Over the past few days there has been a whole lot of college baseball, some Rays baseball and even one night that I actually got to go to the park and - gasp! - enjoy the game without having to work! So, you know, life's been good... Again, I get paid to watch baseball, who could argue that's not the best job out there?
So I've pretty much been left on my own work-wise this week, and able to set my own schedule so long as I get the scheduled feature stories written before their due dates. It's a pretty great schedule to have - if I want to spend 8 hours watching baseball, I can, if I have other stuff going on, I work around it. And I love feature writing (that's my most favorite of all the writingish stuff I have to do), which basically means I just hang around and talk to a bunch of random people and find something fun to write about. I love talking to strangers and I love being able to be creative with my writing (can't really do that as much as I'd like with game stories/notebooks), so if you're wondering why I've been really happy this week after a month of awful, that's why. :)
I spent a day or so on the CSP back fields stalking minor leaguers this week, which always makes me happy. Because we're pretty close to the end of spring, all the Crabbies are now down in minors camp and therefore very easy to find. It's great to catch up with the guys - who are still approachable, at this level - and find out how everyone's winter went. Moore went elk hunting, to Vegas and couch-crashed at a friend's house in San Diego, doesn't sound like too bad of a winter. Cruz was alternately worried about whether Montgomery residents like Mexicans in Montgomery, and jokingly upset that he hadn't been invited over for barbecue/pool fiestas this spring. I also met Chris Archer - the Cubs' top pitching prospect, whom the Rays got in the Garza trade - who seems like a really cool cat. He won't sniff Class A Charlotte unless it's on a rehab assignment, but he was definitely interesting and someone to keep in mind features-wise. He also joined Elliot Johnson on the list of only athletes I've ever worked with to come up and introduce themselves, a feat all its own.
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| Joe Cruz |
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| Chris Archer |
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| Matt Moore |
To top it all off, we're in the middle of MARCH MADNESS, which we all know I love more than anything except baseball. The Sparties went down in flames in the first round, but really surprised me with that run in the second half. Everyody and their mom got upset (Pitt, Xavs, St. Johns, Texas A&M, Georgetown, Louisville, Vandy, and UNLV) which means everybody's bracket is garbage, which means I have the slimmest of slim hopes to win ESPN's bracket game (I'm in the 90.3 percentile right now... but still in 572,477th place. HA).
<3 Mook <3 , Kieff, TRob, Braids and the guys won their first-round -- not that that stopped them from nearly giving me a heart attack in the first half -- and they play again tonight, against Illinois. I spent the day of the 2005 National Championship game alone and wandering around various bars in Champaign in an "I love Head" T-shirt (Luther Head, you'll remember, played for the Illini that year), drinking anything anyone would put in front of me, learning the UI fight song and, eventually, writing about the experience for SI, so I'm kind of torn in my allegiances... I've got a Head jersey and a Mook jersey... butttttt I'll probably go with the Jayhawks, just to be on the safe side.
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| Mook! <3 ~F.O.E.~ <3 |
I just might drag my laptop to the tiki at the bowling alley, sit outside and type today. It's waaaaay too nice to be stuck indoors and while I'd normally go home and post up on the lanai, I'm sure Grant has some unpacking/settling in to accomplish today, and would probably like some space to get everything set up. Having him around really puts the kibosh on running around the house in my underwear, but hey, there's always road trips! Ha.
On other fronts, I've been offered three different **paid** coaching gigs for the fall. I know, right? The drag is that I couldn't work full-time at the paper and coach, so I'd have to find another career and then string for the Sun. The upside to this is that I've also had tentative teaching offers at two of those three schools, so I suppose now it just boils down to whether I want to make the switch or not. I love, love, love coaching kids - and just really working with them in general - but I don't know if I'm ready to trade baseball for basketball full-time just yet. I guess with everything else that's happened in my life, I'll sit back and wait for something to sway me one way or the other, and roll with it. That approach has never steered me wrong before, we'll see how it goes. :)
I guess that's about all for now, folks... til' later on!
### Sportsgal ###
P.S. - All baseball photos are courtesy of the ever wonderful Nick Martinez. :)
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