My world

I figured I should drop a quick note and blog entry on our trip to Nationals.

Anyway, we had a great draw. We opened Saturday at 1:30 p.m. and just needed to win one game to advance to Sunday, which was our main goal this year. We scored in the top of the first on a homer and things looked good. Then the bottom of the inning came around, we made some mental and physical mistakes and we trailed, 3-1. Things got worse from there.

Final score? 12-1 on the losing end. Ugh. So we have to now wait around all day as our next game is 9 p.m. So some of the guys get into some beer, we ave all day to wait, but we opt to go find a field (which we found) and take some BP. That turned out to be some of the most fun we had all weekend. We all hit, joked, had some fun and loosened up.

Then we played, not until like 9:30 or so, but we played. And what a great game we had. The end result was a 5-4 victory in one of the best games I’ve been involved with in a couple of years.

And we had made it into Sunday!

The game was pretty well-pitched on both sides, we had some great defensive plays and had a couple of clutch hits and some good running to come away with the W. Good times.

Sunday was a bit different.

We played at 10:30 and lost, 9-5. A lot of the runs we alowed were on mental or physical errors and it just didn’t seem like we were all fully into it. Which I can’t seem to understand because it’s a National Tournament. But, it happens. We left runners in scoring position, had a couple of blunders, but shit happens.

A couple of us stuck around for a little bit. Haven’t been able to find any results yet, but one of the other localish teams was doing well. A friend of mine from college also runs a team and they went on an incredible run Sunday and finished like 6-2 in fifth place. Great stuff.

But, we’ll be back next year and hopefully we can have one of those fantastic runs.

“Tough times don’t last, tough teams do.”

I’m going to do this one quick like as I need to get ready for work, considering I have a double-header to cover tonight. The bonus? Not being in the office for too awful long tonight! Whoo!

As for Brooklyn.

With my dummied directions, they were pretty spot on. Outside of me not making a right on a split, going left and ending up in Manhattan. Good times. A quick (and likely illegal) U-turn helped me to head back, so I’m on the right road. However, I couldn’t get flipped BACK around onto 278 the way I NEEDED to go until I got back to 87. Lovely. So basically, I lost an hour.

I did make sure I didn’t miss the turn the second time.

The ride down was somewhat quick. People on the thruway fly more than I remember. Of course, I used to get off at the I-84 exit to Connecticut. So I didn’t go closer to the city. And those people move. I was doing 85 in one of the lanes and being passed like I was standing still.

Once back at Brooklyn, the stadium was easy to get to and parking was only $4, which is a bonus I imagine. I got in with no problems (thankfully) and got on the field in time for the AL team taking BP. I got the people I needed, and headed up to the press box, where, of course, no seats were left. I did get a table of sorts (it’s like a bar-type table), but no chair. Which was fine. Filed a side bar (after finding what I needed to do to get an outside line), covered the game, talked to who I needed to, and then filed that.

(later tonight, if I have the energy, I’m going to do a blog entry on the people in the press box. Very interesting to say the least).

The ride how was uneventful for the most part. I didn’t get lost, but got nailed in some traffic just above Yankee Stadium (which, even though I hate the Yanks, is pretty neat to see as you go by on the highway) because of night construction. The only other thing I saw was a truck had messed up one of the toll booth entry ways on the thruway. Looks like he had clipped it coming in. The truck was still there and things were banged up!) Made it through everything OK though.

Overall it wasn’t a bad experience. Thanfully, they announced next year’s game would be in Aberdeen, so if I get sent, I’ll get to check that place out. And not have to drive to New York City.

Well today’s the day I’ve been dreading.

192 freakin’ miles to Brooklyn and I’m leaving soon. I finally got ahold of someone in media relations down there. He’s going to make sure I have credentials. Said players will be available a bunch. But a 15-minute cooling down period after the game? That might mess with my deadline for sure. Fun times. Thank you sweet quotes before the game.

So I’m going to do my best to get in there ASAP and get chatty with the guys. So I can hope anyway.

The guy said it will be pretty packed so it’s going to be tight in the press box. I just hope I have no problems filing my story or it’s going to get pretty ugly.

Crossing fingers for good traffic, not getting lost, a clean and quick game, and an easy way out of Brooklyn.

Oy!

Ugh.

There’s something about our industry (newspapers, media, etc) that kind of sucks at times. Travel.

Now I don’t mind traveling for the most part. It’s part of the job, I enjoy seeing different places and all.

However, it’s when I have to go to a place like Brooklyn where I get all queezy.

I hate driving in NYC. I hate going somewhere I’ve never been and know it’s easy as hell to get lost. What’s more, I hate going somewhere to cover something where the media relations people haven’t gotten back to me.

That’s correct.

A week and change ago, I call down there for credentials. The guy tells me to e-mail him. So a couple of days later when I know for sure I’m going, I e-mail. Nothing back. I’ve left messages (two today) and nothing back. I’m supposed to leave Tuesday AM and I’ve heard no confirmation and haven’t been told how things are being done. That’s not a good thing.

So I’ll be trying to get him early Tuesday before I leave. Nothing like crossing my fingers and hoping for the best when I’m heading to a league All-Star game. Good times!

Add to that, here’s my deal. Driving to Brooklyn. Which is the most confusing part of NYC, so I’m told. I’ve got some hopefully easier directions. But either way, I’m not looking forward to it. It ain’t driving in upstate New York. Hell, it’s not even driving in Syracuse or Albany, which I can deal. But NYC? Ugh.

Getting there, I’m confident in doing. But leaving? Oy. I’m going to be leaving KeySpan at like 11-1130 to head home. And I have to hope I can find my way out of there in the middle of the night and hope I don’t end up in Harlem. Just what I’m not looking forward to.

So cross your fingers. Maybe I’ll make it down and back without getting lost.

Ok, I’ve procrastinated long enough. Time to finish the story of my trip to Montreal. I’m going to do the final three days here, in a shorter version, all as one. Just a lot easier that way.

Anyhoo, you’ve all see Wednesday by now, I’d imagine.

Onto Thursday, we actually got up rather early. Had breakfast at a place we usually do (Peel Pub, if you get a chance to be in Montreal, eat breakfast there. Cheap and a big-ass serving.)

Some of us walked around the city a little, caught some sights. Problem is, we have a situation where we’ve seen most of the tourist spots by now. And we were pretty far away from the other side of the city to see new stuff, so it was basically a walk around the city to have some fun and all. Nothing major.

Thursday night we went to a Montreal Alouettes game. Good times. Let me see if I can capture this well enough. First, we walked from the hotel. It was a bit of a hike, but not too bad. We got there and got in and I have to say this… some D-III college stadiums are better than this joint. It’s a nice place and all, but not what I would envision for a professional team. We were in one of the endzones and the bleachers were like you’d see at a high school game. Six rows off the field and all, not too bad overall.

Before I get to the game, we were in sections where they give shit away. Guys get you all wound up and throw shit to you. It’s a shame where we were, because the other couple of sections had hotties winding those fans up. We had some dude.

Balls. (to quote Hustle).

The game, well, it’s different. It’s a lot of fun (Montreal whooped some ass) and it seems like the game is second to the people there. Don’t get me wrong, they pay attention and really go nuts when needed, but they pay attention to everything. During TV timeouts, they do stuff (such as setting things up on the field and having people go for prizes). We left after three quarters cause it was such an ass-whipping, but it was fun.

That night, one of the guys went to the casino, two opted to eat and stay in, and me and one other went out. We went to Hatters, then to a place called Grumpy’s. Not many were there, but a hottie singing, so we stuck for a while. Had a good conversation with the bartender, then went to Cheers, but nobody was there, so back to Hatters.

Had some shots, some drinks and I got left by myself (like I have a problem making friends). Met a guy named John, who is an American Indian. it was his birthday and did a bunch of shots and drinks with him and got hammered (for the second straight night). Found my way back to the hotel and called it good.

Up Friday whenever we woke up, went and at breakfast at another good place (Chez Coras), then didn’t do much. Two of us walked into the city and just peek around some shops etc. Made reservations for dinner at a steak house, back to the hotel and watched some Motocross dudes do some crazy-ass jumps. So glad we had a balcony and we could see where they had Crescent St. closed off.

Now, for dinner, if you are in Montreal, go to Alouettes. Well worth the trip. Prices are good, food is even better. You’ll enjoy. The dude cooks steak out in the open and we were sitting right next to him, so we got to chat it up a little.

We then went out to, you guessed it, Mad Hatters again. Stayed there for the night, got blitzed, met some great people and had a good time.

Saturday was quick (being the last day). Two of us went to the port, walked around some, I got a chair massage on the port and we ended up eating at Dundees again. After that, we watched some of the live music on Crescent St, watched the Motocross crazies from the ground and then went to the hotel for a few before heading back out to Mad Hatters.

This is where it got crazy.

Now remember, me and one other had been there all four nights. The other three had been there three. We had made friends with the bartenders, shot girls, bouncers and manager. Saturday we felt like VIPs.

It was simply amazing.

They treated us so well. Allowed us to stay about 45 minutes after hours and drink a little extra. They even bought us some shots. That’s a night never in my life will I forget. They treated us like we were one of their own. And I know I can’t wait to go back. Now given, we spent a lot of money there over four nights, but these people were great.

We met a bunch of people over our four nights and a bunch were out Saturday with us, too.

Oh, and a quick story. One of the groups we hung out with. Apparently on Friday, in a drunken state of mind, I popped out some French on them. And was decent, so they said. They came up to us Saturday and I had no clue who they were (the others did). And they were telling me about me talking French. Tell me, how the hell do I do it drunk but can’t speak a lick of it sober?

It’s what a vacation is all about. And what a vacation should be. I met people I hope to keep in touch with for years to come. And hopefully, I hope anyway, it won’t be the last time all of us venture to that city together.