Before I started working in baseball, everyone that works or has worked in baseball told me that during the season, you loose track of the days really easily. I experienced that in full this week when I thought Tuesday was Sunday. While I may not always know what day of the week it is, I always know what game number in the homestand it is and the actual date. For example, May 11 was game six out of seven in the homestand.
Let's start there, at Monday. I wrote last week that I expected to have my first tarp pull during the week. I had my first tarp pull Monday.
The game was scheduled to start at 7:05. After the Power took batting practice, everyone on the staff from upper management to the broadcasters to the interns was in right field prepared to move the tarp onto the infield to protect it from the imminent storm. The full-time staff said that it was the most people for a tarp pull that they had in some time because of the interns.
The first tarp pull was not bad, especially with the bodies that we had.
Because the players were off the field and in the clubhouse at this point, we grabbed a camera and headed down to get some footage, because why not?
We got footage of players lifting weights, running on machines and even the equipment manager washing their uniforms. We were trying to make a video showing the preparation that goes into a game.
We wanted to get the athletic trainer taping a player's ankle. When one wasn't ready to get taped yet, I was volun-told to hop on the table and get taped up. So, needless to say, I hopped on the table and got my ankle taped up
Interns do a little bit of everything.
I was scheduled off for the game on Monday night. I left at 6:00 to go home and relax for a little bit. I still had to make the trip back to the ballpark after the game to put together my highlight packages. The game was delayed until 8:00 because of rain and didn't end until 10:30. I was surprisingly awake and energetic when I arrived back at the ballpark for the final out of the game. I put together my highlights and did some other work ahead of the early 10:35 a.m. start the next day. I couldn't get started editing however until I helped put the tarp back on the field ahead of an overnight storm.
This tarp pull was not as easy as the first. There were fewer bodies and the tarp was a lot messier. We got it done fairly painlessly and I left the stadium at 12:45. Reporting time the next morning was 8:00 a.m. for a tarp pull.
This tarp pull was the worst one yet. We got a good amount of rain from the night before and a lot of the staff was late that morning because of bridge construction. The fewest bodies yet for one of my tarp pulls. We removed the heavy, puddled tarp from the field and the preparation for the game was underway.
It was a "school day game" with the 10:35 a.m. start. Just under 3,500 students from area elementary and middle schools were in attendance. The hottest item for sale was not a cheeseburger or a baseball hat, but a vuvuzela horn. I was placed in my normal spot with a camera beside the dugout surrounded by kids with horns under the 80 degree sun for what would be one of the longest home games of the young season for the Power in their 10-3 win.
During the game, I had at least a dozen kids ask me to get an autograph from players. The kids made finding crowd shots in between innings easier, but also led to more of them yelling at me to put them on the video board.
Coaches from the Pirate's farm system will make their rounds to visit the different clubs. One of them, whose name and title I'm not sure of, came over and stood beside me in the dugout in the middle of the game. The conversation was mostly small talk and him predicting what was going to happen on the next pitch. Then, a kid came down and started asking for autographs for the third time that game and the first with the Pirate's coach standing beside me. His response sent the kid packing to not return the rest of the game.
"Yo no hablo inglés," he said.
After the kid left, he chuckled, looked at me and said, "hey, we're playing a game."
He chuckled again and smiled for the first time that game. That was an entertaining moment.
Perhaps the best moment for me during that game came before it even started.
Cole Tucker once again came over to say hey before the starting lineups were introduced. He was given the game off for the morning game. He came over just as my Power Minute highlights began playing and he watched the highlights from the Monday night game. He didn't start watching until after my intro standup, and didn't realize it was me yet. He chuckled after he saw himself in the highlights just before I came back on the screen. When I did come back on the screen, he looked at me, back at the screen and said, "oh hey, that's you."
It was also the first day that the Power posted my highlights to their social media accounts. I had a good chat with our social media manager and he now uploads my videos to the Power YouTube channel and then shares it on Twitter and Facebook. Here is a link to the first Power Minute that he posted: Power Minute aired May 12, highlighting the May 11 game.
I also create a 40 second version for WOWK 13 in Charleston. This is that :40 version from the May 12 game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjyUK87cBFg
After Tuesday's game, a good majority of the staff went to broadcaster Adam Marco's house for the first post-homestand barbecue of the season complete with wings, corn on the cob and ribs. The food was fantastic and I had the chance to socialize with a lot of the staff including three new interns.
One is the box office intern from the University of Louisville and the other two are general interns from WVU. We had a great time and ended up going out to lunch the next day. I think these three are going to be good friends of mine at the end of this summer.
My last big project of the week was to create a Top Ten Plays highlight video from the past homestand. Watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_dzOdrFVZE
I have a relaxing weekend and start to the week next week before a weekend homestand. The San Francisco Giants are playing the Cincinnati Reds this weekend in Cincinnati. My boss, other intern and the executive vice president of the club are all Giants fans. They all went up to Cincinnati for the weekend for the series and so I was able to leave at 1:00 Friday for a nice half-day of work. I have Saturday and Sunday off, along with Monday. During weekends when the team is on the road, half of the office gets Friday off and the other half gets Monday off. Because I went in Friday, I get Monday off for a long weekend.
I ended Friday at the Charleston Town Center where I was the winner of a $10 Chilis gift card from an Instagram contest.
I started my Saturday with a spontaneous walk to the capitol building, about a 15-20 minute walk from my apartment. The State Capitol Campus is incredibly beautiful, peaceful and calm. Besides the river trail, this is my favorite place that I have found in Charleston so far. I walked around the Capitol Building that was surrounded by monuments, flowers and friendly squirrels. It was like I was in a different world and I went into tourist mode.
Above are two pictures of the West Virginia Female Veterans’ Memorial, built in 2011.
When I finished my roundtrip walk on the Capitol campus, I was reminded that you're never too far from a mountain in West Virginia, even in the city.
My roommate went on the road trip with the team and therefore I have the apartment to myself for the weekend. It's quiet, but it's nice having some alone time. The team returns Thursday for a four game series. I have this weekend to relax, catch up on my Netflix watch list and brainstorm new video ideas. I'll probably try and find new music to listen to during my editing days and new background music to put in videos.
Speaking of music, I was keeping track of the number of times I heard "County Roads" while I was here in West Virginia. I lost count this week at 10 or 11.
While I do miss home and I do miss Pittsburgh, West Virginia is slowly becoming a new home. I've settled in and adjusted well to my new surroundings and different people. I like it here in Charleston, country roads and all.
Because, why not?
Josh
Hours May 10-16
5-10 Sunday: 12-7 (7)
5-11 Monday: 10-6, 10:30p-12:45a (10.25)
5-12 Tuesday: 8-3:15 (7.25)
5-13 Wednesday: 10-5 (7)
5-14 Thursday: 10-5 (7)
5-15 Friday: 10-1 (5)
5-16 Saturday: OFF
Total: 43.5
Let's start there, at Monday. I wrote last week that I expected to have my first tarp pull during the week. I had my first tarp pull Monday.
The game was scheduled to start at 7:05. After the Power took batting practice, everyone on the staff from upper management to the broadcasters to the interns was in right field prepared to move the tarp onto the infield to protect it from the imminent storm. The full-time staff said that it was the most people for a tarp pull that they had in some time because of the interns.
The first tarp pull was not bad, especially with the bodies that we had.
 |
| Screenshot from the video with a player lifting weights |
Because the players were off the field and in the clubhouse at this point, we grabbed a camera and headed down to get some footage, because why not?
We got footage of players lifting weights, running on machines and even the equipment manager washing their uniforms. We were trying to make a video showing the preparation that goes into a game.
 | |
|
Interns do a little bit of everything.
I was scheduled off for the game on Monday night. I left at 6:00 to go home and relax for a little bit. I still had to make the trip back to the ballpark after the game to put together my highlight packages. The game was delayed until 8:00 because of rain and didn't end until 10:30. I was surprisingly awake and energetic when I arrived back at the ballpark for the final out of the game. I put together my highlights and did some other work ahead of the early 10:35 a.m. start the next day. I couldn't get started editing however until I helped put the tarp back on the field ahead of an overnight storm.
This tarp pull was not as easy as the first. There were fewer bodies and the tarp was a lot messier. We got it done fairly painlessly and I left the stadium at 12:45. Reporting time the next morning was 8:00 a.m. for a tarp pull.
This tarp pull was the worst one yet. We got a good amount of rain from the night before and a lot of the staff was late that morning because of bridge construction. The fewest bodies yet for one of my tarp pulls. We removed the heavy, puddled tarp from the field and the preparation for the game was underway.
It was a "school day game" with the 10:35 a.m. start. Just under 3,500 students from area elementary and middle schools were in attendance. The hottest item for sale was not a cheeseburger or a baseball hat, but a vuvuzela horn. I was placed in my normal spot with a camera beside the dugout surrounded by kids with horns under the 80 degree sun for what would be one of the longest home games of the young season for the Power in their 10-3 win.
During the game, I had at least a dozen kids ask me to get an autograph from players. The kids made finding crowd shots in between innings easier, but also led to more of them yelling at me to put them on the video board.
Coaches from the Pirate's farm system will make their rounds to visit the different clubs. One of them, whose name and title I'm not sure of, came over and stood beside me in the dugout in the middle of the game. The conversation was mostly small talk and him predicting what was going to happen on the next pitch. Then, a kid came down and started asking for autographs for the third time that game and the first with the Pirate's coach standing beside me. His response sent the kid packing to not return the rest of the game.
"Yo no hablo inglés," he said.
After the kid left, he chuckled, looked at me and said, "hey, we're playing a game."
 |
| A screenshot from my "Top 10 Plays" highlight video from the last homestand May 6-12: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_dzOdrFVZE |
He chuckled again and smiled for the first time that game. That was an entertaining moment.
Perhaps the best moment for me during that game came before it even started.
Cole Tucker once again came over to say hey before the starting lineups were introduced. He was given the game off for the morning game. He came over just as my Power Minute highlights began playing and he watched the highlights from the Monday night game. He didn't start watching until after my intro standup, and didn't realize it was me yet. He chuckled after he saw himself in the highlights just before I came back on the screen. When I did come back on the screen, he looked at me, back at the screen and said, "oh hey, that's you."
It was also the first day that the Power posted my highlights to their social media accounts. I had a good chat with our social media manager and he now uploads my videos to the Power YouTube channel and then shares it on Twitter and Facebook. Here is a link to the first Power Minute that he posted: Power Minute aired May 12, highlighting the May 11 game.
I also create a 40 second version for WOWK 13 in Charleston. This is that :40 version from the May 12 game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjyUK87cBFg
After Tuesday's game, a good majority of the staff went to broadcaster Adam Marco's house for the first post-homestand barbecue of the season complete with wings, corn on the cob and ribs. The food was fantastic and I had the chance to socialize with a lot of the staff including three new interns.
One is the box office intern from the University of Louisville and the other two are general interns from WVU. We had a great time and ended up going out to lunch the next day. I think these three are going to be good friends of mine at the end of this summer.
My last big project of the week was to create a Top Ten Plays highlight video from the past homestand. Watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_dzOdrFVZE
I have a relaxing weekend and start to the week next week before a weekend homestand. The San Francisco Giants are playing the Cincinnati Reds this weekend in Cincinnati. My boss, other intern and the executive vice president of the club are all Giants fans. They all went up to Cincinnati for the weekend for the series and so I was able to leave at 1:00 Friday for a nice half-day of work. I have Saturday and Sunday off, along with Monday. During weekends when the team is on the road, half of the office gets Friday off and the other half gets Monday off. Because I went in Friday, I get Monday off for a long weekend.
I ended Friday at the Charleston Town Center where I was the winner of a $10 Chilis gift card from an Instagram contest.
I started my Saturday with a spontaneous walk to the capitol building, about a 15-20 minute walk from my apartment. The State Capitol Campus is incredibly beautiful, peaceful and calm. Besides the river trail, this is my favorite place that I have found in Charleston so far. I walked around the Capitol Building that was surrounded by monuments, flowers and friendly squirrels. It was like I was in a different world and I went into tourist mode.
Above - The back of the capitol building with a fountain in the foreground.
Below - The front of the capitol with an Abe Lincoln statue in the foreground.
The steps were crawling with students taking prom pictures. |
| --------------------------------------------- |
Above - Part of the trail that wraps around the Capitol
Below - My first look at the Veterans' Memorial |
---------------------------------------------   |
 |
| This is the Booker T Washington monument located at the back end of the Capitol Building |
The campus was crawling with friendly squirrels. This one even let me crouch beside it and take its picture. It was very photogenic. I do apologize for the way the pictures are laid out, blogger doesn't like pictures very much.
When I finished my roundtrip walk on the Capitol campus, I was reminded that you're never too far from a mountain in West Virginia, even in the city.My roommate went on the road trip with the team and therefore I have the apartment to myself for the weekend. It's quiet, but it's nice having some alone time. The team returns Thursday for a four game series. I have this weekend to relax, catch up on my Netflix watch list and brainstorm new video ideas. I'll probably try and find new music to listen to during my editing days and new background music to put in videos.
Speaking of music, I was keeping track of the number of times I heard "County Roads" while I was here in West Virginia. I lost count this week at 10 or 11.
While I do miss home and I do miss Pittsburgh, West Virginia is slowly becoming a new home. I've settled in and adjusted well to my new surroundings and different people. I like it here in Charleston, country roads and all.
Because, why not?
Josh
Hours May 10-16
5-10 Sunday: 12-7 (7)
5-11 Monday: 10-6, 10:30p-12:45a (10.25)
5-12 Tuesday: 8-3:15 (7.25)
5-13 Wednesday: 10-5 (7)
5-14 Thursday: 10-5 (7)
5-15 Friday: 10-1 (5)
5-16 Saturday: OFF
Total: 43.5
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