a series of strange events...

Last night was strange… I don’t even know why.

We had a great two hour rain delay, followed by gremlins in the systems that never seemed to really go away.

I have begun to notice things about stuff I hadn’t noticed before. Like the fact that most of us who are regular camera people have a weird kinship of sorts. We all sit together at dinner, hardly saying a word.. eating in almost unison.. and then we just break and go in different directions. People must think it strange, but that’s our thing. Our director was commenting about how one of us only communicates with yes or no by moving the camera in one way or another… but that’s just how we are. I would suppose I am more outspoken than the rest,.. does that make me the camera guy spokesman?

There’s been a lot of disturbing medical issues at GABP lately too. One day a guy dies in the stands, the next a guy on security falls flat on his face passing out on the warning track, the next a lady goes missing for 6 innings after saying she had to go to the restroom and people think it might have been a stroke. Last night after the rain delay we came back on to find out that every ones headsets sounded like they were robots or in tron or something… this before the scoreboard disappeared halfway for about an inning and a half. Then the lights flickered in the park.. and I later found out there was a power surge across the river.

All this encompassed around a short rain delay that left us not getting out until 11pm last night.

Other than that its been great and the team is still doing really well (with the exception of mike Lincoln, but I need to keep it positive here). Last night I got to see Laynce Nix drop a bomb into right field… and later found out that his brother did the same thing on the same night. There’s only been about 5 or 6 other brother combinations in baseball to do that in the majors.. I think one of them was even on the same team. Nix continues to crush it… and rounds out the lineup well. I cant help but think though that if he were right handed he wouldn’t be here. He would probably be somewhere else. He’s definitely been having to prove himself.
This is a great reds team.

A great young and rejuvenated reds team that gets out and does what they have to do. Sure they make mistakes now and then, everyone does. But this isn’t the sluggish team with the holly go lightly attitude that we have seen in the past. If you are a fan or have been and have been doubting, you need to get down to the ballpark and see it. The energy.. the feeling.. everything about it is all different this year.

I once said that every time I come out of that tunnel and step onto the warning track at great American, that it feels like I am 5 years old again… and its even doubled this year. Is it because we are winning more than we are losing? Could be part of it.. but aside from that, it’s the feeling in the air.. it’s the look on the players faces.. its just the atmosphere and the remarkable change that’s been made this season. I do wish I could experience more games from the seats as a spectator, but I wouldn’t trade my position for anything in the world.

Something that has been different is getting to see Jeff Keppinger actually play on this trip, and while it wasn’t so great to see him hit a home run into the stands, it was nice to see that the fans still accept him even though hes not part of the reds any more. I am even more so interested to see how they will respond to ryan freel when the cubs hit town next weekend.

Freel unfortunately sat out most of his last season here with injury, but as far as I could tell people still loved him… I know I did, and hes one of my favorite players ever. I can remember once going to a game back a while ago and freel was in the outfield.. there was a long bomber to right-center field that he made an amazing dive to catch and the place just blew up like the 4th of july. After he was traded to Baltimore, I read an article about how he is really pro-fans, and offered fans to personally email him and he would try and hook up one family with free tickets for every town they visited, and hang out as much as he could before and after games… of course then he was traded to the cubs, and I haven’t heard much since. In my book though, aside from his legal troubles, Freel is a standup dude and a great player.


Tonight marks the end of a really long homestand and a short break for me… I hope that whoever reads what write really enjoys it and I look forward to writing more for you through the summer. If you have any questions, comments, or anything.. feel free to email me at robert (at) wnku.org or just leave a comment or two.. thanks and enjoy.