Tuesday, February 02, 2010

Hey There Delilah, What's It Like In Indianola City?

First, we lose Beast Mode. And now, in the same offseason, we lose Beard Mode? As picked up in a comment thread by SoSG reader Mr. LA Sports Fan:

Indianola native Casey Blake and his wife Abbie donated $1 million to the Indianola Community School District in a ceremony Monday, Feb. 1.

“As graduates and former athletes of Indianola, we believe in the potential of the youth in our community and want to help provide them with facilities to develop their skills,” said Casey Blake, an 11-year veteran of Major League Baseball.

Blake currently plays third base for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The Blakes presented the check to the school district during a school board meeting at 5:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 1. The donation is given to stimulate a dollar for dollar matching gift program designed to generate matching funds from the community.

The goal is to reach at least $2 million to go toward additional athletic facilities. The improvements will be completed in coordination with the planned expansion of the Indianola Middle School, paid for by statewide sales tax dollars that are targeted by Iowa law for school infrastructure projects.

Community service, philanthropic virtue, educational commitment, and hometown hero storylines aside (blah, blah, model citizen, blah blah, giving back, blah blah), what the hell is going on with Casey Blake's beardless visage??? If it was the Beard that caused Casey to light up the lumber, what will happen now that Samson has been shorn?

At least Blake, in bearded mode, has been captured in more hirsute format; Indianola artist Bob Kling will be auctioning off two autographed prints at an upcoming fundraiser event for the National Balloon Classic, to be held at the Embassy Suites in Des Moines on February 13.

Besides the two autographed prints, though, it sounds like Kling has another 498 or so available for purchase. You can check out more about Kling's acrylic and oil pastel on canvas work here (click on "3-Current Work" at the top).

Since many SoSG readers have nerd streaks, I figure some would probably jump at the chance to put Kling on their walls.

photo: Michael Rolands/Record-Herald Staff

4 comments:

Fred's Brim said...

In the morning, I generally scroll by the newer posts to get to older ones and then work my way back up. This morning, I saw Indianola in the headline so I figured it was the Casey story i had seen yesterday.
But I never recognized it was Casey in the picture. I thought it was a local kid who would benefit from the soon-to-be-improved facilities. It still doesn't look like him!

Josh S. said...

Without THE BEARD (Show respect...), Casey looks like he's been hitting the nerve tonic a little hard.

Kyle Baker said...

Surely he will grow it back before Spring Training. This cannot be. I mean, how lame does "Face Mode" sound?

Josh S. said...

JAW MODE