Amateur Softball: Never An Albatross Around Their Necks

There is a core to each friendship - something that forms the cornerstone to that good relationship that the people involved can build upon. For some it is a similar sense of humor, while for others, a music or pop culture bond can be their link. Good ones share a history, and while they cherish that history, can see the future filled with even more glorious events and adventures. The best friendships can incorporate all of these elements, and are strengthened as the number in this group of friends grows.

Canton Springs Storage team, known to many as Albatross, is a great example of such a group friendship. While their base is a softball team, the branches of that team extend into the lives of the members far off the field.

"We love to play the game. We play hard, and we play to win, but what keeps us coming back year after year is that we are a family. I have always felt that I have 20 brothers. We celebrate the good times (weddings, the birth of our kids....) and we support each other in times of need. I know that if I needed anything, they would be there in a heartbeat. No questions asked.", is how team captain and co-founder Jason Beaudin sums up the group mind.

Regardless of the outcome of the game or the season, team members can always be found in high spirits, whether it be gathering for drinks after the game, one of countless house parties over the years, a golf outing, a wedding, or an event at Renbrook Summer Adventure, (a summer camp in West Hartford, CT where many members of the team have worked over the years).

This year, and at least until the final out of the 2009 Farmington Softball League season, members of Canton Springs Storage, (as well as former teammates and family members), can finally celebrate an on field success to rival their off field accomplishments. For the first time since it was founded in the summer of 1991, Albatross/Canton Springs Storage ended the season as champions of the league.

Tom Jacquot, a veteran team outfielder, compared the feeling of the championship victory to seeing the Red Sox win it all in 2004, while teammate Michael Donahue felt that the victory was best expressed in the face of third base coach Frank Arigoni. "It was priceless. He looked like a kid in a candy store." Frank has been with the team for 14 seasons, and his son Mark "Fatty" Arigoni is the only son of a team member, a.k.a "Albatot" to have played regularly for the club. (Although other "Albatots" have contributed in minor roles over the years.)

I myself have been an "Albatot" for 14 years now. Staying with my father on summer afternoons, my sister, brother, and I would often find ourselves either chasing home run balls, acting as bat boy, or even helping operate the scoreboard. (There was a period during this time when I was very into swing jazz music, and thus wore a fedora hat everywhere. Outfielder Chris Repp nicknamed me Cool Daddy Crab Cakes, and the name actually stuck for a little while.) Since we have grown up, other members of the Albatross family have taken our place. Recently, Mike Donahue's 10 year old son Sam and Jason's son Jacob have taken up much of the bat boy duty. With that, Jacob becomes a third generation member of the team, as Jason's father used to pitch for the club.

The team is never too far out of reach in a difficult situation either. During the summer of 2003, when I was on Parris Island for Marine Corps boot camp, one

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