The Rookie (Day 34)

I woke up early after sleeping so much yesterday throughout the day.

And you may not believe this mom, but I did some ironing. I actually got out the iron and board and got to work. It might be because I did laundry last night, so most of my clothes are hanging to dry and I’m almost out of options. But it could also be because I am turning into a more responsible and awesome person. Right? Okay, I was out of clothes. But I still put the effort in.

Gonzo called me before I left to let me know that he was around the corner at the bank and was wondering if I needed a ride to the office. When I told him that I was heading to 31 Digital to help Whitey with the show for tonight, he then wanted to talk about the new commercial the Bandits have. It can be found here and it’s pretty awesome, in my biased opinion. Please note that I have now figured out to add a link into my journals without having to copy and paste the whole website address. Look at me go.

So we’re going to try and get the word out on the commercial by writing something for the website and putting something on Facebook. Gonzo wants to set up a meeting for me with the guys who put together the commercial and we’ll get something out about it this week, linking to the commercial and hopefully helping to get the word out about the Bandits.

Shortly after that conversation, I had to head outside in anticipation of Whitey picking me up. I wasn’t waiting long before he arrived and we headed to 31 Digital. I think someone else was in the studio when we got there because we ended up sitting out in a hallway-type area for awhile. I got on my computer and started working on getting back to my emails and sending out questions to the Bandits players.

I’m hoping to get started on writing some stories for the week that the guys are off, and actually for this week as well. I’ll need to talk to David Nilsson before I can finish the story I want to write on him, though I have the input I wanted from Graeme Lloyd. Ryan Searle, Cubs prospect and Bandits pitcher (though he hasn’t pitched yet for the team) also got back to me with a bunch of answers to a large number of questions that I sent him when he said he would do an interview with me via email. So I have those stories to work with, and then hopefully I will start to get some answers from the team for the other stuff.

I asked the players about their plans for Christmas, what they want for Christmas, and if they have any New Year’s resolutions. Then I sent a few questions about road trip experiences for a piece I want to write about that kind of thing, and about pre-game routines and stuff like that. I’m just hoping to give the fans a little bit of a side of the game they haven’t seen or that we haven’t written about yet. Like I said before, it’s not going to be award-winning writing. But I think it will be interesting enough for readers. I sent all my questions by email and told the guys they could email me back or just give me their answers at practice tomorrow night. I’m hoping I have made it easy enough to get a good number of responses.

I sent the email to Carl for approval before I sent it to the team, just in case I was missing anything or making additions that I didn’t need to make. Carl was okay with what I’d sent him and told me to get it out to the players, though Carl was distracted by the Giants game, so I’m sure it wasn’t the first thing on his mind. I’m just going to assume that he actually did read my email but I can’t be sure.

After that, Whitey had finally gotten the footage that he was waiting for and I had to come up with something to voice it over. The team’s video interns put together a 30-second package on Buster the Bandit and I needed to write a script to go with it. Jess, the Australian in-game host, came in to read the script I’d come up with in her Aussie accent. We got through it and then I had to write some questions for Campo to ask KJ during the interview. It was at that time that I realized I'd forgotten to make a Bandit Baseball Buddy, but the details of that are not important. It was supposed to be a gimmick for people to participate and win stuff, but it didn't really end up that way. Probably because I started it by forgetting about it. Oops.

Filming the show took a long time. It really seemed like forever. There were technical difficulties when the talent was getting everything right and then the talent would mess up when the technical stuff was all going well. Inbetween takes (because there were a lot of inbetweeners and a lot of time during them), Campo and I talked to KJ, asking him questions about his playing days, his history in the game and what he's going to do with the team moving forward. Campo was mostly asking him general questions, like what was his first day in the bigs like, and I was trying to get down to brass tax, asking about what's going on in the bullpen, who might emerge as the team's new closer, that kind of stuff. That's mostly what's important to me. There's a time for winning and that time is now. Might I remind everyone that this is a six-team league and four teams make it into playoffs. The Bandits need to make it. So let's get on track.

After spending hours and hours at the studio, and finally getting through the show, Whitey and I were starving. I hadn't eaten anything since breakfast and it was already past 4 o'clock. Just about time for my cranky pants to come out if I didn't get food in me immediately. So we went to a sandwich place in Kelvin Grove (where I took all the pictures of the mascot roaming around the one day), called Danny Boy's. It was amazing. Probably the best sandwich ever. I had their specialty, the Danny Boy, as would make sense, and it was delicous. I might have been a little over-hungry, but there's no mistaking a good sandwich.

On the way home from amazing sandwiches, I almost drove Whitey's car. I started talking about driving and he offered to let me and then I chickened out. I'm too confused by the roundabouts here. I think I get the whole driving-on-the-other-side-of-the-road thing, and the whole driving-on-the-other-side-of-the-car thing, but roundabouts are confusing. I barely think I can manage them at home, let alone here. It would also make me nervous to drive Whitey's car with him in it, judging me the whole time. I'm not necessarily saying that he would be doing that, but I am saying that I would feel like he was. So no driving for me yet. Or probably anytime soon either.

 

When I got home I changed and set out to get my nails done again. Girly, I know. But I broke a couple nails when we were picking up garbage and glass and stuff around the field. So I thought I would make an attempt to fix that.

 

On my way to the nail place Gonzo called me about Durket. He's been on the roster all year, and we have his headshot and bio and everything, and yet he hasn't been in the program for the first two series. I'd mentioned it again to Gonz because Durket's family is coming to town and they would probably be pretty disappointed if they paid for a program or two and he wasn't in it. Even if they got them for free and he wasn't in it, it would be a disappointment. So Gonzo was calling to confirm the spelling of his name and then to get me to send the bio and headshot once again to head office. I told him I would do it as soon as I got to a computer.

 

After I got my nails done, I started walking to Carl's place so I could watch The Rookie on Bris31. Since I don't get that channel and Carl does, it made the most sense. When I got there I checked my email and sent away Durket's information. I had answers from a couple guys already on the questions I had sent out. I figure the people who reply right away are the only ones who are actually going to answer me. Everyone else will probably put it on the back burner, or just delete it and forget about it. But I'll run with what I've got, even though SJ said his pre-game routine is mostly just putting his belt in his beltloops and stuff like that. Thanks for that, SJ.

 

Before the show, Carl and I went to the park and threw a football around. We had some time to spare before it started and Carl is still struggling to find things that he might be better at than me. Okay, maybe not, but I'd like to give myself some credit. It's been awhile since I've thrown a football but I did alright for myself. It got a little too dark to continue for long though, so we headed back for the show.

 

The show was a pretty big disappointment. After being at the studio all day and working around it and seeing how things were done, I guess I just expected a little better. When The Rookie aired, it was missing the entire first segment and in my eyes, that threw everything off. It didn't start with a welcome or an introduction to baseball or anything. It started where Campo was supposed to come in after the first commercial break and so nothing made sense. It was hard to tell what he was talking about. And Whitey had forewarned me that the producer called him and told him the show was short, so he ran an entire five-minute video on the Phanatic, the Philadelphia Phillies mascot. That sucked, but it sucked even more because the show would not have been short if it had included the entire first segment. I was pretty upset about it and I expressed that to Whitey, who I probably made even more upset than I was. He said he would have them fix it before they air it again though, and before it makes it to our youtube channel. So that's good at least. Some people might not see the awful version that aired.

 

After the show, Carl and I walked to South Bank because he wanted to go to the movies. New Year's Eve was Carl's choice (though I must admit, there wasn't a whole lot to choose from), and we played for it. We went back to the arcade basketball and played for the tickets. I lost, and I'm not going to say it was on purpose, but I'm not going to say it wasn't either. Carl did match my high score from last time. So I had to buy the tickets to the movie.

 

I think Carl actually liked the film, though I can't really say the same. It wasn't the worst thing I'd ever seen, but I do think I would have liked it better if I were about 13 years old.

 

It was kind of late when it finished, especially since prior to the movie starting they showed about 45 minutes (literally, no exaggeration) of commercials before the previews even happened. Once again, Carl went into mom mode and tried to get me to take a cab home. I took this under consideration and decided that I don't make enough money to cab home. Mostly because I don't make any money. But when we parted ways I decided that maybe it was too far to walk. So I ran.

 

I made it home in a little less than half an hour, which makes me hopeful that it's about a five-kilometre jaunt, otherwise I was going a lot slower than I thought I was. But I made it.

 

When I got home I told Carl/mom that I was safe and sound. Then I also suggested that perhaps we start hanging out a little less. I know that sounds rude, but we spend every minute of every day together and it's going to be a shock to the system when that ceases to happen. And Carl's girlfriend (okay, ex-girlfriend) is coming to visit him for two weeks over Christmas, meaning that he'll be busy and I need to find other people to hang out with. For future reference, I will probably  just call her Carl's girlfriend, because it's less letters to type out, and because she is coming all the way around the world to spend the holidays with him, so come on.

 

But I am going to be on my own then so I thought that maybe I should get a head start now. I'm pretty sure Carl thought I was being ridiculous and told me to take some time to think about it. It was kind of like an awkward breakup, except we'll be working together again tomorrow. Even more awkward.

 

It's not me, it's you.