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Short Hops
Feb. 2, 2004 NEW ORLEANS, La. - Well, its writing time again. I just got back from a little Super Bowl party at Coach's house. What a game! I almost thought Jake "Daylight Come and Me Wanna" Delhomme was going to pull that one out. But, Adam Vinatieri comes through again; I guess the guy just wears a good number on his back. I couldn't really bring myself to pull for the Panthers too hard, being the diehard Saints fan that I am. Then again, though, I had to cheer for Jake, a fellow Louisiana native. So I guess that swayed me a little in Carolina's favor. Well, that and the fact that I always jump at the opportunity to argue with Brandon Gomes about his hometown Patriots. He got voted out of the house during the game, by the way, for repeated yelling tantrums at the TV. Good game, but back to baseball. One week of practice down, and only two weeks to go until UTA and one week until the Alumni game. It feels good to get back into the swing of things again. We weren't blessed with the best baseball weather this week, but we were all just excited to get back on the field. Practices started with Media Day on Tuesday. I'm sure all of you saw Brian Bormaster and I slam a couple of shaving cream pies in the faces of freshmen Mark Hamilton and Philip Stringer on the news. It's always a fun way to kick off the new season. Of course, I didn't think so when I got the pie in the face from James Jurries my freshman year. I always said I'd get him back for that and I never did. Maybe this weekend at the Alumni game! Anyways, it's always in good fun and everybody usually gets a good laugh out of it. This week we had four review practices, basically going over and reiterating everything we learned and worked on during the fall. Then, on Saturday and Sunday, they cut the chains and let us go at each other in intra-squad games. Only a select few parents showed up on Saturday, not that I blame you guys. Low temperatures and icy rain is not what I consider ideal weather to see an intra-squad game in. Well, not unless you go by the name NolaDave. Even the faithful parents retreated to the dry confines of the press box for the better part of the afternoon. Not Mr. Dave, though, for he knows very well that the pictures come out better from field level. Sunday was dry but still cold, drawing out a few more faces to the ballpark. As expected, the pitchers jumped out a little ahead of the hitters. The pitchers all seemed to throw well this weekend. It was good too see some guys throw that were injured during the fall. Unfortunately, over the break, the team lost junior pitcher Ricky Fairchild to Tommy John surgery. Such injuries are always hard to swallow, especially when they happen to good guys like Ricky. Hopefully, our strong bullpen will be able to pick up the slack, and I know Ricky will be out there at all the practices and games, making sure they all stay in line, as well as cheering our team on. Luckily, he'll be back next season, probably throwing harder. Ricky is progressing quickly as of late, which is good news. He claims it because he's from Texas and that's how they do it there, but I'm not buying into it. As far as hitting goes, the timing started to come back on Sunday with a lot more run scoring and some impressive hitting displays. We really need to take full advantage of the next two weeks of practice and the Alumni game and try our very best to start the year in mid-season form. I like the way we're progressing right now, though, and I'm anxious to see us out there putting all of our hard work into action. Our first test, as you all know, will be this weekend when the team sets out to defend our home turf against the 2001 Omaha team. We're all looking forward to the fun in playing against those guys, but we're also making it a strong point of emphasis this week to treat it like a regular game and concentrate on gaining some momentum with a solid win against, probably, the strongest team we'll face all year. I know those guys on the CWS team would love nothing better than to knock us off to start the year. Personally, after playing with a lot of those guys, I would love nothing better than to, at the least, gain some bragging rights with a nice victory. Either way, it should be a really fun day and I hope to see a lot of you out there to cheer us on. Well, that's really all I have for right now. Well, I could probably ramble on for a bit more, but I think it's a good idea that I get some schoolwork done before I get in the rack. I hope you all have a nice week and I'll see you at the ballpark on Saturday!
Roll Wave,
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