Tuesday, February 19, 2008

I'm a College Baseball Player

I'm a college baseball player. I play for the University of East Anglia. Damn right!

Two of my flatmates play for UEA teams. Dominic plays UEA Rugby, and Sam plays UEA Squash. I mentioned wanting to join the baseball team shortly after getting here, but saw that they have 4 practices a week for 2 hours each. This conversation got brought up again at dinner last night.

“What are the practices like?” I ask Sam, about squash.

“We play squash for a few hours…”

“When do you do weight lifting?”

“Never…”

“Do you have running days?”

“No… where did you get that idea?”

Of the six days a week the UofA club team practices, 3 days they just do weight lifting, 2 hours of running two other days (The rest they play ball), and then 1 day a week is dedicated to playing.

Apparently that’s not the case here. Practices are entirely playing the game, with all sports offered.

“And you don’t even have to go. I’m a captain of the squash team and I only show up half the time and no one cares.”

I didn’t even have that leisure in little league! Mom was always like “Honey, you made a commitment and your team is relying on you!” Damn right! I kept the bees of Masconomo Park in good shape by running away from them, all while hoping to God the ball never came my way!

So, Sam directed me to where I can go to sign up for this last night, and I figured I’d mention it in my putting pictures up blog. I went to the office today and said “I want to sign up for baseball” and they give me that awesome “Oh, you’re an American!” look I’m growing both used to and fond of, and then they gave me an email address.

I emailed the captain of the team, who emailed be back really quickly sounding very excited that I already know so much about the game. So, it's official, I'm a college baseball player.

If I can’t be number 10, then 33 will work if I can have a “C” on the front of my jersey… and if both are taken I’ll just befriend #10, get them drunk and steal their jersey. (Oh and I said “them” because all the teams at UEA are co-ed, so not only will I get to play baseball but I’ll get to meet girls! Do I really have to go back to UofA in the fall?)

In other news, Cambridge University was very cool. The entire story of the day can be told through the pictures from the post below this one. I must say though: Cambridge University is not making its money giving campus tours! A lot of the campus was closed off to anyone but students, including their central library, which was a bumber. But, we got to go see the “Cambridge University Press” bookstore where pretty much every textbook I have ever used lives.

This coming weekend I’m heading back into London, with a friend from the UofA, Teri. I’m going to do some more in depth sight seeing – like going into all the pretty museums I took pictures of from the outside last time. Also, Teri has family living in London who offered free food and housing for six. I am very grateful for the opportunity (thanks Teri!)

Yeah, so uhh… I definitely feel like I should have some more exciting stories but that’s about it… two promises of more exciting stories to come.

MLB Spring Training games start in 8 days!!! Baseball season has returned!!! And, because I’m a “Loyal MLB Supporter” (which is code for “You give us your money every year”) I get to watch all of the spring training games online, commercial free (though I probably won’t… because I’ll be doing much cooler things.) My fantasy baseball team (The Damn Bandits) is drafting in 29 days, going for their second world series title in 4 years.

Lastly, Andy Pettite has admitted to being lying scum cheater who licked HGH off of Roger Clemens cleats. Eat it Clemens - big asterisk next to all 7 of your Cy Young Awards!

Note: I will try to keep my baseball rants to a minimum as the season starts… key word being try.

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