Thursday, April 7, 2011

It's Been Awhile...

It’s been a while since we last posted. Sorry for that, we figured we’d better focus on the student part of Athlete-Student for a bit, with midterms and papers due the last few weeks. The addition of the two midweek games last week didn’t help the blog get published any quicker either. So now, after getting back on Sunday after a 3 game set at Michigan, we finally found some time to sit down and bang one out.

Wes: Everyone was raring to go and finally get started on the Big Ten season. All the games prior to this weekend were preparation for the grind of the conference schedule. While 3 games in 3 days is nothing compared to the 8 games in 8 days during Spring Break, the fact that each team is fighting for the same conference title means that anything can happen at any time. I feel like these first few games set the tone for the rest of conference play, nobody wants to play catch-up after dropping 2 or 3 games. We got after it this weekend and took 2 of 3 from the Wolverines (should have taken all 3, but that’s baseball). By playing 2 games on Saturday, we were able to get home and have an extra day of rest. So, with that, Big Ten play resumes at Sembower with Ohio State coming to town. With any luck, we won’t have to play in anything under 60 degrees and I fully expect the Party Porch to be alive and wild.

Dylan: Good weekend in the humor department as well. Gary didn't make the bus, Friday was April Fool's Day, Coach Greenspan thought he messed up our official lineup card, and Dylan got put in timeout during game 3. April Fool's day had a few good jokes, but the best was by Lambert (must be his 8 years of experience on the team). Right after breakfast on Friday morning he frantically called me and claimed that the bus wasn't clean, which is a Cardinal Sin, and convinced me that we were being punished before we left for our game. So, after my anxiety calmed enough to send a mass text to our team I wrote, "Trash found on bus. Put on running shoes. Meet in Lobby now. Not a Joke." SOMEHOW I didn't know it was April 1st, and neither did the entire team other than Lambo and Casey. All of the sudden you see 23 angry, grumpy, half asleep, and mostly scared guys file out of rooms in workout gear and make their way to the lobby. You could hear a pin drop and have powered a small country with the collective anxiety as we waited for our fate. Meanwhile, Brian was hiding when he called to claim "April Fool's!"; solid choice because we'd undoubtedly be down to 24 guys on the ride home instead of 25 had he shown his face at that point.
Skip put out his customary April Fool's lineup, but forgot when he penciled me in at 2nd base that I've not only played over half of the positions in my career, but actually started at 2nd before. He's done better (Thinking of the year he had us convinced freshman DH Alex Dickerson was starting centerfield). Coach Greenspan unintentionally made for a great laugh on Saturday too! After a last minute lineup change he forgot to change the player number on the lineup card. What he thought was that we were going to get caught and lose a run… oh, how we enjoyed watching this unfold. It's not very often you get to see a coach visibly scared/nervous in the dugout. Quite honestly he looked like a freshman who just slept through class and isn't sure if the coaches know yet. Those 30 minutes made up for every punishment we've had to endure for our lack of "attention to detail" and the endless speeches about "paying attention to the little things". It was at a crucial point in the game, but we're just cocky enough to know it wouldn't dictate the outcome. Fortunately for BG (and all of us, I guess) the rule states that only the Name of the player matters and no real mistakes were actually made.

So this week's video gives you a glimpse at Gary's arrival and the surprise serenade at Macaroni Grill… Talk to you soon.

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