And just like that I'm on the other side of the world.
For those of you that don't know, for the next four months I'm going to be stationed in Australia working for a new start-up baseball league headed by Major League Baseball and the Australian Baseball Federation. It's a difficult job that I've been tasked -- baseball is not even remotely on the radar when it comes to mainstream sports here. It's Australian Football, Rugby, Cricket, and Soccer that keep people's attention here. Anything less, would be ... civilized. I'm fortunate enough to get the opportunity, but it's far from a vacation. Not only is the sport unpopular, but the people who are involved don't seem to get along. So it's a challenge to get everyone headed in the right direction and right now that's the focus. It's tough work and I hope I can be agent for change.
The league is basically being converted from an existing national tournament that's taken place since the 1930's. Now if you haven't heard of this tournament you've probably been holed up somewhere watching the E! network, which is a shame, not just because you are watching the E! network, but also because it's a very well known event. Think along the lines of Mardi Gras, The Running of the Bulls, The Daytona 500, Kentucky Derby.... The Claxton Shield!! Like something Robin Hood fought over with his merry men or more modernly some inconsequential college football rivalry like the battle of the Iron Skillet! Anyways, it's very prestigious. Blood has been spilled.
The squad I am assisting with is in Brisbane (pronounced Briz-bin) and the team is called the Queensland Rams (logo looks more like a mountain goat). For those of you that don't know (I didn't) the deal here is that Brisbane is the capital of Queensland which is one of the six states of Australia. The other teams are in Adelaide (South Australia), Melbourne (Victoria), Sydney (New South Wales), and Perth (Western Australia). Each team has its own obstacles, but until I know more about theirs I'm only going to detail the one's we face:
Lights. They aren't good. And that's from what I've heard since I haven't actually seen them turned on. But the first game is on November 20th and the process has been dangerously slow. Unfortunately it's something I cannot control and I do not enjoy the uncontrollable. For the most part though the ballpark is decent and has some character appeal -especially if you like concrete seats with no backs!
But truthfully, there is some character to the place and if it had been properly maintained over the years it would be quite charming. And in my opinion there are a few dozen obvious upgrades that could be made if we had the funding to do so, but we don't. So I won't go too much into the state of the grounds - it's a bit tiresome. The other problem we face is that the field is only a temporary home for the RAMS for the next couple years...so it doesn't make sense to start dropping birthday money on it.
Ok, well that's a good start to this journey. More later. Time for bed.
