The players never cease to amaze me (Day 30)

Today I saw a sight that I have never before seen on a ball field.

It wasn't a triple play, nor was it a perfect game. But I dare to say it was just as surprising and rare.

The entire team of Brisbane Bandits was walking around the field, picking up garbage leftover from the concert before the game. That includes coaches, and also me, because I couldn't just sit back and watch them do it and not help. But it was quite the sight.

Everyone was wandering around different portions of the infield and the outfield, scouring the ground for bottle caps, garbage and glass. Not the safest environment. It was my understanding that someone had come by to clean the field after the concert, and I think they still stand by their word that they did, but there's no way. Shayne came out to inspect when he got to the ballpark and discovered the mess that remained. There's no chance that someone cleaned the field, or that they checked to see what it looked like. There were broken sunglasses, shot glasses, wrappers, lids from pop bottles, and stuff was all over. So we all pitched in to pick it up.

At first I didn't think it was so bad because I wasn't one of the ones running into shards of glass or anything, and I had even found three 10-cent pieces almost right away. I was 30 cents richer and just picking up paper and plastic, the not-so-bad version of the trash on the field. I was pretty excited about the money too. Until I heard that other people were finding one- and two-dollar coins. Then I was just jealous. But for some reason the guys gave me the change they found (am I that pathetic? the answer is yes, because I took it) and I ended up with almost six whole dollars! It was worth scraping glass out of left-centre field with my fingernails in the end.

So while that was some kind of experience, it didn't happen until the late afternoon hours of the day. Plenty happened before my on-field amazement.

When I woke up, I wrote the script for our Coshi for game day. I wasn't sure exactly what he was looking for but I did my best and sent it away to him, knowing that he would Aussie it up and change whatever needed to be changed. Coshi works full-time and then volunteers to come down and announce for all the games, so whatever I can do to take something off his plate is probably beneficial for everyone. He does do a really thorough job on the scripts though and I'm not sure I'm quite living up to that standard yet.

I headed to the field after that to help finish putting things up. It was only raining lightly when I got there but it wasn't long before I was drenched once more. Gonzo, Steve (the one-man groundscrew) and I finished doing what we could, putting up the back net, and black mesh behind home plate and around the backstop. I realized that I am actually too weak to even pull a back net up to the top of its pole, just for your information. I could get the net a few feet away from the top and then Gonz or Steve would have to help me pull it up the rest of the way. The nets are on pulleys and it's like getting a flag up a flag pole, in case you're wondering what it is that I am seemingly incapable of doing.

Whitey and Carl showed up awhile later and decided that someone should probably be in the office to field phone calls about the game and the rain and what was going to happen, though none of us knew what was actually going to happen. I was nominated for that job, but I got to go home and shower and change into dry clothes first, which was nice. Carl drove me and waited around while I did that, and then was kind enough to drive me to the office too.

When I got there Mike Young, the cricket guy, was there. He said he was waiting to talk to me. He wants me to talk to someone in cricket about baseball statistics and trying to make cricket stats comparable. I don’t know if I will be able to do such a thing, or even speak intelligently to the topic, considering I don’t know much about the statistics of cricket, but he thinks I can help, so I’ll try. He mentioned a few times the other woman is available to meet and then told me to just send him my availability when I know it. Unfortunately for him, I usually just wait until the end of each day here and ask Whitey what my plan is for the next one. But I’m sure we can work something out in the name of stats.

After he left I began fielding phone calls about the rain, answering people’s questions without answering them. I told everyone that while we weren’t sure if the game was going to be played, if it were to be cancelled, we would post that information on Facebook and the Brisbane Bandits website and game tickets would be good for any other day throughout the rest of the season. That seemed to comfort everyone who called, despite my not having a real answer for them.

For several minutes I had a bout of nonstop sneezing. Cole and Mack had to tell me that they were just going to say “Bless you” one more time for the day and that was all I was going to get from them because it was becoming too much. I started to worry that being out in the rain and the cold for a day-and-a-half might have made me actually sick. I can’t get sick though. It’s not a good time. Doesn’t my immune system know that? We have games to play and fields to manage.

I also finished writing a press release from the team about our Ballpark Buster on Saturday night. The Bandits have teamed up with the Super Rugby championship team, the Queensland Reds, and are raising funds for the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital Foundation. I might have mentioned this already. We’re hoping for the biggest crowd in ABL history, or at least in its most recent two-year tenure. The previous record for attendance is somewhere around 2300 I think. We would love to get 4000 people but we also need the rain to hold off for it.

Gonzo came to the office briefly and while he was there I asked how I might be getting back to the field. I could have walked of course, but that wouldn’t be the most efficient way of getting around on game day. Gonz said he had to go and pick some stuff up but when he came back he would take me to the ballpark with him. And so he did, and I was back to the park a few short hours and several phone calls later.

Back at the field there was still stuff that needed putting up and cleaning and finishing up, and the skies were starting to open up and let some sun in so it looked like we might play a game. Earlier in the day, we all thought it was a lost cause. There was no chance that home plate or the mound were going to be dry enough to be usable. But it was starting to look a little more optimistic.

Shortly thereafter was when the players came out and had to pick up garbage around the field. What a great start to the series for them. I’m sure they weren’t happy about it, but it appeared as though everyone was participating and there wasn’t an overwhelming amount of complaining. Not around where I was anyway. I’m sure there were a couple times where people mentioned that this would never happen in the big leagues, but we’re not in the big leagues are we? We’re in Australia and for at least one day, we pick up garbage.

The game was actually played in full, with no rain and in regulation innings. Unfortunately, the Bandits lost. That’s four in a row now, and it was another one-run heartbreaker. They need to get some offense going. They only notched three hits on the night. Maestri gave up three runs but he kept them in the game and SJ continued the trend coming on in relief. The offense just couldn’t get another run or two on the board for them.

During the game I made Carl take over my job so I could use the facilities at one point, but then I was happy not running the soundboard for a little while, so I made him continue. He was happy to do it but it looked as though he was nervous every time he would play something. He would quickly click on it to play and then jump back as if the button had burned his finger or something. It was a success though, and now there’s someone to relieve me of my duties if I should ever have to leave or miss a game, so that’s a big positive.

In the end Carl had to write the game recap, though someone else was supposed to do it. He got a late start obviously, thinking that he didn’t need to write it and doing my job instead. So I had to run down after the game and ask KJ a couple of questions so he could quote him in the story. I’m sure KJ wasn’t in the most talkative mood ever, after dropping yet another close one, but he humoured me and stayed for all of the two minutes that I needed.

After I gave Carl what I’d gotten from KJ, I ran into Durket on the concourse. He was with his host family so I got to meet everyone. They seemed like really nice people and I can see why he would want to stay with them all the way out near Redlands instead of trying to find a place closer to RNA. Plus it just makes sense for him I think. But they were great, even with his host mom trying to pressure us to hang out and inviting me over. I mean there’s nothing wrong with that, but the added push might not be necessary. Who knows?

We ended up getting kicked out of the RNA before Carl was finished sending the game recap out to the media, so Whitey, Gonzo and the two of us headed to a bar. What better place for working in the middle of the night? Carl needed to plug in his computer to use it, so I asked the bartender where the nearest outlet could be found. He stared at me blankly for a couple seconds before telling me he had no idea what an outlet was. Really? Apparently here outlets are called 'power points'. Add that one to the Australian-Canadian dictionary.

After a couple beers each and finishing up all the work that had to be done (my only contribution was to the consumption of the beers), we all headed out for the night. But Carl and Whitey and I stopped at a gas station for food before we went home since for some reason we were all starving. I think I might have been a bit punch drunk too, from being so tired. I say that because Whitey bought a box of chicken cracker things (that's the best description I can come up with) and I thought they were the best food in the world. They went really well with the chocolate milk I'd decided to get for myself too.

And from there it was hometime. Because of pending rain on Saturday, the first game of the doubleheader was moved to tomorrow, so we have two seven-inning games tomorrow. Gotta rest up for that.