Kyle Parker / theScore
The menu options were laid out before me, like stepping up to the counter of a Chipotle for cheaters.
Inside the netting surrounding the indoor bullpen at Performance Velocity Systems, a baseball training center in the southern hills of Pittsburgh, was an assortment of grip-enhancing substances.
On the plywood pitching mound was a container of pine tar; aerosol cans of BullFrog sunscreen and Cramer Firm Grip; and in a shallow, circular container of something called Spider Tack, a super-sticky paste developed to help grip Atlas Stones in strongman competitions. There was also a bag of rosin, a ubiquitous sight on major-league mounds.
Going With the Flow at Guadalupe River State Park
This slice of Hill Country heaven offers ample opportunity for fun, as long as Mother Nature is in the right mood.
Sometimes the easy park gives you the most trouble. You expect challenges at a place like far-flung Bentsen–Rio Grande Valley State Park, at the very southern edge of the state, where I and my trusty sidekick, Emily, spent a dark night in a lonely tent within earshot of the Rio Grande at an otherwise deserted campground. Or Big Bend Ranch, in far West Texas, where reaching our ridiculously remote campsite required a bone- and nerve-rattling journey through unforgiving desert. But during our most recent attempt at mild-mannered adventure, it was laid-back, family-friendly Guadalupe River State Park that thwarted us at every turn.