All goods things must come to an end, and it's matter of how you end it. You can choose to end it on a sour note, or to bring it to a climax with a big bang. And as typical of the saturdaysoftball family, we chose the latter.
A BBQ of epic proportions was planned to bid farewell to one of the greatest hitters to grace the field, David Kyle Latinis, also known as Hello Kitty. Much has been said about him, his generosity, his spirit, his strength, and he has forever carved himself a place in the annals of the SAS history.
We'll always remember his wife-beater shirts, his thermal underwear, his jihad scarves, his pots of bitter coffee. We'll always remember his leaking pens hooked precariously on his t-shirts, the same pens digging into his chest when he slides headfirst into home plate. His glasses, that multitude of fragile glasses that he's broken, bent and lost. We'll always remember his hustle, even when he hasn't slept all night because "my kid kept me awake man!", abusing his body for the sake of getting the run or catching the ball, watching him wince in pain throwing that 200pound body into the ground to make the play.
The first time you meet the kitty, you see a tatoo covered musclehead with wild hair, a devilish goatee, tattered clothes and scary eyes. Don't be fooled. His personality is Yin to the Yang of his appearance. To say that Kitty is one of the nicest guys I've known is quite an understatement. He is the epitome of "Don't judge a book by it's cover". And those that fail to realise the depth to his character are would definitely be at a loss.
There are many other stories to tell about Kyle, the parties, the costumes, the motorcycle accident, the car chase... Sadly, there are few of us left who would remember the halloween party where Kyle appeared as the Hello Kitty from hell, the four-faced kitty, most memorable being "Coach Kitty". The most famous proposal in Saturdaysoftball history took place in Kyle's 2 room flat in Clementi, where he played host for New Year's Eve, and the guppy was finally reeled in.
I have 2 personal memories of the Kitty to share, the first, being the huge slab of kansas city beef that he brought back and grilled on a habachi during a very special public holiday softball/bbq at the NUS field. He has always promised to bring back another slab of that delicious meat, but I have yet to taste it again. The second, which is particularly special to me, revolves his managerial decision during the Inter-Faculty Tournament that gave me my nickname. It was his confidence in me, and his encouragement as manager to leave me in the field of play after an error-prone 3 innings that allowed me to hit that home run. Any other manager would have benched me when I volunteered to be taken out, but Kitty didn't, and I will forever be grateful to him for that.
"A man is known by the company he keeps" and I have been blessed count Kyle as my friend.
- Chris
To Quothe the Coach
"KYLE [Hello Kitty] Latinis
Latinis would be a strange cookie in anybody's box of Animal Crackers. Given his east coast Stallone verbalizations and California laid-back persona, it is appropriate Kyle comes from Kansas. The same internal contradiction dogs his hitting—Latinis either cranks one or hits a weak dribbler to third. After a stretch of playing pepper with the third baseman, Latinis was christened "Hello Kitty." He now receives plaintive meows whenever he steps to the plate. Kyle is also famed for his outlandish apparel. Just when everybody figured he had reached the depths, he wore a full suit of thermal long johns—naturally with the arms cut out to display his tats. And remember we are playing on the equator."
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