Week Five

Week one of the busiest month of the Power baseball season is over. And it kicked my butt. 


The sun barely showed itself Monday through Wednesday for the Power's three game series with Greensboro. The game Monday was delayed by an hour because of rain. There were quite a few tarp pulls 

Watching myself on the
video board through binoculars

Monday and the only one that I missed was before the game actually started because I was working in the press box. The game went along at a good pace and I was able to cut my highlights quickly and get out of there before it got too late. During pregame, the Special Olympics torch was lit on the field in a really nice ceremony.


I finally think I have the giant inflatable mascot figured out. The giant thing takes forever to get set up at first, especially when I don't have any help, which I didn't Monday. But after I get it set, I think I have it down to a good system. It hasn't fallen over since I began tinkering with it. Josh 1, Chuck 0. 

Inflatable Chuck from the street

There was no rain Tuesday, but it was a gloomy day. The team lost a game that ended around the same time as the night before without a rain delay. I couldn't wait until the next day to archive every highlight because of the early 12:05 start time, so I stayed late to get it all done that night. 

Wednesday was another kids day and I was again surrounded by elementary school students armed with vuvuzela horns and sugar. At one point, there were over two dozen of them surrounding the table that my camera and I stood on. They jumped, screamed and blew their horns trying to get on the video board, which they did multiple times. 

After the game, the other intern and I stayed late to watch the Pirates, Giants game in the press box and get a head start on the next homestand. I cut the highlights and began sorting through the top ten plays from the homestand. 

I went in Thursday to continue the top ten so it could be aired throughout the West Virginia High School State Baseball Tournament. Thursday was insane. There were people in and out of the press box all day searching for answers that we didn't have, wanting things that we couldn't give them and looking for wires that didn't exist. It was crazy. In the meantime, we are beginning to look into uploading my highlight videos to the official Power website through MiLB. That would be awesome if we could do that. 

I didn't have to work the first round of high school games Thursday night. My dad is starting a Sheetz store in Ripley and South Charleston and he was in town with another one of his guys so we met up on my off night and went to dinner. We plan to do the same thing Monday night when the two bring my grandfather down with them so we can go out to eat again. 

The first day of games in the tournament.

Friday was non stop. As teams rolled through the gate, I was running back and forth from the head shot station we had set up and the press box trying to get their pictures ready for the score board. I was also running back and forth from the box and the front office making copies of lineups and box scores all day. The first game started at 10 a.m. so I showed up at 8 a.m. to get things set up. There were four total games on Friday. I ran the line score for the first two and was putting head shots together for the final game during the third game. 

The Gutter Mountain Challenge. 

Saturday was a similar day but a little less hectic because the headshots were already put in. The best part about the weekend was the free food from the concession stand. Saturday was the day where all of us attempted the Gutter Mountain Nacho Challenge. These were no ordinary nachos. Actually, there weren't many nachos at all. 

The entire beast was contained in a Pirates souvenir batting helmet. There were nachos somewhere at the bottom of the pile with a lot of pulled pork, barbecue sauce, chile, beef, jalapenos, salsa, sour cream and nacho cheese. It was intimidating. It was a beast. Way more challenging then the Sternwheeler. At least that was possible to eat by a normal human being. 

I ate about half of it before I tapped out. In my defense, I had a sore throat and am not a huge fan of spicy foods. There were way too many jalapenos in that mess. A 100% healthy Josh without jalapenos could have conquered a lot more of that. 

One team celebrates their championship
as players from the other teams crouch
at second base and at home plate after
falling short.  

The tournament was long and tiring but it was cool to relax and watch some baseball for a change. Granted, I couldn't look away for a single pitch and was getting paid to do so, but it was cool to see so many kids celebrate on the field after winning it all and seeing others crushed. There was some good baseball played this past weekend. 

I fell asleep before 10:00 Friday and Saturday night, the earliest I have fallen asleep in months. That tournament wore me out. 

Sunday is an off day and Monday is a day to prepare for a seven game homestand that begins Tuesday. The early forecast has a chance of rain almost every day for the next couple weeks. That should be interesting. 

For now, it's time to relax and mentally and physically prepare for the long week ahead. Baseball, man. It's a marathon.

Because, why not?
Josh

Hours May 31- June 6

5-31 Sunday: Off
6-1 Monday: 10-12:15 (12.25)
6-2 Tuesday: 10-12:45 (12.75)
6-3 Wednesday: 9-8 (9)
6-4 Thursday: 10-4 (6)
6-5 Friday: 8-7 (11)
6-6 Saturday: 8-6 (10)

Total: 61