Kevin Zeni, Media Relations Assistant

When it comes to anything in life you typically earn more respect and job security as you get older and continue to prove your worth. One would think that the sports world would act similarly, but recently that seems to not be the case.

Just over the past couple of days the two franchise, cornerstone, record-holding running backs of my two favorite teams (the Eagles and the Chargers) have been released and must now find a new job with a new team. LaDainian Tomlinson is ranked in the top-10 all-time in every rushing category yet is without a job. Brian Westbrook holds the majority of the Eagles’ rushing records and gets the boot as well. The same has been happening in MLB where such perennial All-Stars like Jermaine Dye, Hank Blalock, Garret Anderson, and John Smoltz are still looking for employment.

The teams claim they are doing it for the sake of cutting payroll and giving their young players a chance, which under the current economic climate would make sense. What doesn’t make sense is how these aging, yet proven and still productive commodities remain unsigned while lesser players are being snatched up at prices similar to what these veterans would be willing to sign for.

I’m all for giving the young guys a chance, myself being one of those young guys getting a chance to jump start my career, but it would be more reassuring knowing that at the tail end of that career that I don’t have to worry about getting the rug pulled out from under me. If Vin Scully and Jerry Rice can stand the test of time after all these years why not these other guys?

Kevin enters his first season as media relations assistant with the
Crawdads and second year in minor league baseball, after spending the
2009 campaign with the Inland Empire 66ers of the California League
(High-A).  The Los Angeles, California, native is a 2009 graduate of the University of La Verne.

Josh Blackwell, Interim Tickets Manager

 

Over the last 3 years, I have been on numerous roadtrips.  I’ve been as far south as Key West and as far north as Montreal.  My favorite roadtrip to date would definitely be visiting 7 different ballparks in 6 days. Camden Yards, Citizens Bank, Yankee Stadium, Fenway, Jacobs (now Progressive), Wrigley, and Great American; best 6 days ever!  Over the years, my fellow roadtrippers and I have noticed that there are some things that will completely kill the road trip experience.  So I’ve composed a list of the 10 rules of roadtripping.

1.  Follow a very loose schedule.  It’s good to have a schedule but you don’t want it so rigid that you can’t fit in other things as needed.  If you pass something on the road that looks like fun, go for it.  The best advice I can give is to have an idea where you will call it a night at.

2.  No headphones.  A roadtrip is supposed to be a time of bonding with each other.  Once people start putting on the headphones, the entire vehicle can become silent and miserable in a hurry.

3.  Bills.  Along the way, you will have to buy gas, food, hotel rooms, and possibly even a speeding ticket.  I find it best to discuss how the bills will be paid before the trip starts.  You don’t want to be left in that situation at the pump.

4.  Hitchhikers.  This is another thing that should be discussed before you leave.  Having a new person in the vehicle can be fun at times, but you don’t want to leave it up to the driver when on the road.

5.  Duties of the front seat passenger.  The role of the front seat passenger is to keep the driver focused, alert, and involved within the conversation of the backseaters.  And above all, the front seat passenger must stay awake AT ALL TIMES.  It’s YOUR duty to keep the driver awake.  If he falls asleep, well then we’re all in trouble.

6.  Sleeping.  The only time it is acceptable to sleep is in the backseat and ONLY at night.  If you sleep in the day, you are causing everyone else to either be silent or limit their fun to a minimal.

7.  The Music should be Constantly Changing.  Whether it is the radio, a CD, or the IPod, mix the mix up.  Don’t listen to an entire CD.  Sure one or two of the songs may be kickass, but nobody cares for the obscure music on the road trips.  Keep it with something that everybody knows and can sing along with. 

8.  No discussions of religion or politics.  The purpose of the road trip is supposed to be light-hearted and fun.  If you start talking about religion or politics, there’s a chance that someone will get offended and mood will get tense.  Nobody likes that awkward silence and tension in the air, especially when you gotta spend the next couple of hours with them.

9.  No food chains.  You are on a road trip.  You didn’t drive 500 miles to eat at a Taco Bell.  Experience the cultures of the land.  Eat at the mom and pop restaurants and diners you cross along the way.  If a place claims to have the best pies in state, grab a slice.  You will remember that experience more than any fast food chain any day.

10.  Don’t be afraid to venture off the Interstate.  You took the road trip to experience the world, see the country.  Most of the world can’t be found along the side of the interstate. If there is a route or highway that goes the same way you are going, take it.  It will force you to go through small towns, the country side, and small local villages (depending on location).  The scenery will be far better than that along the side of the interstate.

I hope this list provides useful on your next roadtrip.  If you have some rules you think would be a great addition to the list, feel free.  Most of all, HAVE FUN.

 

Josh enters his first season as interim tickets manager with the Crawdads and second year in professional baseball, after spending the 2009 campaign with the Greeneville Drive of the South Atlantic League (Low-A) and the Tampa Bay Rays.  The Gaffney, South Carolina, native is a 2009 graduate of the University of South Carolina.

var OutbrainPermaLink=’http://crawdads.mlblogs.com/archives/2010/02/a-new-beginning-media-relations-mutterings.html’;
var OB_Template = “mlbblogs”;
var OB_demoMode = false;
var OBITm = “1241712535489”;
var OB_langJS =’http://widgets.outbrain.com/lang_en.js’;
if ( typeof(OB_Script)!=’undefined’ )
OutbrainStart();
else {
var OB_Script = true;
var str = ”;
document.write(str);
}

Kevin Zeni

Here I sit at a desk in the Hickory Crawdads Front Office about 2,500 miles from my home in Los Angeles. Outside it is cold and icy from the storm that came through just as I arrived (just my luck). Some might believe that its crazy for a 22-year-old “kid” to pick up and leave home to fly across the country to a place where he doesn’t know anyone to work for a minor league baseball team for little pay.

Adding to that craziness would be the fact that I came out without my car, which had been rear-ended and totaled just a couple of weeks before coming out to Hickory. Not to mention that my loving and generous fiancé, Amanda, is still back in California anxiously waiting for the 2010 season to go by so I can come home to her.

However, I see it as an opportunity of a lifetime. In just over a week of working for the Crawdads I have already learned soo much! I can tell you this much, working here is quite a bit different than what I was used to interning with the Inland Empire 66ers last season. The car situation is working out quite well since all three of the other employees living at our apartment complex have cars and at least one of us is going somewhere I would need to go.

While I do miss my family a lot, especially Amanda, I have no regrets making my decision to move out to North Carolina. I know that in the long run that this is what’s best for me. I’m excited for this season to start, but just not too soon, I do have a program to put together before then!

Kevin enters his first season as media relations assistant with the
Crawdads and second year in minor league baseball, after spending the
2009 campaign with the Inland Empire 66ers of the California League
(High-A).  The Los Angeles, California, native is a 2009 graduate of the University of La Verne.

Kim Scercy, Co-Director of Group Sales

The start of the baseball season
seems to always be right around the corner. Before you know it, you will be
coming to the ballpark for Opening Night!

With baseball season right around
the corner it’s time for us to finalize everything for the 2010 season. It’s
hard to believe that we have less than 80 days till Opening Night.  It’s
exciting and stressful all at the same time.

It’s stressful because we only
have 225 days to plan for the next season and approximately 5,400 hours (if we
didn’t sleep). Luckily we get most of our weekends off, Thanksgiving, Christmas
and a New Years break. So in reality we only have about 166 days to get ready
for the 2010 season.

The worst part is you know that
you will have to work 14 hour days for 8 days straight and approximately 980
hours of game day work. But after all is said and done we all look forward to
Opening Night, the start of a new baseball season.

Kim is entering her
third season with the Crawdads and first as Co-Director of Group
Sales.  She spent the previous two as a Sales Assistant while
completing her education at Gardner-Webb University.

~Kathryn Bobel, Co-Director of Group Sales

When we were told to start blogging, our Director of Media Relations, Andy B., told us that we could write about anything we wanted. He, fortunately, keeps us on track by throwing in a few Crawdads Clippings directly related to baseball every now and then, giving the rest of us the opportunity to ramble on about whatever flows from our brains to our fingertips.  So far, you’ve read about Stu-burgers, Boston natives, and West Coast vacations. This blog, however, is so far out of left field that even Shoeless Joe Jackson couldn’t track it down. 

I am going to present to you the five best reasons why you should be watching the best show on television right now, Glee. That’s right. I said it. The girl who for years eschewed any band, drama, theatre, orchestra, or choir dweeb member is now hooked on a show chronicling the lives of eight or so of them joined by the most infamous high school club of them all:  glee club.  By the end of this blog you will want to type www.amazon.com as fast as you can into your URL box, search “Glee,” click “1-step-checkout,” wait anxiously by your front door, and then stay up all night watching each and every episode back-to-back-to-back. (Not that I did that or anything.) In the interest of full disclosure, I was only turned on to the show by my show-choir crazy sister and parents. Before my epiphany known as Glee, never in a million years would I have voluntarily turned on a show about two-stepping singing freako’s high-schoolers on my own.  So, without further adulation, I give you the five best reasons you should be watching the best show on television–GLEE!

1. Dynamite songs.  By far the most amazing element of the year-old, hour-long teenage soap is the incredibly catchy, toe-tapping array of songs ranging from the classic “Don’t Stop Believin'” to the new-age smash hit “Single Ladies,” all of which have been arranged in new, fun, hip ways.  Granted, the actors and actresses aren’t your average, pimply faced 16-year-olds but 24-year-old Broadway talents, and they aren’t actually singing while the cameras are recording (their singing voices are laid over the video), but it’s still them.  And holy schnikes are they good! On a four hour car ride about a month ago, I listened to the 20-song soundtrack approximately 14 times. (I’ll deny it if anyone asks.)

2. Cute boys.  Honestly, half the reason I watch most of what I do on television (NCIS, Bones, any professional hockey game) is because the boys are just so gosh darn HOT.  Glee is no exception.  I think it is perhaps every girl’s wish to have a dreamy dude that can serenade her, and with this cast, you certainly have your pick.  An added bonus–most of these crooners can throw a perfect spiral too.  A guy that can sing and read a defense? Sign me up!

   
3. Slurpee facials.  We all know about the normal high school torture methods–swirlies, wedgies, swirling wedgies.  But, imagine frantically walking down the halls of your high school, books in hand, scared the bell will ring and doors will slam shut before you reach your destination and all of a sudden BAM!  You’re drenched from the top down in frozen grape soda.  You’ve just been given a slurpee facial.  Reserved for only the lowliest of the low, getting a slurpee facial in the show solidifies your standing in the subbasement on the high school hierarchy.  Although cruel, definitely unusual, and perhaps ill-conceived, it’s hard to deny the hilarity of sticky grape pop being hurled through a crowded high school hallway–as long as, you know, you’re not the one it’s being hurled at.

 
4. Drama.  Baby-daddies.  Extra-marital affairs.  Conniving, corrupt teachers. This show is so juicy it makes Jose Conseco look like a Sun-Maid raisin. The audacity of television in today’s world is the result of how eagerly and hungrily many of us gobble up the mind-numbing, though thoroughly entertaining, material billionaire TV producers create and networks air every year.  I know it may sound like I’m bashing pretty much every prime-time show on the air right now, but believe me when I say I’m the first in line with my knife and fork ready to chow down. (This blog also proves that I’m attempting to convince you that you should be sitting next to me at the table.)

5. It’s real.  Underneath some of the outrageous plot lines (and by some I mean all), the coordinating costumes, and the fancy-schmancy dance numbers, the nitty-gritty of the show concerns the trials and tribulations that anyone ages 13 to 17, and beyond for that matter, can go through.  Glee illustrates that while it may take a little while to find them, there are people out there who care deeply for us despite whatever flaws we see in ourselves. And that, my fellow TV-loving friends, is something to be truly gleeful for.

Kathryn Bobel is entering her second season with the Crawdads and first as Co-Director of Group Sales.  She served as Sales Assistant with the ‘Dads throughout the 2009 campaign, after stints with the Indianapolis Indians (AAA) and US Track and Field.

The final question in my final interview with the Hickory Crawdads was, “What are you going to be this Halloween?” For better or worse, honesty is policy. Still, I hesitated before nervously delivering a stuttered response. “As of now, I – uh … I plan on – uh… dressing as a – uh….. Hooters waitress.” Great, guess I can cross the Crawdads off my list. I should have said Big Bird instead.

One week later, Crawdads Director of Promotions Brett Koch gave me call.

“We’d like to offer you the position as group sales assistant,” he said. “I know you’ll probably want a couple of days to think abo….”

“Yes!” I cut him off. “I’ll take it! I’m there! Thank you!” Two days into the new decade, I left my home in Waltham, Mass. (Andrew Buchbinder, Crawdads Director of Media Relations, chastises me whenever I say from I’m from Boston. Waltham is all of 12 miles west of Beantown).

I pulled into Hickory on January 4, a day later than I was scheduled to arrive due to car trouble (that story in itself may be another blog). I am now in my third week with the Crawdads, yet this friendly, welcoming, dedicated (and sometimes delirious) staff has made it feel like home.

With that, in the words of Austin Powers, “allow myself to introduce… myself.” I was born and raised in Waltham, Massachusetts, a diverse city with a population that exceeds 60,000. I played high school soccer (goalie) and basketball (bench). Oddly enough, I’ve never played baseball. But there’s something undeniable about baseball’s culture, history, and statistics that drove my ambition toward working for a Major League team.

I graduated from Springfield College in May 2009 where I double-majored in sports journalism and English. During my four-year tenure at the small, private institution, I completed internships with a newspaper, magazine and TV station. I served as the student newspaper’s Editor-in-Chief, and my intramural basketball team reached the final-four in consecutive years. I’d delve into other extracurricular activities during the college years, but that probably wouldn’t lead to a good first impression.

Anxious for a way into the baseball industry, I accepted an unpaid media relations internship with the New Hampshire Fisher Cats after graduating SC. I didn’t have a dime to spare, I would be lucky to get six hours of sleep in one night, I was living with my aunt/ friends/ any roof that had a couch under it, and I loved every minute of that summer. All the while I knew that eventually the experience would lead to something positive – and it did.

Thus I find myself in Hickory, North Carolina, where office breakfasts consist of fried chicken wrapped in biscuits. Hickory, North Carolina, where 10th St Dr NW is indeed a road. Hickory, North Carolina, where red traffic lights turn a four-mile drive into a 15-minute excursion. Hickory, North Carolina, home of the Crawdads, and home to yours truly.

Gregor enters his first season as group sales assistant with the Crawdads and second year in minor league baseball, after spending the 2009 campaign with the New Hampshire Fisher Cats of the Eastern League (AA).  The Waltham, Massachussetts, native is a 2009 graduate of Springfield (Mass.) College.

~Andrew Buchbinder, Director of Broadcasting & Media Relations

Let the countdown to the Home Opener (April 16 vs KAN with Fireworks Show, hint hint) officially begin, as we held our 2010 Hot Stove Banquet last night.  First and foremost, THANK YOU to everyone who came and helped make it such a fun evening, as well as, of course, Rock Barn Golf and Spa, who hosted the event again and cooked up all the delicious grub!

In addition to a social hour, silent auction and raffle, the evening included a complete cast of speakers, ranging from local area high school and college baseball coaches to Texas Rangers General Manager Jon Daniels.  All of the coaches provided program updates and 2010 previews, while Mr. Daniels spoke about his rise to the Rangers reins, steps the organization has taken to upgrade the farm system (which was ranked #1 in the big leagues in 2009) and the blossoming relationship between the ‘Dads and the Rangers.

Afterwards, Mr. Daniels opened it up to a question-and-answer session, fielding queries ranging from Rangers payroll and free agency explanations to a geography lesson on the island of Hispaniola, which includes the Dominican Republic and Haiti.

All in all, the evening was a blast and we certainly enjoyed seeing so many of the friendly faces that we’re accustomed to seeing at the ballpark during the season.

On that note, the Home Opener is coming up verrrry quickly on Friday, April 16.  As mentioned above, we’ll be hosting Kannapolis (always a fun match-up) and it will be our first Friday Night Fireworks Show of the season. 

Actually, the season itself starts eight days before our Opener, since we kick things off on the road in Hagerstown on April 8.  Not to worry though — all of our games will again be broadcast live on The Big Dawg 92.1 FM and Hickorycrawdads.com, so you can follow the team before you get to see them at L.P. Frans on April 16!

Again, a big thank you to everyone involved with the Hot Stove last night!  ‘Til next time, Go ‘Dads!

Andrew Buchbinder is entering his second season as director of broadcasting/media relations with the Crawdads.  He previously served in similar capacities with the Bakersfield Condors (ECHL) and the Bakersfield Blaze, the ‘Dads High-A affiliate in the California League.

~Kathryn Bobel, Co-Director of Group Sales

My past few blog inspirations had come to me rather quickly and easily, and my every-other-Thursday deadline was never an issue.  This week, however, I had more trouble coming up with a blog idea than Chuck Knoblauch had coming up with an error-free night in the field.  But, last night while I was at the gym, the latest SI came to the rescue.  As many media outlets do, SI had compiled a decade list of the best and worst of everything in sports, specifically re-printing chuckle-inducing “Signs of the Apocalypse” and “They Said Its” from the past ten years.  (A personal favorite: Ducks winger Teemu Selanne on the hockey culture–or lack thereof–in Anaheim–“It’s not like back home in Finland or even Canada, where girls wanted my leftover chicken bones from a meal I ate.”)  So, as I loped along on the treadmill reading about all the mind-boggling and sometimes bone-headed statements that have come out of athletes’ mouths, I started to reflect upon what I have gone through in the past ten years and what the next ten years will be made of.

A decade ago, I was 13 and an 8th grader at Guion Creek Middle School in Indianapolis where I played volleyball, basketball, and softball. (In the interest of full disclosure, I didn’t really play basketball. I attempted it.  I wasn’t allowed to dribble or pass–just shoot, which as long as no one was guarding me, I was pretty decent at.)  I went to my classes, went to my athletic competitions, went home to do homework, went to sleep, got up the next morning and did it all again.  My biggest worries then were making sure my pony tail looked perfect every day and avoiding my kooky science teacher who called me Bobeli (a play on Boboli, the pizza crust). Rent and car insurance and cell phone bills weren’t even a dot on the horizon yet.

My high school years seem like they happened two decades ago, with just fond memories of bus rides to away softball games, prom, and my first car, a 1989 Mercury Cougar, floating around in my head.  Most of my free time was spent on the softball field, and if I wasn’t there, I was pondering how to possibly get my batting average above .300.  Worries then were, again, typical–which of my 19 hoodies do I wear today, where did I put my English paper, and how can I get out of my calculus quiz this time?  When graduation came, leaving Pike High School wasn’t so difficult, simply because I knew I was going on to bigger and better things.  The next few years were everything I had hoped for. 

College came and went with fury, and it’s still hard to fathom that I graduated over a year ago.  While at un-falcon-believable Bowling Green, my biggest concern was making sure I could pack as much sport and entertainment experience as I could onto my resume in three and a half years.  I volunteered for every minute sporting event occurring on campus, hoping that it would eventually help land me my dream job in baseball.  I also, of course, found time to lounge around and do normal college kid things like see how many people you can fit into a dorm room closet.

That pretty much brings you up to present-day, 2010 Kathryn who currently resides in North Carolina doing her dream job and blogging every other week.  Ten years ago I didn’t know what the decade would throw at me, but was fairly confident I could handle it (as long as it didn’t throw any junk.  I am turrble–as Charles Barkley would say–at hitting anything that curves, slurves, dives, or drops).  In 2020 (!!), I will be 33 (!!) and hopefully still working in baseball; I really can’t imagine being employed in any other field.  Only time will tell, but hopefully by then I’ll have learned to keep my hands back and hit the off-speed stuff.  Anyone seen Brian Dayett?

Kathryn Bobel is entering her second season with the Crawdads and first as Co-Director of Group Sales.  She served as Sales Assistant with the ‘Dads throughout the 2009 campaign, after stints with the Indianapolis Indians (AAA) and US Track and Field.

~Andrew Buchbinder, Director of Broadcasting & Media Relations

So, is it absolutely mind-boggling to anyone else out there that we are officially in 2010?  It hit me the other day when I was signing some piece of paperwork (I tend not to read before I sign) and it asked for the date. 

I resisted the ingrained urge to scribble ’09, and instead consciously and correctly scripted a ’10’ at the end of the date.  To say it was strange would be an understatement.  10?  Weird.  For some reason it makes me feel like this is year 10.  Not 2010.  I was fine with ’09.  It never felt as if we’d travelled back 2000 years.  But, for some reason, ’10 just feels awkward.

Not to even mention how quickly the last decade went.  It was the first decade that I can remember fully.  Being born in 1985 (which just keeps getting further and further away!), there were some formative years of the early ’90’s that I can’t clearly and wholly recall.

Not the case with the past decade.  I remember where I was when we flipped to the new millennium on New Year’s 2000.  I remember the angst of high school.  The stress of figuring out how in the world I was going to get through the SATs.  The competition in applying to colleges.  The blur of a great four-year block that was college.  My first summer internship in baseball in Connecticut.  My just under two incredible and crucially developmental years working in sports in California.  And my first season in Hickory in ’09.  There, a decade of my life in one paragraph.

Of course, there are plenty of supplemental undercurrents in addition to the above major plot lines, and, as I sit here in my (very chilly) office, I experience a rare sense of satisfaction when waxing nostalgic about the past decade.  It’s almost hard to believe that so much occurred so quickly.  It’s scary in a lot of ways!

On that note, especially with Opening Day 2010 bearing down on us, there is absolutely no time to waste, and no better way to commence the writing of the first chapter of this new-born decade than with a concise yet pleasant greeting.  Hello 2010.

Have a great start to the New Year everyone!  See you at the 2010 Hot Stove Banquet on Wednesday, Jan. 20 at Rock Barn Golf and Spa.  Texas Rangers GM Jon Daniels is our keynote speaker!  Give us a call at (828) 322-3000 or check out our Online Team Store to order your tickets!

Andrew Buchbinder is entering his second season as director of broadcasting/media relations with the Crawdads.  He previously served in similar capacities with the Bakersfield Condors (ECHL) and the Bakersfield Blaze, the ‘Dads High-A affiliate in the California League.

Andrew Buchbinder, Director of Broadcasting & Media Relations

First of all, I would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who came on down to L.P. Frans Stadium last Saturday for the Crawdads Christmas Party, expecially to those that donated canned food items.  In total, almost 200 pounds of canned food was collected, which will be distributed by Unity Lutheran Church.  200 pounds!  That’s awesome – and we’d like to say thanks for helping us make sure a couple less people go hungry this holiday season.

Alright, now what to talk about?  We could talk about Tiger.  Nah, what else is there to say?  In my book, just another athlete that turned out not to be the shiny picture of perfection we hoped he would be. 

How about how the Red Sox decided to not go after Jason Bay or Matt Holliday and instead sign a 36 year-old Mike Cameron?  While I would greatly enjoy diving deeper into the undeniable nonsensicle nature of that decision, there are ‘Sawks’ fans in this office and I try to be nice.

So, what else? How about space?  Space has always fascinated me.  Not necessarily enough to motivate me to educate myself greatly on the vast subject, but enough for a headline like “Alien ‘water world’ found” on MSN.com to catch my eye.  I read the article.  Some things were eyebrow-raising, most went entirely over my head.

More than having even a partial resemblance of an understanding of the topic, I enjoy reading these articles and/or watching shows on space because it puts things in perspective for me.  It makes me think about all the ‘just a speck of dust’ cliches.  It is really quite humbling if you really, deeply, at least try to think about it. 

There are planets soaring through areas (I’m sure there’s a more scientific term… er… continuums?) that are six-and-a-half times the size of Earth?!  Close enough to us for the people who get all this stuff to study those planets from Earth?!  And they have water?!

Due, most likely, to an over-abundance of caffeine intake, this is typically where I get sidetracked and start thinking about Marvin the Martian.  I then, naturally, transition to Bugs Bunny.  Before you know it, I’m belting out the “Fricka fracka firecracka shish boom bah, Bugs Bunny Bugs Bunny RARARA!!” cheer.  And then, as I’m doing now, I try to figure out exactly where my mind has gone.

Anyway, we could talk about space, but clearly that starts me down a completely random path.  Let’s just stick to the holidays.  I hope everyone out there, in Hickory and beyond, has a safe and happy holiday.  Enjoy your family, enjoy some great food, give meaningful gifts, and, of course, think about space… Marvin the Martian… and Bugs Bunny… don’t forget his cheer.  Merry Christmas!

Andrew Buchbinder is entering his second season as director of broadcasting/media relations with the Crawdads.  He previously served in similar capacities with the Bakersfield Condors (ECHL) and the Bakersfield Blaze, the ‘Dads High-A affiliate in the California League.