Quick post to say that we are home safe, arriving in Cheektowaga around 6:45PM.

We started the day in Wytheville, VA, and save for a wrong turn, a traffic tie up in West VA, and a half hour wait for a stinkin’ chicken sandwich at a KFC stop, we actually made OK time.

Over the course of the past ten days, we have driven a total of 3700 miles, a USRT record.

Time to do laundry, put away the clothes, go through the stack of unopened mail, get a good night’s sleep and get back to our regular lives.

Gary and The King are in Washington DC attending the opener of Nationals Park tonight, and Gary just checked in on his cell from their seats high above home plate. Once again they beat us to a new venue! Great job guys look forward to hearing about the Nats new digs.

On tap for this week… the Bisons come home for practice before hitting the road for their season opener, gotta write the Puck Stop epitaph piece, and *whew* NO sporting events for the next few days!

To everyone who followed along on this space during our entire journey… we hope you enjoyed reading and keeping up with our adventures as much as we enjoyed sharing our excursion with you. As always, feel free to drop us a line!

One more time. One more game. And this USRT adventure would finally come to an end.

And what a game it was - #3 Louisville playing #1 North Carolina, with the winner advancing to the Final Four in San Antonio.

Following our side trip to the campus at Davidson, we headed over to Tavern on the Tracks, a neat little bar on the south side of town with a real Buffalo feel. We enjoyed a beef on weck and a bologna with onions sandwich, not quite on par with the real stuff in Buffalo but pretty darned close. And since this tavern was really on the tracks, those tracks being the light rail line to the arena, we left our car there and hopped aboard, on a train loaded with red clad Cardinals fans in full rally mode.

That would not be the case, however, once we stepped into Charlotte Bobcats Arena, as the packed house, and we mean packed, over 19.092 fans was largely Tar Heels country, and the building was rocking in anticipation of UNC’s first return to the Final Four since their championship run three years ago. Unlike Thursday’s game which had the feel of an upbeat yet somewhat sane audience, tonight’s game would have the effect of a full throated postseason home court crowd.

And for Tar Heel nation why shouldn’t it? Anyone who bleeds Carolina Blue certainly remembers the massive choke job that their Heels pulled in last season’s regional final as they blew a late ten point lead and lost in overtime to Georgetown. There would be no holding back for fan enthusiasm on this night.

And at first it seemed the Heels would do just that as they broke open a tight game late in the first half and got the lead as high as twelve points and were threatening to break this game open like they had every other in their tourney run.

But this was a Louisville team playing its best ball at the right time of the season that would respond to the challenge in front of them. They slowly crawled back into it, and assisted by a ton of whistles against Carolina wound up tying the score at 59 about halfway through the second.

Finally a competitive game, something we hadn’t witnessed since leaving the St. Pete Times Forum the previous Sunday and better yet for a spot in San Antonio. Carolina held a slim lead for the next few minutes until Carolina began to break the game open on three big shots.

1. Ty Lawson’s 3 with about five minutes to giving the Heels a seven point lead and some real separation from the Cards.

2. Tyler Hansborough knocking down two critical shots from beyond the paint, the second coming with about a minute and a half to go and the shot clock about to run out. The bucket gave the Heels a nine point lead that effectively lit the cigar for them. It was at this moment we spotted a sign in the stands that summed up everything. “Need Tickets For San Antonio!”.

Carolina will face the winner of the Kansas/Davidson game next Saturday. Regardless of opponent there will be a great storyline to the upcoming national semifinal.

Meet Kansas, and it’s Roy Williams facing the school that he coached for fifteen years and left in ‘03 much to the scorn of Jayhawk nation. Oh how Kansasfan is licking their chops at that one.

Face Davidson, and it’s the classic David and Goliath game. The number one team in the nation(and all time where wins/losses are concerned) facing the little engine that could. Who knew when these same two clubs met in this exact same venue(a four point win for the ‘Heels) back in November that they could meet again for a spot in the National Championship.

So after the watching the championship awards presentation it was time to point the car northwards to B-lo and home. In the rear view mirror were the shining lit skyscrapers of Charlotte, and memories of another fantastic sports road trip which we will savor for a long, long time.

Go Wildcats!!!!!!!!!

Pretty much all powder blue inside a SRO arena

Fans and revelers exit the trains at the arena station, just steps from the front door

Plenty of action going on along the bars and bistros on Trade Street

(Note: I’ll be throwing in plenty of quotes and such from the movie Hoosiers. So if you haven’t seen it then A. See it, it’s the best hoops movie ever made, or B. Roll with it and read along. It may still work for you…..)

Scene: Coach Norman Dale driving his beat up automobile down rural highways and byways to get to Hickory High School and begin his tenure as basketball coach.

On our way back to Charlotte from Norfolk we had the opportunity to make a pit stop at the home of this year’s bracket busting Cinderella. Located just a half hour or so north of Charlotte, Davidson College is a tiny institution of under 2000 students (smallest in the field of 65) whose basketball team has defied the odds and the power structure of college hoops to reach the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament.

Davidson is an upscale and bucolic suburb, and wraps around the beautiful Davidson College campus. As we drove into town this afternoon, we could see that something was different… signs, banners and bedsheets proclaiming support for the Wildcats hung from nearly every house and business. On campus people were stopping by to check out the arena, and take photos of the Wildcat statue outside. In the mouth are stuffed animals of the three schools vanquished so far… Gonzaga, Georgetown and Wisconsin.

Belk Arena blew us away… modern, elegant, architecturally stunning. The other schools in the Elite 8 have their shrines back home… Dean Dome (UNC), Freedom Hall (Louisville), Pauley Pavilion (UCLA), Allen Fieldhouse (Kansas). But as for nice buildings amidst pleasant surroundings, Davidson’s venue can’t be beat!

Scene: Principal Cleatus’ farm outside of town:

Coach Dale: I don’t know why people keep going on and on about Jimmy, because in my book no one is irreplaceable.

Coach Dale: Really? What’s that?

Cleatus: In the forty years of watching basketball and seeing all this state’s ever seen. I have never seen a player like Jimmy Chitwood. Never!!

Yes, Davidson has its own Jimmy Chitwood in Stephen Curry. While no one would put him in the category of greatest player ever (not now anyhow), he certainly has been THE player of the tournament in scoring over one hundred points in the Wildcats’ first three tournament games in single handedly carrying Davidson to its first Elite Eight since Lefty Driesell roamed the sidelines back in 1969.

Curry is the son of long time NBA standout Dell Curry and despite the bloodlines never got a shot to play at an ACC school coming out of college. Hey Virginia Tech, I’m thinking that if you had given the son of your most well known basketball alum a scholarship that maybe you wouldn’t have had to cry about not getting an at large bid. Ya think???

Scene: The Hickory team bus being leading a long caravan of cars heading to its next road game.

The Wildcats earned a berth in the Midwest Regional after a tight win over Gonzaga and a thrilling come from behind win over Georgetown. Seeing that the school may not be well represented in the Motor City, the college made a stunning offer to the students of their tiny school. Game tickets, transportation to and from, and lodging in Detroit would be provided free of charge to any student wishing to attend. Nearly three hundred students, nearly twenty percent of the enrollment replied. So rest assured Davidson would be represented at massive Ford Field and its capacity of over seventy thousand.

If you’ve seen the movie, you know what scene I’m going to next……

Scene: The Huskers enter the Butler Fieldhouse prior to the championship game. The enormity of the venue clearly overwhelms them upon first glance. Then Coach Dale has a few words.

Coach Dale: Jimmy, Ray….measure the distance from the backboard to the foul line. (they measure)

Ollie: Ten feet.

Coach Dale: I believe these are the exact same dimensions that you’ll find back at our gym in Hickory. (Players somewhat bewildered) C’mon. Let’s get ready for practice.

So tomorrow the Wildcats take on the top seeded Kansas Jayhawks for the right to go to the Final Four. Bigger, taller, and deeper this looks like the club that may end the fairytale short of a happy ending.

I’d imagine the pre game pep talk may go something like this:

Player: Let’s win this one for all the small schools that never had a chance to get here.

Player (Curry?): I’d like to win this one for my Dad.

Player: Let’s win for coach. Who got us here.

Chaplain: And David slung a stone that struck Goliath in squarely in the forehead, killing him.

Be watching tomorrow for us, we’ll be driving back to Buffalo listening on the radio.

After pigging out on college hoops and practice baseball this past week and more, what a refreshing switch to get back to some hockey. Today the Ultimate Sports Road Trip rolled into Norfolk, Virginia, and a visit to the Norfolk Scope, home of the American Hockey League Norfolk Admirals.

First of all here’s the skinny on Norfolk - this is one clean, gleaming and beautiful city. The downtown core has plenty of shiny office towers, a massive shopping mall in the center of it all, historical buildings and old homes lovingly restored into museums, a nice waterfront with hotels and attractions, Harbor Park, a nifty minor league venue that’s home to the AAA Tides. And on the north side of downtown sits the Norfolk Scope, a 70s era venue with about 9000 seats and home base for their AHL franchise.

The architecture of The Scope is sort of reminiscent of “Socialist Realism”, like something you would see in a Warsaw Pact capital. Large, sterile plazas and oversized pillars surround the entire complex. The building is unlike anything we’ve seen in the AHL, sort of an upside down saucer.

But don’t let that scare you - the venue is a neat throwback to old time hockey. One single main concourse wraps around the entire building, with plenty of glass and natural light and stunning views of the impressive downtown skyline abound from all angles. The seating bowl is broken into two levels, with the only premium seating arranged box style along the glass in each of the corners. The “light bright” scoreboard, a no frills dot matrix type, is scheduled for replacement with a high tech video board for next season.

The crowd on this night numbered only about 3000 (announced 4155), no surprise considering it was sunny and 82 in Norfolk today. Plus the team is having an uncharacteristically bad season, and will miss the playoffs for the first time since 1989. It didn’t get any better tonight as the Monarchs took care of business, beating the Admirals 4-0.

The Admirals have a couple of Buffalo connections - Norm Milley, who spent parts of three seasons with the Sabres and Rochester Amerks, is one of the team’s stars. Tonawanda NY’s Kevin Quick just recently signed with the Admirals, and is best remembered as a standout with the University of Michigan. Unfortunately both players were sidelined with injuries on this night.

Here’s another useless USRT stat - Jonathan Quick was in goal tonight and earned a shutout for the visiting Manchester Monarchs (the affiliate of the Los Angeles Kings). So this makes the second time this season we have seen Quick play, the first time being that game we covered out in L.A. when Quick made his first ever NHL appearance, and stonewalled the Buffalo Sabres in an 8-1 win at the Staples Center.

We were also invited onto the Norfolk Admirals radio broadcast to do an interview during the first intermission. Play by play announcer Pete Michaud and I talked sports road tripping. By the way, his broadcast partner is former NHL referee Pat Shetler, who worked in the league in the late 60s and early 70s and remembers the old Aud very well. I joked with Pat that I probably booed him as a kid while sitting in my orange seats.

Special thanks to Admirals PR honcho Keith Phillips. as well as broadcasters Pete and Pat, who showed the USRT a good time and a big welcome on our visit. Thanks guys!!!

After the game we headed over to Norfolk’s Waterside Marketplace, a neat waterfront shopping, restaurant and nightclub complex to catch a late bite and enjoy the ambience of this humming city. Tomorrow we point the car back to Charlotte, for the Elite 8 matchup between UNC and Louisville. Can this awesome road trip finally be winding down? Say it ain’t so!

The exterior of the Norfolk Scope

One of the many nice public spaces in downtown Norfolk, hugging historical buildings, many from the 1700s

An interior shot of the arena

The USRT on the air! Andrew talks hockey with play-by-play announcer Pete Michaud

While Tampa was a bit of a snooze when it came to NCAA excitement, Charlotte, the home base of the East Regional, was brimming with enthusiasm. The streets of Uptown were packed with basketball revelers, bars and restaurants were packed and overflowing onto the streets. Outside, stages were set up for live bands and other venues for games of skill and outdoor basketball. Of course the weather was perfect, mid 70s and sunny. And best of all, we were here to soak it all in, probably the marquee event of the trip as four schools - North Carolina, Washington State, Louisville and Tennessee would battle it out over two days, with one team earning a berth to the Final Four in San Antonio.

We got the chance to ride Charlotte’s LYNX light rail line, which just opened a few months back and connects Uptown with the south part of Charlotte. Clean, fast, efficient and on time and fare round trip was only $2.60. Best of all the line runs almost completely at grade and integrates local streetscapes into its stations, and plenty of free park and ride lots adjacent to most stations. How awesome would it be to build an identical setup to connect Buffalo’s Canalside out to the Airport. The rail right of ways sit in place, unused and abandoned, just waiting for the will and the funding!

Back to the events of the day… we got to the will call window at Charlotte Bobcats Arena to pick up our tickets… and… no tickets! So a bit of concern and consternation set in. What if our contact doesn’t make it here? What if something went wrong?

We called the cell phone number given to us by Ron Bertovich, and got a voice mail recording. We headed back outside into the Charlotte evening, only to see oceans of people holding fingers up or pleading for tickets, with scant few to be found.

But our connection did arrive with time to spare, called us on the cell and was still at the will call area when we scampered inside to get our precious cargo, so we got to meet our benefactors in person. And Holy Crap! “Founders Level” seats in the premium club area, complete with captains chairs and countertop seating with TV monitors. Are you freakin kidding!!! And to quote Bob Uecker, we were in the front row! Unbelieveable!

In plenty of ways, the differences between the events in Tampa and Charlotte were like night and day. The atmosphere in Tampa was filled with plenty of basketball fans wearing apparel from dozens of schools across America, and by and large these fans were neutral in their rooting interest. But the close proximity of Charlotte to the North Carolina campus combined with the ‘Heels popularity in these parts completely eliminated the neutral court atmosphere that was in Tampa and generally the norm elsewhere. Quite simply, roughly 80-90 percent of fans not sitting in the designated fan sections of the four schools were rooting for Carolina and proudly wearing the sky blue colors.

This regional also lacked the presence of a true underdog as the East region was the only one to have all four of its top seeds advance to Charlotte. How nice would it have been for a Butler to beat Tennessee in round two. Think of it, a school from a mid major conference that plays its home games in the same venue that was used in the iconic underdog basketball movie “Hoosiers”. But we had what we had and hoped for some good games pitting four ranked clubs.

Game one was Washington State/ North Carolina. The ‘Heels had been the most impressive club in the field in hitting the triple digit mark on the scoreboard in its first two games. And in the Cougars they would find the anthesis of themselves as Wazzu attempt to play their deliberate and defensive style to keep themselves within striking distance. It worked for most of a half until Carolina went on a run and expanded the lead to double digits by halftime and from there they rolled to a 68-47 win in front of over nineteen thou(fifteen k in Carolina blue).

Couple of notes about Wazzu: the numbers on the back of the jersey are way oversized, so no it’s not your tv if you thought the same. And MAJOR props to the large amount of fans to make the journey all the way form eastern Washington. While still bringing the smallest contingent of the four schools they held themselves up well to the other schools who were all within(UNC-141m, UT- 244m, UL- 489m) driving distance of Bobcats Arena. To add to that, the Washington State tees sold at souvenir stands in the arena were the first(and only) to sell out!

I had higher expectations for game two with a former #1 in Tennessee and a Louisville team that had come out of the first two rounds playing some of their best ball in rolling over Boise State and crushing Oklahoma in round two. But once again we’d be rewarded with another dull game as Louisville raced out to an early sixteen point lead and held off the occasional Tennessee run to cruise to a 79-60 and a date with the ‘Heels on Saturday night.

A note about the crowd in general during game two. We wondered if the UNC fans would stick around after the ‘Heels win to watch the UT/UL game and we were pleasantly surprised to see that while there was some people headed to exits, the solid majority stuck around for most of the second game until UL took command about midway through the second half. Unfortunately, the concept of staying for the second game was too much for the bandwagon hoppers sitting next to us.:(

We took the light rail back to the hotel and rolled in at about 1AM. Another long drive awaits as we head out to Norfolk for a night of AHL hockey at The Scope before returning to Charlotte for the grand finale of the East Regional Final.

We took Charlotte’s newly opened light rail to the game - deposited us right outside the arena

Plenty of music, games and entertainment outside before and after the game

A packed house of over 19,000 in the arena, and boy was this one tough ticket to score!

Bisons to Winter Haven: “Adios!”

The first Play Ball of the season comes to you from Spring Training down in Florida. Check it out!

After Tuesday’s game in Clearwater, Pete and I took a ride down to Treasure Island, one of the beachfront communities in the St. Pete/Clearwater area and a place near and dear to my heart.

Back in 1986, I along with my bestest Cheektowaga political friends Don Wegner, Patricia Jaworowicz and Ray Pugh, along with Pat’s son and my good bud Tim Jaworowicz, did a trip down to this region with one goal in mind - we were going to all chip in and buy ourselves a condo together, a place we could call our own and have for future vacations.

We ended up disagreeing on everything - price we would pay, location, shared rules etc., but we did see some nice places on our quest, and two months later I came back and bought a place on Treasure Island on my own.

Eventually, they all bought down here as well, as did others from the Cheektowaga political family, and this set off a number of memorable shared vacations and travel adventures, with awesome stories and bizarre happenings which endure to this day.

My dear dear friend Don Wegner passed away last summer after a lengthy battle with cancer. He loved so much to come down to Florida and was such a joy to have as a travel partner. As I sat at the Phillies game I saw ads on the outfield wall of places we had been to in Clearwater many a time - Shepherds Pub, Hooters (the original one on Gulf to Bay Blvd), Post Corner Pizza. And Don was such a huge baseball fan, a die hard fan of his beloved Yankees. In 2004 I finagled a media credential for him to a Yankees game at Legends Field in Tampa, and he proudly showed off a picture I took of him before the game on the field at home plate, the Yankees logo at his feet.

So I came to take a ride through the old neighborhood, to reminisce, and to pay tribute to Don, sad at his passing and good days we will never ever have together again, but also happy at the warm memories I embrace of the wonderful times we shared together, along with his wife Pat and the other people who came down to enjoy all that Treasure Island had to offer.

We also dropped into the offices of Resort Realty, the company that managed my property when I owned at Lands End. Owner Rudy Consoni, Office Manager Janet Shields, and the owners of their cleaning/maintenance division, Scott Drown and Rudy Feagley, gave us a very warm welcome and we had a chance to get caught up and renew what has always been a very good friendship. Man I miss those guys! They are all such big sports fans and supporters of the USRT as well.

So Don, you started all this Florida stuff… you and your crazy General Development homesite schemes! Wherever you are, I want you to know that the Florida adventures continue, and you are always in my thoughts and my heart!

Captain Kosmakos restaurant on Gulf Blvd… oh the trouble we got into in this place… the headquarters for the Cheektowaga pols

The main entrance to Lands End Condominium on the beaches, my Florida home for 15 years

The Treasure Island Causeway ends here in the center of town

And for good measure, Progress Energy Park in downtown St. Pete, which will see its final Rays spring game this Friday. The team moves to Port Charlotte next spring

The stars at night - Are big and bright - *clap clap clap clap* - Deep in the Heart of Tex-as…

Down at Minute Maid Park in Houston, they add this song on to the 7th inning stretch and EVERYBODY sings and claps along. And that’s one of the unique things that makes a visit to a Houston Astros game so very special.

So of course, we waited with eager anticipation this afternoon at Osceola County Stadium for the 7th inning, and we were not disappointed. As soon as “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” was dispensed with, the country violin music strained across the PA, and we all sang along and clapped to the Astros’ signature song.

Today we paid our final visit to a Spring Training venue, the home of the Houston Astros in Kissimmee, and another new frontier for the USRT, our 102nd ballpark overall for anyone keeping count.

This venue was opened in 1986, and underwent an $18-million dollar renovation and upgrade just a few years ago, and it is one special and intimate place to view a game. With only 5200 seats, it is the smallest venue in the Grapefruit League, and it is unbelievable how close fans are to the players and the action. Separating the upper and lower level seating areas in the seating bowl is a wide aisle spanning the length of the stadium, and it isn’t hard to actually talk to the players from that vantage point. Also, the seats end just beyond the first and third base bags, and down the third base line wall fans can assemble to grab players for autographs as they make their way to the clubhouse in the left field corner.

We saw an excellent pitching matchup today - Houston’s Roy Oswalt vs Cleveland’s C.C. Sabathia. Oswalt was gone after 3 2/3 innings, surrendering 5 runs on 9 hits. Sabathia made it through 7 nursing a 7-3 lead, but Houston scored 3 runs in the 8th. Cleveland held on in the 9th and the game would end 7-6 for the Tribe. Another interesting note - being an NL park and their rules, Sabathia had four at bats today. His at bat in the 4th inning was a mammoth fly ball which nearly cleared the left field wall for a home run, but was caught right against the wall. C.C. got a nice round of applause for that smash!

One more interesting side note - it is so freakin’ easy to scam ones way into these Spring Training parks. These places are staffed mostly by local octogenarians who are just sweet and lovely people and don’t have a clue on how to hunker down a sports venue.

As we drove in we saw the “$7″ parking sign. We pulled up and said “We’re media with Cleveland” and before I could even reach over to grab my Cleveland credential to present as proof, the sweet lady waved us in. OK, seven bucks saved.

The next step was to go to a team office or media gate where we assumed there would be some intern with a stack of credentials. We finally found a gate where a guy who had to be 85 had some metal box, and we asked if this was the media gate. He said yes and just waved us in to the yard. Now granted we had a Cleveland credential, but somewhere there should have been Houston day passes with our names on them. If there were we never saw them.

The last hurdle was the stairs to the press/suite level, and at the bottom of the staircase was a sweet 70-ish woman who saw the plastic sleeve hanging around each of our necks. It could have said “Sheriff Dodge City” for all she cared. She smiled, waved hello, and pointed us upstairs to the media lunch room (brats, burgers, corn on the cob and salad on the menu, and all complimentary).

So to summarize, we made it from the curb of US 192 in Kissimmee to the pressbox in Osceola County Stadium without once being asked who we were or if we had a valid credential.

After the game we headed over to Downtown Disney to check the place out and grabbed some dinner there. Tonight we’re back at the condo doing laundry, packing our things and getting ready for the big drive to Charlotte, where the East Region tips off at 7:27PM at Charlotte Bobcats Arena. Now wouldn’t it be nice if some sweet Florida retirees would man the media gate there? Just flash an old Bisons pass!

We shall report in from Charlotte tomorrow night!

Tampa has Channelside, an exciting mixed use development of condos, shops and restaurants; Buffalo has Canalside, a newly dug slip, gravel strewn empty lots and two eyesores awaiting demolition. Tampa has 80 degrees in March, Buffalo has 40 degrees. Tampa has sunshine, Buffalo has clouds. Tampa has sex appeal and star power; Buffalo is, well… a rust belt city in the northeast.

And take a lesson, NCAA, because when it comes to putting on an event like a basketball subregional, Tampa can’t hold a candle to Buffalo!

This past weekend we got to experience one of the most fun sports experiences of all - two days and six games of basketball in the NCAA tournament. Survive and advance… the struggle between the country’s elite and the upstarts from the small conferences… One Shining Moment and games that sear memories into one’s mind forever. We were not disappointed - the Tampa games offered upsets, shattered records, overtimes, buzzer beaters and outcomes that had the whole country riveted.

But as for the event itself, there was little buzz on the streets of Tampa. Check out the photo above. Thousands of empty seats in the arena, here in a market that is 2 1/2 times the size of Buffalo. As we drove around the city, we saw little of billboards, banners on the poles, signs in restaurant windows, or anything to show that there was an event of this magnitude happening in town.

When the NCAA’s came to Buffalo in 2000, 2004 and again in 2007, Buffalo put its best face on to welcome the schools, their fans and supporters, and other visitors to our town. Hospitality tents, rail maps, restaurant and nightlife guides were widely available. Events were set up on the off day between games. Restaurants and eateries put on extra staff to accommodate the throngs of fans. Street poles were decorated with banners. Host hotels went the extra mile to make the visiting teams feel special and welcomed. The Buffalo organizing committee, including host schools Canisius and Niagara, the Sabres and HSBC Arena staffs, and local civic leaders made it happen to make our event one of the best anywhere.

Best of all, Buffalo fans responded each time by snapping up all available tickets. For each tournament in Buffalo, the streets of downtown and the businesses were packed with enthusiastic fans and the streets were teeming with people. We received high marks from everyone involved as to how great the entire event was in Buffalo.

The NCAA subregionals return to Buffalo in 2010, and by then hopefully the Inner Harbor project will be in the full throes of progress and construction. If things go the way they have in the past three events, we will once again show the nation that Buffalo shines above all the rest.

So take that Tampa Bay!

And Buffalo… hold your heads up high! We can go dancin’ at the NCAA’s with the best of them!

Today’s report comes to you from Clearwater, Florida, the Spring Training home of the Philadelphia Phillies.

The Phillies have called Clearwater home since the 40s, and used to play at the old Jack Russell Stadium in a neighborhood just north of downtown. In 2004 they moved several miles to the east, to a sparkling new facility along US 19 and adjacent to their minor league practice complex.

Bright House Field is everything you would want to have in a Spring Training venue - modern amenities, concession areas and pleasant seating areas and extensive berm areas for the fans, clean and modern player clubhouses and outstanding playing surfaces, and gleaming office and lobby spaces for the team’s management. This place has that and more, and we left the building this afternoon with the assessment that this is among the elite of the MLB training venues which we have visited so far in either the Grapefruit or Cactus leagues.

No surprise there - We’ve ranked Citizens Bank Park in Philly as the top ballpark in all of MLB. We would expect that they would make everything top notch and first class in their Spring Training venue as well.

After checking in to the media room and enjoying a delicious lunch, we self toured the ballpark - nice concession stands, a local joint selling cheese steaks, Pete and Shorty’s 4-pack burger sliders are a must have, and Frenchy’s Tiki Bar in the outfield is the place to hang out. Yuengling beer is widely available, and a “Beers of the World” stand, offering over 60 different brands, is located right next to the spacious team merchandise store. The entire set up here is awesome. Also, the Single-A affiliate of the Phillies, the Clearwater Threshers, play here from April to September in the Florida State League.

The second level of the park features suites, a nice club seat porch down the first base side, and state of the art press facilities and broadcast booths. On this day the place was absolutely packed, with every seat and the outfield berm filled to the brim. For the hometown Phillies fans, it would be a disappointing day however, as the visiting Cincinnati Reds scored 4 in the first and held on for a 5-3 win. Former Bison Brandon “The King of Buffalo” Phillips was 2 for 5 at the plate for the Reds.

This was such a nice, nice day and we want to thank P.R. Director Larry Shenk at the Phillies and Deb Rinaldi back at the Phillies offices in Philadelphia for the media credentials and for being such gracious hosts. (Philadelphia always shows the USRT lots of love!) We will have a full profile and story on Bright House Field in the May edition of Sports and Leisure Magazine.

After the game we headed down to St. Pete Beach for some grub and to say hi to some old friends of mine. (Separate post on that to come.) And the best news of the day came via a phone call while we were enroute to Clearwater - game tickets for the NCAA East Regionals in Charlotte have been secured! Ron Bertovich, former Sabres Exec VP and now Deputy Commish of the Colonial Athletic Association, made some calls for us and got us a full set for both Thursday’s Sweet 16 AND Saturday’s Elite 8 games in Charlotte, no small task considering this is one scorching hot and hard to get ticket. So THANKS RON and it looks like we’ll be extending this Florida adventure by one more day - heading to Charlotte Thursday, over to Norfolk Friday, and then back to Charlotte Saturday. That also means we won’t be back to Buffalo in time for Sunday’s Sabres game against the Bruins.

Tomorrow it’s a short hop to Kissimmee and Osceola County Stadium - the Houston Astros host the Cleveland Indians and it’s a 1:05PM first pitch.

Hopefully those bullpen players under the umbrellas aren’t actually drinking Yuenglings!

One beautiful ballpark!

The marquee main entrance to the stadium on the Old Coachman Road side

Mmmmmmmedia Food! Pulled pork sandwiches, burgers and dogs as well as a fruit plate and cookies/brownies

No we did not park in (Cleveland Indians Media Director) Bart Swain’s space. And rather than Bart being Bart, the Indians media office was actually very nice to us, welcoming us to Winter Haven and writing us media passes on the spot even though Geoff Kelly’s fax from the Artvoice office was nowhere to be found.

Today we headed to Winter Haven, home of the Cleveland Indians, to have one more look at a ballpark and training complex thatwill soon be no more. The Indians are moving to Arizona after this season, and looks now that this facility will be razed and condos and shopping will take its place. In a way that’s too bad, because this is one of the last throwback ballparks down here in Florida, but one by one places like this are giving way to glitzy and glamorous new ballparks with all the bells and whistles.

We ran into Jim Rosenhaus, former Bisons play by play guy who now is part of the Indians broadcast crew. Rosie was his usual nice self and hung out with us for a while to talk about the final days here in Winter Haven, and asked about a lot of people back in Buffalo. Man we miss this guy! But we are happy he is doing so well in his job here in Cleveland.

On to the game we saw… Jake Westbrook was on the mound for the Tribe, and was absolutely filthy, throwing six perfect innings on only 65 pitches. The perfect game was finally broken up in the 7th when reliever Jorge Julio gave up a rope double to Atlanta’s Chipper Jones with two outs. By then it was 7-0 Cleveland and they would go on to win 8-0.

So a question… had the Indians gone on to record a combined no-hitter or perfect game, would this have counted towards Peter’s quest to see a no-hitter in person, a yet unfulfilled dream? We text messaged the Buffalo News’ Mike Harrington, who is the ultimate authority on these things, and Mike quickly responded with an emphatic “NO!”. At the end of the day, practice baseball is still practice baseball.

We booked out of Winter Haven after the 7th inning stretch (thankfully just Take Me Out To The Ballgame and none of that Dead Fat Woman’s Song,) and made the 15 mile drive west to Lakeland. Why, you wonder? The Bisons were there to play the Toledo Mud Hens, and we arrived just in time to see the Herd record their final two outs in a 6-2 win. So we chatted a bit with Manager Torey Lovullo (interesting how the team takes the bus back to camp but Torey drives in his own car), got a few comments which will be part of a special “Play Ball” column in this week’s Artvoice, and headed back to Orlando.

Tomorrow it’s Brighthouse Networks Field in Clearwater, home of the Philadelphia Phillies, as the USRT Florida adventure continues.

The main walkway outside Chain of Lakes Park

A full house on hand… just two more games to go for this ballpark after this one

The Bisons, meanwhile, play their games on a practice field, with just a handful of die hards looking on… this pic taken at the Tigers facility in Lakeland

Talking baseball with Bisons skipper Torey Lovullo down in Lakeland

The title of this post pretty much sums up the day at the St. Pete Times Forum as the two #12 seeds went head to head with the #13 seeds in an unprecedented second round doubleheader.

Cinderella’s clock struck midnight here(if you want to see it that way) as the two higher seeds won out. Villanova’s stifling interior D picked up right where it left off from the Clemson game as they suffocated MAAC Champion Siena to 36% shooting from the floor in an easy 84-72 win.

Game two was a bit more enticing as Western Kentucky raced out to a big second half lead, yet unlike Siena the Toreros of San Diego would make a bit of a game of it. They rallied to take a lead with about six minutes left, but two quick threes by the Hilltoppers gave the lead back to Western Kentucky and they never relinquished it holding on for a 72-63 win.

Villanova and Western Kentucky now head to their respective regional semifinal matches playing the role of giant killers. Each gets a #1 seed for their next game (’Nova/Kansas and WKU/UCLA). The road probably will end for both with their next game, yet that’s the magic of March Madness and the NCAA tournament. You never know until the games are played.

And like that it was over, another great subregional in the books. It was our fifth and quite frankly it’s one that’s highly unlikely to be matched anywhere anytime soon. Two overtime buzzer beaters, two double digit seeds heading out to the regionals, four really competitive games (all not involving Siena). It was more than worth the price of admission.

So now its on to a few days of spring training ball, an intermission before we head back north with stops in Charlotte (still no tix for regional semis yet, yikes!!!) and Norfolk before returning to Buffalo next weekend. Stay tuned for more!

Another view of the arena and the Marriott next door, this pic taken from the bridge to Harbour Island

The movie theatres in the historic Ybor City district

Check out this I-4 underpass in Ybor City - they actually built a micro park with fountains and nice fencing, along with a fantastic looking streetscape.

The main drag in Ybor City.

Part of the Tampa Riverwalk, a series of paths and walkways hugging the Hillsborough River.

Today was a good day to sleep in late, which we deserved after the long drive down on Thursday and then 13 hours of basketball in Tampa on Friday. So we took today to get settled, write some stories for WNYMedia and get our column into Sports and Leisure for April, and just enjoy the condo here at beautiful Vistana Villages.

Since I have recently become a gym maven again, I went over to the fitness center in the clubhouse this afternoon. Not a full serve gym, but they’ve got the requisite treadmills and bikes, some weight machines and a dumbbell rack. That works. I had the whole place to myself for a while, but about 3/4 of the way through my workout two families with six screeching children come into the place and start abusing the machines and treating the place like it’s some video arcade. One little boy is running around and bumps into me while I am flat on my back on the bench lifting 20 pound weights. I accidentally drop a weight and it lands on his toe. The kid is screeching in pain, the father was ready to fight me, until an attendant shows up and points out the sign “no children under 14 allowed”. Fortunately the kid wasn’t hurt too bad. But it’s unbelievable how people can come down on vacation and think they can abuse the facilities and wreck things with no consequences. What they were doing to this expensive gym equipment was outrageous.

Our original plans had us going to Clearwater today to see the Phillies play at their ballpark. We figured we would just make this a rest day instead and switched the date for that visit to Tuesday. And a good thing too since there was lots of rain the region and this was one of many Grapefruit League games that either got cancelled or suspended. Fortunately it looks like sunny skies for the rest of our stay here.

Of course we’re watching the NCAA games with a keen eye, although I am also watching closely the NHL action and it was all bad news again for the Sabres… The Leaves beat Ottawa, Florida wins to tie the Sabres and even the Bruins snag a point in a shootout loss. I”ve been the optimist all along but my embers of hope for the playoffs are flickering. And then to add to the misery… the Buffalo Bandits drop one at home to the Toronto Rock to tragically put an end to “The Ultimate Sports Weekend”. Speaking of which… nice job Sabres in jumping on the USRT theme for your lame promo. And don’t insult us by saying that’s just coincidence because we know that everyone in Sabres country from L.Q. on down knows about the Ultimate Sports Road Trip.

So tomorrow we’re back to Tampa for the most riveting and compelling matchups of this NCAA tournament - at 12:10 it’s Siena v Villanova and then 2:40 San Diego faces Western Kentucky. Can we expect a big walk up crowd to snap up those unsold 300 level seats? Highly doubt it!

Wow!

After listening to all the first round snoozers on the radio a day before, I was only hoping for competitive games as we approached the St. Pete Times Forum for yesterday’s quadrupleheader.

We left the venue about twelve hours later having witnessed possibly the greatest first round subregional since they expanded the field to 64 back in 1985.

It had everything that a bracket junkie loves about the NCAA Tournament. It opened with an buzzer beating overtime upset thriller in Drake/Western Kentucky that would have more than paid for the price of admission for the entire day. That one would immediately be followed by yet ANOTHER fantastic finish as San Diego would stun two time national champion Connecticut.

And the evening session would feature two more upsets as MAAC champion Siena would handle fourth seeded Vanderbilt with ease and Villanova would complete the underdog sweep in rallying from an 18 point first half deficit to defeat Clemson.

Four games, four underdog winners. That’s an NCAA tournament first(no site ever produced even three first round upsets).

Another fast fact: The Drake/Western Kentucky game was a long range shootout as the two clubs combined for 30 three point field goals and 70 attempts from behind the arc. Both are records.

What the heck, let’s see the record breaking three pointer again(from a vantage point in the upper deck).

If there is a bit of a downside to this it’s that the second round matchups aren’t very enticing for the average fan. I mean, who wouldn’t want to see a scintillating doubleheader featuring Western Kentucky/San Diego and Siena/Villanova??

Other random notes…..

Tampafan didn’t exactly embrace the event as the upper deck was filled with oceans of empty blue seats. I don’t know what the official count was but I’m guessing about five grand short of a sellout. It’s no wonder why the NCAA keeps coming back to the packed houses in Buffalo on a regular basis.

With the exception of San Diego, the eight schools brought pretty healthy fan support with them. I’m giving Drake and Clemson the nod for largest contingents.

One great thing about a subregional is that it’s a celebration of collegiate sports as everyone is wearing something of their favorite school whether they’re playing hoops or not. I saw apparel of several dozen schools being worn(even a Bona tshirt was spotted). But the winner(or is it loser??) for me went to someone wearing a Jimmy Chitwood Hickory Huskers tshirt.

Thanks to the two overtime games, the afternoon session did not end until roughly 6:15 PM. This significantly cut into the break time between sessions and forced many into grabbing a quick bite to eat, if anything at all before the night session began roughly an hour later.

We left the venue at 12:30 AM knowing that we’d be back just 36 hours later, and that it couldn’t come fast enough.