Well today I helped Dennis Martel as Illinois Wesleyan hosted the NCAA College World Series Regional. Games were at noon, 3ish and then around 6. I got there around 11:00 A.M. I found Coach Martel, and immediately he put me to work.

Let me tell you a little bit about coach Martel. Most of the time he is a pretty good guy. He sees me at Shirk all the time, because I'm there all the time. Dennis knows than any young coach needs opportunities to make money, so he hired me last summer to work his baseball camp. So when he asked me to help out with the tournament, mentioning getting paid...I agreed. When I asked him what I was going to be doing, he said....I'll have you do a little of everything, nothing hard, it will be easy. Ok, I had no clue what I was going to be doing.

Back to today. My first task was to break in 2 dozen specially marked baseballs. What you may say? Break in a baseball? Well yeah. When baseballs are brand new there is a gloss on them that is slippery. So you spit on them and rub dirt on them making sure you cover the seems. Not to dirty, but so they have some texture. MLB actually has a company supply them with MUD. Yes there is an official mud. I beleive it comes from Jersey. Its probably coming from some lake that wiseguys use for body disposal or some shit like that.

Ok, that wasnt hard. Bring on the tough stuff. So then Dennis tells me I will be doing the announcing for Game One. WHAT. I instantly think of Mr. Mika Burke-a, and his "Good evening basketball fans....and WELCOME to the GRAND CANYON!"

So When you announce, you do lots of stuff. Its not hard, but I was kind of nervous and overwhelmed in the beginning, but I soon began to like it a lot! I had to remember how to keep score, like an official score book, I hadnt done that since John Benedict hired me to umpire and score for the Napoleon Little League when I was in High School, and home for the summer in college. Then, you have to learn pronunciations, watch for substitutions, make public sevice announcement, and play music. I had it down by the bottom of the 1st. It was fun....I said that already.

I'm thinking to myself, thats quite a first, at a NCAA regional tournament none the less. Anyway, I got several complements, and Dennis asked me back to do more the rest of the week. I probably wont do a Wesleyan Game, becasue the normal guy will want to do them, but...I thats probably good, cause I wouldnt want to butcher names of the home team....I know no baseball player except for the three guys that play football, and Ricky Angel who is big league hitting material as a sophomre.

After announcing I helped Wags sells some Shirts, I snagged a foul ball or two, nothing hard. I enjoyed being at the ball park. Oh, and there going to pay me for that. What would it be like to be a pro baller? WOW.

Pretty sure Jenn Sterger looked at my blog today... I just know. She had a good post the otherday which I commented on.

Not to many comments on my lists...disapointed really. Bachman brings up a good point, Teen Wolfe. Well After thinking I should have made them all top 10 lists becasue inevitably you think of things you missed. Like Back to the Future, That movie is amazing. There is som much thought into some of the stuff, everytime i see it you catch something new. There are Countless other examples.

Yes, and Lincoln Parks new stuff should be in my top 10 ipod stuff...except its not on my ipod yet.

I'm bored now, I want football season to be here already...I'm ready to get going.

Until Tomorrow,