Sports Illustrated: October 1991

R. · 01 Sep 2003, 01:00

NO LOAFING AROUND COACH MEAT
Marvin Lee Aday, a.k.a. rock 'n' roller Meat Loaf, is a devoted girls' softball coach

By Sally Guard (Sports Illustrated - October 1991)

The
worst thing about having Marvin Lee Aday for a coach, says Beth Natt, a
pitcher and rightfielder for the girls' softball team at Joel Barlow High,
in Redding, Conn., "is that if you call him Marvin, he'll make you
run laps."

Natt and her freshmen teammates have thus opted to
call him Coach Meat.~ Aday, you see, is better known as Meat Loaf,
whose 1977 hit single, Paradise By The Dashboard Light, features New York
Yankee announcer and former Yankee shortstop Phil Rizzuto's play-by-play
heard on a car radio, while Meat Loaf - our hero - pants and sings a rock
'n' roll melodrama of backseat teenage lust and the lifelong consequences
of a decision made in a moment of passion.

The softball players could
have called him Mr. Loaf, as entertainment critic Clive Barnes once did.~
But then they wouldn't have come up with the ditty they joyfully sing to
their 40-year-old coach on road trips, no doubt to the tune of This Old
Man.~~
"La-di-da/We know Meat/He does it/In the backseat,"
they chant, adding peals of laughter and a postscript fit for these
prudent times:~ "But only with Mrs. Aday ...."

That would be Leslie Aday,
Meat Loaf's wife and the mother of their two children, Pearl 16, and
Amanda, 10.~ Pearl played second base on the Joel Barlow junior
varsity last spring.~ Before Pearl was born, her father, long a
Yankee fan and a serious softball player in a number of New York City's
Central Park leagues, told a reporter, "I don't care if it's a boy or
a girl as long as it's a shortstop."

Oh, well, second base will
have to do.~ Leslie confirms that her husband's baseball bent is a
little warped.~ "One of his favorite movies is The Bad News
Bears," she says.~ "He'll deny it, but I think he named
Amanda after Tatum O'Neal's character in that film."

If Meat Loaf, who's 6' and
225 pounds, does not evoke images of athleticism, he has always been a
gamer.~ "I played second base and pitched in Little League, high
school and American Legion ball in Dallas, but I was never very
good," he says.~ "When I was 12 or 13, we all had those
action shots taken of us.~ In mine I was in the 'ready' position with
my hands on my knees.~ If you look closely you can see the ball
behind me between my legs.~ I had missed the ball!"

His managerial career
began in Stamford, Conn., in 1981, when he coached one team and sponsored
another in the same Little League division.~ The latter team went by
the sponsor's legal name, Meat Loaf, which was also the name of his band.~
Coach Meat also made history by drafting the first girl to a Stamford
Little League team.~ "And to make a point," he says,
"I drafted her first."

Next he coached girls'
Pony League softball in nearby Westport, Conn., and in 1990, after the
family had moved to Redding, 10 miles north, he volunteered to coach first
base for Pearl's freshman team at Joel Barlow.~ When the squad needed
a head coach for the '91 season, Meat Loaf signed on.~ Practices and
games had to be shoehorned between Meat Loaf's musical engagements, but
the team had a coach.

But after rain delayed the
start of the season a week, the seven-game schedule was reduced to five,
and Meat Loaf's season ended almost as soon as it had begun.~ The
team was 2-1 when he had to turn the reins over to the jayvee and varsity
coaches so that he could jet out to L.A. for several months to work on
three movies and an album.~ (This one will feature another famous
Yankee, Don Mattingly, in a yet-to-be-determined role.)~ The freshmen
toughed out the remainder of the season, finishing 2-3.

Scheduling difficulties
aside, however, Meat Loaf's enthusiasm could not be dampened.~
"I only coached three games," he says, "and all of them
were won or lost by only one run.~ That's 21 innings of such close
ball.~ We should have won them all!~ I kept telling the team
that it was my fault and not theirs, that I had made coaching
mistakes."

He expands on his coaching
approach:~ "If a player knows she's made a mistake, then she
doesn't need to be yelled at.~ If she doesn't know, it's my job to
make her understand she made a mistake without yelling at her."

By all accounts, Meat Loaf
is a spirited, gentle skipper.~ His freshmen players are glad that he
plans to return next season, this time to coach the jayvee, and that he
will try to arrange his work schedule around the softball season.~ As
catcher Jinni Sinnot says, "The best thing about Meat Loaf is that he
always wants to play.~ The worst thing is that he always has some
concert he has to go to."

But those are the breaks
when you're swinging for a rocker.

01 Sep 2003, 01:00	#1
R. You dig. Join Date: 02.04.2002 Location: On the fothermucker Posts: 7,179	Sports Illustrated: October 1991 NO LOAFING AROUND COACH MEAT Marvin Lee Aday, a.k.a. rock 'n' roller Meat Loaf, is a devoted girls' softball coach By Sally Guard (Sports Illustrated - October 1991) The worst thing about having Marvin Lee Aday for a coach, says Beth Natt, a pitcher and rightfielder for the girls' softball team at Joel Barlow High, in Redding, Conn., "is that if you call him Marvin, he'll make you run laps." Natt and her freshmen teammates have thus opted to call him Coach Meat.~ Aday, you see, is better known as Meat Loaf, whose 1977 hit single, Paradise By The Dashboard Light, features New York Yankee announcer and former Yankee shortstop Phil Rizzuto's play-by-play heard on a car radio, while Meat Loaf - our hero - pants and sings a rock 'n' roll melodrama of backseat teenage lust and the lifelong consequences of a decision made in a moment of passion. The softball players could have called him Mr. Loaf, as entertainment critic Clive Barnes once did.~ But then they wouldn't have come up with the ditty they joyfully sing to their 40-year-old coach on road trips, no doubt to the tune of This Old Man.~~ "La-di-da/We know Meat/He does it/In the backseat," they chant, adding peals of laughter and a postscript fit for these prudent times:~ "But only with Mrs. Aday ...." That would be Leslie Aday, Meat Loaf's wife and the mother of their two children, Pearl 16, and Amanda, 10.~ Pearl played second base on the Joel Barlow junior varsity last spring.~ Before Pearl was born, her father, long a Yankee fan and a serious softball player in a number of New York City's Central Park leagues, told a reporter, "I don't care if it's a boy or a girl as long as it's a shortstop." Oh, well, second base will have to do.~ Leslie confirms that her husband's baseball bent is a little warped.~ "One of his favorite movies is The Bad News Bears," she says.~ "He'll deny it, but I think he named Amanda after Tatum O'Neal's character in that film." If Meat Loaf, who's 6' and 225 pounds, does not evoke images of athleticism, he has always been a gamer.~ "I played second base and pitched in Little League, high school and American Legion ball in Dallas, but I was never very good," he says.~ "When I was 12 or 13, we all had those action shots taken of us.~ In mine I was in the 'ready' position with my hands on my knees.~ If you look closely you can see the ball behind me between my legs.~ I had missed the ball!" His managerial career began in Stamford, Conn., in 1981, when he coached one team and sponsored another in the same Little League division.~ The latter team went by the sponsor's legal name, Meat Loaf, which was also the name of his band.~ Coach Meat also made history by drafting the first girl to a Stamford Little League team.~ "And to make a point," he says, "I drafted her first." Next he coached girls' Pony League softball in nearby Westport, Conn., and in 1990, after the family had moved to Redding, 10 miles north, he volunteered to coach first base for Pearl's freshman team at Joel Barlow.~ When the squad needed a head coach for the '91 season, Meat Loaf signed on.~ Practices and games had to be shoehorned between Meat Loaf's musical engagements, but the team had a coach. But after rain delayed the start of the season a week, the seven-game schedule was reduced to five, and Meat Loaf's season ended almost as soon as it had begun.~ The team was 2-1 when he had to turn the reins over to the jayvee and varsity coaches so that he could jet out to L.A. for several months to work on three movies and an album.~ (This one will feature another famous Yankee, Don Mattingly, in a yet-to-be-determined role.)~ The freshmen toughed out the remainder of the season, finishing 2-3. Scheduling difficulties aside, however, Meat Loaf's enthusiasm could not be dampened.~ "I only coached three games," he says, "and all of them were won or lost by only one run.~ That's 21 innings of such close ball.~ We should have won them all!~ I kept telling the team that it was my fault and not theirs, that I had made coaching mistakes." He expands on his coaching approach:~ "If a player knows she's made a mistake, then she doesn't need to be yelled at.~ If she doesn't know, it's my job to make her understand she made a mistake without yelling at her." By all accounts, Meat Loaf is a spirited, gentle skipper.~ His freshmen players are glad that he plans to return next season, this time to coach the jayvee, and that he will try to arrange his work schedule around the softball season.~ As catcher Jinni Sinnot says, "The best thing about Meat Loaf is that he always wants to play.~ The worst thing is that he always has some concert he has to go to." But those are the breaks when you're swinging for a rocker.