Big South Baseball Tournament Journal
Well, all my trips seem to have interesting stories to go along with them. Here is the one from the Baseball Tournament.
Tuesday 9:30 AM: I embark on yet another road trip to watch the might Winthrop Eagles compete in Big South Tournament play. Hopefully this will go better than the last one, which resulted in a nice three-page story that had something to do with basketball.
4:15 PM: I’ve arrived in Rock Hill and have checked in to the Econo Lodge. $161 for 4 nights, let’s hope it’s worth the money. Oh look, Taco Bell is within walking distance. Woo hoo!
Wednesday 9:00: I awaken to find that it isn’t raining yet, this can only be a good sign.
10:00 AM: Squirrel hunting. Except, only one squirrel is spotted. They’ve redone the parking in front of Bancroft and Margaret Nance. We’ll have to see in the fall how this will affect traffic.
11:00 AM: Coastal versus Charleston Southern. All I know is I can’t stand Coastal fans. It seems that their school is top-notch at producing fans that are annoying assholes. I guess that’s what you get when Alcohol Ingestion is listed as a major program at your institution.
1:30 PM: Lunch, a Chanticleer sandwich. Ok, it was a McChicken sandwich, which is close enough to a Chanticleer sandwich, because, as I understand it, chanticleer is just a bigger word for rooster, and a rooster is a chicken. CSU really blew this game with some nonchalant plays in the late innings. I’m going to score all the games, so I’ll give longer descriptions of the games at a later date.
3:00 PM: Elon versus UNC-Asheville. You know, Elon fans are almost as annoying as Coastal’s, almost. At least they aren't belligerent.
5:30 PM: The game ends in a light drizzle. At least this game was more entertaining. Well, it’s decision time, do I stay in my seat in the first row of the upper deck right behind home plate to keep it dry or do I go back to the motel.
6:00 PM: Ok, that’s enough, I’m going back.
7:00 PM: Ottawa versus New Jersey Game 6, playoff hockey is on, gotta watch.
7:45 PM: Well, the first period is over, time to go back to the ballpark. People are holed up in the parking, wondering what’s going on inside. It’s drizzling lightly.
8:45 PM: They’re acting like they are going to try to get rid of the huge puddle on the 3rd base side of the stadium. They might actually play tonight.
9:00 PM: Never mind, it just started pouring down rain. They’re postponing the game until 11 tomorrow morning. Back to the room.
10:30 PM: The Senators score the game winning goal in the last five minutes of the first OT, sending the series to a Game 7. I hope I didn’t scream to loud. At least I’m staying on the first floor; so all the jumping around didn’t bother anyone.
Thursday 9:00 AM: My alarm awakens me to this glorious day, where the sun is, um, completely hidden and it is still raining. The Weather Channel is calling for 2” of rain today. Hot cakes for breakfast from McDonald’s. I wonder how many people they get from this motel, because it’s only like 30 feet away.
10:30 AM: I drive by the stadium, it’s sealed up tight. So, I go down to campus. They are finally working on Wofford. And it looks like they are doing something to the parking lot behind Johnson. And Cherry Road is no longer the huge aqueduct that it once was. I guess the concept of drainage has finally reached the city of Rock Hill.
11:15 AM: For lack of anything else to do, I’m watching golf. Lord, help me!
Hmm, Jerry Springer is on.
Ah, yes, salvation, The Price Is Right.
12:00 PM: It’s still raining.
To the elected officials of Rock Hill and York County:
I demand one million dollars in cash in return for lifting the siege upon your area. It is readily apparent that this area cannot take much more precipitation before major flooding begins. If you meet my monetary demands, I will leave Rock Hill, and thus, the rain will end. If you do not comply, I will be forced to extend my stay here past Saturday to whenever you pay up or the city is washed away. Don’t make the wrong decision, you have seen the depth of my powers.
1:00 PM: Still raining.
2:00 PM: Still raining.
3:30 PM: Still raining.
4:30 PM: Still raining. The Weather Channel says that Charlotte has gotten 4.38” of rain in the 30 hours before 2 PM today. But we know that it didn’t start raining in the area until about 4:30, so all that rain fell in a 21 and ½ hour period.
6:40 PM: Hello, this is Jared Kobe reporting from Rock Hill, South Carolina. The scene here today is grim; the siege has continued now for more than 26 hours, and there is no sign of it ending anytime soon. The occupying forces moved in from the south and west yesterday afternoon and caught the city completely off guard, finding no resistance. So far there have been no attempts to liberate the city from these invaders, who are calling themselves the “Stalled Cold Front.” This group is supported by the “Low Pressure Area” to the south. The people thus far have continued life as usual, although expressing their resentment of the occupiers with their umbrellas and raincoats. From Rock Hill, this is Jared Kobe, CNN.
End the occupation! End the occupation!
Friday 9:00 AM: The siege has been lifted. It looks like the occupying forces got tired of getting no exposure and have moved on to bigger and more important cities, like Raleigh and Richmond.
9:50 AM: The game has been pushed back from 10 to noon because they have to make a field out of the lake.
11:30 AM: Gained entrance to the stadium, finally. The field looks a little soggy, but at least the lake on the 3rd base side is gone now.
11:55 AM: Oh look, the blonde middle-schoolers that date the CCU players have shown up, and they have signs. I’m glad to find that they can spell the word “Ball”.
2:20 PM: Winthrop wins 2-1 over Liberty in one of the most unexciting games ever played. Next up is Elon versus Coastal; loud fans against even louder and more annoying fans, it should be great.
5:45 PM: Coastal wins 7-4. I hate those punks, they’re like the friggin’ Yankees. But I hate their asshole fans even more. I want retribution; I want to crush them bad.
7:00 PM: Back at the ballpark. CSU versus Liberty at 8, but they said that anyone who was coming to this game would want to be here by 7 to avoid the exit traffic from Northwestern’s graduation. Cars are parked all over the place around here.
9:45 PM: I have just witnessed one of the worst calls in the history of baseball. The home plate umpire calls strike three on a pitch that was WAY inside. CSU starts to run off the field because that is the third out. The Liberty player stands there and starts to complain to the umpire. The umpire then gives the batter first base because he decided the pitch had hit him. The CSU coach comes out onto the field to complain and the first base umpire tells him that the next time he comes on to the field, he should take his jacket off. The Elon scouts that were sitting next to me were in amazement. One of them started yelling that we had the Pep Boys umpiring this game. The other one said that he had never seen Marx brothers stuff like this in a baseball game in his life. Unbelievable.
11:20 PM: This game is finally over. I have to be back here at 9 to watch Winthrop play their second game. When I get back to the motel, it’s lights out.
Saturday 7:45 AM: Damn it’s early. Well time to shower, pack, check out, and run to Dunkin Donuts before the game.
9:00 AM: I want to know why the #1 seed is the visiting team. I mean really, shouldn’t we have the last at bat?
11:25 AM: We just got crushed 9-1 by UNCA. We can’t hit worth shit. Now we play at noon. We’re done for, but at least I’ll get to go home.
12:50 PM: What the heck is that thing? No, up there! You see that strange yellow circle thing in that weird blue expanse, what is that? Ouch, it burns! It burns! Oh good, it’s gone now; it was only there for about 2 minutes.
1:45 PM: Man, fuck baseball, it sucks. I’m sick and tired of driving long distances to watch Winthrop lose. I hate it. Losers, I’m outta here. Screw you guys, screw this tournament. (Winthrop is losing 7-1 going into the 7th inning)
8:30 PM: I’m home again. Driving is good for working out all that frustration. Still, there is a lasting bitterness.
Well, I’ve had better trips in my life. This thing probably would have been more enjoyable if I had spent it with other people, but it didn’t work out that way. To all my friends who couldn’t come or didn’t come, as you can tell, you didn’t miss much. I knew no one else would be there, but I went anyway because I knew it would make for a story, and there it was. I know I’m sick of rain, that’s for sure. One last note, here’s a rundown of what I ate on this trip: ¼ bag of UTZ Cheese curls, 3 McDonald’s hotcakes, 1 McDonald’s Cinnamon Roll, 1 McDonald’s #10, 1 Chicken Quesadilla, 1 Mexican Pizza, 4 Crunch Tacos, 10 Soft Tacos, 3 Boston Kremes, and 3 Double Chocolate donuts.