Baseball's Opening Weekend (Tardy)

When we started the blog, I had no idea my role would be the slacker blogger while Tilly would take the role of historical blogger of our lives. I've become our regular photographers on trips while Tilly reminds me to actually write something. Here's my tardy baseball opening weekend recap:

The final weekend of March, I was in Memphis, Tennessee for Major League Baseball's second annual Civil Rights Game at AutoZone Park. Last year, I was at the original game between the St. Louis Cardinals and Cleveland Indians. This years contest was between the New York Mets and Chicago White Sox. We originated a broadcast meaning we did our own play-by-play for the game. I was housed on the on-field producer from the dugouts during the game and on the field for post-game.

In case anyone's curious we spoke with numerous guests either pre-game, during the game, or post-game. They are as follows: Hank Aaron, Sharon Robinson, Martin Luther King, III, Ozzie Guillen, Frank Robinson, Jimmie Lee Solomon, Harold Baines, Orlando Cabrera, Kenny Williams, Omar Minaya, and Jerry Manuel. We also taped with Jerry Reinsdorf and actress Robin Givens.

On Friday, I attended the Civil Rights Game Panel including New York Mets General Manager Omar Minaya, Chicago White Sox General Manager Ken Williams, Ambassador Shabazz (Malcolm X's daughter), Sharon Robinson (Jackie Robinson's Daugther), Martin Luther King III, Hall of Famer Hank Aaron, and actress Ruby Dee. The panel was held the National Civil Rights Museum. This is my second year covering this event. The purpose is to bring light of the lowering number of African-Americans playing baseball. I would highly encourage anyone take time to visit the Civil Rights Museum. For many of us born following the Civil Rights movement its an overwhelming experience to see pictures from a time when individuals were not all treated equal.

The museum is attached to the hotel where Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated. I attended the event with two friends who grew up during this time. They were each touched immensely as they saw the sight of where MLK was killed. The museum has refurbished the room where MLK was staying as well as a room as it would have been before someone stayed. I took the following video of the areas:

The game was on Saturday evening, but with Opening Night on Sunday I hopped a plane and headed back to the nation's capital to cover the Washington Nationals open their new ball park (Nationals Park) against my beloved Atlanta Braves. The picture is of the pre-game ceremony taken from our broadcast booth (the highest point in the stadium and also quite possibly the worst seat in the park). This was right before President Bush came out to throw the first pitch. The record it was 60-40 boos from the crowd.

The new ballpark was quite a sight as the sell-out crowd watched a game they'll probably never forget. My Braves wore their new alternate jerseys which are navy. After the Braves tied the game at three in the top of the ninth inning, Ryan Zimmerman hit a walk-off home run to end the first game at Nationals Park. I was on the field as he hit the home run and standing behind home plate as the team mobbed him. Television always gets the first interview, so I stood in the dugout while ESPN interviewed him. If you were watching you would have noticed me unfortunately standing in their shot. I never want to be on camera, but on occasion it happens. Anyway as soon as ESPN finished, Zimmerman was on the air live with us at XM. We wrapped and I had the Nationals GM Jim Bowden on with our host and then it was time to find a cab and head home.

The season has begun. While it began badly for my Braves, I have all the faith in the world that this could be there year. Just like I do every year. That's the great joy of baseball. Its a 162 game season and one night can be quickly forgotten. Unless your a Nationals fan of course...

Legislative Conference 2008

Last month our Association conducted a legislative conference on Capitol Hill. Conferences are one of the exciting parts of my job at the American Association for Homecare. We had 350 providers and manufacturers come to lobby Congress. I received a fun picture today from a provider I work with in Pennsylvania. This is from our Capitol Hill reception at the Capitol Hill Club (yes, I know its a Republican hot spot and not my norm) during the Conference last month.

I met Senators Pat Roberts and Ken Salazar and saw Congressman Jason Altmire again. I also lobbied the offices of Massachusetts Senators John Kerry and Ted Kennedy and Representative Tsongas, as well as Vermont Senators Leahy and Sanders. I also had the opportunity to work with Ms. Wheelchair America, Kristen McCosh.

Our efforts produced a House letter with 120 signatories and a Senate letter with 17 signatories asking for further evaluation of the competitive bidding program for durable medical equipment. We're still fighting for a suspension of Round One and delay of Round Two of competitive bidding.

Congratulations to my Senior Producer

If you follow corporate mergers and media entities you may be aware of the pending merger between XM Satellite Radio and Sirius. In our home this merger means quite a bit- and we are following it closely. Last week the Department of Justice (DOJ) said the merger between the two satellite giants was legal. Stocks for both companies jumped and chatter about when the FCC would approve the next step of the merger was rampant.

In our household it also came with a surprise promotion. Brent was moved to the position of Senior Producer for Major League Baseball (MLB) on XM just minutes after the DOJ announcement. Since he started at XM, Brent has been asked to travel to every major event covered by the channel and has met and becomes friends with fascinating and sincere industry people including baseball players, coaches, writers, and celebrities. He's been in the dugout for the All Star games, attended the induction of all the best players into the Baseball Hall of Fame and even celebrated in the locker rooms with the world series champions each year. I'm so happy he has a job he enjoys so thoroughly. I'm really proud of you sweetheart, Congratulations on your new position!

Aspire Dinner

Last weekend, I attended the Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation's Aspire: A Tribute to Life's Coaches Gala 2008. This is the second year I've attended this dinner in Baltimore. The event is hosted by two former players that I've worked with at XM, Cal and Billy Ripken. I cannot say enough kind things about each of them as they are genuinely good guys.

The honorees for this year's event were Jord Poster, co-Founder of Priceline.com, Herman Boone, High School Football Coach and Inspiration behind the movie Remember the Titans, and Yogi Berra, Hall of Fame Catcher, New York Yankees.

Click here if you want more information about the dinner as well as who was in attendance. The most interesting moment came when Cal and Billy asked for volunteers from the audience to join them up on stage and participate in a baseball drill. They asked for one final person to volunteer to play the role of catcher. Our table was middle second row, so we loudly volunteered one of our producers who goes by the nickname, Godfather. Billy picked him out of the audience and joked with him on stage unmercilessly for about ten minutes. The memorable part for the Godfather was that as part of the drill he got to turn a double play with Cal and Billy Ripken. Check out the video below. Mike is the guy on the right and the first person he catches the ball from is Cal:

At the end of the event, Yogi Berra was presented with his award. Instead of having a regular presentation with comments from the podium, it was decided that Baltimore Orioles, ESPN and XM Satellite Radio's broadcaster Buck Martinez would do a sitdown half-hour chat with him him. Here is just a very short portion captured from my BlackJack phone:

Prior to the dinner, there was a silent auction for items such as New York All-Star Experience with Cal Ripken, tickets and travel to American Idol's season finale, and a week in your own private island. There was also memorabilia of all sorts and other packages. A colleague and I put in a bid for the NBA All-Star weekend package. At the end of the night, we found out we got it. We're splitting it, so Tilly and I will be headed to New Orleans next weekend with two tickets for for the NBA Rookie Game (Friday), NBA All-Star Saturday Night including the Skills Competition, Three-Point Shoot-Out, and Slam Dunk Competition (Saturday), and the All-Star Game (Sunday). We'll be staying for three nights at the W. This was a Valentine's surprise for Tilly and I. You may think this sounds like an odd gift for Valentine's, but there is a long history of watching the NBA All-Star Saturday Night together. We've watched it for pretty much every year since we we've been either dating or married. I always watched it when I was younger and brought Tilly into the fun once we began dating. This year we will watch it in person. We'll be sure to give a full report once we return.

Professional Baseball Scouts Dinner 2008

Each year since I joined XM, I've attended the ever-expanding Professional Baseball Scout Foundation's In The Spirit of the Game Dinner. The PBSF is provides support to professional baseball scouts who have fallen on hard times due to job loss, illness, retirement or other financial setbacks. Each year, Charley Steiner, Buck Martinez, and I have attended and taped interviews with some of the award winners, presenters, and other guests including Sandy Koufax, Commissioner Bud Selig, George Brett, among many others including off-air chats with Willie Mays and Barry Bonds.

This year we spoke with Hall of Famers George Brett, Tony Gwynn, Dave Winfield, and Tommy Lasorda as well as future Hall of Fame Atlanta Braves manager Bobby Cox. We also spoke with Jerry Reinsdorf, Chairman, Chicago White Sox, Jeff Moorad, General Partner & CEO, Arizona Diamondbacks, John McClaren, Manager, Seattle Mariners, Jim Bowden, General Manager, Washington Nationals, and award winner and legendary scout Eddie Bochman.

In previous years, the event was at the famed Beverly Hilton, which has previously been the site of the Golden Globes. As the dinner has continued to grow in size, this year it moved the Hyatt Century Plaza. It was hosted by Tim Allen and Mary Hart including many celebrities and baseball illuminaries. At Tilly's request, I've included Mary Hart's picture on the red carpet. If you are interested in other pictures from the event go to this link. Don't look for me as I stay out away from the flashes of cameras.

Winter Meetings in Nashville, TN

I spent the week in Nashville, Tennessee covering Major League Baseball's Winter Meetings. The meetings are held each December for all of the major and minor league organizations including their staff of executives and front office members. Its generally held at some of the largest hotels around the country such as Dallas (2005), Orlando (2006), Nashville (2007), and Las Vegas (2008). To the right is a picture from inside the hotel.

This year it was held at the Opryland Hotel and Resort in Nashville. I have attached some photos that XM's events staff took from the events.

Halloween on Capitol Hill

You would think holding a hearing on Halloween would be a bad omen, but not this time. We had a very successful hearing in front of the House Small Business Committee to discuss the evils of competitive bidding on October 31st. It's a system that's haunting the homecare industry and threatening access for Medicare patients to services such as oxygen and power wheelchairs, while the government claims it brings prices down. I know you're not really interested in my lobbying rant, but I did want to comment on how much fun a ghoulish day on the Hill could be. Our hearing was scheduled for 2:00 with a break in the middle for the Congressmen to go vote on a tax something or another. We had three members testify- the picture is of me and Alex (in the middle, she's our new GR Manager) working with Georgie. Georgie testified on behalf of our Association and she was fantastic.

Chairman Altmire (D-Pa.), Mr. Gohmert (R-Texas), and Mr. Gonzalez (D-Texas) presided over the hearing and were absolutely a riot. I was told not all hearings will go this well for our industry, but this one was like taking back candy from a junior high kid who shows up at your door twice (like there aren't 200 other apartments in the building to visit- he had to come twice? Really?).

Home for a Few

As Tilly mentioned, I have been out of town for the last week or so. I was covering the National League Championship Series in Phoenix, Arizona and Denver, Colorado. Luckily it was a sweep, so I was able to come home late last night after only about a week on the road. I'll be home until next Tuesday when I'll leave to cover the World Series for the next week and a half or so.

One of the favorite perks about my job is being able to look Tilly squarely in the eye and say, "I really have to watch this game for work." We actually have a rule in the house. If we are about to eat dinner or sit down in the living room, we can only watch a game if its the Atlanta Braves. All other games are prohibited. I think its a good rule. Of course, the Braves were on TBS Superstation all these years nationally, which helped a lot. Next year, they will not be on as much nationally as the channel goes to a Sunday afternoon national game each week. I may have to propose an amendment to the rule. Trust me next year without national coverage, if the Braves are on nationally I'll be watching.

If you are interested in my show blog, go to Baseball Beat: The Blog where there are daily updates before and after Baseball Beat daily. Basically, if you are ever curious about what I was doing this will give you a complete rundown of the day.