It was dark days for baseball. Major League Baseball had just cancelled the World Series after failure to come to terms on a collective bargaining agreement with the players union. People took sides. How can anyone agree with someone whose average salary is a million bucks a year? On the other hand, how can anyone agree with owners who have been raking in tens of millions of bucks by keeping player salaries down? Greed vs. greed.
Many people swore off baseball at that time. I’m pretty sure I did, too. I even debated the issue with Dr. Webb in Advanced Communications class with Damian (which, incidentally, we won…the only debate Webb claims to have ever lost). I was mad at the owners. I was mad at the players. I was mad at the institution of baseball.
Then something happened. Something so profound that I had no choice but to embrace the national pastime again. I got bored over Spring Break. Yep, that’s how a 12 year tradition was born. Damian and I got in the old blue Honda Station Wagon armed with a Motel 6 book, a cooler of snacks and sodas, various phone numbers of friends who lived in the area, and not more than 60 bucks. We’ve been back every year since. I’m sitting here at home, watching a spring training game on television. They didn’t have spring training games on t.v. when we first went. When we first went to spring training we walked up to the gate, bought our tickets, and ended up sitting right behind 3rd base. As the years went on more and more people started showing up in Arizona. Now it is more of a commercial thing than before. People flock to Arizona in March for baseball now. Damn bandwagoners! It’s okay, though. Let them come. Let them start their own memories and their own traditions. Just get out of my way in the beer line.
Here are the top 10 memories of spring training over the years…
10. “Blinding” Damian in the car with a bottle of Squirt.
9. Shooting a commercial for “The Gordon Elliot Show” in Mesa.
8. Having Bill Engvall copy my jokes.
7. “Wally World – Population 5!”
6. Convincing Eric Young to toss a ball to me only to drop it because I had 1 too many beers.
5. Sneaking warm beer in a cup from Circle K in a game then having Dave Hicks offer some to Jackie Autry.
4. “See…no tan lines.” “Thank you.”
3. Watching Marty turn into Tommy Lee in the hotel room.
2. Eating chicken wings at Hooters with none other than baseball god, Mike Wolff.
1. Being asked to get off my “f*&$ box” by Mike James.
To traditions and more memories.
3 comments:
5? Is that all I get. Are you stupid! You are no longer my best man. AND YOU GOT IT WRONG!
Sure we snuck in beer, but I offered Jackie Autrey PEANUTS! Do you remember winning that contest where I throw nuts through a target. I went to the staff and asked for the big bag of Southwest Airlines peanuts and went through the crowd throwing peanuts at everyone. Some guy bought me a beer. And I gave the inflatable airplane to the boosters club(or whatever it was) to give to the kid who almost died so that we could have their tickets. IT WAS AWESOME!!! That is atleast a #2 or #3. OR how about me throwing 91 mph on the radar gun? YEAH BITCHES!!! (Wes and Wyatt don't talk ugly like your mom or dad, I learned what I said above from your dad) SEE YA IN YOSEMITE!!!
Dave's almost correct. It WAS peanuts he offered Jackie Autry (and Bill Bavasi as i recall). But, as I recall, I think Dave did not win the contest because he was too busy throwing peanuts to the crowd to appease them. Not a bad idea.
Another memory I have of Dave is arguingwith the rental car people about being added to the insurance and then going ahead and driving away anyway right in front of the guy...classic Hicks!
Good for people to know.
Post a Comment