See, the key to good Reverse Dating is to find someone you think you might be mildly compatible with.  Someone who’s extra time you’re interested in, as TAFKAP might say.  It’s got to be a good match, right from the start, or Reverse Dating won’t work.

Okay, now, go out on a "date" with this person.  (Note: "Date" is in parenthesis for a reason we’ll get to a little bit later.)  On this "date," have a great time.  Flirt a lot.  Get a little closer than you normally would.  Dance, if need be.  You should also be very playful, and make sure the other person is right in synch with that vibe.  Every time you initiate something, they’re right there with you.  There’s lots of laughs, lots of smiles, and it all goes pretty well.  It’s a pretty good feeling, isn’t it?  Yes, by all accounts, it’s a wonderful first "date."

Now, here’s where the "Reverse Dating" comes in.

For a follow-up "date," see if there’s a way to totally get rid of that vibe from the first "date."  Instead, make sure things are much more on the friend tip, as the kids say.  For this follow-up, shoot for 70% less physical contact.  No real flirting, certainly no dancing, no whatever it was that seemed to make the first "date" crackle with potential.  Congratulations!  You’re well on your way to being a successful Reverse Dater.

True masters of "Reverse Dating" move right on to the next step.  Instead of a third "date," try to make sure you’re back where you were before the first "date."  If it’s someone you rarely talked to, then rarely talk to them.  If it’s someone you saw on a regular basis, see them on a regular basis, but not "that way."

Yes, someday, Reverse Dating will be quite the trend.  Someday, Time Magazine will write cover stories on "Reverse Dating and Its Implications."  Someday, you’ll be judged on your ability to Reverse Date.

It’s hard always being at the cutting edge of American social trends, but I try my best.

Now, this does bring up a very worthwhile question, and one which I earlier promised we’d address.  Just what is a "date?"

I guess I’ve always defined a "date" in rather scientific terms.  To me, it’s a pre-planned encounter between two people, both available and potentially interested in each other.  To be a "date," there has to be an element of uncertainty.  Pardon my frank guyness here, but if you know for a fact that you’re home free, that’s not a date.  That’s a gift from God.  But if you have no idea how things are going to go, then I think that’s part of the "date" experience.

See, the problem with the English language is that we ask words to do double, triple, and often quadruple duty.  "Date" is a word we use to refer to all kinds of hook ups between people, often in violation of the guidelines above.  "It’s a date," someone might say to you, but they certainly don’t mean it’s a date in the traditional sense.  "Who’s your date?" you might get asked, and the person filling that role could very well not be your "date" at all, merely just a friend.

Strangely, we’re getting back in to that whole "Can single men and women be friends" riff explored so deftly in When Harry Met Sally.  There’s certainly no need to revisit that here, is there?

Okay, I guess there is.  Maybe next week.

One of the things I like best about baseball is that you never know when something remarkable is going to happen.  On any given day, in any given ballpark, you could see something that’s never been seen before.

Saturday, I finally saw such a thing.

I’ve always dreamed of being at a no-hitter.  A couple nights ago, Ismael Valdes scared me, holding the visiting Oakland A’s hitless until two were out in the seventh inning.  I figured that pretty much was as close as I’d get to that dream for a while.

Instead, my moment of baseball history came in an entirely different form.  Saturday, for the first time ever in Los Angeles, for the first time ever at Dodger Stadium, the Dodgers turned a triple play.

Now, granted, a triple play is not all *that* out of the ordinary.  But, then again, the Dodgers have played more than 3,000 home games in Los Angeles since 1958, and have never turned a triple play.  (They did turn the first ever by the Los Angeles Dodgers a couple years ago on the road, in Atlanta.)

In fact, the Brooklyn Dodgers only managed to turn one triple play in their history, stretching back to the turn of the century. So now, we're talking only three Dodger triple plays ever (poetic, no?) and I was there for fully one-third of them!

That’s pretty cool, no?  It was unusual, too.  First and second, nobody out, batter bunts a pop-up to the mound, which the pitcher lets fall, then throws to second for the force, back to first to get the batter out, then on to third to get the runner from second, who got a late break.  Triple play.  Damn cool.

Of course, the people in the seats next to me had been in Arizona the night before, and seen Mark McGwire hit a grand slam home run.  If Big Mac breaks the seasonal homer record, they’ll have seen at least part of it.  (McGwire sat out the Cardinals only three games at Dodger Stadium with "back spasms."  Grr!  He returned to the lineup the day after the Cardinals left town and promptly swatted another homer.  Double grr!)

In terms of "cool baseball things I’ve seen," I would have to say the following count:
 

I’m sure there’s a couple more, but those are what come to mind.  And I’m hoping some day to add "No Hitter" to that list.  I’ll keep you posted.