the recipe for Great weekend is:
4 parts alcohol
2 parts random hook ups
2 parts dancing
sprinkle on a bit of rain
mix with 3 parts baseball
Cook on High heat for 72 hours
Things started around noon for me and most the other Wild Farmers. that is to say that we were at the field doing some last minute things in preparation for this extravaganza, and since there were more than 1 of us with the same goal in mind, it was a reason for celebration and libations. so as most of these get-togethers tend to go, we drank some beers and watched as the responsible ones did most of the work. since it was friday and most normal people have to work, the real party didnt start up until around 4 or so. we stood by the beer tent, welcoming all the other teams, sizing them up, them doing the same with us i'm sure.
the tournament kicked off at 6:30 with us playing the Hamburg Boys (this is the '96 hamburg all star team that Johst played for back in the day...'96 to be exact) Despite most of them not playing in for 10 years or so, there actually were a couple that are still playing, they played pretty good ball and hit a lot better than i thought they would. Johst got the the start for them and struck me out on 3 pitches in my only at bat of the game but we were able to win the game and put ourselves in a good place to be in the championship on sunday.
Friday night there was a Flanky ball tournament on the soccer field, under the lights. there were 16 teams in the tournament, and team Sweden, consisting of Thies, Jan, Hubi, Tony, and myself came out on top, though i didnt know this until the next day because i only played the first game...which is fine because to be honest i suck at that game anyway.
Saturday at 11 we continued play against the Dodgers. they were considered the weakest team in the tournament, so i dont know what that says about us because they ended up beating us 3-1. this is about the time that the rains really started coming down. it had been raining all tournament but the field was taking it pretty well. but about 12 noon on saturday, the skies opened up and it poured. we had to sponge water off the field so we could keep playing. the batter's boxes were soaked and there was standing water covering pretty much all of the field...but the show must go on.
we ended saturday 2-2, which was good for the 3rd place game on sunday starting at 2:00. But Saturday night was again a big party, bigger than friday even. and party we did. Tony ended up with his shirt off at one point and Hinzy was doing the running man on the floor. needless to say, the Farmers were tht highlight of the party and i give us the funnest team award with no real contenders for 2nd. at around 5, the sun was coming up and there were only a handful of us left, 2 of which were getting into a heated argument about politics. Me and Luis decided that burgerking was the next move for us, so we headed out. I thought i could remember the back way to get there, but the more and more we went, the more i realized that i was just getting us lost. Luis had to call Kirsten and finally get the real directions. I had a Whopper.
Sunday we came up against one of our friendly teams, Ingostadt, some of whom played with us in the memmingen tournament earlier this year. We lost this game 3-2 on a 2 RBI walk off single. so we got 4th place in the tournament.
Pulheim was the eventual winner, beating Dominican Power in the final, 3-1.
things were lost, and things were gained, now i need a vacation...Sweden in 4 days!
A-Ron
Monday, July 27, 2009
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
to all my friends
July 6th was a long time ago, calendar-ly speaking, but it feels like yesterday that we were listening to country music and drinking Jose at the snow dome. Its been a busy couple of weeks, action packed and not a whole lot of time to write. But here’s a rundown of everything that has happened.
That next week I had to stain the 4 huge barn doors so they looked good for the wedding reception that next weekend. I ran out of stain after the first door and when Annegret went to buy more, she got a different, lighter stain so the other 3 doors are a different color. Funny story about staining those doors…Thursday night we were out partying and drinking and I woke up Friday; 5:30 and in my sleepy, half drunken haze, I rushed to get dressed and ran out the door. I walked to the Dallmann house, determined to get the last 2 doors painted and to practice in an hour and a half. I passed Jorgen at the farm and waved hello, briskly passing in a rush. I got to the barn and gathered my things. I had ran out of stain the day before so I was searching for the new can when I again pulled out my phone to see just how much time I had…it was only at this point, 15 minutes after I first looked at my phone that I realized that it was in fact 5:30 AM and not 5:30 PM like I had originally thought. For some reason I slipped back into US time and didn’t even think about the fact that for the last 4 months I’ve been using a 24 hour system of telling time. Moral of this story is that I’m an idiot. But I went back home, laughing at myself and went back to bed.
The wedding on Saturday was a bit different than in America. Instead of the groom waiting with the rest of the wedding party at the alter as the bride strolls down the aisle, the bride and groom walked down the aisle together, following the priest. And there was no wedding party. It was a 45 minute ceremony, all in German except for a couple of songs that were sung in English. Immediately following the ceremony, we returned to our house to change. The invitation said that the reception was an “elegant rock party.” Rock (with an ‘o’ with the 2 dots above it) when translated to English means skirt. So about 25 of us went out and bought skirts to wear to the party as a joke. We met at Thies’s house and walked over together in a big group, all wearing skirts and ties…it was truly a sight to behold. The reception itself was awesome, the food was phenomenal, the live band, a band from Tostedt Johst and Hasi used to listen to when they were younger, was great, and the beer was free…what more could you ask for. It was one of the best wedding receptions I’ve ever been to and one I will never forget.
The next weekend we traveled to Berlin to play the Challengers. I found out a new rule at this doubleheader, Americans cant play both Shortstop and Catcher at the same time…who knew. So even though we lost the game, it goes down as a forfeit because I was in the 6 spot and Tony was behind the dish. The 2nd game went better for us, we won 12-5...well that’s what the scoreboard showed anyway. But another bonehead managerial move by yours truly put 4 jumpers in that game at the same time…another rule that I never had to worry about until that game and it also went down as a forfeit. During the 1st inning of the 2nd game, Tony was covering 2nd on a double play and the throw took him into the path of the runner and when the dust cleared he had a spike-sized hole in the back of his hand and deep scratches up his forearm. The runner didn’t slide and stepped right on his hand. He had to leave the field and go to the hospital where he got 2 stitches. Later in the 3rd, Heinzy laid down a beautiful bunt and the first baseman was across the base when he went to catch the throw and Heinzy had no choice but to lower his shoulder and run the guy over. He knocked the guy out cold and he too had to be taken to the hospital.
Last weekend we played Hamburg Knights at home in a 2nd man’s game. They kicked our asses in our first meeting at their place, and this time was no different. In the double header we totaled 3 hits. I had 1, and it was a shot that traveled somewhere in the neighborhood of 400ft down the left field line. It is probably the farthest ball I have ever hit. And it was with a wooden bat that Igl told me before the game “doesn’t have any pop.” I beg to differ.
Sunday we traveled to Bremen to take on the Dockers. We swept them at our place and we were looking to do the same this go around. We won the first game 12-7 behind Thies’s arm and a total of 4 hits. They had 6 errors and walked in at least 4 runs. I was 2-3 with 6 RBIs in the first game. The nightcap went a bit differently though. Daniel couldn’t get us out of the 1st inning so I had to come in from right and get 3 outs in the inning. We were able to tie it up in our half of the 2nd but they dinked a couple hits over the 2nd baseman in the home half, and that coupled with us throwing the ball all over God’s creation led to 4 runs…but that’s when the Rain Gods got together with the Baseball Gods and gave us a much needed break. It poured for 45 minutes, the field was practically underwater and before it had even stopped raining, they were out on the field trying to pick up the water with buckets and shovels. We were all laughing and making fun of them because they were fighting a losing battle they never had a chance at winning. The umpires came out and made the decision to call the game, but their coach was pleading for “10 more minutes.” the umpire wasn’t budging and he looked at me and asked what I thought. I told him that I didn’t think 10 minutes would help anything, it was still raining, and they were just ruining their field…I couldn’t tell him that we were completely out of pitching at that point and there was no way in hell I was going to get back on that field if there was a chance for a rainout. I would have been an idiot to have agreed to play that game. So we have to make it up the 8th of august.
It is finally here, the weekend I’ve heard so much about, a major selling point for the Farmers. The 19th edition of this grand production is finally upon us, we have been playing all season for this very moment. The Farmers Cup is the Mecca of baseball prowess, the standard is set at this tournament, and it is where heroes are born and legends are made. An international crowd gathers around the diamond to watch the players perform at the highest level and achieve the unthinkable. But you wont find water, or even Gatorade (actually I’ve yet to see a Gatorade since I’ve been here, and I’m starting to crave one now actually. I Orange G2 would really hit the spot about now) in the dugouts. No, the sports drink of choice at the Farmer’s Cup is good ol’, straight from the tap, beer. It is frowned upon at this venue if you do not start your day with a cool glass of Weitzen. it’s a hangover’s best friend and it makes free swingers out of the most patient hitters. It truly is what the tournament is all about, and I cant even begin to describe how excited I am to experience this first hand.
T-Minus 39 hours.
A-Ron
That next week I had to stain the 4 huge barn doors so they looked good for the wedding reception that next weekend. I ran out of stain after the first door and when Annegret went to buy more, she got a different, lighter stain so the other 3 doors are a different color. Funny story about staining those doors…Thursday night we were out partying and drinking and I woke up Friday; 5:30 and in my sleepy, half drunken haze, I rushed to get dressed and ran out the door. I walked to the Dallmann house, determined to get the last 2 doors painted and to practice in an hour and a half. I passed Jorgen at the farm and waved hello, briskly passing in a rush. I got to the barn and gathered my things. I had ran out of stain the day before so I was searching for the new can when I again pulled out my phone to see just how much time I had…it was only at this point, 15 minutes after I first looked at my phone that I realized that it was in fact 5:30 AM and not 5:30 PM like I had originally thought. For some reason I slipped back into US time and didn’t even think about the fact that for the last 4 months I’ve been using a 24 hour system of telling time. Moral of this story is that I’m an idiot. But I went back home, laughing at myself and went back to bed.
The wedding on Saturday was a bit different than in America. Instead of the groom waiting with the rest of the wedding party at the alter as the bride strolls down the aisle, the bride and groom walked down the aisle together, following the priest. And there was no wedding party. It was a 45 minute ceremony, all in German except for a couple of songs that were sung in English. Immediately following the ceremony, we returned to our house to change. The invitation said that the reception was an “elegant rock party.” Rock (with an ‘o’ with the 2 dots above it) when translated to English means skirt. So about 25 of us went out and bought skirts to wear to the party as a joke. We met at Thies’s house and walked over together in a big group, all wearing skirts and ties…it was truly a sight to behold. The reception itself was awesome, the food was phenomenal, the live band, a band from Tostedt Johst and Hasi used to listen to when they were younger, was great, and the beer was free…what more could you ask for. It was one of the best wedding receptions I’ve ever been to and one I will never forget.
The next weekend we traveled to Berlin to play the Challengers. I found out a new rule at this doubleheader, Americans cant play both Shortstop and Catcher at the same time…who knew. So even though we lost the game, it goes down as a forfeit because I was in the 6 spot and Tony was behind the dish. The 2nd game went better for us, we won 12-5...well that’s what the scoreboard showed anyway. But another bonehead managerial move by yours truly put 4 jumpers in that game at the same time…another rule that I never had to worry about until that game and it also went down as a forfeit. During the 1st inning of the 2nd game, Tony was covering 2nd on a double play and the throw took him into the path of the runner and when the dust cleared he had a spike-sized hole in the back of his hand and deep scratches up his forearm. The runner didn’t slide and stepped right on his hand. He had to leave the field and go to the hospital where he got 2 stitches. Later in the 3rd, Heinzy laid down a beautiful bunt and the first baseman was across the base when he went to catch the throw and Heinzy had no choice but to lower his shoulder and run the guy over. He knocked the guy out cold and he too had to be taken to the hospital.
Last weekend we played Hamburg Knights at home in a 2nd man’s game. They kicked our asses in our first meeting at their place, and this time was no different. In the double header we totaled 3 hits. I had 1, and it was a shot that traveled somewhere in the neighborhood of 400ft down the left field line. It is probably the farthest ball I have ever hit. And it was with a wooden bat that Igl told me before the game “doesn’t have any pop.” I beg to differ.
Sunday we traveled to Bremen to take on the Dockers. We swept them at our place and we were looking to do the same this go around. We won the first game 12-7 behind Thies’s arm and a total of 4 hits. They had 6 errors and walked in at least 4 runs. I was 2-3 with 6 RBIs in the first game. The nightcap went a bit differently though. Daniel couldn’t get us out of the 1st inning so I had to come in from right and get 3 outs in the inning. We were able to tie it up in our half of the 2nd but they dinked a couple hits over the 2nd baseman in the home half, and that coupled with us throwing the ball all over God’s creation led to 4 runs…but that’s when the Rain Gods got together with the Baseball Gods and gave us a much needed break. It poured for 45 minutes, the field was practically underwater and before it had even stopped raining, they were out on the field trying to pick up the water with buckets and shovels. We were all laughing and making fun of them because they were fighting a losing battle they never had a chance at winning. The umpires came out and made the decision to call the game, but their coach was pleading for “10 more minutes.” the umpire wasn’t budging and he looked at me and asked what I thought. I told him that I didn’t think 10 minutes would help anything, it was still raining, and they were just ruining their field…I couldn’t tell him that we were completely out of pitching at that point and there was no way in hell I was going to get back on that field if there was a chance for a rainout. I would have been an idiot to have agreed to play that game. So we have to make it up the 8th of august.
It is finally here, the weekend I’ve heard so much about, a major selling point for the Farmers. The 19th edition of this grand production is finally upon us, we have been playing all season for this very moment. The Farmers Cup is the Mecca of baseball prowess, the standard is set at this tournament, and it is where heroes are born and legends are made. An international crowd gathers around the diamond to watch the players perform at the highest level and achieve the unthinkable. But you wont find water, or even Gatorade (actually I’ve yet to see a Gatorade since I’ve been here, and I’m starting to crave one now actually. I Orange G2 would really hit the spot about now) in the dugouts. No, the sports drink of choice at the Farmer’s Cup is good ol’, straight from the tap, beer. It is frowned upon at this venue if you do not start your day with a cool glass of Weitzen. it’s a hangover’s best friend and it makes free swingers out of the most patient hitters. It truly is what the tournament is all about, and I cant even begin to describe how excited I am to experience this first hand.
T-Minus 39 hours.
A-Ron
Monday, July 6, 2009
We may not have seen any fireworks, but we sure created some
Man oh man, a lot has happened since I last wrote. I will start in chronological order. Tuesday night, after cutting the grass here at the Hassenpflug house, we met up at Johst’s place and headed out for Diekoff, the bar in Tostedt. This was no ordinary trip to the bar though, it was hotter than snot that day and for some reason this brought out all the little green bugs. I swallowed at least 4 on the ride to the bar, and coughed back up 7 more. We had to put our heads down and focus on the front tire of the bike just so we wouldn’t get these damn little things in our eyes. And it was no better once we got to the bar, we had to have two coasters, one to put the glass on and another to cover the top so no bugs would fly in. but after the sun went down it got a lot better…either that or I was too drunk to care about them anymore.
Tuesday night was also the night that Volkdaddy came back to Tostedt. He is the Father of the Farmers and a legend around these parts. It was him, along with a few others that watched the movie Major League and decided to bring baseball to Dohren. He has been in Japan working for something like 8 years now and he is back in town for the month. We sat and talked to him for a while about the start of the Wild Farmers and how they came to be and the progression of the team from what it was then to what it has become. He told us that when they first decided to start this thing, they drove to Hamburg on their mopeds to get equipment (this doesn’t sound too bad until you consider that its about a 50 km drive on the Autobahn, cars whizzing by at 180 kmph…that’s about 115 mph). The first catchers’ gear was a motorcycle helmet and a back pack put on backwards…there were no shin guards. We sat and asked him about players when they were younger and how they have changed…and how most have stayed exactly the same. Since Tony didn’t have any cash on him, I picked up the tab for the 16 beers and the plate of food that I had. I was expecting 30 or 35 but nope, 23 euros is what it came out to be, the food was 5 euros so we got 16 beers for 18 euros…I didn’t want to argue with the man so I paid my tab and was merrily on my way.
Cut to Wednesday morning at 9 am. Since it was so hot that day we decided to have youth practice in the morning. This was after we had a 2 hour practice on Monday too. Usually the youth teams practice 4 hours a week, so it was weird that Antje set the practice for 9-12 on this day. And before the practice even started, she was already talking about practicing again on Friday. They don’t have a game for 6 weeks because of summer break and now she wants to have all these practices. But we practiced all 3 hours on Wednesday and came to a consensus that we would forego baseball on Friday and hit up the local pool instead.
Now cut to Thursday night. Me, Tony, Mitch, and Brocky were on the train at 9:10 pm on our way to meet Toby in Hamburg for a night on the town. The last train from Hamburg home is at 12:40 am or something like that and the first train in the morning runs at 5:15...I’ll let you guess which one we took. But when we first got there, we headed to a place called Saucalitos for half price night. Normally I’d say 5,50 euros for a cocktail is a bit steep, but not when they come in .5 liter glasses and are usually 11,00. And we’re talking about cocktails that are mixed at 50/50. It was well worth it and the scenery was the best I’ve seen so far. The chicks at this place were all hot, but they seemed to be going for the more slicked-back-hair-and-opened-collar-so-everyone-can-see-my-chest-hair Italian look than the I-wore-a-t-shirt-and-sneakers-to-the-trendy-club Americans of the bunch. But that was fine, we were having more fun watching the old man that looked like Colonel Sanders dance in the middle of everyone, flailing his body like a madman.
After this place closed we headed to the Keets and a bar called Thomas Reed. It was an Irish pub that wasn’t too crowded so we hopped in and grabbed a table. They also had karaoke going since it was Thursday and I couldn’t help myself. Me and Tony looked at their catalog and decided on “Eye of The Tiger” as our debut single off our new album, I only sing when the music is loud enough to drown out the sound of my voice. We’re still working on the cover art, but be on the lookout around Christmas, it’s going to make a real stocking stuffer. We still had a few hours to kill before our train left the station so we went to Hubert Street and did some window shopping. One girl told us she loved America, but I think if we would have said we were from North Korea she would have told us she loved that place too.
We made it on the train at promptly 5:15 on our way to Tostedt and in 5 hours we were to be up and at the field to meet the youth players to take them to the swimming pool. Needless to say, I didn’t make it in the water though it was a gorgeous day for it, no instead I laid under a tree and slept the entire time.
I was able to keep my eyes open long enough to do a bit of people watching towards the end and boy was it entertaining. There were 6-7 year old kids running around stark naked like it was completely normal. I saw a girl change into 3 different swim suits in the span of 10 minutes. But this was not the kicker of the afternoon, not by a long shot. Directly across from us was an older couple, I’ll say mid 70s sitting under their umbrella enjoying the day like the rest of us. Then the decided to get up and take a dip in the pool. It was bad enough that the man was wearing a Speedo, but hey that’s the European style, so whatever. And the woman was wearing a bikini, no big deal. But it was after the man got out and walked back over to his stuff that things got interesting. Apparently changing your swim suit after you get wet is a German way of life, I don’t know. But the man grabbed his robe and changed Speedos, right there in the middle of everyone. Me and Tony laughed at this for a while. But then the train wreck occurred, the woman came back to her chair and began untying the back of her top…no way, this isn’t happening right now…she’s not gonna do what I think she’s going to do, right? Surely she’ll put on her robe too…then she turned around, facing the rest of the pool side patrons with nothing on but her high waisted granny bikini bottoms and a smile. Tits just flapping in the wind and not a care in the world. I couldn’t believe it, Tony had to turn away, but it was like a train wreck, I just had to see what this old woman was going to do next. The best part of this whole thing was that the man was just staring off into the distance, not watching or telling her to put those thing away or anything. Luckily the woman put on a robe before she took off anything else. But like the other girl, she changed again in like another 15 minutes. I don’t know why you would even bring 3 suits to the pool in the first place.
Friday night we took it pretty easy, it was Henrik’s birthday so we went over to his place and had a beer before we took off for the Diekoff again. We had a couple more beers there and some food, then we came back and went to bed, we had to play a 1st man’s game on Saturday against the Sluggers of Berlin.
Saturday was an interesting day for me at the plate. In my first at bat I hit a liner up the middle for a base hit. And then I was intentionally walked in my next 2 at bats. I’ve never been intentionally walked before…except for last weekend, but I mean before coming to Germany…but I guess I was never leading the league in hitting before coming to Germany either. Each time I got walked it loaded the bases and Tony was able to drive in a run behind me, so really it didn’t do anything for them, it wasn’t a very good strategy to pitch around me like that. The 2nd game went exactly the same way, they walked me 2 more times, so now I lead the league in intentional walks and I doubled my walk total for the season. It really did piss me off though, I just wanted to hit, I had a great round of BP before the game and I was very confident going into the game…but they just took that bat out of my hands. I ended the day being 1-4 because I was trying to hit a homerun in the only times they let me hit and I popped out to the left fielder. But we won both games and everybody got to play so it was a good team effort and a good way to start off the 4th of July. But the real fun was yet to come.
It was Johst’s last week of freedom, he’s getting married on Friday, so this was his bachelor party. We dressed him up in a skiing suit and took him to the snow dome up the road. He’s not a big skier, he has two left feet when it comes to stuff like that is what he says. But watching him come down the slopes was entertaining and really quite impressive considering he’d never done it before. Once the ski part closed down, it was time for American Country/ whiskey night at the adjoining bar. Me and Tony were more than excited to hear some country music and drink some whiskey on the 4th. But once we got there, the DJ only had Chattahoochee by Alan Jackson…not that that is a bad song by any means, but it was the only real country song he had. The rest was…I really don’t know how to classify it, but it wasn’t Garth Brooks, which is what we kept asking the guy to play. But either he didn’t understand us, or he didn’t care that what he was playing was not country music and not a good representation of the genre. But nonetheless, we line danced and did the electric slide and there were actually a group of German’s there that could line dance with the best of them. They were clicking heels and docy doeing all night long. But the best part of the night was when the live band started to play, No Fucking Shit was their name and they had a midget as a lead singer/harmonica player. It was a sight to see but not much to listen to. There were some go-go dancers that came later and were dancing, and they laid an American flag on the ground and were dancing on it, which in my drunken state…they had 1 euro Cuervo shots all night…I had my fair share…I did not approve of, and I caused a bit of a ruckus.
Sunday the 2nd team had a game against the Wizards also of Berlin. They haven’t won a game all year but I was a bit worried that they might pull one out of us on that day because most everyone was still intoxicated from the night before. But Daniel threw well in the first game and we were able to put up more runs than they did in the allotted amount of innings. The 2nd game got out to a shaky start as they put up 8 in the top of the first. But we answered back with 5 in our half of the inning. It was a hot, muggy day and with the hangover that I know everyone had, it was miserable to say the least. Its hard to imagine that we won the game 22-14 in 7 innings. We had a chance to end it early with a runner on 3rd and no one out, but we were unable to get the run across and had to play all 7 innings.
I got fooled on the hidden ball trick in the 4th but was called safe by the umpire because he said that time had been called. I’ll explain what happened and you be the judge: I got a hit to right and ran to 1st, I turned to give my batting gloves to the 1st base coach and then walked off the bag to take my lead… I figured the pitcher had the ball and I was just a step off the bag. that’s when I noticed the 1st baseman lunge at me and tag me with his glove. I tried to get back but I wasn’t quick enough, so I’m hanging my head, thinking I just got caught by this shitty team on the hidden ball trick, when I hear SAFE! I looked up in disbelief, unsure what to make of this, it was at this point that I finally shifted my foot to touch the 1st base. I didn’t know if maybe the umpire had a bad angle and just thought I made it back or what, but then he said that Time had been called and the play was over. I don’t think this is right, I think I should have been out, but I don’t make up the rules, the umpire does. I later came around to score!
This was the first 4th of July without seeing fireworks, but in the words of one great Wild Farmer, “we sure created some.”
A-Ron
P.S. Congratulations to Matto and Melissa, I heard the wedding was a blast.
Tuesday night was also the night that Volkdaddy came back to Tostedt. He is the Father of the Farmers and a legend around these parts. It was him, along with a few others that watched the movie Major League and decided to bring baseball to Dohren. He has been in Japan working for something like 8 years now and he is back in town for the month. We sat and talked to him for a while about the start of the Wild Farmers and how they came to be and the progression of the team from what it was then to what it has become. He told us that when they first decided to start this thing, they drove to Hamburg on their mopeds to get equipment (this doesn’t sound too bad until you consider that its about a 50 km drive on the Autobahn, cars whizzing by at 180 kmph…that’s about 115 mph). The first catchers’ gear was a motorcycle helmet and a back pack put on backwards…there were no shin guards. We sat and asked him about players when they were younger and how they have changed…and how most have stayed exactly the same. Since Tony didn’t have any cash on him, I picked up the tab for the 16 beers and the plate of food that I had. I was expecting 30 or 35 but nope, 23 euros is what it came out to be, the food was 5 euros so we got 16 beers for 18 euros…I didn’t want to argue with the man so I paid my tab and was merrily on my way.
Cut to Wednesday morning at 9 am. Since it was so hot that day we decided to have youth practice in the morning. This was after we had a 2 hour practice on Monday too. Usually the youth teams practice 4 hours a week, so it was weird that Antje set the practice for 9-12 on this day. And before the practice even started, she was already talking about practicing again on Friday. They don’t have a game for 6 weeks because of summer break and now she wants to have all these practices. But we practiced all 3 hours on Wednesday and came to a consensus that we would forego baseball on Friday and hit up the local pool instead.
Now cut to Thursday night. Me, Tony, Mitch, and Brocky were on the train at 9:10 pm on our way to meet Toby in Hamburg for a night on the town. The last train from Hamburg home is at 12:40 am or something like that and the first train in the morning runs at 5:15...I’ll let you guess which one we took. But when we first got there, we headed to a place called Saucalitos for half price night. Normally I’d say 5,50 euros for a cocktail is a bit steep, but not when they come in .5 liter glasses and are usually 11,00. And we’re talking about cocktails that are mixed at 50/50. It was well worth it and the scenery was the best I’ve seen so far. The chicks at this place were all hot, but they seemed to be going for the more slicked-back-hair-and-opened-collar-so-everyone-can-see-my-chest-hair Italian look than the I-wore-a-t-shirt-and-sneakers-to-the-trendy-club Americans of the bunch. But that was fine, we were having more fun watching the old man that looked like Colonel Sanders dance in the middle of everyone, flailing his body like a madman.
After this place closed we headed to the Keets and a bar called Thomas Reed. It was an Irish pub that wasn’t too crowded so we hopped in and grabbed a table. They also had karaoke going since it was Thursday and I couldn’t help myself. Me and Tony looked at their catalog and decided on “Eye of The Tiger” as our debut single off our new album, I only sing when the music is loud enough to drown out the sound of my voice. We’re still working on the cover art, but be on the lookout around Christmas, it’s going to make a real stocking stuffer. We still had a few hours to kill before our train left the station so we went to Hubert Street and did some window shopping. One girl told us she loved America, but I think if we would have said we were from North Korea she would have told us she loved that place too.
We made it on the train at promptly 5:15 on our way to Tostedt and in 5 hours we were to be up and at the field to meet the youth players to take them to the swimming pool. Needless to say, I didn’t make it in the water though it was a gorgeous day for it, no instead I laid under a tree and slept the entire time.
I was able to keep my eyes open long enough to do a bit of people watching towards the end and boy was it entertaining. There were 6-7 year old kids running around stark naked like it was completely normal. I saw a girl change into 3 different swim suits in the span of 10 minutes. But this was not the kicker of the afternoon, not by a long shot. Directly across from us was an older couple, I’ll say mid 70s sitting under their umbrella enjoying the day like the rest of us. Then the decided to get up and take a dip in the pool. It was bad enough that the man was wearing a Speedo, but hey that’s the European style, so whatever. And the woman was wearing a bikini, no big deal. But it was after the man got out and walked back over to his stuff that things got interesting. Apparently changing your swim suit after you get wet is a German way of life, I don’t know. But the man grabbed his robe and changed Speedos, right there in the middle of everyone. Me and Tony laughed at this for a while. But then the train wreck occurred, the woman came back to her chair and began untying the back of her top…no way, this isn’t happening right now…she’s not gonna do what I think she’s going to do, right? Surely she’ll put on her robe too…then she turned around, facing the rest of the pool side patrons with nothing on but her high waisted granny bikini bottoms and a smile. Tits just flapping in the wind and not a care in the world. I couldn’t believe it, Tony had to turn away, but it was like a train wreck, I just had to see what this old woman was going to do next. The best part of this whole thing was that the man was just staring off into the distance, not watching or telling her to put those thing away or anything. Luckily the woman put on a robe before she took off anything else. But like the other girl, she changed again in like another 15 minutes. I don’t know why you would even bring 3 suits to the pool in the first place.
Friday night we took it pretty easy, it was Henrik’s birthday so we went over to his place and had a beer before we took off for the Diekoff again. We had a couple more beers there and some food, then we came back and went to bed, we had to play a 1st man’s game on Saturday against the Sluggers of Berlin.
Saturday was an interesting day for me at the plate. In my first at bat I hit a liner up the middle for a base hit. And then I was intentionally walked in my next 2 at bats. I’ve never been intentionally walked before…except for last weekend, but I mean before coming to Germany…but I guess I was never leading the league in hitting before coming to Germany either. Each time I got walked it loaded the bases and Tony was able to drive in a run behind me, so really it didn’t do anything for them, it wasn’t a very good strategy to pitch around me like that. The 2nd game went exactly the same way, they walked me 2 more times, so now I lead the league in intentional walks and I doubled my walk total for the season. It really did piss me off though, I just wanted to hit, I had a great round of BP before the game and I was very confident going into the game…but they just took that bat out of my hands. I ended the day being 1-4 because I was trying to hit a homerun in the only times they let me hit and I popped out to the left fielder. But we won both games and everybody got to play so it was a good team effort and a good way to start off the 4th of July. But the real fun was yet to come.
It was Johst’s last week of freedom, he’s getting married on Friday, so this was his bachelor party. We dressed him up in a skiing suit and took him to the snow dome up the road. He’s not a big skier, he has two left feet when it comes to stuff like that is what he says. But watching him come down the slopes was entertaining and really quite impressive considering he’d never done it before. Once the ski part closed down, it was time for American Country/ whiskey night at the adjoining bar. Me and Tony were more than excited to hear some country music and drink some whiskey on the 4th. But once we got there, the DJ only had Chattahoochee by Alan Jackson…not that that is a bad song by any means, but it was the only real country song he had. The rest was…I really don’t know how to classify it, but it wasn’t Garth Brooks, which is what we kept asking the guy to play. But either he didn’t understand us, or he didn’t care that what he was playing was not country music and not a good representation of the genre. But nonetheless, we line danced and did the electric slide and there were actually a group of German’s there that could line dance with the best of them. They were clicking heels and docy doeing all night long. But the best part of the night was when the live band started to play, No Fucking Shit was their name and they had a midget as a lead singer/harmonica player. It was a sight to see but not much to listen to. There were some go-go dancers that came later and were dancing, and they laid an American flag on the ground and were dancing on it, which in my drunken state…they had 1 euro Cuervo shots all night…I had my fair share…I did not approve of, and I caused a bit of a ruckus.
Sunday the 2nd team had a game against the Wizards also of Berlin. They haven’t won a game all year but I was a bit worried that they might pull one out of us on that day because most everyone was still intoxicated from the night before. But Daniel threw well in the first game and we were able to put up more runs than they did in the allotted amount of innings. The 2nd game got out to a shaky start as they put up 8 in the top of the first. But we answered back with 5 in our half of the inning. It was a hot, muggy day and with the hangover that I know everyone had, it was miserable to say the least. Its hard to imagine that we won the game 22-14 in 7 innings. We had a chance to end it early with a runner on 3rd and no one out, but we were unable to get the run across and had to play all 7 innings.
I got fooled on the hidden ball trick in the 4th but was called safe by the umpire because he said that time had been called. I’ll explain what happened and you be the judge: I got a hit to right and ran to 1st, I turned to give my batting gloves to the 1st base coach and then walked off the bag to take my lead… I figured the pitcher had the ball and I was just a step off the bag. that’s when I noticed the 1st baseman lunge at me and tag me with his glove. I tried to get back but I wasn’t quick enough, so I’m hanging my head, thinking I just got caught by this shitty team on the hidden ball trick, when I hear SAFE! I looked up in disbelief, unsure what to make of this, it was at this point that I finally shifted my foot to touch the 1st base. I didn’t know if maybe the umpire had a bad angle and just thought I made it back or what, but then he said that Time had been called and the play was over. I don’t think this is right, I think I should have been out, but I don’t make up the rules, the umpire does. I later came around to score!
This was the first 4th of July without seeing fireworks, but in the words of one great Wild Farmer, “we sure created some.”
A-Ron
P.S. Congratulations to Matto and Melissa, I heard the wedding was a blast.
Monday, June 29, 2009
The Adventures of Skippy
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
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
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
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