Nor'easters on the Road
One Burbon, one Scotch and one Beer....(and 3 adavan, 2 Heini's and a Vodka)
The Flight
We have waited 360 days for this. MonCapitan's Nor'easters, together, flying South for 5 days of sunny, funny, exhausting, baseball pleasure. Every baseball day, every baseball adventure is different. It's 3:30 am wednesday, January 17th, 2007 and I am heading to Supe's house to pick him up for our drive to the airport. The rest of the Nor'easters are doing something similar.
The ride to the airport went smoothly and Supe has started his documentary; this year with his new DVD recorder. He is filming "The Nor'easter Story..part Deux". Don't miss it at Sundance this year!
The terminal was nice and semi empty when we got there and made it to the gate in no time. Now, we can watch Nor'easters and members of the NE Thunder filter in. This will be a baseball flight.
On Nails and Hammer and Terri and Tee
Supe and Todd and Fluffy and Ski!
Well, OK, Rick had to be drugged and dragged onto the plane. But, after the balanced administering of pharmaceuticals
and 'beverages', he was under control. He was even poetic, and entertained us with a reading from his volumes of poetry that he carries when he travels.
"The grass is as green as Kentucky Blue Grass
As 12 men head to the field carrying pick and axes
Time has no meaning as the moments in the Sun last
Away from the office, phones and faxes
Richard Fleurent "Kentucky Blue Grass" from the Quaalude collection *
Wow, we've never heard it said that way before. The Stewardesses were awed, and busied themselves making the Great poet comfy.
The flight was smooth and fast, the Nor'easters had a tailwind. The baseball Gods were happy and were calling the boys home.
On to the Reds Complex
As is the custom, MonCapitan met us at the Tampa airport. It was a bee-A-U-tiful! day in Tampa, and we were looking forward to the pleasant drive over Tampa Bay to Sarasota, an hour or so South. Soon, we would be at our practice facility, shagging and hitting in the Florida sun. We were early this year, so we even had time to check into our personalized lockers (see picture to right) in the Reds Clubhouse. The 4 diamonds are next to the Clubhouse and the batting cages. We had a nice 3 hour workout, getting used to outside baseball again. Believe me, it's as cool as it sounds.
Trying to shag a high wind-blown fly ball in a clear blue Florida sky, after not seeing one for 3 months, is pretty humbling. We stayed as long as we could and practiced, but we had been up for a looooong time and were tired and hungry. Tomorrow we'll give it all we got.
Our uniforms and gear were in our lockers in the Clubhouse, so we headed to our Hotel, The Americinn, to check in. The days here are pleasantly similar. You are at the Ballpark all day, like the greatest job in the world. You hit the Clubhouse to drop off all the stuff that needs to be washed, take a hot shower then back to the Hotel. If you need to, you can soak in the Jacuzzi for awhile, and then it's time fore the team meal. Today, it's the pre-tournament meal. It won't be long until we're feeling the buzz of anticipation of Game 1.
Some Images of Day 1
Click for Page 2
