Since I did such a wonderful job painting Henrik’s place, his parents have commissioned me to do some painting around their house. So Friday I woke up around 10 and headed over to see what was in store for me. I was under the impression it was painting a ceiling or something in the house but when I got there I was told that it was the soffets around the house that needed the fresh coat of paint. Easy enough, just sweep away the cob webs and slap the paint on and smooth it out…that’s what I tend to do any thing I paint, and my clothes are proof of that, I usually have as much paint on me as is on what I’m painting. This job has been no different, I have grey paint all over my shirt, shorts, arms, and hair even. I’ve worked there Friday, and today, and I’m thinking that I should be able to finish up tomorrow since I don’t have practice or anything in the evening. It will be a nice cushion on my pocket too.
Friday night when I went to practice, I had no idea what I was going to do that night. There were no plans that I had heard of and there was no talk of a party or anything like that. It wasn’t until after practice that I came to my attention that there was a big celebration in Tostedt for some girl’s 18th birthday. I had no idea who this girl was, why should I, and apparently we weren’t officially invited, but once it got late enough no one would care anyway. So we went to Toby’s house to pre-party and then headed to the middle of nowhere to a big barn and joined in the celebration. The deal was that when you bring a bottle of something to drink, you add it to the pile and then you get to drink for free…we didn’t bring a bottle but we took full advantage of those that did.
Saturday was a 2nd mans’ game in Luneburg, a team that we played in the first preseason games of the year. We had to stop at McDonalds on the way so everyone could grab a much needed burger and sober up before we got there.
The first game saw Thies on the mound and he threw a great game, striking out 6 and walking maybe 1. I started the game at short but was moved to 2nd after the first because I hurt my shin riding home the night before and it was still a bit tender. Game 2 had Daniel starting on the bump and me again at Shortstop. This game was a bit closer and I came in in the 4th and started where I left off last weekend, throwing strikes. It feels a lot better to throw strikes and get ahead that’s for damn sure. They made it close in the end though, we were up by 2 going into the bottom of the 7th and they got runners on 2nd and 3rd before I struck out the last 2 guys to end the game. I hit the ball hard all day and ended up 5-6 on the day. That brought up my average from .668 or whatever it was. We were also able to pick up their signs in the 2nd inning of the 1st game which made for an easy day of throwing guys out and playing the bunt perfectly.
After the game, Luneburg has a tradition of challenging the other team to a case race between 9 guys. In all the years they have done this, they have only been beaten 1 time…that team was never seen or heard from again. They dominate everyone in this 3rd game of the day. To be honest I wasn’t in much of a mood to chug a beer, especially from a bottle, but when I Rome. So we brought our 9 sweet dudes up against their 9 sweet dudes and much to my surprise we only drank the 2 cases, there was no race, no chugging, just guys talking about the games and having a few beers. I really was kind of excited to see Hinzy, the guy with the long hair on their team chug a beer. I’ve heard its one of the 8 wonders of the world actually.
Saturday night after getting back from the games, we headed to Toby’s to celebrate his parents being out of town…always a great reason to celebrate. Most of the baseball guys were there and we tried playing Flanky ball, a game where you stand up 3 beer cans in the middle of 2 teams and throw a crushed can at them. When your team knocks over the cans, you chug until the other team stands the knocked over cans back up and gets the ball and all teammates back across the line on their side. First team to finish all their beers wins. It has much potential to be a really fun game, but we were not good at it at all on this day and it took forever to knock the cans over…we were actually using water bottles and they didn’t fall unless you hit it right on the top of the bottle. So after one game of Flanky ball we surrounded the patio table and played a game called Meyern, but since I was playing and I’m writing this, it will be referred to as Meyers.
Basically you have two dice in a cup and you roll and you get a number, 31, 54, 65 etc. the higher the number the better the roll, but doubles (11, 22, 55) beat numbers and a Meyers (21) beats double 6s. But a Double Meyers (42) beats everything. So the first guy rolls and gets a number, the next guy has to roll better, but you keep the dice covered so if in fact you don’t have a higher number than the 1st guy, you lie. The 3rd guy then has the option of rolling a higher number than what guy 2 said he rolled or call roller 2 a liar and look at the dice. If man 3 was right and it was a lie, then guy 2 drinks, but guy 2 told the truth, guy 3 drinks. If a Meyers or Double Meyers is rolled by anyone , the person preceding him in turn has to drink. We played that 1 drink was a count to 3 and a Double Meyers was a 6 count. it’s a pretty fun game, especially when everyone starts getting drunk and lying. There were also some times that people weren’t paying attention and didn’t call out guys on blatant lies. 31 in the lowest number you can roll because the bigger of the two dice is always the first number, and it happened more than once that the 4th person to roll would pass the dice and say 31, obviously he can’t have the lowest roll in the game if the numbers have to go up and he was the 4th roll.
I’m sure that that explanation was more confusing than it was helpful but I will know what it means when I look back at this in 40 years and want to relive my pro-ball days. But we played late into the night, drinking beers until they ran out and then turning to korn and cola. Bifi and Skippy were hilarious, talking shit to one another about who could drink more and who was better at the game. But Bifi fell asleep in the chair and didn’t wake up until he randomly sat up and puked all over himself. That’s when we decided that it was time for the young crowd to go home. We cleaned up Bifi and put him in the car, but Skip was a bit harder to get rounded up. First he ran and hid in the bushes because he didn’t want to leave, he wanted to stay up with us, but we caught him and dragged him to the car too. The whole time he was swearing that, “I only be drunk cola.” that’s a direct quote. It was quite funny to hear a drunk 14 year old kid yelling in English. But we finally got him in the car and got him home. But apparently that still didn’t stop him, I found out today that he so was determined to get back to the party that he ran back toward Toby’s. but in his effort he got lost and ended up in Daniel’s garden around the corner. He had to call his dad to come pick him up. Skippy is the man.
Today is finally started to feel like summer, the sun was shining, the air was hot and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. It was probably 75 degree but for here that is pretty hot. Later in the week it is supposed to approach 90, and its pretty muggy around here so it’s going to feel just like the dog days of summer back home in Indiana. It’s hot, Don. You can say that again. It‘s hot, Don (for you that don’t live in Evansville, that is a local car commercial. Its kinda become a summer anthem around Southern Indiana)
Since school is out for the summer, my days are pretty wide open and I’ve decided that I need a hobby. I think I’m going to head to the local watering hole and see about how much it would be to get a line wet. I need to start practicing for Sweden if they are counting on me to catch all the food. There is also a swimming lake nearby that we’re thinking of visiting as well.
A-Ron
Monday, June 29, 2009
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Welcome to Damrack
Sunday morning at 10:00 AM, Tony Hurla and Aaron Meyers set off on an adventure. These men had a map of Germany, two bags packed with clothes, and a car that isnt allowed on the road after the end of the month. There were no plans, no reservations, no prior research or thought put into what they would do when they got there. Amsterdam was the destination and Amsterdam was itinerary. with a full tank of gas, and a revised route by Hans George 15 minutes before they left, the guys pulled out of Dohren headed for the Netherlands
Tony had an international driving permit, Aaron did not. Aaron could drive a stick, Tony could not. Dilemma. They both decided the ability to drive the car was the more important thing for the driver to have. So Aaron flew the plane and Tony was the navigator. The powder blue VW, let's call her Betsy, wasnt the fastest thing Aaron had ever driven, it was actually nowhere close. she started getting a little rowdy around 130 km. and the Armstrong steering was a bit of a pain in the butt, but it was a car nonetheless and it would be much cheaper than taking a train or a bus or anyother kind of transportation. Plus it gave them the versatility of departure times and also sleeping arrangements, and it acted as their closet. Betsy was their life line.
them 2 men drove with anticipation and excitement flowing through their viens and around 3:00 on Sunday June 21, 2009 they would forever be able to say that they had been to Amsterdam. Turning off the A10 ring into the city, they came to Olympic park. this is the site of one of the Park and Ride lots that costs 6 euros a day to leave your car and also where the 1928 Summer Olypics were held. they parked and grabbed their backpacks and headed out to the tram station. Tony had talked to one of his friends that had come to Amsterdam earlier in the year and gotten the name of the place they had stayed. there was no guarantee that there would be a bed but it was the best option they had at that point. Not really being one for public transportation, Aaron looked at the map and concluded that it wouldnt be that far of a walk to get to Leidersplein and Vondle Park. so they walked, and they walked, and they walked some more until they realized that the street names werent the ones they were looking for. after consulting another map at another tram station, it was a bit of a let down to see that they had walked way out of the way and were not closer now, than when they had started. they retraced a few of their steps and turned right, this HAD to be the right way to go they told themselves and one another as the rain began to fall on their heads. after 15 minutes and a brief stop under a tree to get out of the rain, they came to another tram station and a map that didnt have a "You are here" sticker. Luckily there was a little old lady there waiting for the tram that had on way too much foundation and eye brows penciled on in red despite her hair being white with a few streaks of blonde desperately holding on to their true color. she told the guys that they were about 4 blocks away from the street they needed and they would need to walk back the way the came from in order to get there. this new information put a little pep in their step. the lady had not led them wrong, their was in fact the Leidersplein...now they would just have to figure out which way they needed to go. after some debate and looking up and down the street trying to find any sign of the right way, they came to the conclusion that right was the best option.
after 10 more minutes of walking and finally asking someone for directions, Aaron and Tony finally found the Trianon Hostel. there were 2 beds available for sunday night but they were all booked up for the rest of the trip. to they paid their 21 euros and headed up to the room to put their stuff down and put on some dry clothes. they had eaten all day so they found a pizzeria they had passed earlier and took a seat. the pizza was good and cheap and the beer was Heineken, a local brewery.
after dinner the guys headed to a district called Leidersplein, where there were bars and shopping and a square with live entertainment. they walked around a bit when they first got there, searching for the best bar to start out at. something about the sports bar caught their eye and they went in. they were greated with dozens of tvs showing soccer, tennis, rugby, and the 3rd round of the U.S. Open. they watched as Ricky Barnes and Lucas Glover held off Lefty and Duvall atop the leader board, that is until the bar started filling up with spanish speakers - loads of spanish. during the 10th hole, the tvs all suddenly switched to Brazil vs Egypt. we were surrounded by Brazilians and they were getting crazy. they were singing and dancing and chanting, and booing and thats when Tony and Aaron knew it was time to leave. they paid and walked across the square looking for another bar; Aaron just happened to look into the Hoopman bar and see that they were still showing the US Open. they had made bets about what the scores were going to be and who would be in the lead, so they sat and watched it until the end. Hoopmans is an Irish bar ran by actual Irish people. there is a very prevalent accent running through the place. It became a hangout of sorts for the guys during their stay.
After the 3rd round was over it was time to head to the famous Red Light District. They had talked about and forecasted their expectations for the RLD but it was nothing like what they had imagined. they had expected it to be one big street filled with red lit windows and the smell of weed, and sketchy dudes selling hard drugs on street corners. and while there were red lights and marijuana all over, it was more than just one street. when they say District, they mean district. this went on for blocks and blocks, in all directions. People filled the streets and spilled over into the alley ways, going about they business. we were able to find a couple bars that werent too crowded and had a few more beers but most of the bars close down at 1 AM. there are only a handfull that stay open later and we were lucky enough to find one and get a seat. The public transportation stops running at 12 midnight during the week...a fact tony and aaron found out the hard way, so at 4 when the bar closed, they had to walk back to the hostel. now this might not have been so hard had it been light and he they not been drunk...although they had gotten lost when they first got there and it HAD been light, and they HADNT been drunk. but there was something about being drunk that made the guys better map readers, they walked right to the hostel with no problems at all. While Tony was checking out one of the first maps, Aaron did fall asleep standing up...another lifetime first.
after 6 hours of sleep, it was 11 AM and check out time at the Hostel. they hopped the tram back to Olympic stadium and put their bags back in the car, their new home for the night. hungover and very much in need of food, the guys headed back to the sports bar. They had a 12.50 all you can eat spare rib meal that had their names written all over it. they also served pancakes as big as a hubcap but thats not what was needed at this point in the day. they both devoured 2 racks of ribs and fries and washed it down with a nice cold Coca Cola. highlights of Wimbledon were playing on ESPN. rolling out of the sportsbar, they hopped the tram, actually by this point they were quite good with public transportation and were confident about getting anywhere in the city, heading to central station. Central station is right next to the RLD and some of the old churches and town squares so there are always a ton of people there. it was later said on a canal tour that 100,000 people pass through central station on any given day.
when Tony's friends had been in Amsterdam earlier in the year, they had hung out at a place called the 420 cafe and the bar right next to it called the Bottle Bar. it was our mission to find these places and take a picture of the dollar bill they had left on the wall in the Bottle Bar. the directions Tony's friends had given him included going over a canal so that is what we were looking for. Luckily i just happened to look down an alley and saw a sign that said 420. there was no canal in sight...anywhere close even. but nonetheless we found the cafe and went in. we sat down and some guy just came up and asked if he could sit with us. he spoke english and sounded like he was from America (actually he was from Canada...the Canadian Islands to be exact. he made that very clear to us) so we sat there and talked to him for a good hour about baseball and what we were doing in Germany and how he's working on a visa in Ireland for a year. so the three of us walked down to the square and watched a couple of street acts before we got bored with it and found a bar. we sat and drank a beer and talked about what we wanted to do the rest of the day. we decided to go back to central station and take a canal tour through the city and see some of the local sights. this is were we learned about 100,000 people a day thing as well and some of the history of the city and got to see a couple of the historic houses and warehouses from the city's rich past. we found out that the canals were actually moats that were set up around the city to keep out intruders and as the city grew, new canals had to be dug farther and farther out.
it was getting pretty cold by this point so me and Tony headed back to the car to get our jackets and change clothes. we left our new found friend, we think his name was Mike, though he never told us. after changing we headed back to Hoopmans to watch the final round of the US Open. it was already half over by the time we got there but things were heating up as Lefty had taken the lead and Ricky Barnes had fallen way off. he had lost 7 strokes in 12 holes. But Glover, my pick, was holding steady, playing consistant golf, at 1 stroke off the lead. Our irish waiter came up as we were yelling about Mickelson missing a put on 17 to go down by 1 stroke, and asked us how we could ever get that excited about golf. we just couldnt understand how anyone could watch the game and get that into it.
we returned to the RLD after Lucas Glover won the tournament and went back to a bar that said on Sunday that they would give us a discount on beer if we came back on Monday. so we went and sat in our seats and the same bartender was working so she gave us our beers for .25 off! yeah we saved a whole quarter. but there was a guy sitting at the bar with us that was from America, Adam from Virginia, and a guy sitting next to him, i'll call him Muhammad for obvious reasons. Muhammad also claimed to be from America, New Jersey in fact, and he was an american cinema buff. we could tell him any move and he knew the director, and the actors in the movie. so we had fun with muhammad, asking him questions about b-list movies and stumping him with some hard questions. but he knew pretty much every big blockbuster, a-list movie we asked him about. he was the human form of IMDB. half way through this trivia game, Adam's friend walked in and this time Muhammad told him that he was from Dallas. we caught him in this little lie and he started backpedaling a bit. it was quite funny, he was drunk.
when the bars closed down, it was past the time for the tram so we walked back to Leidersplein and saw that hoopmans was still open. we sat and had 2 beers before they closed and then went to a late night bar called Bourbon Street. there was a black guy playing live music in there but we were tired and just wanted to get back to the car and sleep. We were talking about getting a taxi when a guy popped out onto the street and told us that he was the cheapest taxi in town. 15 bucks to get to Olympic stadium, every other cab would be at least 20. we said sure, we like to save money, lets do it. we were walking to his car when i noticed that he didnt have a taxi light on his car, it was a personal car. My mind went racing back to movies like Hostel and 96 hours were people are too trusting and are never seen or heard from again. so i started questioning this guy. How did we know he was legit? how did we know that he would take us where we want to go and not all over town? How did we know that he wouldnt take us to his buddies around the corner and rob us blind? he seemed to be very insulted by all the questions but i was not about to get in that car. finally i just said that we were going to take a differnet taxi, one that i knew was legit and walked away. were hurried down the street and found the first taxi and jumped in. I've give the man one thing, he was right, it was 20 bucks. but we were safely there and we still had everything.
we got down to the car, opened up the sleeping bags, laid down the seats, when there was a knock at the window. i rolled down the window and he spouted something in Dutch. i asked if he spoke english and he told me to hang on one minute. it was at this point that i knew we werent allowed to sleep in the car and was trying to think if we had passed any hotels or hostels on the way home. Indeed i was right, cops #1s buddy showed up and told us that sleeping in the car was not allowed, we would have to leave the parking lot. so we walked right outside and found 2 benches and laid down. they had a problem with us sleeping in the car, but looking like homeless guys outside the Olympic stadium was fine, there was no problem there. I woke up a few times to the sight of unfamiliar faces staring at us, talking about us. but i was too tired to do anything about it. and to be completely honest, it wasnt the worst night's sleep i've ever had.
we finally got up at about 10 and moved our beds inside to the car. we had wanted to see the Heineken brewery so that was our new destination. the sun was bright and there wasnt a cloud in the sky, a great day for a brewery tour. we got there just as the doors were opening and were 2nd in line to buy our tickets. great timing by us because it filled up a lot after that. there is no tour guide, you just walk around and read all the facts for your self, there is no time limit, you can stay as long or as short as you want. so we got to Taste the Wort and a girl told us about the ingredients and how you can taste them in the beer. then we got to the end of the tour for the free beer, you're only supposed to get 2 beers, but one guy gave us his drink token and the bar tender there gave us a free drink so we ended up having 3 beers before noon. helped the hangover to say the least.
After the Heineken tour we stopped by Hoopmans again and just got a Coke. as we sat there and drank it, trying to figure out where we could go tonight and what we would do, we realized that we would do exactly the same thing, at exactly the same places, and just spend more money. so we came to the concensus that it was best to just get the car and head back to Germany.
this was an adventure in itself. not the driving part of it, that wasnt a problem, but when it came time to stop for gas and food, thats when things got interesting. we had been trying to find food since we left Amsterdam, any kind of fast food, but they had to take a credit card because I havent been paid yet for this month and all i have left is my credit card. so we found a McDonalds and pulled in, we ordered and when we tried to pay our cards got denied because they dont take Visa, only Mastercard. so nevermind, we'll keep going. we pulled off about 40 km down the road again because it said there was food there, but it was hiding because we never found it. it wasnt until we were about 2 hours away from home (its a 5 hour drive from door to door) that we found a gas station with food. we filled up the tank and when i went to pay, i pulled out my credit card and swiped it. we tried 4 times with no luck, they dont take Visa either. so I was kind of freaking out a bit because i didnt think Tony had 64 euros either. but tony came in and we tried to use his card since it was a debt and not a credit card. it didnt work either so we went to the ATM outside and tony got out 50 bucks. we added that to the other 9 he had and we were still 5 euro short. but we went to the man and told him this and he shrugged it off and told us to have a nice day...I couldnt believe it. i was already contemplating who i was going to have to call and where we were going to stay that night and how we were going to get home. but the guy just shrugged it off and told us to have a nice day. Thank you Gas Station Man.
But we werent out of the woods just yet. we still had to eat. so we walk into the truck stop cafe connected to the gas station and have a seat at one of the back tables. i could feel the eyes of the other patrons follow us back to our table, obvious to the fact that we were out-of-towners. the first thing i asked when we sat down is if they took Visa, the last thing i wanted to do was have to wash dishes in a German truck stop because they couldnt take my credit card. But she assured me that it would work so we sat and ate. Tony got...let me take a breath... 2 hand sized meatballs on a piece of toast, a huge bratwurst on a piece of toast, 2 chicken breasts, a tray of fries and a salad. I had a steak, and he still finished before i did. the boy doesnt mess around when it comes to food, thats for sure. so the bill comes and im hold my breath as im waiting to hear that its been denied, but much to my delight she brings it back with no problem and we jump back on the road headed for Dohren before anything else can go wrong.
all in all i had a great time in Amsterdam. considering we decided to go on wednesday and had no place to stay or itinerary to follow once we got there, i'd say things went pretty well. Next time i will definitely figure all that stuff out before i take off, but it definitely gives me confidence for other trips i will take in the future. I now know i can go anywhere and wing the trip and have a good time doing it.
A-Ron
P.S. I know i changed from 3rd to 1st person half way through... as i was reading over it i wish i hadnt done any of it in 3rd person, but it was too late to go back and change it at that point. it was an experiement and it wont happen again. my appologies.
Tony had an international driving permit, Aaron did not. Aaron could drive a stick, Tony could not. Dilemma. They both decided the ability to drive the car was the more important thing for the driver to have. So Aaron flew the plane and Tony was the navigator. The powder blue VW, let's call her Betsy, wasnt the fastest thing Aaron had ever driven, it was actually nowhere close. she started getting a little rowdy around 130 km. and the Armstrong steering was a bit of a pain in the butt, but it was a car nonetheless and it would be much cheaper than taking a train or a bus or anyother kind of transportation. Plus it gave them the versatility of departure times and also sleeping arrangements, and it acted as their closet. Betsy was their life line.
them 2 men drove with anticipation and excitement flowing through their viens and around 3:00 on Sunday June 21, 2009 they would forever be able to say that they had been to Amsterdam. Turning off the A10 ring into the city, they came to Olympic park. this is the site of one of the Park and Ride lots that costs 6 euros a day to leave your car and also where the 1928 Summer Olypics were held. they parked and grabbed their backpacks and headed out to the tram station. Tony had talked to one of his friends that had come to Amsterdam earlier in the year and gotten the name of the place they had stayed. there was no guarantee that there would be a bed but it was the best option they had at that point. Not really being one for public transportation, Aaron looked at the map and concluded that it wouldnt be that far of a walk to get to Leidersplein and Vondle Park. so they walked, and they walked, and they walked some more until they realized that the street names werent the ones they were looking for. after consulting another map at another tram station, it was a bit of a let down to see that they had walked way out of the way and were not closer now, than when they had started. they retraced a few of their steps and turned right, this HAD to be the right way to go they told themselves and one another as the rain began to fall on their heads. after 15 minutes and a brief stop under a tree to get out of the rain, they came to another tram station and a map that didnt have a "You are here" sticker. Luckily there was a little old lady there waiting for the tram that had on way too much foundation and eye brows penciled on in red despite her hair being white with a few streaks of blonde desperately holding on to their true color. she told the guys that they were about 4 blocks away from the street they needed and they would need to walk back the way the came from in order to get there. this new information put a little pep in their step. the lady had not led them wrong, their was in fact the Leidersplein...now they would just have to figure out which way they needed to go. after some debate and looking up and down the street trying to find any sign of the right way, they came to the conclusion that right was the best option.
after 10 more minutes of walking and finally asking someone for directions, Aaron and Tony finally found the Trianon Hostel. there were 2 beds available for sunday night but they were all booked up for the rest of the trip. to they paid their 21 euros and headed up to the room to put their stuff down and put on some dry clothes. they had eaten all day so they found a pizzeria they had passed earlier and took a seat. the pizza was good and cheap and the beer was Heineken, a local brewery.
after dinner the guys headed to a district called Leidersplein, where there were bars and shopping and a square with live entertainment. they walked around a bit when they first got there, searching for the best bar to start out at. something about the sports bar caught their eye and they went in. they were greated with dozens of tvs showing soccer, tennis, rugby, and the 3rd round of the U.S. Open. they watched as Ricky Barnes and Lucas Glover held off Lefty and Duvall atop the leader board, that is until the bar started filling up with spanish speakers - loads of spanish. during the 10th hole, the tvs all suddenly switched to Brazil vs Egypt. we were surrounded by Brazilians and they were getting crazy. they were singing and dancing and chanting, and booing and thats when Tony and Aaron knew it was time to leave. they paid and walked across the square looking for another bar; Aaron just happened to look into the Hoopman bar and see that they were still showing the US Open. they had made bets about what the scores were going to be and who would be in the lead, so they sat and watched it until the end. Hoopmans is an Irish bar ran by actual Irish people. there is a very prevalent accent running through the place. It became a hangout of sorts for the guys during their stay.
After the 3rd round was over it was time to head to the famous Red Light District. They had talked about and forecasted their expectations for the RLD but it was nothing like what they had imagined. they had expected it to be one big street filled with red lit windows and the smell of weed, and sketchy dudes selling hard drugs on street corners. and while there were red lights and marijuana all over, it was more than just one street. when they say District, they mean district. this went on for blocks and blocks, in all directions. People filled the streets and spilled over into the alley ways, going about they business. we were able to find a couple bars that werent too crowded and had a few more beers but most of the bars close down at 1 AM. there are only a handfull that stay open later and we were lucky enough to find one and get a seat. The public transportation stops running at 12 midnight during the week...a fact tony and aaron found out the hard way, so at 4 when the bar closed, they had to walk back to the hostel. now this might not have been so hard had it been light and he they not been drunk...although they had gotten lost when they first got there and it HAD been light, and they HADNT been drunk. but there was something about being drunk that made the guys better map readers, they walked right to the hostel with no problems at all. While Tony was checking out one of the first maps, Aaron did fall asleep standing up...another lifetime first.
after 6 hours of sleep, it was 11 AM and check out time at the Hostel. they hopped the tram back to Olympic stadium and put their bags back in the car, their new home for the night. hungover and very much in need of food, the guys headed back to the sports bar. They had a 12.50 all you can eat spare rib meal that had their names written all over it. they also served pancakes as big as a hubcap but thats not what was needed at this point in the day. they both devoured 2 racks of ribs and fries and washed it down with a nice cold Coca Cola. highlights of Wimbledon were playing on ESPN. rolling out of the sportsbar, they hopped the tram, actually by this point they were quite good with public transportation and were confident about getting anywhere in the city, heading to central station. Central station is right next to the RLD and some of the old churches and town squares so there are always a ton of people there. it was later said on a canal tour that 100,000 people pass through central station on any given day.
when Tony's friends had been in Amsterdam earlier in the year, they had hung out at a place called the 420 cafe and the bar right next to it called the Bottle Bar. it was our mission to find these places and take a picture of the dollar bill they had left on the wall in the Bottle Bar. the directions Tony's friends had given him included going over a canal so that is what we were looking for. Luckily i just happened to look down an alley and saw a sign that said 420. there was no canal in sight...anywhere close even. but nonetheless we found the cafe and went in. we sat down and some guy just came up and asked if he could sit with us. he spoke english and sounded like he was from America (actually he was from Canada...the Canadian Islands to be exact. he made that very clear to us) so we sat there and talked to him for a good hour about baseball and what we were doing in Germany and how he's working on a visa in Ireland for a year. so the three of us walked down to the square and watched a couple of street acts before we got bored with it and found a bar. we sat and drank a beer and talked about what we wanted to do the rest of the day. we decided to go back to central station and take a canal tour through the city and see some of the local sights. this is were we learned about 100,000 people a day thing as well and some of the history of the city and got to see a couple of the historic houses and warehouses from the city's rich past. we found out that the canals were actually moats that were set up around the city to keep out intruders and as the city grew, new canals had to be dug farther and farther out.
it was getting pretty cold by this point so me and Tony headed back to the car to get our jackets and change clothes. we left our new found friend, we think his name was Mike, though he never told us. after changing we headed back to Hoopmans to watch the final round of the US Open. it was already half over by the time we got there but things were heating up as Lefty had taken the lead and Ricky Barnes had fallen way off. he had lost 7 strokes in 12 holes. But Glover, my pick, was holding steady, playing consistant golf, at 1 stroke off the lead. Our irish waiter came up as we were yelling about Mickelson missing a put on 17 to go down by 1 stroke, and asked us how we could ever get that excited about golf. we just couldnt understand how anyone could watch the game and get that into it.
we returned to the RLD after Lucas Glover won the tournament and went back to a bar that said on Sunday that they would give us a discount on beer if we came back on Monday. so we went and sat in our seats and the same bartender was working so she gave us our beers for .25 off! yeah we saved a whole quarter. but there was a guy sitting at the bar with us that was from America, Adam from Virginia, and a guy sitting next to him, i'll call him Muhammad for obvious reasons. Muhammad also claimed to be from America, New Jersey in fact, and he was an american cinema buff. we could tell him any move and he knew the director, and the actors in the movie. so we had fun with muhammad, asking him questions about b-list movies and stumping him with some hard questions. but he knew pretty much every big blockbuster, a-list movie we asked him about. he was the human form of IMDB. half way through this trivia game, Adam's friend walked in and this time Muhammad told him that he was from Dallas. we caught him in this little lie and he started backpedaling a bit. it was quite funny, he was drunk.
when the bars closed down, it was past the time for the tram so we walked back to Leidersplein and saw that hoopmans was still open. we sat and had 2 beers before they closed and then went to a late night bar called Bourbon Street. there was a black guy playing live music in there but we were tired and just wanted to get back to the car and sleep. We were talking about getting a taxi when a guy popped out onto the street and told us that he was the cheapest taxi in town. 15 bucks to get to Olympic stadium, every other cab would be at least 20. we said sure, we like to save money, lets do it. we were walking to his car when i noticed that he didnt have a taxi light on his car, it was a personal car. My mind went racing back to movies like Hostel and 96 hours were people are too trusting and are never seen or heard from again. so i started questioning this guy. How did we know he was legit? how did we know that he would take us where we want to go and not all over town? How did we know that he wouldnt take us to his buddies around the corner and rob us blind? he seemed to be very insulted by all the questions but i was not about to get in that car. finally i just said that we were going to take a differnet taxi, one that i knew was legit and walked away. were hurried down the street and found the first taxi and jumped in. I've give the man one thing, he was right, it was 20 bucks. but we were safely there and we still had everything.
we got down to the car, opened up the sleeping bags, laid down the seats, when there was a knock at the window. i rolled down the window and he spouted something in Dutch. i asked if he spoke english and he told me to hang on one minute. it was at this point that i knew we werent allowed to sleep in the car and was trying to think if we had passed any hotels or hostels on the way home. Indeed i was right, cops #1s buddy showed up and told us that sleeping in the car was not allowed, we would have to leave the parking lot. so we walked right outside and found 2 benches and laid down. they had a problem with us sleeping in the car, but looking like homeless guys outside the Olympic stadium was fine, there was no problem there. I woke up a few times to the sight of unfamiliar faces staring at us, talking about us. but i was too tired to do anything about it. and to be completely honest, it wasnt the worst night's sleep i've ever had.
we finally got up at about 10 and moved our beds inside to the car. we had wanted to see the Heineken brewery so that was our new destination. the sun was bright and there wasnt a cloud in the sky, a great day for a brewery tour. we got there just as the doors were opening and were 2nd in line to buy our tickets. great timing by us because it filled up a lot after that. there is no tour guide, you just walk around and read all the facts for your self, there is no time limit, you can stay as long or as short as you want. so we got to Taste the Wort and a girl told us about the ingredients and how you can taste them in the beer. then we got to the end of the tour for the free beer, you're only supposed to get 2 beers, but one guy gave us his drink token and the bar tender there gave us a free drink so we ended up having 3 beers before noon. helped the hangover to say the least.
After the Heineken tour we stopped by Hoopmans again and just got a Coke. as we sat there and drank it, trying to figure out where we could go tonight and what we would do, we realized that we would do exactly the same thing, at exactly the same places, and just spend more money. so we came to the concensus that it was best to just get the car and head back to Germany.
this was an adventure in itself. not the driving part of it, that wasnt a problem, but when it came time to stop for gas and food, thats when things got interesting. we had been trying to find food since we left Amsterdam, any kind of fast food, but they had to take a credit card because I havent been paid yet for this month and all i have left is my credit card. so we found a McDonalds and pulled in, we ordered and when we tried to pay our cards got denied because they dont take Visa, only Mastercard. so nevermind, we'll keep going. we pulled off about 40 km down the road again because it said there was food there, but it was hiding because we never found it. it wasnt until we were about 2 hours away from home (its a 5 hour drive from door to door) that we found a gas station with food. we filled up the tank and when i went to pay, i pulled out my credit card and swiped it. we tried 4 times with no luck, they dont take Visa either. so I was kind of freaking out a bit because i didnt think Tony had 64 euros either. but tony came in and we tried to use his card since it was a debt and not a credit card. it didnt work either so we went to the ATM outside and tony got out 50 bucks. we added that to the other 9 he had and we were still 5 euro short. but we went to the man and told him this and he shrugged it off and told us to have a nice day...I couldnt believe it. i was already contemplating who i was going to have to call and where we were going to stay that night and how we were going to get home. but the guy just shrugged it off and told us to have a nice day. Thank you Gas Station Man.
But we werent out of the woods just yet. we still had to eat. so we walk into the truck stop cafe connected to the gas station and have a seat at one of the back tables. i could feel the eyes of the other patrons follow us back to our table, obvious to the fact that we were out-of-towners. the first thing i asked when we sat down is if they took Visa, the last thing i wanted to do was have to wash dishes in a German truck stop because they couldnt take my credit card. But she assured me that it would work so we sat and ate. Tony got...let me take a breath... 2 hand sized meatballs on a piece of toast, a huge bratwurst on a piece of toast, 2 chicken breasts, a tray of fries and a salad. I had a steak, and he still finished before i did. the boy doesnt mess around when it comes to food, thats for sure. so the bill comes and im hold my breath as im waiting to hear that its been denied, but much to my delight she brings it back with no problem and we jump back on the road headed for Dohren before anything else can go wrong.
all in all i had a great time in Amsterdam. considering we decided to go on wednesday and had no place to stay or itinerary to follow once we got there, i'd say things went pretty well. Next time i will definitely figure all that stuff out before i take off, but it definitely gives me confidence for other trips i will take in the future. I now know i can go anywhere and wing the trip and have a good time doing it.
A-Ron
P.S. I know i changed from 3rd to 1st person half way through... as i was reading over it i wish i hadnt done any of it in 3rd person, but it was too late to go back and change it at that point. it was an experiement and it wont happen again. my appologies.
He's Back!
After this horrible stint i've had of not being able to hit the strike zone, we decided that it might be best to give me a "rehab" start for the 2nd man's team against Kiel on Saturday. standing up on the mound before the first pitch of the game, not going to lie, i was a bit nervous. I was putting a lot of pressure on myself to do well and right the ship. And as the first pitch left my hand, it was like i had never left Greencastle, IN. called strike on the outside corner. then another, then finished him off with a knee-buckler. I was back and it felt good. going into the 3rd- my last inning- i hadnt given up a single baserunner, and i had struck out 4. It had to have been that Bifi said something about being perfect that upset the baseball gods, because with one out in the 3rd i walked a guy. but i struck out the next 2 batters and got out of there no hitter still intact. 3 innings, 6Ks, 1 walk.
then i took my spot at Short Stop and let Jan take over from there. in the 4th, Jan threw a high fastball to their #4 hitter and the guy tattooed it over the right field fence for a solo bomb. Not another one of their bats would produce a hit. Daniel came in in the 6th and mowed them down till the end. we won 6-1.
Since we didnt have a 1st man's game this weekend, Thies pitched the nightcap. Oh and Johst's suspension is up, it was only 3 games, so he was able to play in the 2nd game as well. Igl is still out 1 or 2 more games but not near as long as everyone thought it would be. the game started out a bit shakey, they scored a couple in the first, but we answered right back with 4 of our own. we knocked out the starter before he was able to even get an out in the 1st inning. But they retook the lead with 3 runs in the 2nd inning. that lead was short lived however because we scored 3 in our half of the 2nd inning as well. though no one scored in the 4th, the Seahawks we able to scratch across 3 in the 5th to take a 1 run lead. thanks to a bonehead running error by yours truely, our threat to score in the 6th was picked off at 2nd base.
In the bottom half of the 7th, our last chance, we were able to scratch a run across to go into extra innings. Thies was still on the bump and we were using the bend but dont break defense. guys would get on base, but we were able to keep the from scoring. we held them off in the 8th, 9th, and 10th. Thies could only throw 9, he was up around 130 pitches i'd say, and he was getting tired.
So Daniel was to come in in the 10th. the umpires called over the coaches and my first thought was that they were just going to call the game and make it a tie, but Tony ran back over to us and told us that the plate umpire was experiencing sharp pains in his gut (it was a damn big gut too) everytime he bent over behind the catcher. so the umpires had to go back to the locker room and change pads and everything. I figured i'd pretty much seen it all when it came to matters of a baseball field, but since i've come here, I'm beginning to think there is a lot i havent seen. this is the first time ive seen an umpire switch in the middle of a game, and not only did they switch, but the fat umpire, the one with the pains, didnt even come out of the locker room for the end of the game! so now we are down to one umpire, in the 10th inning, and a new zone to have to learn in a very short amount of time. But Daniel fought through it and we got out of the 10th with no damage.
In our half of the 10th, Johst, in the 9 hole, struck out to put 1 away. Thies then came up and blasted a frozen rope up the middle, Daniel struck out then came up the best hitter in the league. I was really wanting to hit a homerun, end this thing in style, but earlier in the game Johst broke the DC Bat. I grabbed my BP bat, a bamboo bat by Brett and walked to the plate - heart racing. "Just give me a fastball on the inner half, Meat." I watched as Tony gave me signs and then turned and pointed to the fence in left. He had the same thought as i did, but apparently Kiel did too. so for the first time in my life i was intentionally walked on 4 pitches. ball 4 sailed in about chest high over the outside part of the plate, and i wanted real bad to reach out there and hit it, but i would have felt real stupid if I had gotten out, so i let it go by and took my base. Jan drew a walk behind me to load the bases with 2 down. Shtule then came to the plate and quickly jumped out to a 2-1 count. it looked like the winning run might be walked in, but the pitcher worked the count back to full. with a full count and 2 down, the runners were off with the pitch and Shtule hit a weak ground ball to the shortstop. since we were all stealing on the pitch, his only play was to 1st. the throw pulled the 1st baseman off the bag and up the line, an easy position to tag the runner for the 3rd out. But reminiscent of A-Rod's play about 5 years ago, Shtule hit the 1st baseman's glove and the ball went flying. SAFE. Thies scored and the ball game was over...finally. the victory pyramid was a sweet one!
A-Ron
then i took my spot at Short Stop and let Jan take over from there. in the 4th, Jan threw a high fastball to their #4 hitter and the guy tattooed it over the right field fence for a solo bomb. Not another one of their bats would produce a hit. Daniel came in in the 6th and mowed them down till the end. we won 6-1.
Since we didnt have a 1st man's game this weekend, Thies pitched the nightcap. Oh and Johst's suspension is up, it was only 3 games, so he was able to play in the 2nd game as well. Igl is still out 1 or 2 more games but not near as long as everyone thought it would be. the game started out a bit shakey, they scored a couple in the first, but we answered right back with 4 of our own. we knocked out the starter before he was able to even get an out in the 1st inning. But they retook the lead with 3 runs in the 2nd inning. that lead was short lived however because we scored 3 in our half of the 2nd inning as well. though no one scored in the 4th, the Seahawks we able to scratch across 3 in the 5th to take a 1 run lead. thanks to a bonehead running error by yours truely, our threat to score in the 6th was picked off at 2nd base.
In the bottom half of the 7th, our last chance, we were able to scratch a run across to go into extra innings. Thies was still on the bump and we were using the bend but dont break defense. guys would get on base, but we were able to keep the from scoring. we held them off in the 8th, 9th, and 10th. Thies could only throw 9, he was up around 130 pitches i'd say, and he was getting tired.
So Daniel was to come in in the 10th. the umpires called over the coaches and my first thought was that they were just going to call the game and make it a tie, but Tony ran back over to us and told us that the plate umpire was experiencing sharp pains in his gut (it was a damn big gut too) everytime he bent over behind the catcher. so the umpires had to go back to the locker room and change pads and everything. I figured i'd pretty much seen it all when it came to matters of a baseball field, but since i've come here, I'm beginning to think there is a lot i havent seen. this is the first time ive seen an umpire switch in the middle of a game, and not only did they switch, but the fat umpire, the one with the pains, didnt even come out of the locker room for the end of the game! so now we are down to one umpire, in the 10th inning, and a new zone to have to learn in a very short amount of time. But Daniel fought through it and we got out of the 10th with no damage.
In our half of the 10th, Johst, in the 9 hole, struck out to put 1 away. Thies then came up and blasted a frozen rope up the middle, Daniel struck out then came up the best hitter in the league. I was really wanting to hit a homerun, end this thing in style, but earlier in the game Johst broke the DC Bat. I grabbed my BP bat, a bamboo bat by Brett and walked to the plate - heart racing. "Just give me a fastball on the inner half, Meat." I watched as Tony gave me signs and then turned and pointed to the fence in left. He had the same thought as i did, but apparently Kiel did too. so for the first time in my life i was intentionally walked on 4 pitches. ball 4 sailed in about chest high over the outside part of the plate, and i wanted real bad to reach out there and hit it, but i would have felt real stupid if I had gotten out, so i let it go by and took my base. Jan drew a walk behind me to load the bases with 2 down. Shtule then came to the plate and quickly jumped out to a 2-1 count. it looked like the winning run might be walked in, but the pitcher worked the count back to full. with a full count and 2 down, the runners were off with the pitch and Shtule hit a weak ground ball to the shortstop. since we were all stealing on the pitch, his only play was to 1st. the throw pulled the 1st baseman off the bag and up the line, an easy position to tag the runner for the 3rd out. But reminiscent of A-Rod's play about 5 years ago, Shtule hit the 1st baseman's glove and the ball went flying. SAFE. Thies scored and the ball game was over...finally. the victory pyramid was a sweet one!
A-Ron
Friday, June 19, 2009
peeing on the baby
In Germany, when i child is born, the father throws a big party while mother and child are still in the hospital. They have a special name for it in German, which translates literally to "Peeing on the Baby." (Any German reading this, feel free to enlighten the goup on the actual phrase) When i first heard of this ritual about 3 weeks ago or something, my first thought was that these Germans are just plain crazy; they actually pee on the baby?! that cant be good; what purpose does that serve anyway? my mind was put to rest when someone finally explained that that is just the literal translation into English. its really a party to celebrate the birth and rejoice in the happiness of the new father.
Janis was born on 12/6/09 (thats the European way to write the date by the way) at 54 cm and i forget how much he weighed but he and Elisabeth are in good health and come home from the hospital in the next couple of days. Wednesday night was Henrick's Peeing on the Baby party at his house so we all went over there after practice. we drank beers and shots that tasted like Spearmint gum and talked about baseball (standard) and Henrick's new house. It is finally done and they have been living there for a couple weeks now. No one thought he would get it all done before the baby got here but he quieted the naysayers.
Thursday morning was the 2nd day of the Tostedt Real school's baseball "project" at the field. now i put quotations around that because when Bifi told me about this project 2 weeks ago, i figured that he had been working on this for awhile and had some kind of idea about the order of buisness to take place...leave it to me to trust a 15 yr old kid with that kind of responsibility. Needless to say, Bifi had no clue what needed to happen and Tony and I were left to fly by the seat of our pants and make it a constructive day on the fly. There were 30 kids there and not enough gloves and no lefty gloves, so the day started out pretty rough, but we made due the best we could and once we moved into the t-ball game, it was no problem. the talent gap was as wide as the grand canyon and we were just hoping that no one would get hurt by a screamer off the bat of one of the better hitters...it just couldnt be that easy though.
in about the 4th inning, with an hour left in the day, a kid hit a ground ball to the left side of the infield. the girl really wasnt paying too much attention and was caught even more off gaurd when the ball hit a stone or something and jumped up and hit her square in the forehead. when i say square in the forehead, i mean that the ball hit the poor girl and flew straight up in the air. it almost landed a 1-2 combo on its way back down, but she was so dazed and dizzy from the first blow that she teetered out of the way just in time to avoid it. It really was quite funny from my perspective behind the mound, until i saw her swaying back and forth trying to get her balance. then i was a bit concerned. this was the 2nd injury of the day so we decided that we'd had enough casualities and called the game on account of player safety. so as the teacher and students crowded around the girl with the knot growing from her forehead, my first thought was that she needed ice...but i forgot my keys because i was in such a rush that morning so we couldnt get into the sporthouse. so she used the next best thing....are you ready for this...she put a bat on her head. yep a metal bat. i really wish i'd had a camera at that point, it was the first time ive ever seen a bat used for a medical purpose. as the bat would heat up from the warmth of her head, she would turn it or move farther down the barrel to where it was still cool. I guess it worked though, because when they all left i didnt see the knot anymore.
On sunday, Tony and I will be taking Hasi's car and hitting the open road headed for the Netherlands. We're going to where the lights are all red and the coffee shops are the cool place to hang out. talking about a little place called Amsterdam. we will get there sunday evening and return to Dohren on Wednesday in time for practice. We have plans to go see the Heineken brewery, but other than that we are playing this trip by ear. just a couple of americans roaming around the city looking for something to do. I'm sure i'll bring back some great stories and pictures to go with them. this is going to be a great adventure.
A-Ron
Janis was born on 12/6/09 (thats the European way to write the date by the way) at 54 cm and i forget how much he weighed but he and Elisabeth are in good health and come home from the hospital in the next couple of days. Wednesday night was Henrick's Peeing on the Baby party at his house so we all went over there after practice. we drank beers and shots that tasted like Spearmint gum and talked about baseball (standard) and Henrick's new house. It is finally done and they have been living there for a couple weeks now. No one thought he would get it all done before the baby got here but he quieted the naysayers.
Thursday morning was the 2nd day of the Tostedt Real school's baseball "project" at the field. now i put quotations around that because when Bifi told me about this project 2 weeks ago, i figured that he had been working on this for awhile and had some kind of idea about the order of buisness to take place...leave it to me to trust a 15 yr old kid with that kind of responsibility. Needless to say, Bifi had no clue what needed to happen and Tony and I were left to fly by the seat of our pants and make it a constructive day on the fly. There were 30 kids there and not enough gloves and no lefty gloves, so the day started out pretty rough, but we made due the best we could and once we moved into the t-ball game, it was no problem. the talent gap was as wide as the grand canyon and we were just hoping that no one would get hurt by a screamer off the bat of one of the better hitters...it just couldnt be that easy though.
in about the 4th inning, with an hour left in the day, a kid hit a ground ball to the left side of the infield. the girl really wasnt paying too much attention and was caught even more off gaurd when the ball hit a stone or something and jumped up and hit her square in the forehead. when i say square in the forehead, i mean that the ball hit the poor girl and flew straight up in the air. it almost landed a 1-2 combo on its way back down, but she was so dazed and dizzy from the first blow that she teetered out of the way just in time to avoid it. It really was quite funny from my perspective behind the mound, until i saw her swaying back and forth trying to get her balance. then i was a bit concerned. this was the 2nd injury of the day so we decided that we'd had enough casualities and called the game on account of player safety. so as the teacher and students crowded around the girl with the knot growing from her forehead, my first thought was that she needed ice...but i forgot my keys because i was in such a rush that morning so we couldnt get into the sporthouse. so she used the next best thing....are you ready for this...she put a bat on her head. yep a metal bat. i really wish i'd had a camera at that point, it was the first time ive ever seen a bat used for a medical purpose. as the bat would heat up from the warmth of her head, she would turn it or move farther down the barrel to where it was still cool. I guess it worked though, because when they all left i didnt see the knot anymore.
On sunday, Tony and I will be taking Hasi's car and hitting the open road headed for the Netherlands. We're going to where the lights are all red and the coffee shops are the cool place to hang out. talking about a little place called Amsterdam. we will get there sunday evening and return to Dohren on Wednesday in time for practice. We have plans to go see the Heineken brewery, but other than that we are playing this trip by ear. just a couple of americans roaming around the city looking for something to do. I'm sure i'll bring back some great stories and pictures to go with them. this is going to be a great adventure.
A-Ron
Monday, June 15, 2009
Tally up another month.
God, I've only been here for 3 months?! I feel like i've done so much and its not even half over yet. I've played hockey for the first time in my life, i've driven on the world famous Autobahns, I've seen an unmarried German man turn 30...this is one i recommend to everyone, I've seen the biggest bonefire of my life, I watched 80, 000 Germans sing in perfect english to every song of AC/DC, all this scattered between practicing and playing baseball. The people I have met have been nothing short of amazing. Everyone I've met has been awesome and I hope to keep in contact with them after this dream is over.
Saturday morning we left the sporthouse at 8:30 heading for Paderborn, a team we split with in our first weekend of the season. It was a 2 hour drive in which i slept most of the way. Hasi was explaining traffic signs while i was awake so i will be prepared if i ever need to take his car. and there are a ton of them. it seems like every 100 meters there is a new sign or the same sign that i saw just 100 meters ago. its a little excessive i think, but driving is easy, i've done it twice already, flying through traffic at 160 kmph (thats 100 mph). the only real difference is that you CAN'T pass on the right, its forbidden here. but other than that, you point the car in the direction you want to go and hit the gas.
The 1st game started with Thies on the mound for us against a kid named Dennis for them. Laser wasnt there that day so pitching was a bit thin and the game plan was to take Thies out in the 5th and let Tony close it out so Thies could pitch in the 2nd game too. Jan got hurt in our last double header, while sliding into 3rd a guy jumped to get the ball and landed on his hand, so we're werent sure how well he could pitch either. This is a risky strategy at best and one that relies on everything else going perfectly...which is hardly ever the case in baseball. looking back, always easier to do, i should have left Thies in. He was rolling, and in order to sweep, you have to win the first one first. its really one of those decisions that a coach will be 2nd guessed for if it doesnt work, and look at as a genius if it does work. lets just say we came out on the wrong side of this one. we lost on a walk off hit in the bottom of the 7th. 8-7
the 2nd game started out about the same, we jumped out to a lead, then they came back, we scored another and they rebuttled. the wind was out of our sails when they got up by 2. that is until the 6th inning when we got a walk, strung a few hits together and were able to tie it up at 7. we were suddenly back in the game, but it was too little too late as they scored 2 in their half of the 6th. we werent able to pull it out in the top of the 7th and lost by a score of 9-7.
this is what we in the Biz like to call a slump, a skid. we've lost our last 4 games and have dropped to 4th in the league at 8-6. now any knowledgable baseball mind knows that hard practices and building the team morale is a reasonable option to get this train back on track, but the more astute and superstitious of the group knows that the ONLY way to right the ship is a Slump Buster. (in order keep my PG-13 rating on this blog I will leave it at that, but just know that this is the option that seems to work the best in these situations, and it takes a real team player to get the job done)
After getting back to Dohren, everyone was in better spirits, no pun intended, because in Germany it is legal to drink in the car. and Saturday night was Caribbean Night in Heidenau. this is a big festival/carnival night with a huge tent with music and drinks and dancing - the works. there were 1 euro well drinks, 2 euro beers and 4 euro long drinks...quite the deals to say the least. we danced and sang the night away...right next to the huge speakers...my ears are still ringing actually. we rode our bikes home at 5:30 only to wake up at 10 for our 2nd man's games against the Berlin Roadrunners.
the RoadRunners are a team we played earlier in the year, the big black spanish speaking men swinging metal bats, who swept us at their place. the first game went about the same way as the last two times we played them. well kind of, it was 8-4 going into the 7th and with 2 men on and 2 outs, the Russian kid who was pitching for them hung a 2-2 slider right on the inner half of the plate and the batter tattooed it down the left field line. He knew it 2 steps out of the box and began the slow trot around the bases. that batter is now the GUY from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. and that makes 5 HRs on the season. I'm closing in on doubling my lifetime total. but we were unable to keep the rally alive and lost 8-7.
in the 3rd inning of the 2nd game, the clouds rolled in and the thunder and lightening caused the game to be called on account of weather. which is a good thing because the score at that point was 8-5. i'm not sure if the game will start from the 4th inning or if we sill start it from scratch but regardless they have to drive 4 hours just to play 1 game later in the year.
i threw 1 inning on sunday against the Roadrunners, and as i was warming up, i felt great, pumping strikes with all my pitches and looking like the A-Ron of old...that is until the 1st batter stepping in the box. My first pitch made it to the backstop...in the air. the 2nd was a 56' fastball in the dirt of the lefty batter's box. it was not a good outting for me to say the least. the only pitch i could throw for a strike was a curveball. now earlier in the season i was struggling to find my arm slot and now the problem seems to be a 4 inch gap between my ears. I dont know what it was about coming to Germany that made me tense up and become a puss about throwing a strike, but for some reason i just have a mental block about doing it. Its really starting to piss me off to be honest because i know thats the reason i was brought over here, and i'm doing a pretty shitty job of it. and having a guy that can come in and close out a game is exactly what this team needs. Basically i'm the rick ankiel of the 2nd Bundesliga in Germany.
A-Ron
as soon as i got home and sat down after sunday's games, i was out like a light and didnt wake up until noon on monday.
Saturday morning we left the sporthouse at 8:30 heading for Paderborn, a team we split with in our first weekend of the season. It was a 2 hour drive in which i slept most of the way. Hasi was explaining traffic signs while i was awake so i will be prepared if i ever need to take his car. and there are a ton of them. it seems like every 100 meters there is a new sign or the same sign that i saw just 100 meters ago. its a little excessive i think, but driving is easy, i've done it twice already, flying through traffic at 160 kmph (thats 100 mph). the only real difference is that you CAN'T pass on the right, its forbidden here. but other than that, you point the car in the direction you want to go and hit the gas.
The 1st game started with Thies on the mound for us against a kid named Dennis for them. Laser wasnt there that day so pitching was a bit thin and the game plan was to take Thies out in the 5th and let Tony close it out so Thies could pitch in the 2nd game too. Jan got hurt in our last double header, while sliding into 3rd a guy jumped to get the ball and landed on his hand, so we're werent sure how well he could pitch either. This is a risky strategy at best and one that relies on everything else going perfectly...which is hardly ever the case in baseball. looking back, always easier to do, i should have left Thies in. He was rolling, and in order to sweep, you have to win the first one first. its really one of those decisions that a coach will be 2nd guessed for if it doesnt work, and look at as a genius if it does work. lets just say we came out on the wrong side of this one. we lost on a walk off hit in the bottom of the 7th. 8-7
the 2nd game started out about the same, we jumped out to a lead, then they came back, we scored another and they rebuttled. the wind was out of our sails when they got up by 2. that is until the 6th inning when we got a walk, strung a few hits together and were able to tie it up at 7. we were suddenly back in the game, but it was too little too late as they scored 2 in their half of the 6th. we werent able to pull it out in the top of the 7th and lost by a score of 9-7.
this is what we in the Biz like to call a slump, a skid. we've lost our last 4 games and have dropped to 4th in the league at 8-6. now any knowledgable baseball mind knows that hard practices and building the team morale is a reasonable option to get this train back on track, but the more astute and superstitious of the group knows that the ONLY way to right the ship is a Slump Buster. (in order keep my PG-13 rating on this blog I will leave it at that, but just know that this is the option that seems to work the best in these situations, and it takes a real team player to get the job done)
After getting back to Dohren, everyone was in better spirits, no pun intended, because in Germany it is legal to drink in the car. and Saturday night was Caribbean Night in Heidenau. this is a big festival/carnival night with a huge tent with music and drinks and dancing - the works. there were 1 euro well drinks, 2 euro beers and 4 euro long drinks...quite the deals to say the least. we danced and sang the night away...right next to the huge speakers...my ears are still ringing actually. we rode our bikes home at 5:30 only to wake up at 10 for our 2nd man's games against the Berlin Roadrunners.
the RoadRunners are a team we played earlier in the year, the big black spanish speaking men swinging metal bats, who swept us at their place. the first game went about the same way as the last two times we played them. well kind of, it was 8-4 going into the 7th and with 2 men on and 2 outs, the Russian kid who was pitching for them hung a 2-2 slider right on the inner half of the plate and the batter tattooed it down the left field line. He knew it 2 steps out of the box and began the slow trot around the bases. that batter is now the GUY from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. and that makes 5 HRs on the season. I'm closing in on doubling my lifetime total. but we were unable to keep the rally alive and lost 8-7.
in the 3rd inning of the 2nd game, the clouds rolled in and the thunder and lightening caused the game to be called on account of weather. which is a good thing because the score at that point was 8-5. i'm not sure if the game will start from the 4th inning or if we sill start it from scratch but regardless they have to drive 4 hours just to play 1 game later in the year.
i threw 1 inning on sunday against the Roadrunners, and as i was warming up, i felt great, pumping strikes with all my pitches and looking like the A-Ron of old...that is until the 1st batter stepping in the box. My first pitch made it to the backstop...in the air. the 2nd was a 56' fastball in the dirt of the lefty batter's box. it was not a good outting for me to say the least. the only pitch i could throw for a strike was a curveball. now earlier in the season i was struggling to find my arm slot and now the problem seems to be a 4 inch gap between my ears. I dont know what it was about coming to Germany that made me tense up and become a puss about throwing a strike, but for some reason i just have a mental block about doing it. Its really starting to piss me off to be honest because i know thats the reason i was brought over here, and i'm doing a pretty shitty job of it. and having a guy that can come in and close out a game is exactly what this team needs. Basically i'm the rick ankiel of the 2nd Bundesliga in Germany.
A-Ron
as soon as i got home and sat down after sunday's games, i was out like a light and didnt wake up until noon on monday.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Coupla 2s
Sunday night, after being swept by Hamburg, me and Tony were in no mood to stay sober. so after polishing off a case of beer that Laser bought for the team, and a pint of whiskey at Christoph's, we rode to the bar in Tostedt. Hasi was already there eating and having a beer so we pulled up chairs and sat with him for awhile just talking about the day and baseball and whatnot. He left since he had work on Monday and that just left me and Tony with the bar to ourselves. we drank until the waiter came with our checks because it was closing time. the bill came out to 27.00 Euro. I dug around in my pockets and wallet and all i could come up with was 21 and change. I asked if they took credit cards but he quickly told me they didnt. Well shit, now what do i do? wheres the kitchen ill start washing dishes i guess. So i was expecting the worse when i told him that all i had was 21 euros. but to my surprise, he smiled and said, "dont worry about it. If you dont have it, you dont have it." I thanked him and began for the door. but as we were walking out the door, the owners of the bar stopped us and invited us for another drink. The husband poured us a couple of Jim Beam and cokes, and we sat and talked to them about baseball and our journey's to Dohren. they also had their dog there, a white sheppard of some sort named Tiko. while it was a bit leary at first, i eventually gained its trust and ended up talking to the dog more than to the people. just a little before 1 we thanked them and assured them we would return again...they were worried that we wouldnt come back for some reason, so i dont know if they are going to tack on those drinks we had the next time we are there or what. but nonetheless, we assured them that we would be back soon, and we were out the door.
the clouds had opened up and it was absolutely pouring outside but we had no other choice than to ride our bikes home. I didnt want to wake anyone up to come and get me, plus i didnt want to leave my bike because i needed it the next morning at 9 am for our field day at the baseball field that i will get into in a minute. so we set off for home, succombed to the fact that we were going to get drenched. at 1:00 AM here in dohren, the street lights go off...i mean what normal person in their right mind would be up walking around at 1 in the morning right. and when the lights go out here, they really go out. you might as well have your eyes shut and ride by memory. and neither of our headlights on our bike work; the wires have been cut on mine. so even in my drunken state, i had the presence of mind to pull out my cell phone and use that as my head light. it doesnt give a very bright, clear view down the road, but at least i can see 5 feet in front of me at all times. Johst later told me that he heard us going by his house that night, oops, sorry man.
I finally made it home and pulled off the wet clothes and crawled into bed. 8:30 came way too soon and i was up and on my way to the field. it was a tough one. so at 9:00, 350 7 yr olds came walking down the street toward the sport house. Monday was on of the Tostedt school's "American Sports Day." there were stations set up all over the soccer fields and our fields to simulate American Sports. there was obviously a baseball station, basketball, hockey, and football. but there were also stock-car driving, a dancing station, cheerleading, freeclimbing, and my personal favorite, the gymnastic Vault.
Tony and i were on the baseball field doing the running station. it was a 20 meter stretch and we had a sheet that gave us a breakdown of how many points each kid got for a specific time. if they got under 3.2 it was 10 points, between 3.2 and 3.5 was 8 points and so on down to over 4.0 was 2 points. Each kid got to run 3 times. they were broken into groups of about 7 and sicne there werent that many teachers, many groups were just free to roam aimlessly from station to station. Since we are the americans, a bunch of groups wanted to come to our station first so we got bogged down pretty quickly, and there were kids jumping groups and running with the wrong crowd...no pun intended. it was a mess trying to keep them separated and in some kind of order. we started off running 2 kids at a time, but were unable to explain to them that they were not supposed to run down and back, but just straight through, like a sprint. so the kids were slowing down before the 20 meters, trying to set themselves up for a good, quick turn around the cone. this skewed the times a bit and after 3 or 4 groups, instead of telling me the times and letting me see what point scale it corresponded to, Tony was just saying, "Coupla 2s." a few times he forgot to hit the button to start the clock, or to stop the clock...we always gave them a Coupla 2s too. as i sit here and write this, and am reading back over it, i realize that anyone that wasnt there might not find this as funny and blog worthy as i do. i guess it was a combination of still being a bit drunk, the cold, the rain, both of us just wanting to go back to sleep, but at the time it was hilarious and became our quote of the day.
around 11 or so, Dick called and informed me that he had finally made it to Dohren with the 3 of his buddies. So i left the AMerican Sports day early and went to meet them. Dick and the 3 English blokes have been driving across Europe for a week now, sleeping in Hostels or tents. They were at the Rock AM Ring festival in Frankfurt for the last 4 days and stopped here in Dohren before heading to Amsterdam and then back home. There was Ben and Laura, both of whom were in the same program Dick was in, teaching english to high schoolers in Spain. and then there was Rich. Rich was a character. he was 6'6", maybe 160 pound soaking wet, long black hair pulled back in a pony tail, leather jacket, looked a bit middle eastern, and my first thought when i saw him get out of the car was, "Holy shit, what a sketchy looking dude. I'm going to have to keep my eye on this one." But i brought them in the house and took them to my room where they laid their stuff down and asked if there was any way they could shower. I took them up and showed them the bathrooms, then came back down to check my email and whatever on the computer. My plan was to show Dick around here, show him the field and the town and what not, eat some food, then take off for Hamburg where we were meeting Laser for the night.
After a shower and getting 5 days of the Rock Am Ring stench and filth off of themselves, the 4 of them just wanted to sit down and have a nap. we threw in Dawn of the Dead and watched for a bit until Antje yelled down that food was ready. We had Lasagna, one of her specialties. this home cooked meal was a welcomed upgrade from the hotdogs and canned food they had been eating in Frankfurt. stomachs full and tired, everyone passed out for 2 hours or so while me and Dick stayed up and watched the rest of the movie.
the train left at 6:10 so we got there and bought our ticket and got on the train. a nice old lady gave us her ticket so that was one expense that we didnt have to worry about spliting up. and as we sat on the train, the ticket lady came around checking tickets. I've never been checked for a ticket before so this was new to me. but we showed her our tickets and she asked where we were heading. we told her the main station in Hamburg. she then informed us that we had bought a ticket that would only get us to Harburg, 3 stops before the main station. we would have to get off there or it would cost us 40 euros per person if we stayed on the train. but she told us that we could take the subway right to the main station from Harburg. so we got off and headed underground and hopped on the subway. it wasnt the best or fastest way to get there but we finally made it and Laser was waiting. we explained what happened and he laughed. apparently when he lived in Dohren and would come to Hamburg to party, he would mess the train ride home all the time. sometimes he would get off at the wrong stop, or fall asleep on the train and end up in Bremen. or one time he got kicked off the train because he was too drunk, so he just waited another half hour and got on the next train back to dohren.
we decided to go get some food first, since it was only 7, and the Keets dont get fun until at least midnight. so we found a nice place that Laser told us is always packed on the weekend. apparently its a different story on a monday night because there was no one in the place except us and one other table of guys. we sat and ordered beers and food and bullshitted about baseball and the keets and Ben told us his hooker story. it was a good start to the night and at around 10 we hailed a coupla taxis heading for the keets.
The keets is the redlight district of Hamburg, full of strip clubs, a few normal bars, and there is one street that is blocked off at both ends. this strip is where most of the prostitues are at. now i have been hearing about this street since i've been here and was expecting big things. No girls are allowed to go on this street because the hookers in the windows of the... shops i'll call them, will throw things at them and spit on them and things like that. so we left Laura with Laser at the end of the street and the 5 of us guys entered. I've never actually seen a hooker up close, only in movies and on tv and stuff and they always look just flat nasty. or ive heard the horror stories of them turning out to be dudes or trannies or whatever. but as i stepped into the red lights of the street and began walking, i noticed that these girls were hot...well except the one in the 3rd window on the left, she had to have weighed every bit of 300 lbs, and the funny thing is she wanted more money than every other girl on the street. but i guess some guys are into that kind of thing. but the farther i walked down the strip, the girls got more and more attractive. we were the only guys on the street...it was after all a monday. (apparently its just wall to wall guys on this street during the weekend.) and all the girls yelled at us from the windows as we walked by, "hey come here, i just want to talk. lets just talk." i guess they could hear us talking to eachother and thats how they knew to speak english, but they all spoke it pretty well...maybe thats part of the hooker training for the Keets, English 101.
one trip down and back was enough to satisfy my curiosity, and we met back with Laser and Laura at the front of the street. This is not the only place you have to worry about hookers in the Keets though, they are running about on the streets outside the bars and clubs too. so you can never be too carefull with your money and who you give attention to. so we began walking down the street until we found a little hole in the wall sports bar with live music. The Singer Songwriters were playing a little set of german music, they play this club every monday night according to the posters on the wall. so we sat down at a table and had a few beers and talked about baseball with the Rich and Ben. Rich especially was captivated by our stories and ramblings about it being the best sport in the world. he vowed that he would try it once he got back home.
after the live music bar, we headed down the street a little farther, Laser wanted to show us the biggest strip club in Germany, Suzy's. when we go to the door, the bouncer told us that it was a 10 euro cover to get in and we decided that that 10 euros would be better spent on a beer. so we found another bar down the way and had another beer there before setting off for Laser's place. it was nearly 3 in the morning at that point but that didnt stop the party. Laser fired up the Tom Jones and danced and drank beer until almost 6 in the morning. One of the neighbors knocked on the door and complained that their kid was trying to sleep because he had school the next day, so we turned the music down for maybe 20 minutes. Laser said that he was moving at the end of the week anyway so what could that guy really do? complain? get him kicked out? so we just kept partying. noon rolled around and we finally decided that it was probably time to leave since Dick and the English were heading to Amsterdam that day. so Laser write down direction and off we went. we stood at the train station for a good 30 minutes trying to figure out which direction we needed to take bus 21 to get to the subway. but finally we founf someone that spoke english to tell us that the 4 bus would take us right to the main train station - our ultimate destination. so we got on bus 4 and rode for about 40 minutes and i was worried that we were on the wrong bus and that we were heading the wrong way. but we finally made it to the train station and got on the train and was back in Dohren by 4:30. Those guys took off around 5:30 or so and i had softball practice at 7. I really wanted to take a nap but it would just be a tease to sleep for an hour, so i stayed up.
Luckily i didnt have school or anything today so i got to sleep in and try to make up for lost beauty sleep. i dont think its working though, because im starting to get sick. i am congested and my throat hurts a bit, but i wont let it get me down. I have practices and school all this week, games on Saturday, a big party saturday night (caribbean night), and then 2 more games on Sunday. I dont have time to be sick.
A-Ron
the clouds had opened up and it was absolutely pouring outside but we had no other choice than to ride our bikes home. I didnt want to wake anyone up to come and get me, plus i didnt want to leave my bike because i needed it the next morning at 9 am for our field day at the baseball field that i will get into in a minute. so we set off for home, succombed to the fact that we were going to get drenched. at 1:00 AM here in dohren, the street lights go off...i mean what normal person in their right mind would be up walking around at 1 in the morning right. and when the lights go out here, they really go out. you might as well have your eyes shut and ride by memory. and neither of our headlights on our bike work; the wires have been cut on mine. so even in my drunken state, i had the presence of mind to pull out my cell phone and use that as my head light. it doesnt give a very bright, clear view down the road, but at least i can see 5 feet in front of me at all times. Johst later told me that he heard us going by his house that night, oops, sorry man.
I finally made it home and pulled off the wet clothes and crawled into bed. 8:30 came way too soon and i was up and on my way to the field. it was a tough one. so at 9:00, 350 7 yr olds came walking down the street toward the sport house. Monday was on of the Tostedt school's "American Sports Day." there were stations set up all over the soccer fields and our fields to simulate American Sports. there was obviously a baseball station, basketball, hockey, and football. but there were also stock-car driving, a dancing station, cheerleading, freeclimbing, and my personal favorite, the gymnastic Vault.
Tony and i were on the baseball field doing the running station. it was a 20 meter stretch and we had a sheet that gave us a breakdown of how many points each kid got for a specific time. if they got under 3.2 it was 10 points, between 3.2 and 3.5 was 8 points and so on down to over 4.0 was 2 points. Each kid got to run 3 times. they were broken into groups of about 7 and sicne there werent that many teachers, many groups were just free to roam aimlessly from station to station. Since we are the americans, a bunch of groups wanted to come to our station first so we got bogged down pretty quickly, and there were kids jumping groups and running with the wrong crowd...no pun intended. it was a mess trying to keep them separated and in some kind of order. we started off running 2 kids at a time, but were unable to explain to them that they were not supposed to run down and back, but just straight through, like a sprint. so the kids were slowing down before the 20 meters, trying to set themselves up for a good, quick turn around the cone. this skewed the times a bit and after 3 or 4 groups, instead of telling me the times and letting me see what point scale it corresponded to, Tony was just saying, "Coupla 2s." a few times he forgot to hit the button to start the clock, or to stop the clock...we always gave them a Coupla 2s too. as i sit here and write this, and am reading back over it, i realize that anyone that wasnt there might not find this as funny and blog worthy as i do. i guess it was a combination of still being a bit drunk, the cold, the rain, both of us just wanting to go back to sleep, but at the time it was hilarious and became our quote of the day.
around 11 or so, Dick called and informed me that he had finally made it to Dohren with the 3 of his buddies. So i left the AMerican Sports day early and went to meet them. Dick and the 3 English blokes have been driving across Europe for a week now, sleeping in Hostels or tents. They were at the Rock AM Ring festival in Frankfurt for the last 4 days and stopped here in Dohren before heading to Amsterdam and then back home. There was Ben and Laura, both of whom were in the same program Dick was in, teaching english to high schoolers in Spain. and then there was Rich. Rich was a character. he was 6'6", maybe 160 pound soaking wet, long black hair pulled back in a pony tail, leather jacket, looked a bit middle eastern, and my first thought when i saw him get out of the car was, "Holy shit, what a sketchy looking dude. I'm going to have to keep my eye on this one." But i brought them in the house and took them to my room where they laid their stuff down and asked if there was any way they could shower. I took them up and showed them the bathrooms, then came back down to check my email and whatever on the computer. My plan was to show Dick around here, show him the field and the town and what not, eat some food, then take off for Hamburg where we were meeting Laser for the night.
After a shower and getting 5 days of the Rock Am Ring stench and filth off of themselves, the 4 of them just wanted to sit down and have a nap. we threw in Dawn of the Dead and watched for a bit until Antje yelled down that food was ready. We had Lasagna, one of her specialties. this home cooked meal was a welcomed upgrade from the hotdogs and canned food they had been eating in Frankfurt. stomachs full and tired, everyone passed out for 2 hours or so while me and Dick stayed up and watched the rest of the movie.
the train left at 6:10 so we got there and bought our ticket and got on the train. a nice old lady gave us her ticket so that was one expense that we didnt have to worry about spliting up. and as we sat on the train, the ticket lady came around checking tickets. I've never been checked for a ticket before so this was new to me. but we showed her our tickets and she asked where we were heading. we told her the main station in Hamburg. she then informed us that we had bought a ticket that would only get us to Harburg, 3 stops before the main station. we would have to get off there or it would cost us 40 euros per person if we stayed on the train. but she told us that we could take the subway right to the main station from Harburg. so we got off and headed underground and hopped on the subway. it wasnt the best or fastest way to get there but we finally made it and Laser was waiting. we explained what happened and he laughed. apparently when he lived in Dohren and would come to Hamburg to party, he would mess the train ride home all the time. sometimes he would get off at the wrong stop, or fall asleep on the train and end up in Bremen. or one time he got kicked off the train because he was too drunk, so he just waited another half hour and got on the next train back to dohren.
we decided to go get some food first, since it was only 7, and the Keets dont get fun until at least midnight. so we found a nice place that Laser told us is always packed on the weekend. apparently its a different story on a monday night because there was no one in the place except us and one other table of guys. we sat and ordered beers and food and bullshitted about baseball and the keets and Ben told us his hooker story. it was a good start to the night and at around 10 we hailed a coupla taxis heading for the keets.
The keets is the redlight district of Hamburg, full of strip clubs, a few normal bars, and there is one street that is blocked off at both ends. this strip is where most of the prostitues are at. now i have been hearing about this street since i've been here and was expecting big things. No girls are allowed to go on this street because the hookers in the windows of the... shops i'll call them, will throw things at them and spit on them and things like that. so we left Laura with Laser at the end of the street and the 5 of us guys entered. I've never actually seen a hooker up close, only in movies and on tv and stuff and they always look just flat nasty. or ive heard the horror stories of them turning out to be dudes or trannies or whatever. but as i stepped into the red lights of the street and began walking, i noticed that these girls were hot...well except the one in the 3rd window on the left, she had to have weighed every bit of 300 lbs, and the funny thing is she wanted more money than every other girl on the street. but i guess some guys are into that kind of thing. but the farther i walked down the strip, the girls got more and more attractive. we were the only guys on the street...it was after all a monday. (apparently its just wall to wall guys on this street during the weekend.) and all the girls yelled at us from the windows as we walked by, "hey come here, i just want to talk. lets just talk." i guess they could hear us talking to eachother and thats how they knew to speak english, but they all spoke it pretty well...maybe thats part of the hooker training for the Keets, English 101.
one trip down and back was enough to satisfy my curiosity, and we met back with Laser and Laura at the front of the street. This is not the only place you have to worry about hookers in the Keets though, they are running about on the streets outside the bars and clubs too. so you can never be too carefull with your money and who you give attention to. so we began walking down the street until we found a little hole in the wall sports bar with live music. The Singer Songwriters were playing a little set of german music, they play this club every monday night according to the posters on the wall. so we sat down at a table and had a few beers and talked about baseball with the Rich and Ben. Rich especially was captivated by our stories and ramblings about it being the best sport in the world. he vowed that he would try it once he got back home.
after the live music bar, we headed down the street a little farther, Laser wanted to show us the biggest strip club in Germany, Suzy's. when we go to the door, the bouncer told us that it was a 10 euro cover to get in and we decided that that 10 euros would be better spent on a beer. so we found another bar down the way and had another beer there before setting off for Laser's place. it was nearly 3 in the morning at that point but that didnt stop the party. Laser fired up the Tom Jones and danced and drank beer until almost 6 in the morning. One of the neighbors knocked on the door and complained that their kid was trying to sleep because he had school the next day, so we turned the music down for maybe 20 minutes. Laser said that he was moving at the end of the week anyway so what could that guy really do? complain? get him kicked out? so we just kept partying. noon rolled around and we finally decided that it was probably time to leave since Dick and the English were heading to Amsterdam that day. so Laser write down direction and off we went. we stood at the train station for a good 30 minutes trying to figure out which direction we needed to take bus 21 to get to the subway. but finally we founf someone that spoke english to tell us that the 4 bus would take us right to the main train station - our ultimate destination. so we got on bus 4 and rode for about 40 minutes and i was worried that we were on the wrong bus and that we were heading the wrong way. but we finally made it to the train station and got on the train and was back in Dohren by 4:30. Those guys took off around 5:30 or so and i had softball practice at 7. I really wanted to take a nap but it would just be a tease to sleep for an hour, so i stayed up.
Luckily i didnt have school or anything today so i got to sleep in and try to make up for lost beauty sleep. i dont think its working though, because im starting to get sick. i am congested and my throat hurts a bit, but i wont let it get me down. I have practices and school all this week, games on Saturday, a big party saturday night (caribbean night), and then 2 more games on Sunday. I dont have time to be sick.
A-Ron
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Milestone Weekend
(PA announcer) - "now running for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Benjamin Rodriguez."
Grown-Up Scott Smalls - They say the Jet has lost a step or two, but i wouldnt be surprised to see some fireworks. The Jet's got a suicide lead..and...they dont see him, i dont believe it, they dont see him. THE JET STOLE HOME! THE JET STOLE HOME!
you can probably see where this is going but i'll try to paint a picture that captures all the awesomeness of the moment.
it was Saturday morning and the 2nd man's team had a game at 1. Julia's welcome home party was friday night so we played beer pong and we went out to Reaper after that and stayed out pretty late and i was in no shape to play baseball at 10:30 when we met at the field. but as the sun rose in the sky, and i drank plenty of water, i was feeling a lot better. the headache was fading and that voice in the pit of my stomach that screams at me "Dude, why did you drink so much last night, you're an idiot." was becoming much quieter. by the first inning i was still hungover but well enough to go out and play.
They scored a run in their half of the first off of Daniel, and the momentum was on their side as they took the field. I got up to bat with 2 outs and hit a single to keep the rally alive. After moving to 2nd on a walk, i noticed that the pitcher was a 1-looker. (this means that he looks to 2nd once, turns and throws the pitch. and he did this every time) so after turning his head back to home i took off for 3rd and stole it easily. Now with runners on 3rd and 2nd, the pitcher went back to throwing from the wind-up. he had the slowest windup ive ever seen and as i watched him throw 2 balls to Skippy, i was talking in normal conversational volume to Tony who was coaching 3rd.
"Dude, i really want to steal home."
"Yeah, you want to? this guy would be the one to do it off of."
"yeah but Skip's a lefty and i dont want to steal it with a lefty up." (side note: when stealing home, its a surprise move, you dont want anyone to see it coming...especially the catcher. with a lefty batter, you might think its better because you dont have to avoid the batter on the slide, but the 3rd baseline is in plain view of the catcher and with a simple pitchout, any runner would be dead in the water. but with a righty at the plate, it shields the catcher from seeing the runner coming down the line. a pitchout to a righty takes the catcher away from the play at the plate, and the batter also adds something else the catcher has to avoid when he tries to make the tag.)
so as Skip draws ball 4, Bifi, a righty, comes to the plate. I look at Tony, "I'm doing it."
"Yeah? ok i'll put on the sign."
Remember this conversation is being heard by the 3rd baseman, the shortstop, most likely the pitcherand catcher, and probabaly everyone else in the stands. My heart is pounding now, the adrenaline is flowing; I've never stole home before. I'm a little nervous about timing the guy right, i know that if i time him right, there is no chance they will get me. I've got a huge lead because no one is covering the bag and i'm also nervous about being picked off. i was a bit quick on the trigger and took a step or two before he started his wind-up so i thought i was picked for sure. but as i stopped halfway down the line, he started the windup and i put my head down and i was out of the gates. legs turning and picking up speed, past the point of no return, my last thought was "dear god, Bifi, dont swing." diving for the front corner of the plate (i never slide head first, ever), right arm extended for home, the catcher gets the ball and lunges at me. you know those times in life when the world just seems to slow down as something big is about to happen? for a split second my world is in slow motion as i watch my hand slide across home plate before the catcher tags me on the shoulder. and as the dust settles, replaced by cheers and applause, its a new ball game.
we went on to win this game pretty easily, but the 2nd game also featured a milestone for me. with 1 out in the top of the 7th, 2 outs from a sweep. a guy from their team hits a ball to 3rd base. there is a bad throw so the runner takes off for 2nd. Johst turns and fires to Daniel at 2nd before the guy is even halfway. normal players would have stopped and tried to go back, or just tipped his cap and walked into the tag, but not this guy, this guy was a dick the entire day and he was not slowing down at all. about 5 feet before he got to Daniel, the guy jumped in the air and like turned to throw his knee into him. Daniel is a 15 year old kid mind you. Needless to say, I wasn't very fond of this move and Johst and Igl were giving this guy an ear-full as he jogged back to the dugout. I have no idea what was said, it was in German, but from the looks on everyone's faces it was not, "hey good hit, Buddy. You're the man, let's go have a beer after the game." and i dont think blowing kisses at Igl was this guy's smartest move ever. Igl's eyes turned red and i'm pretty sure i saw smoke come out of his ears as he was chasing the guy down and tackling him from behind. Johst jumped in at this point too and guys were rushing out of both dugouts. i was moving toward the pile but the umpire came to me and specifically told me to stay back. my thought immediately went to a huge fine and suspension that would most likely end my season so my better judgement took over and i stopped. but as the bodies were pulled apart and the umpires were sorting things out, one of their players looked right at me and spouted off something in German. Again, i figured it was not something nice, so i turned to Daniel who was standing next to me and he told me that the guy was asking me if that's what i teach my players.
at the time i was just dumbfounded and didnt know what to say, but later as i was thinking about it, i should have asked him if he taught his players to kiss dudes.
it took 20 years of baseball and moving to Germany to finally see a teammate tossed from a game because of a fight. Igl, Johst, and the other dude got the heave-ho and the case will come before the board this week some time to see about fines and suspensions and all that fun stuff.
So saturday was one for my record book to say the least. And Sunday Hamburg came to town for a 1st man's game. we are tied with Hamburg for 1st in the league...well let me correct that, two of their wins had to be forfeited because they played with too many foreign born players. So really we were in sole possession of 1st. the 1st game was a tough loss 5-3. both teams played pretty well and it was a good game, we were just on the wrong side of the score. but thats baseball, some times you win, some times you lose, and sometimes it rains. (2 of the 3 happened on sunday) Tony hit an absolute no doubter in the 1st inning that had to have sailed 340 down the right field line. he is now the Guy from Spain.
but the 2nd game got out of hand. they scored 4 runs in the 1st and i could see all the wind come out of our sails at that point. we scored one in our half of the 1st which sparked us a little but it was put out when they scored again in the 3rd. what really killed us was walks. our pitchers walked too many guys and its always hard to play defense when the pitcher isnt throwing strikes. and its doubley worse when you're losing. but we hit their pitcher pretty hard, but we hit a lot of balls right at guys. I hit the ball right at the shortstop, i mean he didnt even have to take one step to catch the ball, a couple times, and Jan to the left and center fielder. our beloved Blooper didnt even work, Laser hit one to right and the right fielder made a great diving catch to rob us of a hit. this play would have been on ESPN, no doubt.
with a man on in the 6th i came to bat and was just looking for a fastball i could hit hard the other way. i was hitting the shit out of the ball all day and put one off the right field fence in my previous at bat. so this time i was going up with the strategy that got me there, hard the other way. the pitcher didnt disappoint, the first pitch of the at bat was a belt high fastball right down the cock. i put a good swing on it and watched it fly to right. off the bat i thought it was going to be caught so i was jogging a bit out of the box, but as it kept flying i helped it along with, "go ball!" and i hit first just as the right fielder ran into the fence and the ball bounced off the road behind the right field fence. This is my 4th bomb of the year and im starting to wonder what kind of hitter i would have been in college if Walker would have let me play the field. Since i was the Guy from America before, i now am the Gay from whatever county i want to pick. I'm taking suggestions on this one, but im leaning toward the gay from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. this HR is also special because it is my first ever opposite field homer. ive always only had power to left but it looks like things are changing. But it just doesnt feel the same when youre losing by 10 runs. we lost this game 13-4.
since we are on the topic of home runs and all, lets visit DC Bats for a second. Laser hit a homerun in his first at bat with a DC. Tony hit his bomb on sunday with a DC, and ever since we've been allowed to use them 3 weeks ago, i've been hitting the shit out of the ball and I have 2 HRs with DC Bats. Maybe its something in the paint over here, (they use American Maple or Ash woods) but if balls keep leaving the yard at this rate, these bats are going to make a quick name for themselves. DC Bats are going to be flying off the shelves like the balls out of the park. the only problem with them seems to be that they dont like batting practice. we've broken at least 10 DC bats and all of them have been in BP. I've broken 4 myself, laser broke 3 the other day in one round of BP. i dont think we've broken one DC in a game. If you dont swing DC Bats, Fuck You. thats the motto of the company. who wants to make shirts?
Thats all i got today, but stay tuned because i dont have school tomorrow and I still have to write about Dick's visit and the Keets in Hamburg.
A-Ron
Grown-Up Scott Smalls - They say the Jet has lost a step or two, but i wouldnt be surprised to see some fireworks. The Jet's got a suicide lead..and...they dont see him, i dont believe it, they dont see him. THE JET STOLE HOME! THE JET STOLE HOME!
you can probably see where this is going but i'll try to paint a picture that captures all the awesomeness of the moment.
it was Saturday morning and the 2nd man's team had a game at 1. Julia's welcome home party was friday night so we played beer pong and we went out to Reaper after that and stayed out pretty late and i was in no shape to play baseball at 10:30 when we met at the field. but as the sun rose in the sky, and i drank plenty of water, i was feeling a lot better. the headache was fading and that voice in the pit of my stomach that screams at me "Dude, why did you drink so much last night, you're an idiot." was becoming much quieter. by the first inning i was still hungover but well enough to go out and play.
They scored a run in their half of the first off of Daniel, and the momentum was on their side as they took the field. I got up to bat with 2 outs and hit a single to keep the rally alive. After moving to 2nd on a walk, i noticed that the pitcher was a 1-looker. (this means that he looks to 2nd once, turns and throws the pitch. and he did this every time) so after turning his head back to home i took off for 3rd and stole it easily. Now with runners on 3rd and 2nd, the pitcher went back to throwing from the wind-up. he had the slowest windup ive ever seen and as i watched him throw 2 balls to Skippy, i was talking in normal conversational volume to Tony who was coaching 3rd.
"Dude, i really want to steal home."
"Yeah, you want to? this guy would be the one to do it off of."
"yeah but Skip's a lefty and i dont want to steal it with a lefty up." (side note: when stealing home, its a surprise move, you dont want anyone to see it coming...especially the catcher. with a lefty batter, you might think its better because you dont have to avoid the batter on the slide, but the 3rd baseline is in plain view of the catcher and with a simple pitchout, any runner would be dead in the water. but with a righty at the plate, it shields the catcher from seeing the runner coming down the line. a pitchout to a righty takes the catcher away from the play at the plate, and the batter also adds something else the catcher has to avoid when he tries to make the tag.)
so as Skip draws ball 4, Bifi, a righty, comes to the plate. I look at Tony, "I'm doing it."
"Yeah? ok i'll put on the sign."
Remember this conversation is being heard by the 3rd baseman, the shortstop, most likely the pitcherand catcher, and probabaly everyone else in the stands. My heart is pounding now, the adrenaline is flowing; I've never stole home before. I'm a little nervous about timing the guy right, i know that if i time him right, there is no chance they will get me. I've got a huge lead because no one is covering the bag and i'm also nervous about being picked off. i was a bit quick on the trigger and took a step or two before he started his wind-up so i thought i was picked for sure. but as i stopped halfway down the line, he started the windup and i put my head down and i was out of the gates. legs turning and picking up speed, past the point of no return, my last thought was "dear god, Bifi, dont swing." diving for the front corner of the plate (i never slide head first, ever), right arm extended for home, the catcher gets the ball and lunges at me. you know those times in life when the world just seems to slow down as something big is about to happen? for a split second my world is in slow motion as i watch my hand slide across home plate before the catcher tags me on the shoulder. and as the dust settles, replaced by cheers and applause, its a new ball game.
we went on to win this game pretty easily, but the 2nd game also featured a milestone for me. with 1 out in the top of the 7th, 2 outs from a sweep. a guy from their team hits a ball to 3rd base. there is a bad throw so the runner takes off for 2nd. Johst turns and fires to Daniel at 2nd before the guy is even halfway. normal players would have stopped and tried to go back, or just tipped his cap and walked into the tag, but not this guy, this guy was a dick the entire day and he was not slowing down at all. about 5 feet before he got to Daniel, the guy jumped in the air and like turned to throw his knee into him. Daniel is a 15 year old kid mind you. Needless to say, I wasn't very fond of this move and Johst and Igl were giving this guy an ear-full as he jogged back to the dugout. I have no idea what was said, it was in German, but from the looks on everyone's faces it was not, "hey good hit, Buddy. You're the man, let's go have a beer after the game." and i dont think blowing kisses at Igl was this guy's smartest move ever. Igl's eyes turned red and i'm pretty sure i saw smoke come out of his ears as he was chasing the guy down and tackling him from behind. Johst jumped in at this point too and guys were rushing out of both dugouts. i was moving toward the pile but the umpire came to me and specifically told me to stay back. my thought immediately went to a huge fine and suspension that would most likely end my season so my better judgement took over and i stopped. but as the bodies were pulled apart and the umpires were sorting things out, one of their players looked right at me and spouted off something in German. Again, i figured it was not something nice, so i turned to Daniel who was standing next to me and he told me that the guy was asking me if that's what i teach my players.
at the time i was just dumbfounded and didnt know what to say, but later as i was thinking about it, i should have asked him if he taught his players to kiss dudes.
it took 20 years of baseball and moving to Germany to finally see a teammate tossed from a game because of a fight. Igl, Johst, and the other dude got the heave-ho and the case will come before the board this week some time to see about fines and suspensions and all that fun stuff.
So saturday was one for my record book to say the least. And Sunday Hamburg came to town for a 1st man's game. we are tied with Hamburg for 1st in the league...well let me correct that, two of their wins had to be forfeited because they played with too many foreign born players. So really we were in sole possession of 1st. the 1st game was a tough loss 5-3. both teams played pretty well and it was a good game, we were just on the wrong side of the score. but thats baseball, some times you win, some times you lose, and sometimes it rains. (2 of the 3 happened on sunday) Tony hit an absolute no doubter in the 1st inning that had to have sailed 340 down the right field line. he is now the Guy from Spain.
but the 2nd game got out of hand. they scored 4 runs in the 1st and i could see all the wind come out of our sails at that point. we scored one in our half of the 1st which sparked us a little but it was put out when they scored again in the 3rd. what really killed us was walks. our pitchers walked too many guys and its always hard to play defense when the pitcher isnt throwing strikes. and its doubley worse when you're losing. but we hit their pitcher pretty hard, but we hit a lot of balls right at guys. I hit the ball right at the shortstop, i mean he didnt even have to take one step to catch the ball, a couple times, and Jan to the left and center fielder. our beloved Blooper didnt even work, Laser hit one to right and the right fielder made a great diving catch to rob us of a hit. this play would have been on ESPN, no doubt.
with a man on in the 6th i came to bat and was just looking for a fastball i could hit hard the other way. i was hitting the shit out of the ball all day and put one off the right field fence in my previous at bat. so this time i was going up with the strategy that got me there, hard the other way. the pitcher didnt disappoint, the first pitch of the at bat was a belt high fastball right down the cock. i put a good swing on it and watched it fly to right. off the bat i thought it was going to be caught so i was jogging a bit out of the box, but as it kept flying i helped it along with, "go ball!" and i hit first just as the right fielder ran into the fence and the ball bounced off the road behind the right field fence. This is my 4th bomb of the year and im starting to wonder what kind of hitter i would have been in college if Walker would have let me play the field. Since i was the Guy from America before, i now am the Gay from whatever county i want to pick. I'm taking suggestions on this one, but im leaning toward the gay from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. this HR is also special because it is my first ever opposite field homer. ive always only had power to left but it looks like things are changing. But it just doesnt feel the same when youre losing by 10 runs. we lost this game 13-4.
since we are on the topic of home runs and all, lets visit DC Bats for a second. Laser hit a homerun in his first at bat with a DC. Tony hit his bomb on sunday with a DC, and ever since we've been allowed to use them 3 weeks ago, i've been hitting the shit out of the ball and I have 2 HRs with DC Bats. Maybe its something in the paint over here, (they use American Maple or Ash woods) but if balls keep leaving the yard at this rate, these bats are going to make a quick name for themselves. DC Bats are going to be flying off the shelves like the balls out of the park. the only problem with them seems to be that they dont like batting practice. we've broken at least 10 DC bats and all of them have been in BP. I've broken 4 myself, laser broke 3 the other day in one round of BP. i dont think we've broken one DC in a game. If you dont swing DC Bats, Fuck You. thats the motto of the company. who wants to make shirts?
Thats all i got today, but stay tuned because i dont have school tomorrow and I still have to write about Dick's visit and the Keets in Hamburg.
A-Ron
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
"I'm Always on the Sunny Side, and I don't like it."
Friday morning as i woke, promptly at 11 am, the plans for Memmingen were still up in the air. departure times and modes of transportation were still theories with nothing set in stone, other than having a whole mess of beers once we got there. but as noon rolled around the ball had been picked up and we were to leave in one hour. after seeing this email i decided that it was time to start packing, since i had not done it the previous night bacause we had been drinking. so i threw some stuff in a bag and grabbed a sleeping bag and pad and a quick bite to eat before walking to the sporthouse.
Hassi, Tony, and i were the first ones there waiting for Laser and Johst. there were other trains leaving the station at 3 and 5 but we were the first wagon heading south. as we waited i began going over my checklist: beer money, glove, shoes, pants, jersey, belt, socks, boxers, shorts, "I'm the Boss" suspenders, camping chair...chair, i need a chair. So Hassi tossed me the keys and told me to hop in the car. this was my first time behind the wheel of a car in 3 months and the first time driving a stick in at least 2 years. but its like riding a bike, i was off and moving and not one time did it sputter or did i come close to killing it. the clutch was quite stiff and the Armstrong steering was a bit of a pain but all in all it was a good first time behind the wheel of a german car.
but it was not my first of the day. the 6 hour drive to Steinheim was an easy one right down the A7. Tony and i split up the drive down there while Johst and Laser were to split the drive back home on Sunday. Since Tony was smart enough to call the first leg of the trip, i had to stay sober the whole time while he joined drinking with the other two at the halfway mark.
when we finally got to Steinheim it was getting dark and the other teams were already asleep or just casually sipping on a beer around the campfire. and it was no surprise that we were the last team still awake at 1AM pounding beers around the fire. Me and Sasha were the last ones up at 3.
the next morning we had a game at 10, so we all rolled out of bed by 8 or so and began drinking beer to loosen up. the beer was 2.20 for a .5 liter mug- a damn good deal that we took full advantage of all weekend. so by the time we were to play at 10, we had all had a few beers and had beers in hand as we entered the dugout. throwing while drinking is a lot easier than sober. the first throw is enough to loosen the arm up for the game, but catching the ball is a different story. I was having a bit of trouble getting the ball in the glove and staying there, but that didnt stop Johst from putting me in at SS and batting 3rd.
we got out of the 1st inning with no harm done as Tony cruised past the first 4 batters of their lineup. one guy reached on an error. and we scored a few runs in our half of the inning to take an early lead. I walked on 5 pitches in my first plate appearance. Tony struck out 3 in the top of the 2nd and got us back into the dugout to score some more runs. coming up with the bases loaded in my next AB, i was thinking, "man it would be nice to hit this one over the fence so i dont have to run hard; i dont want to run hard." so on the 2nd pitch of the AB, i put a good swing on a fastball on the inner half and watched as it sailed high and far over the left field wall for a Grand Slam. there was some debate about whether or not it would count since it was in a tournament and not in a regular season game but after some discussion, it was granted and i am now the GUY from America! it was a long journey from being a homosexual hailing from Espana to the guy from America but i finally feel like myself again.
we batted around that inning and again i came up with runners on 1st...2nd...and 3rd. and i was wondering how many times other than Fernando Tatis this had happened in baseball history. as i was getting ready to step into the box, i heard Tony yell from the dugout, "Let's go Fernando." (for those of you that dont know, Tatis is the only man in MLB history to hit 2 Grand Slams in the same inning.) but the pitcher wasnt throwing me anything i could pull, only fastballs and curves away, so i had to settle on blasting a double to right center. we easily won the game 16-1.
not too much exciting happened in the 2nd game but we won 7-whatever they had. and after that game we were done for the day and the real drinking began. there was a party at a local bar that night so we al headed over there around 9 for more drinks and dancing. i left the bar around 12 but others stayed until the sun came up. this made for a rough Sunday morning game, one which i couldnt participate in because i was still drunk. that was the closest game we had at a 4 run difference, but i didnt see them with beers in the dugout like us or at the bar the night before. so it was a big win all things considered. that win put us in the #1 seed for the championship game.
we came up against a team with 4-5 spanish speaking black guys in the final but we had already beat them once this morning so we were pretty confident that we would sweep through this tourny and get the big trophy. and we were right. we dominated those guys and walked off the field winners of the Steinheim tournament.
in celebration we did the victory pyramid...or tried to do it. we got 4 rows high before the right side gave out and everyone came tumbling down. there were still 2 people left on the ground that had yet to climb on top.
I ended the tournament 4-7 with a GS, double, 7 RBI, 4 SB. but i dont htink i would have gotten MVP because Choco Mendoza of our team was 6-7 with a 7 RBI, 5 SB. Choco didnt get out until his last AB of the tournament.
SO we won all aspects on the weekend; baseball, beer drinking, and fun. it really wasnt even a contest in any category.
Johst brought to our attention last weekend on our trip to ACDC that whenever he is in a car on a long trip, he always ends up sitting in the sun. i paid attention the whole way there and back and he was right, no matter if we were coming or going, he was always in the sun. and this weekend, on our way to Steinheim, it was no different, he still sat in the sun, on the way there and on the way back. I will be sure to never sit behind or in front of him on a long road trip again. and i will never get in his line at a fast food joint either. we are usually done with our food before he even gets his. i dont know what it is but hes got the worst luck when it comes to that kind of stuff.
Yesterday was a holiday and everyone was off work and school. a group of 9 of us went swimming at the local pool paid for by Max Schmeling, the great boxer from back in the day. we stayed for about 2 hours but had to get back home because we were having a BBQ for Julia that night with family friends of the Hassenpflugs. the sun is hot here in germany and even though we werent out there for too long, i still got a bit burnt.
Today was a holiday from school so me, Tony and Bifi took the train to Hamburg to walk around and look for some shoes. I only brought 1 pair of shoes with me and after playing ball, painting, and walking around in them for 3 months, they are looking pretty shitty. after the 1st store it became apparent that shoes here are A LOT more expensive than in America. a pair of Nikes goes for anywhere from 70- 150 euro with most being 99-150. that is a bit out of my price range at the moment and none of the other shoes were much better so i didnt buy anything. I was looking pretty hard at a throwback HSV (hamburg soccer) keeper jersey but all they had were 3XL. in my younger days i would have jumped all over it, but since i've grown up and learned that clothes that big are not flattering to my figure, i reluctantly passed. maybe next time.
A-Ron
Hassi, Tony, and i were the first ones there waiting for Laser and Johst. there were other trains leaving the station at 3 and 5 but we were the first wagon heading south. as we waited i began going over my checklist: beer money, glove, shoes, pants, jersey, belt, socks, boxers, shorts, "I'm the Boss" suspenders, camping chair...chair, i need a chair. So Hassi tossed me the keys and told me to hop in the car. this was my first time behind the wheel of a car in 3 months and the first time driving a stick in at least 2 years. but its like riding a bike, i was off and moving and not one time did it sputter or did i come close to killing it. the clutch was quite stiff and the Armstrong steering was a bit of a pain but all in all it was a good first time behind the wheel of a german car.
but it was not my first of the day. the 6 hour drive to Steinheim was an easy one right down the A7. Tony and i split up the drive down there while Johst and Laser were to split the drive back home on Sunday. Since Tony was smart enough to call the first leg of the trip, i had to stay sober the whole time while he joined drinking with the other two at the halfway mark.
when we finally got to Steinheim it was getting dark and the other teams were already asleep or just casually sipping on a beer around the campfire. and it was no surprise that we were the last team still awake at 1AM pounding beers around the fire. Me and Sasha were the last ones up at 3.
the next morning we had a game at 10, so we all rolled out of bed by 8 or so and began drinking beer to loosen up. the beer was 2.20 for a .5 liter mug- a damn good deal that we took full advantage of all weekend. so by the time we were to play at 10, we had all had a few beers and had beers in hand as we entered the dugout. throwing while drinking is a lot easier than sober. the first throw is enough to loosen the arm up for the game, but catching the ball is a different story. I was having a bit of trouble getting the ball in the glove and staying there, but that didnt stop Johst from putting me in at SS and batting 3rd.
we got out of the 1st inning with no harm done as Tony cruised past the first 4 batters of their lineup. one guy reached on an error. and we scored a few runs in our half of the inning to take an early lead. I walked on 5 pitches in my first plate appearance. Tony struck out 3 in the top of the 2nd and got us back into the dugout to score some more runs. coming up with the bases loaded in my next AB, i was thinking, "man it would be nice to hit this one over the fence so i dont have to run hard; i dont want to run hard." so on the 2nd pitch of the AB, i put a good swing on a fastball on the inner half and watched as it sailed high and far over the left field wall for a Grand Slam. there was some debate about whether or not it would count since it was in a tournament and not in a regular season game but after some discussion, it was granted and i am now the GUY from America! it was a long journey from being a homosexual hailing from Espana to the guy from America but i finally feel like myself again.
we batted around that inning and again i came up with runners on 1st...2nd...and 3rd. and i was wondering how many times other than Fernando Tatis this had happened in baseball history. as i was getting ready to step into the box, i heard Tony yell from the dugout, "Let's go Fernando." (for those of you that dont know, Tatis is the only man in MLB history to hit 2 Grand Slams in the same inning.) but the pitcher wasnt throwing me anything i could pull, only fastballs and curves away, so i had to settle on blasting a double to right center. we easily won the game 16-1.
not too much exciting happened in the 2nd game but we won 7-whatever they had. and after that game we were done for the day and the real drinking began. there was a party at a local bar that night so we al headed over there around 9 for more drinks and dancing. i left the bar around 12 but others stayed until the sun came up. this made for a rough Sunday morning game, one which i couldnt participate in because i was still drunk. that was the closest game we had at a 4 run difference, but i didnt see them with beers in the dugout like us or at the bar the night before. so it was a big win all things considered. that win put us in the #1 seed for the championship game.
we came up against a team with 4-5 spanish speaking black guys in the final but we had already beat them once this morning so we were pretty confident that we would sweep through this tourny and get the big trophy. and we were right. we dominated those guys and walked off the field winners of the Steinheim tournament.
in celebration we did the victory pyramid...or tried to do it. we got 4 rows high before the right side gave out and everyone came tumbling down. there were still 2 people left on the ground that had yet to climb on top.
I ended the tournament 4-7 with a GS, double, 7 RBI, 4 SB. but i dont htink i would have gotten MVP because Choco Mendoza of our team was 6-7 with a 7 RBI, 5 SB. Choco didnt get out until his last AB of the tournament.
SO we won all aspects on the weekend; baseball, beer drinking, and fun. it really wasnt even a contest in any category.
Johst brought to our attention last weekend on our trip to ACDC that whenever he is in a car on a long trip, he always ends up sitting in the sun. i paid attention the whole way there and back and he was right, no matter if we were coming or going, he was always in the sun. and this weekend, on our way to Steinheim, it was no different, he still sat in the sun, on the way there and on the way back. I will be sure to never sit behind or in front of him on a long road trip again. and i will never get in his line at a fast food joint either. we are usually done with our food before he even gets his. i dont know what it is but hes got the worst luck when it comes to that kind of stuff.
Yesterday was a holiday and everyone was off work and school. a group of 9 of us went swimming at the local pool paid for by Max Schmeling, the great boxer from back in the day. we stayed for about 2 hours but had to get back home because we were having a BBQ for Julia that night with family friends of the Hassenpflugs. the sun is hot here in germany and even though we werent out there for too long, i still got a bit burnt.
Today was a holiday from school so me, Tony and Bifi took the train to Hamburg to walk around and look for some shoes. I only brought 1 pair of shoes with me and after playing ball, painting, and walking around in them for 3 months, they are looking pretty shitty. after the 1st store it became apparent that shoes here are A LOT more expensive than in America. a pair of Nikes goes for anywhere from 70- 150 euro with most being 99-150. that is a bit out of my price range at the moment and none of the other shoes were much better so i didnt buy anything. I was looking pretty hard at a throwback HSV (hamburg soccer) keeper jersey but all they had were 3XL. in my younger days i would have jumped all over it, but since i've grown up and learned that clothes that big are not flattering to my figure, i reluctantly passed. maybe next time.
A-Ron
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