Scavenger Hunt

So for my final St. Louis blog post, I thought i'd let you know how good I did on my journey to get a picture of a fan of every team...

This was actually a lot harder than I imagined it would be, plus at times when I saw someone with apparel of some of the more uncommon teams, it would be at a very inconvenient time to take a picture. Well, let's see how i did..

Cardinals

Braves

Royals

Dodgers (he did roids)

Astros (hard to see but there's a hat in the middle)

Marlins

Rays (so he must have been a fan for a little over a year now...)

Red Sawks

Pirates

Holy Cow! lolz! Expos!

Yeah Baltimore!

Mets

Nationals (Yes folks, that's a Ryan Zimmerman jersey.)

Reds

Rockies

Hehe, White Sox

A's

Mariners (kid with black hat and black shirt on the left... hard to see, but its a Mariners hat)

Cubs (hat)

Phillies and Yankees (i'm told he is a Yankees fan, despite the completely neutral attire)

Not pictured but seen: Angels, Giants, Padres, Brewers, (other Phillies/Yankees fans), Twins, Tigers.

That means, I saw every team except: Diamondbacks, Blue Jays, and Indians. 27/30 ain't bad.

St. Louis Trip - More Vids

Well apparently you can't put too many videos on one blog post... Here's a few more academy award nominees, including All Star lineup intros...

- Prince wins Derby

They should not let me hold a video camera

ALL STAR VIDS

St. Louis Road Trip - The Adventures of White Akon and Mustache Boy Tell 'Em

How about some videos from the St. Louis trip, huh kids? I don't know what else could be better and make you feel like you all were actually with us... We could have smuggled you in the trunk in a overly embellished suitcase like a Mexican sneaking into the border, but that seems a little dangerous. Plus one of us already has a record. Though we thought about it...

HR DERBY VIDS!

- Prince Fielder HR Derby Rd. 1

- Ryan Howard rd 1

- Joe Mauer rd 1

- Albert Pujols Rd 1

- N Cruz finals

St. Louis Road Trip - Day 3

A picture captures a thousand words I hear, so today’s blog entry is like 150 x 1000 words…

http://www.facebook.com/adamr14#/album.php?aid=281307&id=885365079

http://www.facebook.com/adamr14#/album.php?aid=281310&id=885365079

http://www.facebook.com/adamr14#/album.php?aid=281319&id=885365079

St. Louis - Day 2

Day #2 in St. Louis was a success. I got Andy Richter’s autograph, got to give Nelly a high five, and witness Shawn Johnson do a couple of backflips. Sick.

Also among these celebrities, were legends of the game like Ernie Banks, Ozzie Smith, Tommy John, Dave Winfield, Fred Lynn, Goose Gossage, and Rollie Fingers. All of these people competed on two teams headed by ESPN’s Mike Golic and Mike Greenberg. The game will be seen on Monday night after the Home Run Derby.

Spoiler alert: Greeny’s team wins, Shawn Johnson is hot, Nelly does something amazing, and someone falls on the fence and knocks it down. As Jim Rome would say, phe-nominal. Ri-diculous. A-rugala.

The only bad part of this game was that there was some woman who would routinely hold a sign up intended Office star Jenna Fischer. She would hold it up at the most random times, too. Like, Fischer wasn't even batting or in the field, and the woman holds it up blocking my view. I wasn't the only one who was getting pissed about it. Someone near me said, "Is it wrong that i want to just rip that sign to pieces and then just walk away?"

Pics will be up soon on a tiny website that I feel could have a chance, called facebook.com.

Before the legends/celebs game was the Futures game. I got a boatload of pics of Phillies prospect Kyle Drabek, and a lot of the stadium in general. I had the time to do so, because, oh yeah, there was a 3 hour rain delay in the middle of it. They had to shorten the game to 7 innings to either get to the celebs game quicker, or because Shawn Johnson had a curfew (she is, as was pointed out to a man behind me, “only 17”).

Up tomorrow: Fanfest, Arch tour, and maybe Home Run Derby?

St. Louis Trip - Day 1

I made it to St. Louis. The journey however had some interesting moments…


Lady in the hotel hall letting us know that us carrying our full coolers was completely obvious.

Andrew told me to go on 78 East to get to his house. I called back to double check when I got to the exit. He affirmed on 78 East. It was 78 West.

I drove Saturday morning for 3.5 hours, all through torrential downpour. We stop for lunch. Andrew begins to drive. The whole rest of way is all sunny.

Nearly running into an 18 wheeler that was parked after a toll.

Going into downtown St. Louis, but then getting lost and ending up back in Illinois.


That’s all for now. Talk to you all later!

Death and All of His Friends

I was never a Michael Jackson fan. Thriller is a catchy cool little song, and there are a couple other songs that I would hum along to if they came on at a club or on the radio. That being said, I was shocked to hear (while I was working, of course…) that Michael Jackson died.

Not even a week later, after turning on ESPN, I heard about the death of former NFL quarterback Steve “Air” McNair. It was later learned that he was shot 4 times by his girlfriend in a murder-suicide.

I realize this isn’t the cheeriest blog post I’ve ever written, but watching a small part of the Michael Jackson special on TV, it wasn’t the many speakers, performances, or artists that made me really care too much about the passing of MJ. However when his little girl spoke, and you could see the look of immense disbelief and sorrow that one can just see and be completely moved by, you become instantly reminded that the underlying story behind all of it is that a person died, and now people are forced to go on without that person.

This is a look that I feel I have seen far too often in the past few months. I’ve seen it as a collective sports franchise has mourned the loss of the beloved and Hall-of-Fame broadcaster Harry Kalas. Harry Kalas was all we who watched Philadelphia baseball games knew as far as play by play announcers go, and now we lost the only thing we knew.

Not even two weeks later, I have seen it amongst a great number of fellow Loyola classmates who were suddenly without one of their best friends and left wondering why. One thing about us college kids is that we like to think we have our whole lives ahead of us, primarily because we are completely unsure about what our lives may bring. Unfortunately, no one really truly knows if we have our whole lives indeed ahead of us.

It’s never easy dealing with the passing of another. This is why all of those who were so close with late Loyola student, Steph Parente, have my utmost admiration for how they have handled it, and I cannot even begin to fathom what they must have gone through and continue to go through.

All of this just makes you realize how unpredictable life is, and how it can throw you the sourest of lemons at any time. Let us hope that none of us have to deal with the passing of another anytime soon.