My favorite piece of work regarding travel, is the ESPN 30 for 30 documentary called Jordan Rides The Bus. This chronicles Michael Jordan's baseball career in the minors or 'Bus Leagues'. So let's start from the beginning, when a ball player wakes up in the morning about to embark on a road trip after a game the night before. Most likely your body is sore, you have a hard time rolling out of bed, and the coffee is just never strong enough to keep those eyes open. Now most times you will get the guys who are morning people who just can roll out of bed, put a smile on and be very alert during the whole trip (these guys are a rare breed). Then there is the guy who thinks mornings are something to be outlawed in baseball, just like betting on the game. Those guys get up, usually with eyes closed head to the washroom, shower, grab a small bite to eat then rush to pack their bags for the trip.
As the players swarm the park and await to board another rough looking bus, maybe a better model DRL if you play minor league ball. Rookies piling gear under the bus while coach stresses to have his fungo's packed, there was one time as a rookie where my responsibility was bats and I forgot to pack the fungo's and coach had to use a Tin Bat to hit IN and OUT. Lets just say I never took the responsibility of the bats again. As the gear is piled onto the bus, the mix of Vets and Rooks climb up the 3 steps and onto the bus. The Rookie's eyes gaze intently on seats they see would be the most comfy or the ones with the best view of the TV's. As much hope as there is in those eyes, a Vet will usually always play the Vet card and make a rookie move seats. On our team it is a custom for the rookies to share seats on road trips, so us Vets can stretch out and enjoy some relaxation before game time.
Once the team is on and the dvd of the day is put on, usually something with Will Ferrell or baseball related (one time on a 2 hour bus ride our coach decided he wanted to show us his boxing match he had when he was a border patrol officer, the thing never did work and the whole time he was stood up trying to fix it. That was the most boring and annoying bus trip to say the least). Now the guys who aren't morning people, will usually bunk up in their seats with their pillow and catch some extra Z's so they feel fresh for the game, there are also the guys who talk about their everyday lives, such as which girl they think is the hottest in class or talk about the mystery hot girl that everyone sees but no one knows. Then of course you have got the hardcore baseball guys, I fit into this category. This breed of baseball bus riders will more often then not start the trip by discussing the MLB highlights from the night before, while critically analyzing why teams won or lost, then as the talk winds down the dip tins come out of the bags or pockets and we proceed to just the right amount of dip in to keep us mellow for the rest of the trip. As the dip is pinched someone immediately sparks up the name game, this game is hard to explain so you can just look it up on google if you want. This will usually take us right to our destination.
Bus rides are like getting on a bad carnival ride, usually they are driven by sweaty old guys. And sometimes they break down and are out of commission for a while. But we are ball players we have our ways of keeping occupied.
No comments:
Post a Comment