Like many, I have been a baseball fan since I was a kid. Thanks to a couple of random Dodger fans’ comments about renowned baseball good guy and two time MVP Dale Murphy and what was then the “Superstation WTBS,” this Nebraska kid became a big fan of the Atlanta Braves. The Capitol Avenue Club is a great blog about the Atlanta Braves.
So, as the rest of the baseball watching world (including my Rhode Island native blog partner) obsessed over the Red Sox historic collapse in the AL East I followed the Braves as they limped to the final week of the season nursing a 1 ½ game lead over the surging Cardinals in the race for the NL wild card. The lead over the Cardinals stood at 10 ½ games with a few short weeks left in the season. Like their AL East counterparts, the Braves went on to lose, and then lose some more, while their pursuers won and won again (though they may have finally run out of gas).
What does this have to do with a trial blog? Maybe nothing (other than giving me a cathartic moment to lament this historic collapse). But it did make me think about being in trial. It can take months, if not years, to prepare a case for trial. But, as the saying goes, there are three trials you try every time you try a case: The trial you think you are going to try, the trial you actually try, and the trial you wish you would have tried.
A few weeks before the end of the season the Braves players were sailing along no doubt thinking about the September games they were going to play. Those games, they thought, would help them clinch the wild card and enter post season play. Then they actually played the games. One day after the regular season ended they were sitting at home no doubt thinking about the games they wish they would have played.
When you are preparing to be in trial make sure you do everything to try the case you want to. Make sure you identify and timely disclose the documents you want and need. Make sure identify your witnesses and ensure they are available for trial. If you have doubts, use the subpoena power that is at your disposal. Above all, get plenty of rest and don’t overuse your bullpen.
