Episode 229 - Mapping the Path

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Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another episode of the Earned Fun Average podcast.
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I'm your host, Eric Prophet, coming to you from Wichita, Kansas.
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And with me, as always, I have Johnny Bolt, Lake Charles Gumbo Gators super fan, of course, tonight from the lovely Bayou Broadcast Center in downtown Calhoun City, Mississippi.
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Well, Johnny, you know you and I like to take some baseball trips, and we actually have, the one and only Mapping the Path, Mr.
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Matt Burns.
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How are you, Matt?
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Doing great, guys.
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Thanks very much for having me.
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Yeah, we appreciate you joining us.
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Well, Matt, one of the first things we like doing is, uh, talk about a hat, and you have an awesome hat, and then, a non-matching jersey, but kind of matching jersey.
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Would you mind sharing your hat as well as your jersey with everybody?
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Sure, yes.
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I went with a powder blue mix and match today.
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So, I've got, uh, Montgomery Biscuits cap here in powder blue with the, the navy brim there, with that, uh, yellow, uh, logo with the M and the biscuit peeking out, uh, and which really pops on that, uh, the powder blue.
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and I like a lot of their hats.
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They've got a nice yellow hat, uh, that's really great.
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Their, their bacon biscuit hat is, is fun.
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they do just great work with colors.
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and then I'm also wearing a Nashville Brewkes jersey, from our stop in Nashville, where they were really nice to us.
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I'd already gone to the team store, gotten my hat there, and, uh, and they handed me a$100 gift card.
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we threw out- Wow the first pitch.
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I threw out the first pitch that night as well, and I was like,"Well, I'm getting a jersey." I'm not a jersey guy typically.
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I've only got two now.
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but this is such a sweet jersey, I, I had to have it.
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Yeah, I love it.
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I was hoping...
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So I've been there before.
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So on a trip I took, one of the original iterations of Prophet Palooza.
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It wasn't technically the first.
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It was the first time we actually called it that.
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but basically, my brother and I did one the year before that was a little, smaller version, but then the kind of the first iteration in 2020.
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What was that, two, 2022, Johnny?
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Right.
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Uh, my brother and I traveled down and went to Montgomery, so we got to see the Biscuits play, and then went up to Nashville.
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I actually just got back from Nashville, about a week, little over a week ago.
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My son was playing in a, travel tournament there, but unfortunately, the Sounds were out of town, and then the next closest, the Bowling Green Hot Rods, were also out of town.
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We ended up getting to go down to Rocket City to see our friend Virgil and see the Trash Pandas play.
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But I did get to go see Nashville, see the Sounds a few years ago.
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I was hoping to get there again this year.
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But yeah, wonderful, uh, both those ballparks, between Montgomery and Nashville that you're representing there.
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but Mr.
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Bowen, what hat do you have today, sir?
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Oh, well, you know, speaking of our, our latest episode, uh, with our trip to Cape Girardeau, c- this came from the trip, was referenced in the, uh, in the episode.
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my Wally World moment.
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I didn't punch a moose or a red hawk when the bookstore was closed uh, like Clark Griswold.
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this is a Southeast Missouri State Redhawks hat that I, uh, as I mentioned, in our episode, uh, from Academy Sports.
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Thank you, Academy.
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I wear this hat on a pretty regular basis, 47 brand.
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A nice light gray.
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I've talked about my love of gray caps, and so I'm going, uh, representing, uh, SEMO.
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I don't know if they say, SEMO, you know." I don't know if that's a cheer.
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I Maybe I just made that up.
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Uh, but I don't know.
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Represent, representing those Redhawks tonight And for myself, so at the time of the recording here, in three days starts the 92nd Annual National Baseball Congress World Series.
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And then in, uh, well, I guess five short days then, gonna go through more punishment and we're gonna do baseball around the clock.
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Mm-hmm.
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I have myself, my wife, my youngest son, Virgil Brooks is coming up.
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Terry McCutcheon's coming back with his wife.
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I think maybe Chris Dorm.
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I think both my brothers are doing it, uh, my nephew.
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So for those that may not be familiar, so the NBC World Series has been here since 1935.
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Uh, it's kind of transformed over the years throughout, but right now it's a premier summer collegiate tournament.
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And so there's 16 teams, and they brought it back three years ago, so this is the third time since they've brought it back.
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So around the clock, they start at noon on Saturday, and it runs nonstop through Sunday night, basically 9:00 or so.
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So basically 11 games, roughly 33 hours.
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You have the standard 40-minute time, you know, breaks in between as they, get the other teams to come out and warm up, but otherwise there's not really many breaks.
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they do have sounders throughout each game where you have to go and check in, and then you get prizes and everything.
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So my hat today is the defending NBC champs, the Hutchinson Monarchs.
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Hutchinson's about an hour kinda northwest here of Wichita.
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My grandma lives there, so I've been to Hutchinson quite a few times growing up.
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but the Monarchs have been to the, championship three years in a row.
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They won it three years ago, took second two years ago, and then won it again, last year.
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So three straight championship appearances.
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Looking to go back-to-back here, uh, this coming year.
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as the defending champs, you get an automatic bid.
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They had a pretty good summer this year.
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I don't know that they won the league, but as the previous winner, you get an automatic bid from the, to the next year.
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So, we went to Hutchinson to see the Monarchs play maybe a month and a half ago, I went my, with my brother and my son, we went to a game there at their ballpark in Hutchinson, and they had these hats.
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So it's black, got blue pinstripes, has the M, kind of like I would assume the Milwaukee Brewers kind of M there, and on the back it says Monarchs.
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but I'm wearing a little summer collegiate in honor of the NBC World Series kicking off.
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Would you like to share, sir, the, uh, forecast for this weekend that you shared on the X?
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Uh, Matt, get ready for this temperature forecast from our meteorologist, Eric Prophet.
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So we are, here in Wichita, supposed to hit 108 on Sunday.
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Whoa.
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Woo, woo.
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And so that will be, you know, we're a good 24 hours, 30 hours into no sleep, where we've been watching baseball nonstop, running on no sleep, running about 108.
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Luckily with, uh, the games are at Wichita State, X Stadium, and they have a big, grandstand with a lot of shade, so we'll be sitting kind of upper underneath the press box to get, uh, in the shade as best we can, and we have little portable fans that we'll be bringing.
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But, feel bad for the players being out, because it's an all turf field.
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Mm-hmm.
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they have decided to do it there because there's not much time in between the games.
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They wanna try to put in as many games as they can.
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Playing on a turf field, they don't have to r- rake the field, the infield dirt and all that every game.
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So, mound I believe is, turf.
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Everything else is turf, so they don't have to worry about that.
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But yeah, being on the turf, it's probably gonna be close to 120 if I had to guess.
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Ooh.
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And that reminds me of the old days when they played at Lawrence Dumont Stadium.
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So before they were the Wichita Wingnuts for about 10 years, where they had an all turf field, they had turf infield and grass outfield, and that was kind of the first I've had ever seen that.
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And I actually got to play myself at Lawrence Dumont Stadium, and it was just kind of interesting to play where you had kind of faded turf at the time.
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It was kind of a faded green, and then you got the grass in the outfield.
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but yeah, being an all turf, I can only imagine how bad it's gonna be for the players out there on Sunday afternoon.
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So yeah, it's supposed to be about 108, so hopefully it's not quite that hot, but yeah, it's getting up there.
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It's been 100 today.
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Hadn't hit 100 yet until right about, you know, the last couple days, so perfect or imperfect timing for the start of the NBC on Thursday, and then running into baseball around the clock this weekend.
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Wow.
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I actually follow NBC on Facebook.
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Mm-hmm.
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They announced the teams that were coming, and then I went to the website.
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Now you probably know this.
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There are two Prophets photo On their website.
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You are on the website for the NBC, sir.
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Did you know that?
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I did know that.
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It is on the link where you go to Around the Clock.
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So on the main website, I don't see it on there, but I think once you click into the Around the Clock portal, last year, that was from last year, my youngest son Easton and I, there was some guy walking around in a Sasquatch, outfit, which I don't know that he'll be there this weekend.
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he'd be very brave'cause last year, if I remember, it was hot, but it was bearable.
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But if it's gonna be 108, I don't know you'd wanna walk around in a, Sasquatch, uh, outfit or...
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they also have a main, mascot, his name is Laces, and he's, you know, a person but then has like a baseball head.
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And so he'll probably be out there, but I don't know how often he'll get around.
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And speaking of those mascots, Johnny, when we were in Jackson while we were heading back from Nashville, JR never came out, so I never got to see JR at all.
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Great mascot.
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Of course, he had his picture made with me and Pat Larson three years ago, so retired him that night.
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I was gonna say, is that why he retired and we didn't get to see him?
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I, I'm done.
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I'm This one game, I gave you people one game, I'm done.
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these two knuckleheads, uh, we're done, so.
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really good mascot though.
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Fun, fun goat mascot.
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For sure.
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Well, Matt, I guess we'll kind of just start then.
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There's probably just maybe a broad question in general.
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So, uh, you do a trip every year, and you get to do it with your dad.
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So, can you just share a little background of kind of like how that started and, what it's kind of evolved to at this point?
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Sure.
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Well, you know, we're lifelong baseball fans.
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I grew up in San Diego, so I was a Padres fan, unfortunately during the'70s.
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Uh, growing up, pretty rough teams in the yellow mustard uniforms, uh, playing out there.
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but we went to a lot of games, and I played, uh, ball through high school.
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I was a catcher.
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probably good enough to, uh, defensively to move on to, to college, but not, not with the bat in my senior year.
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but you know, we've always been baseball fans, and I went to, uh, just after work, just casually went to a San Jose Giants game, here in the Silicon Valley area where I live.
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And, it was just after work.
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It was a bunch of friends.
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There were some other friends that had just been laid off from that, from work, and so we all kind of got together to, to reconnect and all of that.
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It was happened to be opening night for the Giants, San Jose Giants, and so it was a packed crowd, and it was just the atmosphere was fantastic.
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You've got, you know, the fun and the field between innings.
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Uh, this, that old ballpark, it's kind of a big cement old, old style ballpark.
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They had banners hanging all over the place from all the historical things that had happened there, Giants great in the past, even, you know, from other teams, the A's and o- others that they, that San Jose had represented in the past.
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And, uh, Turkey Mike's down the left field line, which is like this concessions place.
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It's like one of the best in all of minor league baseball.
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And they did the beer batter.
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You know, the guy strikes out, and, uh, beer's off, 50% off for, for 15 minutes, and it just, on opening night.
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It was just a rush out to the, out to the beer stands for that.
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and I just, I just Y- and, and on the field, you know, like these are, these are guys trying to live out their dreams.
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It's hard not to root for both teams, honestly, guys on both teams.
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It's And they're different every year, right?
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So they're all cycling through.
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And it's so It And you're close to the field, all of that.
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And I just fell in love with the whole experience.
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And so I talked to Dad and I said,"I want to do a trip in California this year and see all the minor league ballparks." At the time there were 10, uh, and f- and the major league ballparks, there were five.
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And I'd been to those before, but, he wasn't able to do the trip with me, so I went with my son.
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And we went to 15 ballparks in 19 days.
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Made a big road trip out of it.
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Uh, stopped and, and saw some sights during the day and, and games during the night.
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And I just was completely hooked, and needed as much of this as I could possibly get.
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Uh, so I started to plan, uh, for 2020, which didn't work out so well, uh, with COVID.
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Uh, we had ar- actually booked hotels for a Pacific Northwest trip that, uh, that had to be canceled.
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but in 2021 we did a Carolinas trip.
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I got greedy.
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I wanted as many minor league, uh, ballparks as I could get in one trip, and the Carolinas is the place to go.
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And so we saw 16 ballparks in, 17 days in the Carolinas, and, uh, that was 15 minor league ballparks.
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One rain out, Augusta, which we went back to on this, this year on the southern trip.
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and then so we just continue to do this, and it's, and it's a travel trip as much as it is a baseball trip for us.
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You're getting to see America.
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You, you hear people say, you know, like Ben Hill,"The best way to see America is through minor league baseball." You're seeing the smaller towns and you're seeing, if you're taking a trip like this to so many different places, you're seeing all this sort of connective tissue between those places.
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You're And I try to get us on rural roads as much as possible and get off the freeways, and just try to see the places that, that we're visiting from a travel perspective.
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when I was growing up, I, I was, uh, I actually started out in journalism and I wanted to be a travel writer.
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That's, that And so th- this kind of really intersected for me, uh, with a way to see America, and I hadn't seen a lot of America.
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I'd flown into cities and flown back out.
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and so we did, the, the Carolinas trip and then we did a Pacific Northwest trip in 2022, a Mid-Atlantic trip in 2023, and then Eastern Midwest in'24, Western Midwest in'25, and this year we did the South, uh, 19 ballparks in 22 days.
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Wow.
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Wow.
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Yeah, that sounds a little bit similar to kinda how I got started out.
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So, around 2019, 2020 my middle son would've been about 10 at the time, and so we kind of did the same thing.
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We just like,"Well, we want to go see some baseball games." And so I kind of started to map some things out.
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And of course, like you said, 2020 happened.
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so the first time we really did anything it was my It wasn't even that son, it was my oldest son.
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My brother and I, we just did a quick little weekend trip over Labor Day of 2021 where we went to Northwest Arkansas and then went to Tulsa, Oklahoma City, which had a rare Monday game.
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'Cause you know most teams at this point don't play on Mondays, but since it was Labor Day they had a game.
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And then on that Tuesday came back, you know, and Wichita had a game.
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So it was kind of like a little, four-game weekend little trip.
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And then that's kind of where it evolved, where our first big one then where we considered that Profit Palooza would've been in 2022, and then that's where we met up with Johnny.
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So that was kind of similar how you'd mentioned, uh, kind of how my brother and I did it as well.
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And is there any kind of rhyme or reason what region you pick?
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Is there, with, like, new teams, with new ballparks,'cause I know you saw, like, Salem this year and a few others.
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Is there any particular, pattern or how you kind of choose where you go each year?
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I do kind of, like, try to look at multiple regions when I'm doing the planning and seeing what will make the most sense.
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the South was always a little bit hairy in my mind'cause it's such a big area, and there's so many teams if you include all the collegiate summer league teams and, and some independent teams.
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and so I, I thought about splitting it up, you know, this year in terms of like, oh, we'll do this part of the South and then this part of the South and maybe make it like that.
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but when it got right down to it, it just, it, none of the schedules really worked out in a way that made me happy.
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And so to represent the South, I thought, let's see as, you know, like, much geography as we can.
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We went from Richmond to Biloxi and, you know, out to Memphis and, and, uh, you know, down into, into Georgia and such, and emphasize minor league ballparks.
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so we got to see 18 minor league ballparks in the 19 games we saw.
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The other one was the Lexington Legends.
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And, uh, so that was awesome.
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That's always my priority, and then kind of filling in, especially with Mondays, collegiate summer league will play on Mondays sometimes.
00:15:28.846 --> 00:15:36.246
But in this trip, we got our three Mondays off'cause we, we did it in May and, uh, and also the weather was gonna be a lot better in May, in order to see the South.
00:15:36.450 --> 00:15:41.200
you know, we just have a, like, we just have about four regions left, like, that we haven't really explored at all.
00:15:41.210 --> 00:15:46.947
But I've just been kind of methodically just trying to identify good, a good package of, teams to see in each region.
00:15:47.152 --> 00:15:55.139
And I know, uh, it's been few years back, I believe your dad, you and your dad were on our friend Anna's Baseball Bucket List podcast kind of talking about it.
00:15:55.149 --> 00:16:02.875
So when you kind of first started, trying to map it all out, has that changed a little bit since how you, uh, map out where you're going now?
00:16:03.044 --> 00:16:07.294
Kind of tell everybody a little bit about how you kind of map everything out and make it work logistically.
00:16:07.568 --> 00:16:09.448
Yeah, it is, it's a crazy challenge.
00:16:09.495 --> 00:16:11.924
last I, I used to do spreadsheets, right?
00:16:11.924 --> 00:16:13.774
So you're putting the schedules in the spreadsheet.
00:16:14.032 --> 00:16:23.812
you, you've got your six-day schedules, which can be great and can be terrible, because, you know, you get yes, yes, yes, and then these guys are gone for two weeks, and, uh, and it just, and it doesn't work.
00:16:23.812 --> 00:16:29.534
So I would, I would basically, you know, get the schedules together, have a spreadsheet, and then just try to look at patterns.
00:16:29.601 --> 00:16:35.695
I had a little way of kind of marking up the spreadsheet to kind of create patterns to, uh, for home teams, and did a lot of that.
00:16:35.715 --> 00:16:37.634
But, you know, it's, it is definitely hard work.
00:16:37.654 --> 00:16:43.605
I would I remember one time on a Sunday staring at the spreadsheet for, like, four hours- Right and coming up with nothing.
00:16:43.815 --> 00:16:45.075
And except for a headache, right?
00:16:45.075 --> 00:16:46.605
And just felt dizzy afterwards.
00:16:46.904 --> 00:16:48.105
And it just wouldn't work.
00:16:48.172 --> 00:16:54.292
and then just going back and going back and, and brute forcing it and making it, making, uh, figuring out the one thing that would actually work.
00:16:54.504 --> 00:16:59.235
This year I did use AI a little bit, so, and I was still relatively new at the time.
00:16:59.235 --> 00:17:00.835
I've used it a lot more since at work.
00:17:01.095 --> 00:17:04.285
but I started out just I, I was very naive about what AI could do.
00:17:04.285 --> 00:17:12.325
I was like,"Hey, AI, go l- go look at all the schedules and figure it out for me and, and give me a great path," and all that stuff, and it, and it just hallucinated all kinds of things.
00:17:12.325 --> 00:17:16.855
It would, it would say,"Yeah, these guys and these guys and these guys," and you'd look and like,"Well, they're not playing on that date.
00:17:16.865 --> 00:17:17.755
They're not playing at home.
00:17:18.015 --> 00:17:19.454
In fact, they're not playing at all on that date.
00:17:19.454 --> 00:17:25.894
That's a Monday." Or like, uh, they gave me the, the Mobile Bay Bears as, as something to go see.
00:17:26.255 --> 00:17:32.795
And it's like, well, what, I didn't even give you that as one of the possible teams, so how, why are you returning this, uh, this team that doesn't exist anymore?
00:17:33.019 --> 00:17:34.148
so that was frustrating.
00:17:34.148 --> 00:17:40.519
And then I went to, I actually pitched, uh, you know, put up some money for the agent functionality, which got a little bit better results.
00:17:40.528 --> 00:17:46.598
It's able to open up windows and do Google Maps and figure out how long the drives are,'cause I was giving it restrictions.
00:17:46.598 --> 00:17:53.259
I don't want six-hour drives, and maybe, and I want as few five-hour drives as possible, and other types of restrictions.
00:17:53.515 --> 00:17:55.765
And eventually I had a whole bunch of schedules.
00:17:55.775 --> 00:18:02.674
One, some that had more games than we did this year, but this schedule gave us all those minor league teams that I was looking for.
00:18:02.909 --> 00:18:04.068
Gave it to us in May.
00:18:04.164 --> 00:18:09.984
and, uh, and, you know, it's okay to have a few days off, uh, now and again to do laundry and stuff like that along the way.
00:18:10.388 --> 00:18:12.288
the worst, the biggest uh, not the worst.
00:18:12.288 --> 00:18:17.521
It was actually one of the best trips we've had, but, it was 23 ballparks in 23 days in the Eastern Midwest.
00:18:17.653 --> 00:18:22.232
And that was, that was hard, because, uh, not only you just, you don't have the time.
00:18:22.272 --> 00:18:29.869
We do need to do laundry in the trip, and we need to find that space, and man, you get that hotel and those laundry machines are already taken, and ugh, the whole plan is ruined.
00:18:30.079 --> 00:18:35.343
But we also flew in on that trip to O'Hare and went to a Chicago Dogs game that day.
00:18:35.423 --> 00:18:40.626
And then on our way out, going to the airport, we went to a Kenosha Kingfish game, and it was just crazy.
00:18:40.626 --> 00:18:44.666
I knew we weren't gonna see every inning of that game, and then it rained beforehand.
00:18:44.946 --> 00:18:54.643
But just the experience, just the, the effort that we're putting into it and, and just the kind of wildness of seeing all of these different places, just makes it really rewarding to look back on for sure.
00:18:54.643 --> 00:18:54.972
I'm not...
00:18:54.972 --> 00:18:59.472
Don't, don't regret it a single bit Well, I don't wanna jump too far off topic as far as baseball goes.
00:18:59.472 --> 00:19:01.692
You're talking about, uh, laundry at the hotel.
00:19:01.692 --> 00:19:03.593
So I had never experienced this before.
00:19:03.923 --> 00:19:11.782
When I was in Nashville with my family for my son's baseball tournament, our hotel had free laundry, and I'd never experienced that before.
00:19:11.782 --> 00:19:16.406
So when we got into town,'cause we had actually left on, the 3rd of July.
00:19:16.596 --> 00:19:25.497
He had a tournament in Springfield, Missouri, so we drove to Springfield, and instead of driving four-plus hours back home to Wichita, we decided to go up to St.
00:19:25.497 --> 00:19:30.217
Louis for a couple days because my cousins and my aunt and uncle live on the east side of St.
00:19:30.217 --> 00:19:32.446
Louis, so we stayed with them for a couple days.
00:19:32.457 --> 00:19:32.636
Mm.
00:19:32.836 --> 00:19:37.376
Well, then from there we drove on to Cincinnati to see a Reds game, and then down to Nashville.
00:19:37.686 --> 00:19:44.406
So when we got into town in Nashville, we went ahead and just did a little bit of laundry, and then the night before we left, we did a little bit more.
00:19:44.406 --> 00:19:49.446
So I had never experienced that,'cause, you know, it's usually not, it's usually not too terribly expensive.
00:19:49.467 --> 00:19:57.156
But I had never seen a hotel before that had free laundry, so I was like,"Well, we're gonna take advantage of that." Yeah, it's usually you're searching around for quarters, right?
00:19:57.166 --> 00:19:59.797
Especially these days, who's got quarters, to put into a laundry machine?
00:19:59.836 --> 00:20:03.426
But I do go to the bank before these trips and get a roll of quarters, but, or two.
00:20:03.446 --> 00:20:06.356
you have to, w- for these trips, we have to plan things down.
00:20:06.636 --> 00:20:08.047
We, we can, we can be flexible.
00:20:08.047 --> 00:20:15.186
We can do different things and stuff like that, but we do need to kind of, like, really understand when that laundry's gonna happen or, you know, lunch or anything else.
00:20:15.487 --> 00:20:24.686
Uh, and when I, you know, I talked about the planning broadly in terms of creating the schedule, but from there it's, it is, I do, I create, like, a hundred-page document.
00:20:24.896 --> 00:20:36.646
No, no kidding, like, with photos and everything, with information about the cities, the, uh, ballparks, the teams, their history, the fun thing they do at the ballparks, the sights that we're gonna see,'cause we do see sights during the day.
00:20:36.843 --> 00:20:42.833
And, uh, and I share that all throughout the, the year with my dad as we lead up to the trip, and I'm giving him choices.
00:20:42.972 --> 00:20:43.823
"Where do you wanna go to lunch?
00:20:43.823 --> 00:20:50.416
Here are six places in Nashville, and here's a link to the menu and the vibe." And he gets to make the final decision, and same thing with sights.
00:20:50.673 --> 00:20:57.227
Do the same thing like that, and it's, we get down to, like, every 15 minutes is very well, well understood before we can do that trip.
00:20:57.557 --> 00:21:05.567
But that process is a way for us to also be connecting together throughout the rest of the year as opposed to just those three weeks, which is something that, you know, we really get out of this.
00:21:06.085 --> 00:21:15.845
I was telling Johnny, offline that we got the pleasure to meet up at the Kansas City Monarchs, I believe it was last year's- Yes Memorial weekend, and you were on your trip.
00:21:15.845 --> 00:21:17.107
And, I was up there.
00:21:17.107 --> 00:21:30.438
The Savannah Bananas were playing at Kauffman Stadium, and then we went to the Kansas City Monarchs the next day, and then we actually had stayed in town a th- basically for a third day,'cause the Royals then were gonna be home on that Monday on Memorial Day.
00:21:30.837 --> 00:21:36.788
So we got a chance to meet up, and then I think a few days later you came to Wichita, but I think we were both pretty busy at the ballparks.
00:21:36.788 --> 00:21:41.307
I don't know that we even got to run into each other in Wichita, but it was fun to get to meet up with you.
00:21:41.307 --> 00:21:45.228
And then Lynn Smith was there as well at, at Kan- at the Monarchs game.
00:21:45.444 --> 00:21:46.144
Yeah, I couldn't believe it.
00:21:46.144 --> 00:21:53.384
I forgo- I, like, I was looking around for you early on at, in Wichita, and then I just got settled into the game and- Mm-hmm like taking pictures and videos and everything like that.
00:21:53.384 --> 00:21:57.500
I should have messaged you, cause I know y- like, you're on, like, the first base side, I think, behind the dugout.
00:21:57.570 --> 00:21:57.881
Yeah.
00:21:57.881 --> 00:21:58.025
Yeah.
00:21:58.025 --> 00:22:00.355
Well, yeah, that kind of leads me into another point then.
00:22:00.355 --> 00:22:11.515
So you talked about, you know, pictures and videos and everything, so one thing that everybody enjoys on there, c- as you're at the games and then even afterwards, you post a lot of videos and, pictures and everything.
00:22:11.515 --> 00:22:16.855
So just kind of tell everybody, once you're at the ballgame, kind of a little bit about what you do once you arrive at the ballparks.
00:22:17.172 --> 00:22:20.781
Yeah, as I said, I wa- I was in journalism originally, and so I still have that in me.
00:22:20.781 --> 00:22:24.021
Like, I want to kind of report on what I'm, what all the things that are happening.
00:22:24.255 --> 00:22:30.402
So I will be You know, when we get there, the first thing we do, we, we film a little bit of video outside, um, the ballpark.
00:22:30.622 --> 00:22:33.932
We're there when the gates open, and then we go straight into the team store.
00:22:34.204 --> 00:22:36.078
I get one hat, only one hat.
00:22:36.118 --> 00:22:38.888
I'm only allowing myself one hat from each team.
00:22:39.189 --> 00:22:40.499
Uh, and I've stuck to this.
00:22:40.499 --> 00:22:43.828
I've gotten a couple of others as gifts, but, uh, but I look the other way on that.
00:22:44.051 --> 00:22:46.991
and you know, I now have, like, a hun- I was just redoing this this weekend.
00:22:46.991 --> 00:22:49.092
I have 136 hats up on the wall now.
00:22:49.301 --> 00:22:52.971
but just one from each team because it will'Cause it's 136 hats.
00:22:52.971 --> 00:22:55.761
I mean, imagine if I And I love the logos.
00:22:55.761 --> 00:22:56.471
I love the colors.
00:22:56.471 --> 00:22:57.642
I'm a design director now.
00:22:58.031 --> 00:23:00.932
So I love all of that stuff, but I just can't.
00:23:01.011 --> 00:23:01.592
I just can't.
00:23:01.592 --> 00:23:02.612
So we do that.
00:23:02.622 --> 00:23:05.192
Dad gets a baseball, a, a logo baseball.
00:23:05.511 --> 00:23:13.301
We film a little bit of stuff in there, and then, uh, then I s- I send him to his seat, and, and I start doing video and, and photos and stuff like that.
00:23:13.682 --> 00:23:21.904
And so after, uh, the trip is over, I, I've been doing a video series on YouTube, Mapping the Path, and it's usually just 10 minutes, 12 minutes long.
00:23:22.194 --> 00:23:30.765
It's got kind of a fancy introduction with music and animation that my son does, and then the rest of it is kind of a clip show of, uh, of, of the experiences at the ballpark.
00:23:31.095 --> 00:23:38.025
Uh, it's a little bit of gameplay, the mascots, the food, all that kind of stuff, and we just try to get you a, a little sense of the flavor of being at that ballpark.
00:23:38.239 --> 00:23:49.409
Uh, and then later on, I will then write about all of this, which is kind of the original goal was, uh, because getting back into writing and, and journalism while I'm still in, you know, working my, my design career.
00:23:49.571 --> 00:23:51.152
and that takes a long, long time.
00:23:51.152 --> 00:24:00.261
I, I usually post about 1,000 photos in, in all the different chapters that I, that I post on these trips and, and write probably a book's worth, uh, for, of around each trip.
00:24:00.539 --> 00:24:11.267
and so I do hope when all of these trips, when we're kind of done or winding down with these trips, uh, to kind of compile all of this into an actual book and talk about the experiences of, of spending these times on the road with my dad.
00:24:11.519 --> 00:24:11.900
Yeah.
00:24:11.900 --> 00:24:12.519
That's wonderful.
00:24:12.519 --> 00:24:17.069
I just love that you get that opportunity to go with him to all the ballparks and everything.
00:24:17.069 --> 00:24:25.042
And for those that maybe haven't had a chance or maybe are familiar with your, Twitter presence, I know you do post pre before you leave on the trip.
00:24:25.413 --> 00:24:33.230
Uh, usually you pick out four hats and then post them online and ask- Yeah the audience, to vote in the little poll on Twitter, kind of what hat.
00:24:33.230 --> 00:24:37.500
And I don't know if you necessarily go with what the majority is or just kind of what- Most of the time your favorite is.
00:24:37.849 --> 00:24:38.900
Yeah, most of the time I do.
00:24:38.920 --> 00:24:40.220
Occasionally I'll, I'll switch it up.
00:24:40.480 --> 00:24:44.819
I'll get my wife's opinion, I'll get my, my dad's opinion, and we'll, we'll figure it out, uh, in the moment.
00:24:44.819 --> 00:24:49.730
But, uh, the worst thing for me is to, to get into the store and not have an idea of what I want.
00:24:49.920 --> 00:24:50.150
Yeah.
00:24:50.160 --> 00:24:52.349
'Cause it's just, it's just like a candy store, right?
00:24:52.349 --> 00:24:56.269
And you just, you How do I narrow it down to the top four, let alone the one, right?
00:24:56.420 --> 00:24:58.400
So, uh, yeah, I, I do need to prepare.
00:24:59.339 --> 00:24:59.809
For sure.
00:25:00.218 --> 00:25:07.795
Well, Matt, like Eric just mentioned about the fans vote, I appreciate you in- uh, including me in the voting process.
00:25:07.815 --> 00:25:18.931
I think you tagged me from the Barons game, if I remember that the beautiful red Black Beale, Barons hat was your selection, and that had been my nominee for the Birmingham Barons.
00:25:18.931 --> 00:25:19.221
Really?
00:25:19.347 --> 00:25:25.315
I really enjoyed being part of that process of w- each one of those, tweet I still say tweets.
00:25:25.384 --> 00:25:27.035
Tweets- Yeah, me too posts, whatever.
00:25:27.315 --> 00:25:30.474
A- and I, I enjoy being part of that process.
00:25:30.681 --> 00:25:35.300
I've discovered now with your latest trip why you've listened to this podcast.
00:25:35.515 --> 00:25:46.000
You're thinking,"If I can understand Johnny, I can understand anybody in the South." And why is that- It was good practice it is different, right?
00:25:46.000 --> 00:25:49.391
Like we, uh, just got back from Louisiana, and that's a different.
00:25:49.540 --> 00:25:51.270
that's a, a totally different.
00:25:51.361 --> 00:25:54.550
Uh, there's a, a town there that's Iowa.
00:25:54.971 --> 00:25:56.340
It's I-O-W-A.
00:25:56.518 --> 00:25:58.117
It's not far from Lake Charles.
00:25:58.137 --> 00:26:02.631
And I was listening to a show Saturday morning, and they called it I- Iowa.
00:26:02.847 --> 00:26:05.347
Like they,"Oh, they just dropped," like Iowa.
00:26:05.557 --> 00:26:14.738
Talking about a coach, was it baseball coach at Iowa, and I'm thinking,"What's I- oh, States is Iowa, right?" I wanted to ask you first question.
00:26:14.968 --> 00:26:18.038
Oh, there's so many I, I, I've thought of for you tonight.
00:26:18.330 --> 00:26:41.365
Being, here in this part of the country where you and your dad travel, what southern city surprised you guys the most when you you've done the research, you've looked up this and that, but when you got there, what southern city surprised you, w- we'll make it a two-part, in the best way- or the opposite direction, like this was not what I expected in a not so good way.
00:26:41.545 --> 00:26:48.404
Don't worry, Matt, Eric has a team of attorneys, He has many- attorneys on, on the standby here for our podcast.
00:26:48.404 --> 00:26:50.555
So far no lawsuits in four years, so.
00:26:50.721 --> 00:26:50.961
Yeah.
00:26:50.961 --> 00:27:02.377
I think, I had done a lot of research, so I had, I had a good idea of what the, you know, cities looked like and all of that stuff, but, but, but before I h- started all of that, you know, there, there was definitely a lot of eye-opening things.
00:27:02.448 --> 00:27:18.174
Louisville, we had, like our biggest site day was in Louisville, because we, you know, we went to the Louisville Slugger Museum, we, uh, went to the Ali Center, and we went to Churchill Downs, which is like a pretty good like three-day trip, let alone like a one-day trip before a b- baseball game.
00:27:18.357 --> 00:27:28.288
it w- that was pretty fantastic just seeing like, the places like, uh, Nashville and Memphis, bigger cities there, to, just to feel it firsthand is kind of like the, the difference for me.
00:27:28.288 --> 00:27:33.337
That's kind of what is, what is eye-opening, is not so much like I didn't kinda know the geography and what things were like there.
00:27:33.634 --> 00:27:36.515
just s- I'd heard a lot about these, these places.
00:27:36.515 --> 00:27:40.865
I'd never been to any of them except for Augusta when we got rained out, uh, on the first, first try.
00:27:41.080 --> 00:27:46.371
so this was all very, very new to me you know, I found something to like about pretty much everywhere we went.
00:27:46.381 --> 00:27:47.330
Some of them were smaller.
00:27:47.471 --> 00:27:48.550
They didn't have a lot of sights.
00:27:48.691 --> 00:27:54.347
We just kinda drove around town and just kinda looked at n- neat buildings and just got a sense of, of what things are like.
00:27:54.347 --> 00:27:58.325
But, yeah, I don't, I, I, I don't have, certainly don't have any, any town to drag on the list.
00:27:59.295 --> 00:27:59.585
Okay.
00:28:00.035 --> 00:28:00.894
Okay, Eric.
00:28:00.934 --> 00:28:07.555
You, you won't have, uh, attorneys on retainer from sure we cheat them and how, uh, will not have to be contacted.
00:28:07.770 --> 00:28:09.691
Matt with a, a great answer there.
00:28:09.948 --> 00:28:35.214
If someone was planning a southern baseball trip, but say they had a week to do the trip, and, and, and they got in contact with you and said,"Matt, what three stadiums do I have to see- Hmm on our week-long southern stadium baseball trip?" Yeah, I, and, and I've, you know, I've, first of all I'd like, I would hope in a week, you know, that they, that they're, whatever I recommend is clustered relatively close together.
00:28:35.625 --> 00:28:41.174
but you know, the new ballparks, in Richmond and Chattanooga were pretty fantastic.
00:28:41.414 --> 00:28:44.438
Uh, Richmond's, it's a beautiful ballpark next to the old diamond.
00:28:44.678 --> 00:28:55.365
and then, uh, Chattanooga is really unique because it's, you know, it's, it's built in the industrial zone where they were able to reuse all the industrial warehouses and stuff like that for group space.
00:28:55.684 --> 00:29:04.740
And I got a tour by the VP of marketing around the ballpark, and he took me into those places, and it was, it's just very different feeling than these So there's some cookie cutter ballparks out there, right?
00:29:04.740 --> 00:29:06.671
that did just the basics and they got it in.
00:29:06.884 --> 00:29:08.875
but Chattanooga's very different in that respect.
00:29:08.875 --> 00:29:10.515
It's just got a lot of character to it.
00:29:10.907 --> 00:29:13.914
and I would say like, Louisville was, is a beautiful ballpark.
00:29:13.914 --> 00:29:15.684
Nashville is a beautiful ballpark.
00:29:15.684 --> 00:29:20.934
I wish we'd able to s- spend more time there, uh,'cause we did get postponed after just a few innings.
00:29:21.234 --> 00:29:23.164
But I think those would kind of be at the top of my list.
00:29:23.164 --> 00:29:30.240
They tend to be the, the bigger ballparks, where there's a little bit more, action going on, uh, things going on between innings, uh, food options.
00:29:30.540 --> 00:29:32.631
You know, some of the smaller ballparks don't have a ton of that.
00:29:32.855 --> 00:29:34.384
so the, yeah, I think those would be my choices.
00:29:34.595 --> 00:29:35.644
Those are three great ones.
00:29:35.704 --> 00:29:39.931
My, my brother-in-law, Chris, used to do a lot more baseball traveling.
00:29:40.117 --> 00:29:42.744
I guess now it was to get, get away from his wife.
00:29:42.744 --> 00:29:44.914
Now they're divorced, so maybe that's just my theory.
00:29:47.404 --> 00:29:49.085
I'm going on a baseball trip, my friend.
00:29:49.125 --> 00:29:50.335
Er, you know, gone.
00:29:50.355 --> 00:30:05.980
Now, now that he's moved to Charlotte, North Carolina from Birmingham, you know, and he If he goes, I don't He's not a big social media person and I, I don't Maybe he's still doing But they w- you know, do some really nice trips, and he absolutely, like you, loved Louisville.
00:30:06.090 --> 00:30:10.840
he texts me and was talking about how great the ballpark, the merchandise, all the You know.
00:30:10.851 --> 00:30:18.085
So, I, I heard that, you know, a couple years ago from, from Chris, and, that would be a fascinating town to, to visit.
00:30:18.365 --> 00:30:27.258
You know, I take a lot of pride, even though I've only been there a couple times, as somebody that grew up in Birmingham, around Birmingham and went to school, that's there.
00:30:27.258 --> 00:30:27.468
Right.
00:30:27.621 --> 00:30:44.798
Like, if you knew the Birmingham of the'70s and'80s, even the'90s when I was in, in school there, if you had told me in 1994 there's gonna be a brand-new ballpark built here in downtown Birmingham, cause it was just dead at night.
00:30:44.807 --> 00:30:44.827
Yeah.
00:30:45.025 --> 00:30:53.750
You might have stuff going on at the Civic Center, which that football stadium that's in Birmingham is also a miracle itself that a- that it was ever built.
00:30:53.810 --> 00:30:58.280
You know, that was debated for decades growing up about a new football facility.
00:30:58.280 --> 00:31:06.351
But I, I just You know, like I said, take pride in that because I would have never ever envisioned that would ever become a reality.
00:31:06.351 --> 00:31:14.840
And, and, first time we went, which gosh, it's been 13 years ago the, the year it opened, and I loved the Hoover Met, cause that was my Barons baseball.
00:31:15.270 --> 00:31:20.728
As a child Rickwood, but then, a teenager, in co- it was the Hoover Met.
00:31:20.917 --> 00:31:21.238
Right.
00:31:21.468 --> 00:31:24.998
And so I have these, these great memories of the, of the Hoover Met.
00:31:25.153 --> 00:31:29.733
But it just blew me away, like, you know, to have that first time experience, you know.
00:31:30.034 --> 00:31:31.844
And, and- Well, downtown ballpark too, right?
00:31:31.874 --> 00:31:38.517
Like, it, it came back to downtown, you know, with, with the new ballpark and, we, yeah, we, we had a great time there, uh, for sure.
00:31:38.753 --> 00:31:40.604
I- unfortunately it was Paw Patrol night.
00:31:40.614 --> 00:31:40.624
Oh.
00:31:40.773 --> 00:31:43.963
So, you know, they were wearing the jerseys and all of that for Paw Patrol.
00:31:44.124 --> 00:31:47.723
We had more alternate jerseys than we had real jerseys for home teams during this trip.
00:31:48.013 --> 00:31:48.634
It was crazy.
00:31:48.943 --> 00:31:54.054
you're thinking about the Birmingham Barons, you're thinking about, you know, all this history and, and Rickwood Field and stuff like that.
00:31:54.054 --> 00:31:56.144
And, and, and we did go to Rickwood, which was amazing.
00:31:56.513 --> 00:31:58.574
But, uh, and Michael Jordan and all of this.
00:31:58.594 --> 00:32:01.653
And then, you know, you wanna see them in those jerseys.
00:32:01.653 --> 00:32:03.703
You wanna see them wearing those hats and, and all that.
00:32:03.703 --> 00:32:08.344
And, uh, and they weren't wearing the hats, but they had the Paw Patrol sort of pinkish jerseys and stuff like that.
00:32:08.483 --> 00:32:09.564
but we got fireworks.
00:32:09.564 --> 00:32:10.403
It was a Friday night.
00:32:10.403 --> 00:32:11.163
It was a fun night.
00:32:11.183 --> 00:32:11.903
You know, it was all right.
00:32:12.183 --> 00:32:13.963
Uh, and they won the game, so that was good.
00:32:14.844 --> 00:32:18.676
I love, and I've not purchased one, is my wife hearing me, yet.
00:32:18.777 --> 00:32:26.606
they brought back the'90s Barons logo with the, uh, black and silver with the old Baron and- Mm.
00:32:26.787 --> 00:32:28.773
Oh, yeah, right the, uh- Love that.
00:32:28.804 --> 00:32:30.314
Absolutely love that logo.
00:32:30.314 --> 00:32:34.277
That's'90s Hoover Met, Barons baseball.
00:32:34.287 --> 00:32:40.443
Uh- Well, I would love to, Johnny, but I've already got my one hat from Birmingham- Oh on the recommendation of, of Johnny Bolin, right.
00:32:40.443 --> 00:32:40.693
Johnny Bolin.
00:32:40.693 --> 00:32:45.727
Bolin likes his, some red in his Barons color scheme because that was childhood.
00:32:45.923 --> 00:32:51.604
They used to Their old hat from like the'70s, I have of course a replica.
00:32:51.844 --> 00:32:57.507
And for some reason I bought a snapback, you know, New Era snapback, and I would wear that hat all the time.
00:32:57.517 --> 00:33:02.820
White front panel, red B, black, or I mean, red bill.
00:33:02.961 --> 00:33:03.340
Beautiful.
00:33:03.590 --> 00:33:06.196
Old school, 80s Barons, right?
00:33:06.401 --> 00:33:09.951
And, like, the snap part came out of the cap.
00:33:10.094 --> 00:33:14.537
Like, there's no super gluing, we're- Yeah, no coming back from that no coming back.
00:33:14.537 --> 00:33:26.800
That hat died and Yeah, I just, you know, like I said, my childhood with the Barons was red, white, and black, and I love that solid red with the black bill that you picked up.
00:33:27.114 --> 00:33:27.973
one last question.
00:33:28.023 --> 00:33:36.584
Favorite, this may be tough out of 19 locations, maybe top three, top three ballpark concession items.
00:33:36.594 --> 00:33:41.263
We, we talk about concession items here pretty, pretty regularly, uh, on the podcast.
00:33:41.894 --> 00:33:45.814
But your top three things you and your dad ate at these ballparks.
00:33:46.034 --> 00:33:47.864
I, I am prepared for this one, uh, Johnny.
00:33:47.864 --> 00:33:48.124
Okay.
00:33:48.124 --> 00:33:53.284
I had I made a top 20 list actually- Wow and, uh, posted that on Twitter a few weeks ago.
00:33:53.636 --> 00:33:59.646
so the first Number one for me was something I didn't expect, which was the Biloxi Bayou Bomber.
00:33:59.814 --> 00:34:07.874
and so this is a shrimp burger patty with smoked sausage, fried catfish, crawfish, sorry, and onion tanglers, lettuce, tomato.
00:34:08.184 --> 00:34:14.324
And I was I, you know, I'm always looking for regionally appropriate food when I do concessions and something that's unique at that ballpark.
00:34:14.543 --> 00:34:17.884
So I knew I had to have something in the Gulf Coast, you know, range.
00:34:18.153 --> 00:34:20.054
And I, uh, but I wasn't expecting a lot.
00:34:20.083 --> 00:34:20.943
It was amazing.
00:34:20.994 --> 00:34:22.514
That was a fantastic bite.
00:34:22.806 --> 00:34:27.496
number two was, in Knoxville, Chicago Cubs affiliate, we had Chicago dogs.
00:34:27.713 --> 00:34:29.672
my dad loves Chicago dogs.
00:34:29.672 --> 00:34:38.672
He got introduced to them on our Eastern Midwest trip when we had some Chicago games, and I think he ate five of those on that trip, uh, including one at the airport on the way out.
00:34:38.972 --> 00:34:40.523
Uh, he was like,"Go get me a Chicago dog.
00:34:40.523 --> 00:34:46.925
I gotta have one more." and so that, that probably would be the number one on his list, but, uh, they, they were very, very good in Knoxville.
00:34:47.326 --> 00:35:01.456
And then the one I put at third was, uh, the smack sandwich in Lexington Legends served that had pulled pork and spicy mac and cheese with pickles, and, uh, that was just very juicy, very great, uh, very great, uh, s- sandwich.
00:35:01.646 --> 00:35:03.195
Uh, like I said, I made a top 20.
00:35:03.215 --> 00:35:06.635
I would say I loved, like, the top, you know, 15 or so.
00:35:06.646 --> 00:35:08.126
There, there was a lot of good bites.
00:35:08.385 --> 00:35:12.445
that from Biloxi sounds absolutely amazing.
00:35:12.445 --> 00:35:16.505
There's nothing on that that I don't, the barbecue nachos there.
00:35:16.505 --> 00:35:18.005
That was my go-to.
00:35:18.233 --> 00:35:22.023
They had a local barbecue place, was it Murky Waters?
00:35:22.052 --> 00:35:23.552
Why can't I, how can I remember that?
00:35:23.583 --> 00:35:35.780
I hadn't been there seven years, but I mean, they, but they had a freestanding stand there, not the regular concessions, but their own setup, and I love their barbecue nachos.
00:35:35.791 --> 00:35:41.447
Now, only I would go to a seafood-friendly place and order pulled pork pork.
00:35:42.246 --> 00:35:42.407
Oh.
00:35:42.951 --> 00:35:45.320
but yeah, they, they were al- always fantastic.
00:35:45.320 --> 00:35:54.891
But I had, I, I've heard, talked to other people, you know, talking about this seafood option, and they had fried cheese curds because of- Mm-hmm the Brewers affiliation.
00:35:55.067 --> 00:35:57.496
I used to love it when they'd play Roll Out the Barrel.
00:35:57.586 --> 00:36:02.170
I mean, that just lit up the crowd even though we're, a long way from Milwaukee.
00:36:02.201 --> 00:36:08.673
I always like the way they, uh, they openly just embrace the Brew Or, like, they just, they love that affiliation.
00:36:08.673 --> 00:36:21.586
You always got that sense, that they just really, like that affiliation and like I said, embraced it and would sell the merchandise and co-brand and, And, and I always thought that when they It was neat.
00:36:21.867 --> 00:36:24.907
I And, you know, unless you're a Cubs fan, who really hates the Brewers?
00:36:25.081 --> 00:36:25.391
Yeah.
00:36:25.391 --> 00:36:26.960
they're like the most likable team.
00:36:27.021 --> 00:36:29.041
It doesn't matter which version of them, right?
00:36:29.063 --> 00:36:30.284
they're always likable.
00:36:30.284 --> 00:36:36.657
And you had Euchre for all those I mean, you know, they just a likable Unless you're their mortal enemy in Chicago, right?
00:36:36.657 --> 00:36:40.106
You're not you know, nobody really Oh, I'd never wear a Brewers hat," right?
00:36:40.106 --> 00:36:41.496
You we loved Biloxi.
00:36:41.536 --> 00:36:43.106
Um, they, they were really nice to us.
00:36:43.137 --> 00:36:44.907
Uh, I threw out a, a first pitch there.
00:36:45.063 --> 00:36:47.773
I threw out six first pitches on this trip, which was- Wow crazy.
00:36:47.793 --> 00:36:50.983
It just kind of like got its own momentum, and people just kept contacting me.
00:36:50.994 --> 00:36:52.034
It was just amazing.
00:36:52.224 --> 00:36:56.603
well, I met, uh, JD Blake, the, the broadcaster, and went up to the booth there and watched him work.
00:36:56.947 --> 00:36:59.286
and so that was, that was a great time, and it was a lively crowd.
00:36:59.286 --> 00:37:01.646
Like it Some, a lot of Sunday games, that was a Sunday game.
00:37:02.047 --> 00:37:02.117
Mm-hmm.
00:37:02.117 --> 00:37:07.594
A lot of Sunday games, you know, people are kind of, it's the sun and everything and a little, little more passive, but that crowd was really into it.
00:37:07.594 --> 00:37:08.733
it was, it was a good crowd.
00:37:08.831 --> 00:37:10.721
they have Those games are a lot of fun.
00:37:10.800 --> 00:37:12.561
They are absolutely a lot of fun.
00:37:12.570 --> 00:37:14.431
They do a, they do a great job.
00:37:14.440 --> 00:37:17.260
JD's been on this podcast what, here twice now?
00:37:17.465 --> 00:37:18.106
Is that correct?
00:37:18.278 --> 00:37:18.748
Wow.
00:37:18.958 --> 00:37:19.889
Mm, two or three.
00:37:20.039 --> 00:37:20.588
I don't remember.
00:37:20.639 --> 00:37:22.358
Notable Earned Fun Average fan.
00:37:22.628 --> 00:37:25.018
Yeah, he was on the holiday ender one year.
00:37:25.289 --> 00:37:27.739
why am I drawing a blank what we call that episode?
00:37:28.128 --> 00:37:29.349
The Average Holiday Spectacular?
00:37:29.485 --> 00:37:31.025
And in his own episode.
00:37:31.065 --> 00:37:32.356
So at least twice.
00:37:32.813 --> 00:37:37.402
I don't know why I'm thinking a third time, but at least twice, JB,'cause Joe, really, really nice guy.
00:37:37.646 --> 00:37:45.965
That's a, it's a, one real big aspect of these trips is, is meeting a lot of people, um, who are aware of the trip and, and, and kind of rooting for us and excited to follow along.
00:37:45.976 --> 00:37:49.032
I met lots of like individual fans that I just didn't know before.
00:37:49.463 --> 00:37:55.222
Al- also a lot of, you know, folks that you guys know and work with, uh, sometimes, uh, Eric especially, of the DHC Sports Show.
00:37:55.222 --> 00:37:58.333
Uh, Patrick Larson came out to the Columbia Clingstones game.
00:37:58.572 --> 00:38:05.413
Donnie Weiss sat with us, uh, for the Augusta Green Jackets game and showed me around and introduced me to people, which was so nice.
00:38:05.679 --> 00:38:12.052
And, uh, Virgil Brooks, uh, we s- hung out for the like hour-long rain delay with him, chatting at the Rocket City Trash Pandas game.
00:38:12.052 --> 00:38:23.548
So, that's one thing I love about this too, is just getting, getting to meet people who have, share the same passion and, uh, and then who are kind of just rooting for us to, to get along the trip and watch, follow the map as we progress through the trip.
00:38:23.882 --> 00:38:29.211
So what he said, Johnny, is that Ed's not as friendly since he didn't get to meet up with Ed.
00:38:30.822 --> 00:38:30.952
No, I'm just kidding.
00:38:30.952 --> 00:38:33.771
Ed said I should've reached out to him, and these other guys reached out to me.
00:38:36.724 --> 00:38:39.414
Well, Matt, I'm kind of I bet you're kind of like me.
00:38:39.485 --> 00:38:45.469
I'm glad that it seems like each year the baseball schedules tend to drop a little bit earlier and earlier.
00:38:45.681 --> 00:38:51.661
it used to be closer to, w- wintertime, you know, kind of around the holidays, but I feel like earlier and earlier.
00:38:51.661 --> 00:39:03.898
They just dropped the 2027 MLB schedule during the All-Star break, and so I'm sure we'll have the minor league schedules coming out here soon, which I'm sure just like me, you probably are glad once it comes out.
00:39:03.898 --> 00:39:07.224
Gives you more time to, do some research and prepare for your trip.
00:39:07.224 --> 00:39:12.748
So, you probably are gonna wait to share it, but do you have a good idea where you're gonna go for 2027?
00:39:13.052 --> 00:39:23.311
The, the, uh, big regions we haven't been to are the Rocky Mountains, uh, Florida, Florida State League in, in Jacksonville and Pensacola and all that, the, uh, Northeast and the Southwest.
00:39:23.548 --> 00:39:26.358
I think the Northeast is probably the leading contender next year.
00:39:26.358 --> 00:39:28.989
I'd love to go to a Fenway Park game with my dad.
00:39:29.242 --> 00:39:31.311
uh, I'd love to see the Cape Cod League.
00:39:31.702 --> 00:39:34.871
I'd lo- and we would include all of the minor league teams in that region.
00:39:35.231 --> 00:39:40.041
Uh, if we could, I'd love to get up to, uh, Canada and see the, the Frontier League teams that are up there.
00:39:40.041 --> 00:39:41.751
There's three teams that are, they're up there.
00:39:41.952 --> 00:39:47.461
so that's, that's kind of It's ki- the, the region I'm looking at is kind of New England to Erie and then up.
00:39:47.661 --> 00:39:53.222
we got about halfway up on the Mid-Atlantic trip up New York to, like, Hudson Valley stuff, but we didn't get up to, like, Binghamton and places like that.
00:39:53.726 --> 00:40:02.045
If you happen to tune into the Earned Fun Average podcast in two days, you'll hear my brother and I just got back from our Profit Palooza trip.
00:40:02.045 --> 00:40:05.036
We were in Boston, and that's what the episode's about.
00:40:05.045 --> 00:40:07.456
So, uh, we got out to the Cape Cod League.
00:40:07.496 --> 00:40:09.405
Highly, highly, highly recommend it.
00:40:09.755 --> 00:40:11.206
There are 10 teams.
00:40:11.266 --> 00:40:13.815
We were there for two days, and it wasn't enough.
00:40:14.043 --> 00:40:15.003
Chatham Anglers.
00:40:15.023 --> 00:40:22.009
If you get a chance to go see the Chatham Anglers, of the five that we got to see, that was by far the best ballpark, so we definitely recommend that.
00:40:22.068 --> 00:40:22.228
Okay.
00:40:22.443 --> 00:40:34.688
and then we went to the New Hampshire Fisher Cats, and if you get a chance to go to the Puritan Backroom, that's where they invented the chicken tenders, and they have a coconut chicken tender that was absolutely amazing.
00:40:34.688 --> 00:40:45.432
So we had that for lunch, went to a ball game, and then loved it so much we drove about 40 minutes- Yeah one way back up a couple days later just to get more of the, uh, chicken tenders.
00:40:45.432 --> 00:40:50.012
So, uh- we talk about that a little bit on our trip, but yeah, if you get a chance to go up there.
00:40:50.012 --> 00:40:56.342
We did get to go to Fenway, and we got to see the Yankees Red Sox rivalry at Fenway, so that was a lot of fun.
00:40:56.353 --> 00:40:56.422
Mm-hmm.
00:40:56.422 --> 00:41:03.253
But yeah, if you do get a chance to get up there next year or in the next couple years, it's gonna be a fun trip,'cause my brother and I had a lot of fun.
00:41:03.253 --> 00:41:05.123
Portland to see the Sea Dogs.
00:41:05.373 --> 00:41:05.612
Yeah.
00:41:05.612 --> 00:41:06.842
That was a lot of fun as well.
00:41:06.842 --> 00:41:09.023
So yeah, I definitely recommend that area.
00:41:09.293 --> 00:41:09.842
I would love it.
00:41:09.842 --> 00:41:17.443
And then with the Cape Cod League, my, idea is that to, to try to see nine innings across, like, three games in one night.
00:41:17.452 --> 00:41:17.483
Mm-hmm.
00:41:17.492 --> 00:41:18.623
'Cause they stagger the starts.
00:41:18.643 --> 00:41:18.663
Yeah.
00:41:18.663 --> 00:41:21.713
They kind of start around 4:30 and the, and the last one starts around 7:00.
00:41:21.713 --> 00:41:23.282
They're all about a half an hour or so apart.
00:41:23.483 --> 00:41:23.693
Yep.
00:41:23.702 --> 00:41:24.523
40 minutes, whatever.
00:41:24.523 --> 00:41:26.693
So I think we can maybe do that.
00:41:26.722 --> 00:41:27.393
Um, we...
00:41:27.652 --> 00:41:31.282
There, there's no, like, bucket seats that my dad typically wants to have or anything like that.
00:41:31.282 --> 00:41:32.202
They're very informal.
00:41:32.483 --> 00:41:35.492
So I'm, I bet we could bop in for a few innings and then go on to the next one.
00:41:35.532 --> 00:41:37.023
I think that would be super cool night.
00:41:37.193 --> 00:41:39.452
That's exactly what my brother and I did, yeah.
00:41:39.452 --> 00:41:43.222
So the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox don't have lights at their ballpark.
00:41:43.222 --> 00:41:43.233
Mm-hmm.
00:41:43.233 --> 00:41:46.753
So yeah, they usually start, if they're at home, around 4:30 like you mentioned.
00:41:47.092 --> 00:41:49.532
But then most of the others do, so we did that.
00:41:49.532 --> 00:41:57.059
We went to Yarmouth-Dennis for a, a few innings, and then went over to the Harwich Mariners, and then, like, over to Chatham to see the Anglers.
00:41:57.623 --> 00:42:05.168
Chatham's kind of in the middle of a neighborhood, and what's really funny is right there down the third baseline, there's a house and a really tall fence.
00:42:05.168 --> 00:42:08.713
Well, the homeowners built their own stadium, seats.
00:42:08.722 --> 00:42:16.922
So these metal bleachers that they just put seats on, and they just sit there on their side of the property, but they're just watching right down there from the third base side.
00:42:16.932 --> 00:42:19.032
Now, it's free to get into all the games.
00:42:19.293 --> 00:42:22.393
They do ask for donations if you'd, so choose.
00:42:22.422 --> 00:42:27.856
But Chatham had great merch, a lot of Cape Cod merch, and then a lot of specific Anglers merch.
00:42:27.856 --> 00:42:29.606
But that's exactly what we did.
00:42:29.606 --> 00:42:37.826
We just went to each stadium for a handful of innings and then moved over to the other,'cause you're right, they're- 20, 30 minutes apart depending on which ones you go to.
00:42:37.826 --> 00:42:47.293
So, but Matt, one of the segments we do is the profit and the loss, and obviously you've had a lot of fun getting to go to all these ballparks here over the years with your dad.
00:42:47.469 --> 00:42:52.668
is there maybe one thing you can narrow down to a s- a particular profit that you can think of?
00:42:52.983 --> 00:42:56.193
Yeah, I think it would have to be, um, spending time with my dad.
00:42:56.248 --> 00:43:06.958
you know, when before we started doing these trips, he would come down and see us, uh, for, Father's Day, and we'd go golfing and we'd do a couple of restaurants and, uh, and that was great, but then I wouldn't see him a lot the rest of the year.
00:43:07.242 --> 00:43:17.583
th- all of these, uh, these trips are, are as I talked about before, just gave me opportunity to connect with Dad all year long about this and, and expose him to what I'm seeing about the places we're gonna go.
00:43:17.902 --> 00:43:20.163
And then just on the trip itself, it's intense.
00:43:20.443 --> 00:43:29.759
Like we're, we- we're together every minute of three weeks but we're spending so much time just talking and laughing and listening to podcasts and I think that absolutely has to be the profit.
00:43:30.043 --> 00:43:37.342
And then on the flip side, the loss, you know, obviously unfortunately you can't control it, but the rain, sometimes you get rain outs and you miss some ballparks.
00:43:37.682 --> 00:43:55.056
Uh, had a couple of those experiences on a few trips, and I got a chance I think like you did with Gus, I've gone back to some of those ballparks that I originally missed and got a chance to see some games or maybe once the trip ends and unfortunately you and your dad have to go back to your respective, homes or whatever.
00:43:55.056 --> 00:43:57.085
Any, uh, particular loss you can think of?
00:43:57.402 --> 00:44:06.286
Well, I, you know, this is gonna be a little less serious, but, uh, one of the things that, uh, has happened a lot on my trips, y- you may have seen my social media, I wear this hat and it's like a cowboy hat.
00:44:06.286 --> 00:44:07.396
It's like a, it's a Tilley hat.
00:44:07.396 --> 00:44:09.556
It's a very soft like outdoorsy hat.
00:44:09.826 --> 00:44:12.186
I have a habit of leaving it in team stores.
00:44:12.402 --> 00:44:20.003
because I'm trying on these hats, I'm so excited, we're filming each other, we're doing all this fun stuff, and then I just leave this hat that is a prized possession of mine.
00:44:20.003 --> 00:44:21.422
I've taken it around the world.
00:44:21.702 --> 00:44:23.722
It's all part of my, all my travel journeys.
00:44:24.023 --> 00:44:30.112
And so in 20, uh, 20, 4, I left it in Akron in, in Rubber Ducks team store.
00:44:30.132 --> 00:44:33.012
So excited about that sweet blue hat with a yellow duck on it.
00:44:33.012 --> 00:44:33.413
Yeah.
00:44:33.413 --> 00:44:39.693
And, uh, and just left it to hang in there, and didn't realize it until I got back to our hotel, which was like an hour away.
00:44:39.862 --> 00:44:46.032
And so I called the team store, they found it, they sent it home, but I was irritated the rest of the trip I didn't have my hat.
00:44:46.032 --> 00:44:58.186
So then fast-forward to the next year, the very first night, after I saw you in Kansas City, actually it was already sitting in the team store when I saw you because it, I got the Monarchs hat and I was like,"Oh, this is great.
00:44:58.186 --> 00:45:11.610
Wow." And I left it there again and I was so mad at myself'cause I had stressed myself out about this hat, and I raced back to the ballpark and fortunately there was like two people there, the gate was open, I shouted around and, and they went to the lost and found and it was there.
00:45:11.610 --> 00:45:16.012
And I went like,"Phew." And so, okay, I'm telling myself,"Okay, Matt, you've got it in your head.
00:45:16.012 --> 00:45:16.853
You know how to do this.
00:45:16.853 --> 00:45:25.373
You don't, you're not gonna leave that thing in the store anymore." So of course seven days later in Fargo-Moorhead, uh, we, uh, I left it in the team store.
00:45:25.413 --> 00:45:27.112
And there was a lot going on that day.
00:45:27.112 --> 00:45:30.992
We were being interviewed by like TV news crews and from the local news and stuff like that.
00:45:31.065 --> 00:45:32.626
But I'd left it in the store.
00:45:32.905 --> 00:45:34.126
I dr- we were driving away.
00:45:34.126 --> 00:45:34.755
I remembered.
00:45:34.936 --> 00:45:36.496
I raced back to the ballpark.
00:45:36.516 --> 00:45:43.135
I had to slow down when we arrived because it was first responders night and it There was lots of police cars and stuff like this.
00:45:43.306 --> 00:45:51.762
So I just eased into the ballpark and ran upstairs, and I asked them, they said they couldn't find it, and then, so I just went away, was dejected, and I decided to get a backup hat.
00:45:51.996 --> 00:46:00.599
on that trip so this would never happen again, and I went, I bought it at REI, and a- just as I was leaving, Fargo called and said they had found my hat and they were gonna send it home.
00:46:01.028 --> 00:46:04.469
And so this year I said to dad,"Look, I've got a hat and I've got a backup hat.
00:46:04.478 --> 00:46:07.869
Bring your Tilley hat for sure and we're all set.
00:46:07.898 --> 00:46:08.119
Don't...
00:46:08.119 --> 00:46:11.978
We're not gonna worry about hats anymore." uh, he didn't bring his hat this trip.
00:46:12.239 --> 00:46:16.809
He forgot, and then so I gave him my backup hat, and then like a week into the trip he left it in a hotel.
00:46:17.092 --> 00:46:19.123
and so stress, stress, stress again.
00:46:19.373 --> 00:46:27.432
Uh, I called the hotel about four times before I finally got somebody who would be willing to help and get me a UPS code and so I could, uh, get it sent back to my house.
00:46:27.733 --> 00:46:29.742
I got to use the backup hat for the rest of the trip.
00:46:29.976 --> 00:46:31.005
at least when we're on camera.
00:46:31.326 --> 00:46:33.916
so anyway, that's, that's my loss, as small as it is.
00:46:35.065 --> 00:46:36.876
No, that's-'Cause there's not a lot of loss on these trips.
00:46:36.876 --> 00:46:38.675
They're, they're all, they're all pretty positive.
00:46:38.905 --> 00:46:39.936
For sure, yeah.
00:46:40.168 --> 00:46:47.369
Well, I appreciate you sharing both the profit and the loss there, and really have enjoyed you, uh, hopping on with us for a little bit here this evening.
00:46:47.688 --> 00:46:57.048
If anybody wanted to go out there and follow along with your journey mapping the path, and as you get ready for your trip for 2027 and anything beyond, where can people follow you online?
00:46:57.338 --> 00:46:57.708
Sure.
00:46:57.719 --> 00:46:59.798
I have a website, mappingthepath.com.
00:46:59.809 --> 00:47:04.809
That's got all of my s- all of my stuff, all my writings and, and, uh, video series and, and other things.
00:47:05.188 --> 00:47:11.878
Uh, then I am on Twitter at Mapping the Path, as well as Instagram and BlueSky, all of them at just Mapping the Path.
00:47:12.195 --> 00:47:12.655
I love it.
00:47:12.655 --> 00:47:13.885
Well, really appreciate it.
00:47:14.096 --> 00:47:18.693
please give your dad our best, and, can't wait to see what the travels look like next year.
00:47:18.762 --> 00:47:24.913
if anybody has a chance, make sure if you're out there at a ballpark, hopefully you'll run into Matt, say hi, and, follow him online.
00:47:24.913 --> 00:47:36.318
He'll obviously post what hats he's looking at possibly getting for his trip, the following year when he goes, and shares a lot of, good food and everything, and, bunch of enjoyable videos and pictures and everything.
00:47:36.318 --> 00:47:38.369
And it's just been a absolute pleasure having you on.
00:47:38.719 --> 00:47:40.469
And then make sure you guys go follow us as well.
00:47:40.469 --> 00:47:44.949
We're Earn Fun Average, Average is AVG, Instagram, Twitter, BlueSky, and Threads.
00:47:45.219 --> 00:47:46.708
One more time, Matt, really appreciate it.
00:47:46.708 --> 00:47:47.579
Thank you so much.
00:47:47.809 --> 00:47:48.918
Thank you very much.
00:47:49.045 --> 00:47:51.076
America, lower your standards.
00:47:51.233 --> 00:47:53.083
Average is what these guys do best.