t even more exciting for you fans! I will begin to profile players and bring you some multimedia stuff in the next few days once everyone gets settled.
I have gotten to know a few of the players as I have helped shuttling players from the airport to their temporary living arrangements until they move in with their host families. It is interesting picking their brain and kind of seeing what they are thinking as they get set to embark on the upcoming season.
The first player I met was Salvador Sanchez, the veteran of the team. If the name sounds familiar its because Salvador played here a few years back except this time, the tall righty who, according to "clubbie" Greg Pierce, hit one of the longest
balls he's ever seen, will be on the mound. He is switching from hitter to pitcher and starting back here at Great Falls. He has been here and done that. He is a seasoned minor leaguer, not nearly as green as some of the other players. What was really neat to was to hear him tell me how excited he was to see his host family, the same family that hosted him a few years ago. This is not a sales pitch by any means, but I think it is really special the relationships host families develop with players.
Yesterday I picked up a group of guys, all of whom are fresh out of college and getting set to begin their professional career. Understandably, they were much more curious about pretty much everything. This is a unique experience in more ways than one for all of them.
One of the players, Blake Drake, a reliever from Indiana State, had a loooong day. It was supposed to start early in the morning with an initial connecting flight during the 7 o'clock hour. A major delay, a few times of getting on and getting off the plane, and a lot of chaos then took place. Hours later, Blake found out he was not leaving until the 7 o'clock hour...in the PM. Eventually he gets on a flight and then another, arriving in Great Falls at 11:43 PM. Must be pretty tired, huh? You'd think he'd enjoy getting his bag and getting to a bed by 12:10 the latest. Nope. David Herbek, a shortstop from James Madison, was supposed to arrive at 11:49 PM--just a six minute wait, right? Yeah, it just wasn't Blake's day as David's plane was 31 minutes late. When all was said and done, the boys got to their hotels just shy of 1 AM. Maybe sleep in and get rested up for their first day with the team, right? Nope. Physicals. Had be up and ready to go at 7:15 AM...I am sure they are looking forward to a nap after today's practice.
I truly believe that life is all about the relationships you develop over time. I am excited to develop relationships with these players and the coaches. It is the people with whom your surround yourself with that define the lasting memories of a given experience, I believe. And its just a prediction, but I feel like I will have the oppor
tunity to form a close bond with several of the players, especially the ones, like me, who are
fresh out of college. Why? Well, we are all going through the same thing. While for them it is as a player and for me it is as a broadcaster, we are all beginning our professional pursuit of our dream. We are all experience post-college life for the first time, together. And let me tell you, it is a very surreal experience. In some ways this job, for me, has blocked of me of reality because I went straight from school right into this job. But I am not going back to school at the end of this. My time, and their time, is now.
The season is less than a week away...How exciting is that? I can't wait to get behind the mic. We are still working out some tech kinks but everything should be squared away come Monday night in Billings. Look out for some content in the next coming days.
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Great NBA Finals Game 6 Mini Movie
Hot Sports Opinion of the Day: THE DALLAS MAVERICKS ARE THE 2011 NBA CHAMPIONS. I cannot fairly describe my actions, the emotions I felt, or the thoughts in my head as the time ticked down to zero. With about 2:00 left in the game I knew it was over. I have tweeted about it, talked about it so much to so many people. I am going to save you my sermon, but as a Mavericks fan since they were one of the worst franchises in sports, it was so special seeing them raise the trophy. And for Dirk, he is so deserving of all of the praise and the honor of being an NBA Champion. Below is some NBA Finals related content...
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