A Few Words About The Trophy Tour

I went to see the World Cup. I had built it up in my mind as being something maybe more than it is. It's a trophy for winning the world's greatest sporting event but....it's a trophy. My feelings were, I'm going to spend a lot of time working in South Africa, all of the matches, so I felt that it was important to see this "holy grail" and possibly catch the fever for the cup or at least a little respect for the athletes competing.
Did I mention it's a trophy?
Sean and I headed over to the University of Houston where the Tour event took place, we stood in line for almost an hour to get into the grounds and then almost two an a half hours to actually get into the tent where the trophy was.
You were supposed to get your picture taken with it, but the organizers (Coca Cola) were so overwhelmed by the turnout, by the time we were in, no pictures were being taken and they pretty much just shoved you past the display.
We did get to see Zumaki although he was being rushed around the grounds as well.

So in retrospect, I say, "Enjoy your World Cup, and enjoy it with a Pepsi!!!".

The Magic Is Behind The Boards

I got the opportunity last Friday to work a position with the Astros that I never have in 15 years between the Astrodome and Minute Maid. Underneath the Crawford boxes in left field is a manual scoreboard, one of only a few in the major leagues.

I decided to fill in at the last minute and am so thankful for the experience because it was truly a blast!

Since it was a Friday night, there were quite a few games going on all around the league, and the job of running the scoreboards is to keep all the games up to date. While this wouldn't seem like such a big task, since there are only three of us working, covering 12 games can get pretty hectic at times.

We essentially had one guy calling out the changes in scores, while the other two of us updated the numbers. Remember that everything is backwards from your point of view so the first inning is on the right and the ninth inning is on the left. 

I'm proud to say because of excellent training and being very concerned about putting the wrong number in the wrong place, I had a perfect game with no mistakes. I even asked if the nine was actually an upsidedown six when I couldn't find the nines...

I want to give a shout out to Justin on the left and DeShaun on the right for entertaining me along the way. They do their job well and with a cheerfulness that is always nice to be around.

Another scene behind the scenes that makes the magic happen!