The Fun in Fairbanks

The last two weeks have probably been the most fun I have had up in Alaska this summer.

I have been very fortunate to do a lot of cool things while in Fairbanks. My host dad cooked a couple of the players and I a bunch of King Crab legs after a game one night. It was easily the best meal I have had here. The legs were some of the biggest and meatiest legs I have every seen. I think the three of us went into a food coma afterwards.

Later that week, we had one of our very few off days and I took advantage as Brad (my roommate), Hank (player), Chris (host dad) and I went whitewater rafting on the Nenana River. I had never been rafting before so it was a great experience for me to enjoy. We spent two hours on the river just having a blast. Our guide then told us that a glacier fed the river and the water we were on was frozen just eight hours before. Naturally after hearing this, Chris made sure that all of us were tackled into the 39-degree water. It was a ton of fun.

Once we got back to Fairbanks we went to a park downtown that has a 40-below room. The whole point of this room is to simulate what it is like at 40-below zero, a common occurrence in Fairbanks during the winter. The room is basically a giant freezer that is set at 40-below. Inside they had a frozen banana that you could use to hammer a nail into a wood board. We also brought in warm water that we threw into the air and watched it instantly crystallize and disappear. It was pretty sweet. Our host dad also has a tradition with the players that stay with him. He likes to see how long the players can last in the room with no shirts. Warning: the next part was not one of my brightest moments. All three of us took our shirts off and Chris started the clock. Hank and Brad ended up leaving after a couple of minutes but I proceeded to stay in for six minutes because I had told Chris I would. By the time I left, my hair had turned white along with my ears. It was stupid on my part but fun to say I have done it.

The broadcasting is also going really well. I feel like I have become a lot better and the team is doing a lot better which makes the broadcasts more fun for me. It is crazy though as I only have one more week in Alaska before heading back home. It has been a blast so far though and I cannot wait to see what the last week holds in store for me.

Welcome to Kenai, Alaska! You get to stay at…

The Bingo Hilton! Haha I’ll explain a little more. The Bingo Hilton is basically a barrack attached to a bingo hall in Kenai. There are seven “rooms” with two bunk beds and a TV in each. It was a ton of fun just hanging out with the guys. It really is a great group of guys and we all get along really well. The Bingo Hilton was right on Cook Inlet and the City of Kenai is actually only 62 miles from Redoubt Volcano which erupted a few months ago. Unfortunately the Inlet was too hazy to see across and see it.

Baseball went a lot better for the team in Kenai. On the five game trip they went 3-2 including a sweep of a doubleheader on the 4th of July. The doubleheader sweep was really special because both pitchers for the Fire went complete games and both almost had no-hitters. It was a lot of fun to broadcast two games where the pitchers had everything going. The Oilers only managed two hits total for the two games.

The team is now on its way to Anchorage to play two games against the Pilots and one with the Miners before heading back to Fairbanks.

In the land of “continual” sunlight

Our ten days in Fairbanks are over and it has been an absolute blast. The guy I am staying with is a single orthodontist with probably the ultimate bachelor-pad. He has a nine-year old dog named Jaeger, a driving net for golf in his living room and a sweet entertainment set-up with satellite TV, a Wii and Playstation 3. He also has a pellet riffle with a scope on it that we have been shooting.

The first night we were in town, my roommate (Brad Kidd) and I went with our host dad (Chris) to downtown Fairbanks for the Midnight Sun Festival since it was the summer solstice and the longest day of the year. All I can say about Fairbanks is there are some very interesting people here and the culture is a lot different. Needless to say, just people watching was a ton of fun.

After dinner and the Midnight Sun Festival, Brad and I attended the 104th Midnight Sun Game hosted by the Alaska Goldpanners. It was one of the coolest things I have ever experienced. The game started at 10:30 at night and went until about 1 am. The whole game was played under natural light. The furthest the sun went down was a little bit under the horizon but it never got dark. It was neat seeing baseball played under those conditions and to see how much the community supported that game, as over three thousand people attended the game. I’m really glad I had the opportunity to go to the game.

Chris has been taking us to all the best places in Fairbanks and is really trying to make sure we have a great experience. The other night we went to the Chena Hot Springs, a natural hot spring near Fairbanks. It was the first time I had been to a hot spring and it was cool to get into the water that felt like a spa but it was naturally heated. It was crazy…and also a little cold when I got out because it was in the low 50s.

The baseball team continues to have trouble. They lost six out of the eight games that we played in Fairbanks, including a four-game sweep by the league leading Mat-Su Miners. It has been tough watching the games from the booth because I know the team has the talent to compete but they are just giving away games. They lost one game after walking 13 batters and hitting a few more. They also lost an extra-inning game on some field miscues. We will head down to Kenai to play the Oilers in the beginning of July and I really feel it will be an opportunity for the team to gain some confidence and turn things around.

The weather has been good for the most part in Fairbanks. The first couple days of scheduled games got rained out as we had 31 straight hours of rain. I have never seen anything like that before in my life. As the week progressed and things dried out it actually got pretty warm. By the time we had left, it felt “hot” as it was in the mid-70s. It’s funny how your perspective of hot changes where you are.

I’ll update in the next couple of days about Kenai. The drive down was very scenic. If you have any questions leave them as comments and I’ll answer back as quickly as I can!

The Last Frontier

So its been a while since I have updated this and I apologize. I’ve been in Alaska for about two weeks, one in Anchorage and I’m now in Fairbanks. It has been an absolute blast.

The family I’m staying with in Anchorage is really nice. They are both real estate agents so they are not around much during the day. Their house is really nice and big as I am there with three other guys and we each have our own rooms with TV’s (a big deal up in the 49^th state!). We all definitely got a really good deal living there while in Anchorage.

My parents were in town the week in Anchorage so I got the chance to hang out with them which was a nice break and opportunity to see a little bit of Anchorage. I roomed with three other players in Anchorage in a very nice house on the outskirts of the city. It is definitely a different life style than what I am accustomed to in the lower 48 (a little native language). Wildlife has been all around even in the city. I saw a moose one night just a couple hundred feet from the house on the road and the day we left Anchorage for Fairbanks a bull moose was crossing the highway. It was crazy!

The team didn’t start out as well in Alaska as it had done in California. The team lost its first four in Anchorage, two to the Mat-Su Miners and one each to the Anchorage Glacier-Pilots and Anchorage Bucs. It was disappointing because we really had a chance to win all four and gave away two of them. Walks and errors have cost the team a lot early on.

The broadcasting has been going really well for Alan and I. We have worked out most of the minor problems and we have people listening in all over the United States, which is really cool. Almost all of the players’ parents listen in even though for the players from the east coast most games don’t start until 11 pm.

I am currently in Fairbanks and will update on that shortly. It is tough because the house I am at does not have internet. I’ll try to have a Fairbanks post shortly. Also for some reason pictures were not loading on here so I’m going to try to work something out so you can see some of the pictures I have taken. Thanks again to everyone for checking in and reading. I apologize for not updating as often as I should. Thanks for your patience!

A Morning at Soledad Prison

Well today was the day we visited the prison as a team to play softball against the inmates. It was one of the coolest, most unique things I have had the opportunity to do but also at the same time the most nerve racking in the beginning of the day.

When we got to the prison we had to go through one of the guard stations one at a time and took shoes, hats and belts off to go through a metal detector. Once we did this we were allowed in the prison. Our coach did have to send in a list of names 3 weeks ago though so the prison could do background checks on all of us. Just inside the gate was a ton of buildings (visting rooms, gym, cafeteria) that surrounded the yard. We ended up walking past these buildings to get to the field.

When we walked around a building and into centerfield, everyone in the yard (close to 500+) all turned and looked at us. It was a little weird having all the inmates look at us as we walked onto the field. The team warmed up and then we started game one of our doubleheader.

The first game was just position players and when the game started there was around 400 inmates sitting on the bleachers watching the game. For a lot of them this was the one day a year they looked forward to, as it was the only day non-inmates were let onto the yard. It was a great atmosphere as all the spectators were heckling both our players and their players. Everyone was having a lot of fun. The position players took the first game 12-3 and the pitchers tooke the second game 11-1. The neat thing during and after the games is the inmates would come up and just talk to us about whatever because for them it was nice to have someone new to talk to. During the game we had also passed out fliers that had our roster on it and we got a lot of requests to sign the fliers over our pictures so the inmates could send them to relatives. I also had probably close to 50 guys come up, shake my had and say thanks for coming out and playing in the games because it meant a lot to them and showed them that people still cared about them.

Overall, it was a great experience getting out there and talking with the guys. As our coach said afterwards, we got the opportunity that a lot of people will never get to do, socialize with inmates out on the yard. Even though I was nervous before going inside the prison, I am very happy and blessed that I had that opportunity to share with them.

Thru week 1

Week 1 here in Cali is over. The team has had three games so far and gone 2-1. It has been a lot of fun getting to know the guys and call the games. Alot of the parents have said Alan and I have done a good job and they enjoy listening to the broadcasts. The next game for the Fire will be up in Alaska on Tuesday June 16 against the defending ABL Champion Anchorage Glacier Pilots. It will be fun to see how the guys fare against a little better competition. Alot of the guys are excited though for the Alaska season as the team looks very solid early on. We still are waiting on one player who is doing some rehab and he will meet us in Alaska.

Since we arrived here in the San Jose area we have had either a practice or a game every day but today we get our first off day. We will be heading up to San Fran and spending the day sightseeing. I know alot of the players are looking forward to it as this is the furthest west a lot of them have been.

Overall so far it has been a great experience and I cannot wait to see what Alaska has to offer. I have been taking some pictures at the fields and practices and will be taking some more today in San Fran. I should have some of those up by Sunday so check back for those!

The First Few Days

I’ve been in the San Jose area for a couple daysnow and everything is going really well. My host family lives in Gilroy, CA which is known as the garlic capitol of the United States. Ginger, the wife, is a medical supplies salesperson while her husband Todd is a landscaping contractor. They have 22 year old daughter, Susan, who is not around often and chocolate lab named Gracie. I am living at the house with one of the players, Cameron, who goes to Belmont and is originally from St. Louis.

The first couple days have been pretty busy. We start each morning with team discussions and activities at 9 am to help us share our faith. We have also taken this time to get to know each other on the team. After team meetings we eat lunch and head out to practice. The field we practice at is Valley Christian High School. It is a beautiful field that sits on top of a hill and is all turf, no grass. After practice, we go eat as a team. The first day we ate at In-N-Out which was fun because for a lot of the guys it was their first time having it.

Tomorrow (Sunday) is going to be a long day. We have church in the morning at 9:30, then we will get changed, eat and get on the road to San Louis Obispo (about a 3 hour drive) for our first game. The game starts at 6:30 PT and we are driving back right after the game. The team has looked good during practice and I cannot wait to see them on the field. It should be a fun time getting to know the guys throughout the summer.

Do you know the way to San Jose?

Today is the day. It is finally here. In about two hours I will be getting on a plane to head to San Jose for 10 days before heading up to Alaska. While in San Jose I will take part in the team’s training camp and two exibition games, June 7 and June 11. The last couple of weeks have also been busy leading up to today. Since being back from school, I have been working hard on researching all the players that will be up in Alaska this summer. Every player has a card that has their name, university, year, hometown, 2009 stats and major. It was a lot of work but it will be worth it. That is it for now, I’ll update after a couple days in San Jose.

The Countdown Is On

50 days until I head off to California for training camp! Keep posted as I will add photos and let you all know what is going on in California and Alaska this summer!