I won a contest that actually paid me! OMG, the next thing must be publication. After a couple of tries without reaching that goal, I had to step back and restructure. Then I started finaling in contests with my newer works, get positive feedback even in my rejections. Now I'm making a run at the series again, (an agent or a publishing contract).

Will I make it? I hope so. I'm working like I mean to achieve those things. I have two GH pins to show for the efforts so far. I have to believe they're signs!

Will my Indians make the World Series again? I hope so. They turned a TRIPLE PLAY tonight. Somehow I have to think it's a sign!

So what heroes in your life or books keeps you rooting for them even when all seems lost?