Sunday, March 13, 2011

Thank You, So far, and Knipp/Lambert Pro Day Video

Well, the number of responses to our first introductory blog was much bigger than even our conceited selves expected, and we want to say "Thanks!" We’d like to specifically shout out to Dustin Dopirak (@DustinDopirak) of the Bloomington Herald-Times and everyone’s favorite fountain of IU knowledge, Jeremy Gray (@jfgray) for showing our blog some Twitter love. Much appreciated. We got mostly positive reviews, a few jealous comments from our teammates, and several requests and ideas for future postings (keep them coming). However, all that really matters is that our parents loved it and are so very, very proud of us! (Love you too!) As for our less forgiving followers, we promise we’ll get better every week…which should be evident in the serious video upgrade we made for the end of today’s (pretty long 'catch you up-to speed') blog.

GOOD NEWS: Spring Break is coming up, and with that, comes our chance to be “Sun Gods”. The purpose of spring break is to go down to warmer weather, bask in the sun, meet tons of cute(ish) softball girls, and see a few JUCO guys partying hard enough to put Charlie Sheen to shame. Spring break stories are legendary ones that stay with teams forever. The ingredients are all there: 25 college kids, long flights and bus rides, endless downtime, and no school the entire time. So, don't be surprised to see a couple updates from the road. Once we get all that out of the way, we, as Coach Ben Greenspan would say, “FIND A WAY” to mix in a few baseball games (8 of them actually, in 8 days).

Apparently in order to keep our relationship with IU Sports Marketing and the blog working we have to include baseball from time to time (Dumb we know). We apologize (Don't hesitate to email Kyle with complaints). So with that said…let’s get caught up on the season so far:

Wes: Our goals this season are lofty by IU standards, heck, by anyone’s standards really. Four years ago when we came here as freshmen, I think we had visions of being this good, but really didn’t know exactly how that would come about. Now, we are still here and have the talent and depth to make a serious run at the Top 25 polls. No, not the Top 25 Party School polls, but the Top 25 College Baseball polls. Our team KNOWS that this is a possibility and this confidence is evident from the oldest guys on the team (Resident Granddads Carr and Lambert) to the young’ns (Dylan interjects: Think about this. Lambert has been here so long… He played with a guy, who played with a guy, that played here in the 1990s. He’s seen it all!). Two years ago we made a run at the right time to clinch an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament, but I’m here to tell you that we might not need an auto berth this year. Our goal is to leave no doubt who the cream (and Crimson) of the Big Ten crop is, and instead be the focus point of other teams in an NCAA Regional. This is lofty talk so early in the season, but it’s reality. Bulletin board material or not, the Hoosiers are tryin’ ta get up in ya.

Dylan: Don’t be scared to give other teams bulletin board material Wes. If something isn’t controversial it’s not worth discussing (at least that’s my thought), plus you didn’t lie. Up-to this point in the season we are 8-5, which is the best start against the best schedule since I’ve been at Indiana. And my favorite part is that we are NOT happy about it. The first weekend went ‘okay’, I mean we beat a ranked Coastal Carolina; the second weekend we smashed a good Texas A&M CC team and beat a ranked UConn squad; and most recently we won 2 out of 3 by beating Tennessee, an SEC team (NCAA would have you believe this means something), and OVC team Morehead State. So you would look at those wins and our record and say “pretty good” wouldn’t you? No. Not with us. I wish I could describe how we felt after losing those games on Sunday, even after winning the other two games; it felt like we got swept… going 2-1 on the weekend felt like we got swept. We’re good. We expect to win every game and are not happy about being 8-5 against a great schedule, because the toughest team on that schedule has been Indiana. So don’t let our jovial off-the-field mood and antics lead you to believe we’re getting complacent… we’re not, it’s just hard to turn off this charm sometimes.

Well enough about baseball… Since this was slightly longer and more serious than we really want, we stepped up our video game. After a stellar weekend in TN we had to feature T.C. Knipp (Dylan: he is also our 'in' with the Greek community at IU and frankly I'm doing this blog for the Sorority girls). T.C. and Brian Lambert decided to let you in on their secret to success… the Knipp/Lambert Combine Workout. ENJOY.

Monday, March 7, 2011

Welcome to the Our Blog...


Fans, friends, family, students, coaches, kids, and teammates – Welcome to the first edition of Catching Up with the Hoosiers (the only bad pun is a pun that goes unsaid) with Wes and Dylan. Thank you for giving our brand new blog a shot! This is our first time writing one and I promise we aim to entertain, and we will definitely get better each and every week.
 For those of you who don’t know us, we are two good looking, quick witted, and charming senior catchers on the Indiana Baseball squad. This is our fourth lap around as IU student-ATHLETES, and we’ve had some unbelievable experiences along the way. Throughout the years we’ve seen everything from 15 players being stuck in an elevator for 45 minutes, the entire bench getting ejected following an on-field fiasco at Fresno State, priceless spring break pranks, spectacular (and not so spectacular) bus introductions, and countless idiotic dugout rituals. We decided (with the help of Skipper Tracy Smith and our SID Kyle Kuhlman) that in this, our final lap, we should include our fan base in this unscripted, unpredictable behind-the-scenes experience of an Indiana Baseball player.
Dylan: So finally, after taping the entire 2010 season and doing absolutely nothing with the footage, Wes decided to tape the 2011 season… and yet again… do nothing with the footage. Luckily for you, we (I mean I, but have to include him out of politeness) decided that it’s time to stop hoarding the film and let our fans see the hilarious antics of the roughly 40 man cast that comprises our Hoosier Baseball family. Since Skip already does a great job with (the big budget, high-end production) weekly updates that everyone loves, we decided to keep ours in written form with a short video clip at the end (because we’re shorter on time and have no budget space to work with). Think of our blog as a compliment to the already established franchise that is “Skip’s Scoop.” Your turn Wes.
Wes: We’re going to include a little more authentic and impromptu part of our program: the players. Between airports, bus rides, and hotel rooms, there are plenty of untold stories just waiting to be made public. We’ll even give our takes on the sentiments in the locker room, as well as showing our teammates some love if they deserve it (as I’m typing this, Dylan is reminding me this blog isn’t about us, it’s about our teammates – but we’ll see). Oh, and by the way, let me remind you that we are a pretty good baseball team on the field too (Dylan: Understatement of the Year).
Dylan: Sorry for the long introduction today. We can’t be more excited about the season ahead, and I promise the Road to Omaha is going to be a great ride on and off the field. It’s our pleasure to invite you to enjoy every part of the trip.
Here is small (spicy) taste of the things to come, this is our first video, starring “The Pride of Rockport” aka “Papa Monski” aka Blake “Monski” Monar in the Houston Airport...