More Baseball, Closer to Home

The Ducks season came to an uneventful end over the Memorial Day weekend.
The team ended its first season in 28 years on a 13 game losing streak, thanks to Arizona. The Wildcats had plenty of motivation to hammer the Ducks in the final weekend of the regular season; they still had an outside chance at the NCAA tournament.
In the end, Arizona didn't make the field of 64 - and neither did Oregon.
After the game, Coach Horton said he told the team they are now like everyone else:
0-0 in 2010.
I know several of the players from this team will move on to other places between now and the start of practice in the fall and new players will come in. But this team will always be remembered as the first under George Horton and the start of something really big.

Now, Legion Baseball starts June 7th.
In between there will be several high school baseball and softball playoff games.
Hopefully we'll have a team or two (or more) in the finals June 5th and 6th.

It used to be that the Docs season was the longest, most difficult stretch of the year for me.
So many games, so much travel and so much time away from home usually leads to a fair amount of stress. Well, compared to the Ducks season, the Docs shouldn't be too bad.
35 games - and a 5 minute drive to the ballpark for home games sounds utterly doable to me now.

And when it comes to the Docs, I think this could be a big year.
I can't wait to see some offense after the long dry spring I just went through in Eugene.
The state tournament is in Corvallis this year and the Regional is in Medford. An Oregon team might make the World Series this year.

I hope that team is the Docs.

PS - the over/under on accidental references to the Ducks on the air this summer is 10.

Brian

Give Credit Where it is Due...You!

On the heels of Monday's emotional sendoff of the troops of Charlie Company, plenty of praise is coming my way. And this blog entry is about that.

The praise should be going to the great people of Douglas County.

When I heard that the deployment date had been sent, I made a few phone calls to people in law enforcement and to my soldier buddy Manny Annear to get things rolling.

After that, it was all you.

Without the love all of you have for those men and women - and their families - all the talking on the radio in the world wouldn't have done a thing.

But time and time again, patriotic people in Douglas County come forward when called upon.
Not only that, they take it to a level that few places can match.

From the turn on Airport Road next to the Armory and all the way to Harvard and I-5, cheering crowds greeted those three buses and all the rest of us in the procession with wave upon wave of love and respect.

To think that all of you stopped what you were doing for a few minutes and found a spot along the route in order to display such a simple show of support for the soldiers, means alot.

All along Edenbower, Stephens and Garden Valley, people parked, waited and then exploded.

The images that flash through my mind right now bring tears to my eyes. Bright red, white and blue flags, yellow ribbons and all the signs combined with the cheering and waving was beautiful to see.

Then, the poignent, solemn veterans along the way who stood and saluted to the troops, knowing full well that what is happening is something they fought hard to prevent. But also knowing exactly what its like to be on one of those buses...

Little kids with their parents and grandparents who hardly know whats going on will remember the feeling they had when their whole community stood up to say thank you.

The stretch through the VA was even more amazing because of all the veterans, and the doctors and nurses and staff who serve them, standing, sitting or just smiling as the buses went by.

Those memorial flags along the route added an almost magical element to the scene - and the weather was perfect! Is there anything as beautiful as the Stars and Stripes when the sun hits the flag just right? I don't think so.

Then, the kids at Fir Grove followed that up with enthusiasm and love - and those signs!!

Despite a very nicely executed traffic jam on Harvard, drivers buried hundreds of cars into the line were smiling and honking and giving the processon a 'thumbs up'.

In the end, the procession led south on to Medford. I turned around at the Fairgrounds and it hit me that they were gone.

Then, a simple two word text message from my friend Sgt Gene Thomey came in to my phone.
It hit me hard and caused me to break down for the first time that day.

'Thanks Brian'.

No, man. Thank you.

And thank you, too Douglas County.

Lets do it even bigger when those men and women come home.