The sound of a ball smacking off the bat rings through the field and the ball sails into the gap in right while the young boy who hit it rounds first. Parents sit just outside the fence in lawn chairs and fold-outs, cheering on the child and still supporting the outfielders trying to learn. It's the first day of little league baseball in Edmonton.
Sitting underneath the open trunk door of his SUV alongside his wife is Cole Reinhart, watching his son, the batter who hit it to right field, get to second base and slow down to look for a call. He stops at second, then looks at his dad and smiles. His dad starts waving him to look at coach and keep moving, a typical mistake for a kid still taking in the new atmosphere.
Cole's son, Christopher, has just turned nine years old this year, born back during Cole's rookie season in the SHL, and is finally getting into a division with competitive pitching and the ability to go to the Little League World Series. He plays hockey during the winter, but as the hockey seasons wind down, he jumps into baseball in hopes of being like Mike Trout or Miguel Cabrera. He even likes to pretend he's Bryce Harper sometimes.
"That's a clown question, bro," said Christopher Reinhart when asked about becoming a two-sport start when he grows up. His father just chuckles and tells him he could absolutely do it.
These are the moments that led Cole Reinhart to think about retirement. As his son goes on about his favorite players in baseball like Trout and Andrew McCutchen (Christopher is a center fielder), Cole slips into his own world. He thinks about his retirement, and transfer to an office only role and how that could change his world. He thinks about how things would be different had he retired the season before. He thinks about....
"Right dad!?" asks Christopher, snapping Cole back into reality. His son is sitting in the back of the SUV now, with Big League Chew, a juicebox, and a popsicle that every player gets after the game to congratulate them.
"What? Yes, right," says Cole, not knowing what his son said. And with that, Cole slips back into his mind. He has a game that night, and actually left the office early after making some calls in preparation for the trade deadline and to try and sign his players. In a few hours, he'll announce the signings of Riko Muerto and Emils Vilmenietis just before they take the ice against the Winnipeg Jets.
He knows that things have been going well, so he slips out early once in a while to spend extra time with his wife and his son. Kyle Keenan can take care of things in the office for that hour or so, the family has to be the priority sometimes. Though he loves it, he still knows he's going to miss the days he would go to the rink and play. He's going to miss being his son's favorite player.
BANG!
The sound of the unforgiving boards rattling from the impact of a body smashing into it reverberates through the arena. It sparks the packed house at the Rexall Place to jump to their feet and cheer, one of their long-time leaders Cole Reinhart has just crushed Max McDonald. The fans are extremely aggressive toward McDonald, happy about the hit delivered due to him playing for a rival after his father made his name in Edmonton.
Cole, instead, is reminiscing. He remembers meeting Max when he was just a kid, similar to Christopher right now. He remembers how Max was so determined to be like his father, and how much Jay wanted to spend more time with him. Throughout the game, he'll talk to Max about his dad, but still give him some pushes to let him know they aren't friends during a game.
It wasn't long ago that Cole just broke into the league. Now he's the leader of the most successful franchise in SHL history, and a three time All-Star. He's become one of the superstars of this league and endured all the punishment it could possibly give him, but still his wife worries about him every game.
"That hit was pretty rough for Max, but it definitely affected Cole," says Caitlin, Cole's wife. "He's an old man now, him laying into people like that just isn't good for him. I can't wait for him to finally be able to move on."
Caitlin has voiced this opinion to Cole before, when he was a younger player getting hurt on a nightly basis from reckless behavior all the way to his old age seasons where he's trying to help instill his genius and experience on the younger players. Right now, his focus is on helping his team and getting OJ Simpson focused a little better on staying out of the penalty box.
After the game, which was a 4-2 loss, he goes to talk to Gene Parmesan, a veteran, about setting a better example after taking four minor penalties in the game. He'll go talk to Blowjob Jesus to help him get his confidence back after a weak outing, and he'll joke with Jakub Aittokallio and Teemu Nurmi about something in Finnish that he doesn't really understand.
Then everyone will be gone. He'll sit in the locker room later than anybody else, watching tape from the game, playing ball-hockey with his son, apologizing to his wife. The pride in his eyes, the fire that's burning through his heart, is very apparent in these moments. These are the moments he doesn't want to leave behind, where he focuses on making everyone else better. The moments where he can actually make a big difference.
KNOCK!
The door was closed while Cole was busy talking with the agent of Jakub Aittokallio, who's playing hard ball leading up to his free agency this offseason. His secretary received a fax from the league while he was busy, and was just arriving to give him the news. It was top secret information, unavailable to anyone but the eyes of Reinhart and his secretary, but he ensured it's "big, big" news.
He spends most days like this, sitting in his office going over the financial information of his team and talking to agents. He's been working with Muerto and Vilmenietis's agents all season long in order to settle on a price tag on the young superstars. Now he turned toward the players he has a histroy with, such as Mikhail Krivokrasov and his agent Zach Dooley.
It's the type of day that makes him feel constrained. One that he's happy to interrupt with his family time or with going downstairs to ice level and taking a skate around the ice with his team. It was always that his playing career intruded on his management career, but now that the playing career is nearing it's end, his management career has really taken off.
Reinhart has won the JJ Krever Award for best general manager in the league in back-to-back seasons, and was one of the favorites for it in S13 as well. Now that Edmonton has regained their standing as the top team in the West, it's very possible he's a favorite for the award again. Though, it's never been on his mind.
"We need to focus on just the next day, the next game," says Reinhart, using the same old coach-speak he always does with media. "We've had a decent season, but we're starting to go downhill a bit, we need to turn it around immediately before we think about the playoffs or further."
While Reinhart continues to focus on the next game, which would also end in a loss with Blowjob Jesus getting another start, he also has to separate himself from the game now. All the people in the locker room are his friends, which for a general manager makes it especially difficult to make moves involving that player or for those moments where the player and him don't see eye to eye management-wise.
"I just had Jakub over for dinner the other day," says Reinhart. "He and his wife came over and it was nice, and we didn't really talk about the contract, but you could tell it was kind of the elephant in the room. It's getting to be frustrating sometimes."
To clear his mind, Cole decided to head down to the rink again. Whenever things are getting a little tough or frustrating, that’s where his secretaries or his family always look. It's where he feels his best. It's where he can let the child inside of him come out, the child who was like Christopher, dreaming of one day becoming a superstar.
"I'm free on the ice," says Cole. "I can just focus on what's there in front of me. I don't have to think about anything but myself and becoming better for my team."
He starts doing trick shots and laughing. He starts letting himself fall back into that time where the game was just a game. This is another time that he's going to miss. Those times after practice, with Lucas Smith and Kyle Keenan, with Willie Weber and Teemu Nurmi, where they joke around, and skate, and talk. The times where he can just be a child again.
SNAP!
The sound of a glove snapping shut echoes through the giant back yard of the Reinhart household, just outside of Edmonton. He's playing catch with Christopher, and Christopher is jabbering on about what happened at practice. Cole seems to fall back into a trance, just smiling and nodding while he continues to go through the motions of throwing the ball.
Caitlin sits on their porch and watches as the boys spend time together, knowing that this is where Cole is going to find peace when he can no longer go play hockey. This is where Cole's mind with escape all it's worries and frustrations, just enjoying the happiest moments of his son's young life -- the time he spends with his father.
The house is decorated with plaques commemorating Cole's three SHL All-Star nominations, his Challenge Cups, his President's Trophies, his Krever Awards. His Gold Medals and Silver Medals hang off the wall in his home office, and his son tends to wear them imagining one day being a Gold Medalist himself.
Cole enjoys the time he spends with his family, or he wouldn't be able to give up the game that he fell in love with. He looks forward to his days off, and looks forward to the days he gets to spend with his son now. He looks forward to the relaxation that should come with retirement.
He knows it won't be relaxing at all, though. A life of travel and hard work has now led into a time where his big events are sitting under the open trunk of his SUV watching the next generation taking the field. He knows he's going to miss it all. He also knows, sitting under the SUV is the best place to be.</div>
Quote:[b]Word Count: 1856. Hopefully you like it, glad that tez gave me the opportunity to do this story. Let me know any thoughts on this... Now to work on making one about Keenan and maybe others.[/b]
An old man's dream ended. A young man's vision of the future opened wide. Young men have visions, old men have dreams. But the place for old men to dream is beside the fire.
Quote:Originally posted by gorlab@Mar 31 2014, 05:43 AM You're a good writer JY
Thank you <3 And, as 701 said, lol. This is what I do for a living, I'd better be pretty good at it when I control the story.
An old man's dream ended. A young man's vision of the future opened wide. Young men have visions, old men have dreams. But the place for old men to dream is beside the fire.
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