Update

We are in the Championship!

We went to our hotel in Fiano Romano yesterday and it was so bad that we are now moving to a hotel that is on the beach of the Mediterranean Sea! I hope it's nice... I hope it's nice... If it is, I'm taking tons of pictures to make you all jealous. It is in Anzio, Italy.

We have two more pool play games and then the final game is on Sunday... they are ALL on MLB Network! Watch them!

Florence!...and the greatest experience of my life!

Well, I was able to spend some time in Florence today. After much struggle this morning, managed to wake up at 8 a.m. and start my day so that I could spend some time in Florence. At first, I was cursing Florence and it's ability to make me NOT want to sleep in, but I eventually got over that.

Me and two of the players bussed into the city around 9 a.m. to begin our tour. Since I only had a few hours to spend in the city, I already had my day kind of planned out. Thanks to Courtney and Paola, I was told where to go and what to see. Unfortunately, I was not able to see the statue of David - yes it's in Florence - because you had to make reservations and I only had a few hours.

So we walked around a bit. Florence is charming. It wasn't jaw-dropping or breath taking like Regensburg was for me and it really didn't provide a sense of being in Europe, but it it has charm and character everywhere! The place is beautiful, don't get me wrong, but it is just SO full of tourists. I can't tell you how many different tour groups we saw while we were walking around. In Regensburg, I was able to take pictures all the time and not have to worry about anyone walking in front of my camera, but here it was ridiculous!

There are churches and such EVERYWHERE. We started off at a Basilica (pictured) and it was gorgeous and gargantuan. And Florence has all of the cobble stone streets and alleys full of shops and cafes that I like! It's full of fashion stores... Ehren, a pitcher in the White Sox organization knew about all of these designers and stuff, it kind of worried me at first, but he explained that it was because his girlfriend had explained to him everything so that he understood which present to buy her and what not to (He bought her a 1,500 Euro Prada bag, by the way), so we had to walk down through all of those shops. For the ladies, we went through Gucci, Prada, Burberry, Miu Miu, and some other ones... the stores were INSANE. We walked into Prada with Ehren and there was a t-shirt for 265 Euro... are you effin' kidding me?!

Well, my favorite part was the bridge! There was this place (forgive me, I forgot the name), and it is this old bridge and it's just made of buildings that are actually jewelry shops (oh, with watches that are 195,000 Euro - F that!). I'm such a sucker for bridges and I do not know why, but this was my favorite part. We walked through the streets just taking picture after picture after picture and finally got to the bridges. We walked through and stopped at Cafe Caruso and had lunch - PIZZA! - and settled down for a bit before we had to head back to the hotel.

Oh, by the way, the hotel was interesting. My room was the size of a broom closet, the bathroom didn't have a tub in it, just a drain in the middle of the bathroom... so when I showered, the entire floor flooded! I was walking through a kiddie pool of water after my shower. Comedy. Also, my ceiling was leaking the entire time. I digress.

Anyway, after we walked through Florence I got some work done and we headed to the stadium and this is where I had the coolest experience of my life! It is required by law (I don't know if it is just in Italy or what...) that USA and Israel have to have police escorts while traveling through a small town that we're staying in. So we generally have a police escort taking us to the field. They usually really suck because people don't care what cops do here, but today was TOTALLY different. We had two cops on motorcycles and they weren't screwing around.

We got to the stadium in rush hour traffic in about 15 minutes (yesterday it took about 30 minutes in non rush hour traffic). These cops were speeding ahead and forcing cars to pull to the side of the road or stop in the street. I mean, we're in a huge charter bus and we're flying through the city! At one point, one of the cops was driving his bike and a car wouldn't move over, so HE KICKED THE CAR WHILE DRIVING BESIDE OF IT! I AM NOT JOKING! IT WAS THE COOOOOOOOOOOOLEST THING I HAVE EVER SEEN! These guys were just flying by everyone forcing them out of the way and holding out these sticks with a red dot on it telling people to stop! Some people were dumb though... for instance, this one woman kept riding her bike through the street and nearly clipped the bus, and this other woman in a blue car would NOT move over and would not move for about two minutes so one of the cops sped and skidded in front of her, stopped and forced her to move to the side of the road. THESE GUYS WERE BADASSES! Not to mention that while we're flying through the city, people on the streets are just waving at us as we pass by like we're freaking super stars or something. I have never gone so fast in a charter bus and I have never been more pumped up in my life. We were all yelling at cars to get out of the way, getting WAY too into it and it was incredible. Ah! My favorite experience ever!!!

When we got to the stadium, we asked the cops to get on the bus and we gave them a round of applause and each shook their hand as we got off the bus... Coolest. Experience. Of. My. Life!

So, baseball, we clinched a spot in the Final Four yesterday and if we win tonight or if Canada

We are playing Puerto Rico tonight and will then bus to Rome Fiano - 30 minutes from the Vattican City - and will be there until we leave on Monday (well, if we make the gold medal game)!

OK, I have to go and get some work done before the game and post some pictures for you!

Oh, P.S., Florence has A TON of hookers. Just an FYI.

LOVES! loses, we clinch a spot in the gold medal game tonight (with three games left to play)... we're playing well, so hopefully we'll clinch tonight.

Italia... by bus!

Alright, finally! I have a little bit of time to update the blog. Currently, I am back in Bologna, Italy, for a make-up game between USA and Australia and we do not start for another two hours.

Well... to answer everyone's questions... Italia is not as cracked up as I was informed. However, I have not been to a single big city yet. We have been traveling to a new city almost every day, but the cities are no bigger than a Galesburg or Raleigh/Durham. I've been to Bologna, Reggio Emilia, Verona, Torino (2006 Winter Olympics), Macerata, Piacenza, and a few others. You've only heard of two of them, I'm guessing.

The country itself is pretty run down and barren. There is nothing. Until you get up into the Mountains, things are pretty empty and not very impressive. Haha, I sound a little more down on the country than I really am, I promise! But I do believe people always talk about Italy being amazing for the big cities. But I haven't gotten to experience it yet!

We had the opportunity the other day to take a day trip to Milan, but I had to stay at the hotel to pick up laundry. Yeah, I had to miss out on a day trip to Milan so someone could knock on my door and drop off the team laundry. Just so everyone knows, even though I go on all of these trips, they aren't always glamour filled, haha.

So my daily schedule is generally filled with: wake up, answer all of the work emails, pick up laundry, set out laundry, take care of scouting reports, call players who haven't picked up laundry, 2.5 hour bus ride (sometimes more) to the stadium, work, game, post-game work, bus ride back to hotel, do my media work, collect and send out laundry, do daily schedules, and help the 18U people with their releases and web work... I sleep a little... but I get the majority of my sleep on the bus.

I'm a busy guy!!! A very busy guy!

Even though I haven't gotten the opportunity to do much of anything in Italy and I have my complaints (me? nah...) about the cities we've been to, I do have to say that it's been an awesome experience just being with the team. The guys are hilarious. They have great chemistry and we're playing some really good baseball. We have gone unbeaten in Round 2, thus far. Today is our final game of Round 2. I've gotten to know some of the guys more than others, but all-in-all they've been great to be around. That and the food have been the best parts! Italian's can make a damn pizza! And some serious lasagna! Oh, and chocolate! I've never been a fan of dark chocolate, but I'll tell you what, the dark chocolate here is incredible!

So, we are playing Australia this afternoon. If we win, we're the #1 seed in our pool in the next round. If we lose, we're the #2. If we win we head to Firenze (Florence) and will be playing there for two days against Venezuela and Cuba, and if we lose we head to Grosetto (Tuscany) and will be there for two days. Hopefully we win today because if we do, all we really have to do is win one game of the final round (4 games) to make it to the championship game! So, if we're #1, after Firenze we finally get to Rome. However, we're in Nettuno... which is just South. So, I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to go to Rome or not (grrr...) but I'm hoping that I have the opportunity to do so.

I hope you've all been following the team - although I know you haven't been. Some of you should be getting the releases, I put you on the list so you could see what exactly I do. I write all of those, read them!

I need to start buying presents... what do all of you want?

I hope everyone is doing well! I miss you guys. I will be home in about a week... oh, and unemployed... that's going to be fun!

Picture 1: Me and John Blundell before the game. Picture 2: In the mountains, on the way to Macerata, we drove alone the Adriatic Sea. It's hard to get a good picture from the bus when it's going, but I tried! Picture 3: Grapes! EVERYWHERE in the mountains! Picture 4: The outfield at one of our ballparks... kind of cool! Picture 5: B.J. had a birthday and so we gave him an Italian cookie and put a cigarette in it because we didn't have candles. :-p

I'm still alive!

I'm still alive! I'm just extremely busy! I will be updating this (hopefully tomorrow!) with some stuff... and some pictures! I just wanted to let you know I'm still alive and I haven't been taken by some crazy Italians!

Ciao!

Italy

Well, again, it has been a few days since I have posted. However, this time it is because I had nothing to write about. We came to Italy for Round 2 of the Baseball World Cup and it has been nonstop work ever since. Unlike Germany, we are traveling hours to and from a different city and stadium each day. It’s cool that you get to see all of these places, but spending over 4 hours a day on a bus does not allow you have much free time.

Anyway, we flew into Parma, Italy and seriously landed in a one building airport. We walked off the plane and walked through a parking lot and went into a rundown building where we walked up to two guys who were in jeans, a t-shirt and guns, and they stamped our passport. Easiest country to get into, Italy…

We were staying in Bologna, so we bussed there. Italy is dirty. It’s rundown and dirty. I was extremely, EXTREMELY disappointed. I was really upset. The roads, buildings, everything… was all run down, tagged with grafitti and the cities are not clean. So, I have been in a small state of depression because I was very disappointed with Italy.

We’ve won both of our games here in Italy, though. We beat Canada (5^th time in 3 weeks), 8-0, and then we beat Netherlands Antilles 11-1 (7 innings) last night.

HOWEVER! My faith in Italy was complete restored today as we took our bus ride to Macerata. Holy crap! The drive up the Macerate (well, the second half) was awesome! We rode along the Adriatic Sea (if you’re looking at the map, we drove down the calve of the boot ;-p) and it was incredible. The pictures I got were from the bus and we were going by really quickly, so they aren’t very good… but they work!

Germans know how to party!

Well, it has been two days since my last post. I would have posted yesterday, but nothing really exciting occurred. I didn't want to post for postings sake... cause then it would bore you. And then you would have felt like you wasted your time reading my blog and then I'd lose my audience. See? That would have been awful! You'd have nothing to read because you'd automatically remember the boring post and never visit the blog again, thereby missing out on my awesome adventure in Europe.

So, you're welcome for not posting yesterday.

When I last left you, we lost our first game to Venezuela. Well, we won our final two games in Round 1. We beat Germany, in front of a crowd of 9,600 people, 9-1; and defeated China, today, 8-0. We did not come in first in our Pool so we are not going to the Netherlands. Instead, we are going to Italy for the second round. Incidentally, the final round is also in Italy. So I'll be in Italy for the remainder of my trip.

First, German fans are awesome! They are drunk and loud and devoted! They are very pro-USA for our games! Except when we play Germany. It was an awesome environment to watch a baseball game. And luckily, we kicked the crap out of them! It was so crowded that there were people in a construction vehicle. You know the cranes that have the baskets in it? The ones you see people from the power companies in? They had some people in one of those and pushed over the press box. It was hilarious! So we won that game (Thank goodness!) and played again today.

We had an interesting/stressful situation. If Germany beat Venezuela and we beat China, there would have been a three way tie. If we lost to China and Germany beat Venezuela, we would have been eliminated. And the easiest: if Venezuela beat Germany, we just go to Italy. What is so stressful about it is, that we have to advance to round 2 tomorrow and we play tomorrow night. Problem: we didn't know where we were going until 10 PM tonight - when Germany and Venezuela finished their game. It has been really stressful. Regardless, we finished second in our pool and are going to Italy.

Germany has been fantastic! I'm actually really bummed that we are leaving. The city is beautiful and clean and full of life! I'm very comfortable here and EVERYONE speaks English! And to celebrate my love for Germany, I went out tonight for a little while to celebrate. OK, well, I did a lot of work today, and my boss told me that I should go enjoy myself for a bit since I worked so hard. So, I listened.

There was the pre-Oktoberfest festival (I mentioned this a while back) across the river from us. So tonight, Kasey (LHP, future MLB star) and I walked over to join the rest of the team for a beer.

THE GERMAN'S KNOW HOW TO PARTY! They had regular festival stuff, but then they had two humongous tents and they had bands, beer, food, and a lot of dancing. But in Germany, they all dance on tables and benches. No joke. I walk in and there are people standing on the tables and on the benches dancing and drinking and it was incredible. (Oh, and scary, the drinking age in Germany is 16 - 14 with your parent's permission... oh, but you can't drive 'til you're 18 - wtf?). So we met up with the team, Kasey bought me a beer to celebrate the fact that I actually went out and we hung out for a bit. The music was good, the atmosphere was electric and it was hilarious watching our players hitting on the younger girls and getting blown off. HA!

I had a great night to cap my trip to Germany. The beer was good, and huge! (T.W.S.S.!), and the guys were hilarious. I finally went out one evening - with permission of course - and enjoyed myself! Mark the calendar! Haha, nah, I do enjoy myself, but I'm usually so busy that I do not get the opportunity to go out and enjoy the nightlife, so tonight was a great gift.

So, we're leaving tomorrow morning for Italy. We are flying into Milan, Parma and then bussing to Bologna (...has a first name, is O-S-C-A-R). We will then arrive at the Hotel Cosmopolitan Bologna and then travel to Reggio Emelia Stadium and play Canada in our first game of the second round!

It's going to be a long day. 6 AM bus, flight, bus, rest, bus, 8 PM game, hour ride back to hotel after the game. Not to mention that it is 2 AM here and I have to be up in 3 hours... Hmm...

Well, the first leg of my trip is finished! I start the second leg tomorrow and I'm pumped for Italy. We are traveling to a different city each day for a game, so I don't think I'm going to get to really enjoy Italy & Rome like I was hoping to, but I'm sure I'll make something work. Also, we might be going to Sicily! Crazy!

Anyway, that's all for today. I will try to post and let you all know that I made it to Italy tomorrow, but I may be still asleep!

Love you all! Miss you guys.

Photo 1 - Me and two U.S. soldiers that came to visit us while we were in Regensburg. Photo 2 - The crazy people who got in that crane to watch the game. I'm not going to lie, I was jealous. Photo 3 - The festival from my hotel. Photo 4 - MY BEER! CRAZY, it was so heavy!

A great day! A bad night.

OK. I have to explain both parts: the great day and the bad night. Which do you want first?

Alright, the bad night first.

We lost our opening game of the 2009 World Cup. Shoot me in the face. We lost 13-9 in the 11th inning via the international tie-break rule. For those of you who do not know what it is: After nine innings, if the game is tied, you are allowed two runners on first and second base with no outs at the beginning of each new inning. Well, in the 10th inning, both Venezuela and us scored two runs. We went into the eleventh inning and we gave up our second - yes, SECOND - grand slam of the game. We lost 13-9.

What this means: If we lose one more while in Germany, it could mean that we are eliminated. We are the defending champions. I'm irritated. There is a possibility that if we do lose another we could stay in, but it's all up in the air. Also, this means that if we come in second place in our pool, we will not go to Amsterdam. Instead, we will travel to Italy for the second round. Italy is also the host of the Finals round as well.

Ok, so while it would be really cool to spend two weeks in Italy as opposed to one (assuming we make the final round), it would have been really cool to visit the Netherlands as well. However, I am more concerned with our team than my travel hopes. I mean, we're the defending champions. We were up 7-1 and were unable to keep the lead. I just don't want us, as defending champions, to not make the final round. However, I am confident that we'll pull out of it and we'll make it to the final round. Anyway, that is why I had a bad night. And since I have gotten that off of my chest, I can talk about my great day.

So, I woke up today and did a bunch of work during breakfast, therefore allowing me a few hours of free time before we had to travel to our baseball game. I went into downtown Regensburg and took about 150 pictures. Just for all of you!

It was great. I did it all on foot. I left the hotel and got lost - which is really the best way to learn a new city. I didn't get lost per se, but I missed a few turns. I ended up where I was hoping to go, which is all that is important. As I got into the downtown area, I went around and just took some pictures. I also sat along the river for a few minutes and kind of soaked it all in. There was this path, right beside of the river, and it was in the shade and had low trees and it was by my favorite bridge (picture). So, I sat there and rested and talked with one of the staff for a few minute as I ran into them, and then continued my picture taking adventure.

Europe is just alleys and alleys and alleys. Seriously.

There are alleys everywhere! There are larger alleys that could fit two cars and then there are alleys that can't even fit one. And in these alleys (all cobble stone, by the way) there are tons of stores and restaurants and cafes! It is exactly what you expect out of Europe based on what you've seen on TV and in the movies, but it's a lot better. Then to add to the charm of these small cafes and the remarkable intricacies that you can't even describe, there are some amazing buildings.

I am an architecture freak. I don't know much about it, but I love buildings and I love the construction of buildings. I find pleasure in unique and well designed structures. I would actually have become an architect had I gone to school at a non-liberal arts school. OK, well, at least attempted to major in it for a little while, I may not have been able to cut all the physics. But anyway, Europe has not disappointed on the architecture front. Well, I'm not a big fan of the pink buildings, but other than that, it's all cool.

So I went around and took tons and tons of pictures of buildings and really tried to enjoy the city. I ate at a tiny cafe and had some pasta with some sort of meat in it. I don't know what it was and I probably do not want to know, but it was good! Then I went and had some gelato and headed back to the hotel. Granted nothing spectacular happened to me while I was in the city, but I was able to enjoy myself! And it has been a while that I have had some time to enjoy a city that I visited. This summer was extremely busy and I did not get to venture around Japan or Canada as much as I would have liked, so this was a great time for me.

Alright. I need to get some sleep. It's going on 3 AM here. We have a game tomorrow at 1:00 PM EASTERN TIME. That's 7 PM here. It's going to be on the MLB Network on cable and satellite. Watch it! DVR it! Something!

I will keep you updated on where I am going to go for the next round - hoping that we win, that is! What's goign on at home? I need updates!

I hope you enjoy some of the pictures!

Picture 1 - Pregame. This was right before we started the national anthems. I took this picture from the press box, so this is my view of the game. We had 4,200 people in attendance. You can't tell in this picture because you can't see the majority of the stands, but it was very crowded. Picture 2 - the outside of my hotel. It's surrounded by trees, so you can't really see it. Picture 3 - The downtown area from the other side of the Danube River. I was taking the picture into the sun, so you can't really see the vibrant colors, but believe me, it's amazing. You'll see better pictures later, I'm sure. Picture 4 - from the other side of the bridge. You can see the colors better. BE SURE TO CLICK ON THE PICTURES TO SEE THE FULL VERSION!

Germany is beautiful!

Hallo!

Hello from Germany! I arrived safely yesterday morning at about 10 AM local time and have been busy ever since. We bussed from Raleigh to Washington, D.C. to Dulles Airport early on Monday morning in order to fly over to Germany. The bus ride was good... I slept... the entire time almost. So, all-in-all, bus ride = good.

We were delayed just a little bit for some computer issues that Munich had but we were able to lift off by about 9 PM and the flight was about 7 and a half hours to Munich. The flight was good, I guess. I watched the new Star Trek - hated the show but the movie is incredible! - and slept. Pretty uneventful trip up to that point, haha.

Alright, to the good stuff. Germany is beautiful! No joke. It's incredible! I have never felt more at home and comfortable in a foreign country - I'll explain in a minute. So, when you get off the plane in a different country, it really looks nothing like nothing more than an American airport and there is no difference in Germany. However, we had to bus to Regensburg from Munich and I was able to see all of the countryside of Germany.

The countryside is gorgeous. It's completely green and everything is kept up extremely well and the skies are Carolina Blue! It really made me feel like I was driving through Illinois but with hills! So, what does that make it? Iowa? ;-) There are farms everywhere. We passed by a ton of corn fields and I really felt like I was home. The whole look and feel of it was incredible. It's also like Illinois that there are a bunch of little towns. You'd drive for a bit and then you'd see a little village and then 20 minutes down the road it's another little village. Each village has group of small houses that are generally a cream in color and a copper roof and they're nestled into the hills. They had a ton of barns (not red!) and they had tractors and all kinds of farm equipment. It was all rustic and was awesome. Oh, and each town has a church tower in it that has a clock on the top and it's just so nice. The scenery was literally breathtaking and I can't even begin to tell you how it looked. Sadly I can't show you either because they put all of our luggage on a truck so that we didn't have to carry it on the bus and my camera was inside my bag. I didn't have a chance to take it out of the bag either because I was loading team equipment and someone loaded it before I got a chance. However I make sure I have my camera on me when we leave Germany so I can get pictures on the way back.

Anyway, we passed a TON of hops farms (Hops is the main ingredient in beer). They say that this area is the largest for Hops in all of Bavaria. So we had a ton of corn fields and a ton of hops farms! A beer drinkers heaven! We got to Regensburg in just about an hour and got to our hotel - we're staying at the Courtyard Marriott and it is right beside of the Danube River. The first thing we see is a giant Ferris Wheel across the river - it's a little precursor to Oktoberfest here apparently! So everyone immediately wanted to go to the festival! But instead we all checked in and moved into our rooms and had lunch (steak and potatoes - yes, please!). After that most people went out to explore the city but the staff had a dinner at the Town Hall to go to, so I wasn't able to venture yet.

We drove to downtown Regensburg (I didn't have my camera again, I am awful, I know... I really regret it) and it is maybe the cleanest and one of the most beautiful cities in the world! Once you get into the downtown area, you get to a lot of cobble stone roads and tons of alley ways that have little cafes and tons of shops. The buildings are incredible and old and in amazing shape. Fun little tidbit I learned: apparently, Regensburg was supposed to be bombed during WWII but the coordinates were misinterpreted so only the south part of the city was hit. Because of this mixup, the downtown area was completely untouched and it is the reason why the city has all of its (nearly) original infrastructure. Anyway, we got to the town hall and the mayor of Regensburg gave a speech and that was all. The inside of the buildings were like traveling in a castle! There are arch ways and tons of old paintings and it's awesome.

Once that was over, me and some of the staff went walking through the city (this is where I came to really regret not having a camera handy) and went to a restaurant called L'Osteria. First off, I had to have some beer since I was in Germany and it was alright. You can really taste how fresh the beer here is. There is a differently kind of texture and you can REALLY taste the hops! I had the Bughrest Pils and it wasn't bad! This coming from a beer-hater! We had some pizza and kept it really simple. The cafe was awesome. It was packed and they had outdoor seating so you'd sit pretty much on the cobble stone roads and it was an awesome environment! The greatest part of my night, though, was walking back to the hotel. It was about a 4 mile walk, but it was amazing. Walking down all of the alleys and through all of the different buildings at night was just awesome. Again, regretting I didn't have my camera with me, we walked through a lot of town markets and residential areas and it was one of the coolest experiences. We had to walk over about 3 bridges as well to get back, but since I love bridges, it was alright with me! We ended up walking through part of the festival but didn't go through the main part yet since we were all pretty beat.

So, my first night in Regensburg was amazing! I passed out on my computer as I was doing work, but it was totally worth it!

Today has been good so far. We got up and had a practice at the field we are playing at and now I'm back at the hotel. We have lunch at 2 and then opening ceremonies so I won't be able to venture out too much today but I will DEFINITELY be going back out with my camera in the next couple of days! Especially since we are only here through Saturday - we leave for Amsterdam on Sunday.

Anyway, this was a long post, as per usual, but I hope you enjoyed it. I can't wait to go back out and get some pictures to show you all how amazing this city is. But for now you'll just have to use your imagination!

Send my love back to everyone at home! I'll write again probably tomorrow!

Auf Wiedersehen (think of Heidi Klum saying it :-p)


THE PICTURES: 1 & 2 - The view from my hotel window; 3 - The American Troops in Germany have been very proactive with us being here. We are trying to arrange some stuff for the troops to come to our games and all kinds of stuff. Today, they sent some staff seargeants to do some interviews for the military base. 4 - Left field... nothing amazing, just another picture.

Here I Go!

Alright, well... Here I go!

I am heading to Europe! Not everyone knows about this, really, because it hasn't been official for very long. So, let me fill everyone in on the goings on of my life right now.

The 2009 IBAF Baseball World Cup is going on September 9 - 27 all over Europe. Because of the possibilities of me taking a new job beginning in August (which obviously did not happen) I was not able to travel to the World Cup with the IBAF - the organization that sent me to the Olympics. So, as I was horribly depressed, I was recommended by our General Manager of the National Teams to be the USA Baseball Professional Team Assistant Press Officer! (Holla 'atcha boy!) I worked with him all summer with the Collegiate National Team when I traveled to Japan and Canada, and he apparantly thought I did a really good job.

I did not know that I was going on this trip, however, until about a week ago because there was a possibility that my boss would going instead of me. He was supposed to go with the IBAF and he had not been given 100% confirmation on his trip... so to put it nicely, he told me, "If I'm not going with the IBAF, I'm taking your spot." Haha. Well, to keep this shorter rather than longer and the fact that I'm already boring myself, he finally got confirmation and I was getting ready to go to Europe.

The World Cup Team is comprised of Minor League Baseball players - some of whom you will be seeing in the Majors next season. Team USA is starting out in Regensburg, Germany (picture on the left) for the first round of the tournament. We are facing Venezuela, China and Germany. OK, I know none of you are really interested in hearing about the baseball part of my trip, but more about the trip itself, but still, I'm pumped about the baseball! We face Venezuela first, September 10 at 1 PM (ET).

If we come in first place (which we should) in our first pool, we will be traveling to Amsterdam and Rotterdam, Netherlands. Yeah, Amsterdam. Crazy! From there, if we advance to the final round (which we should, and BETTER) we will be traveling to ROME! ROME, ITALY! HOLY CRAP!

Just so everyone knows, there are a lot of places in the world that I want to visit. Australia and Italy top that list. And I'm going to have an opportunity to visit Italy. I cannot even explain how insanely incredible this experience could be and I cannot be more pumped up about this trip.

I have never been to Europe and I really want to go. Not only is this trip a special opportunity, it is unfortunately my swan song with USA Baseball. Yes, the day after I get back from this trip, my internship is officially over and I will be unemployed. The days of my traveling on amazing trips (for free!) with work are nearly over.

So, this is my USA Baseball finale, the trip of my dreams, and quite possibly the last time I ever leave the country. Isn't that hard to believe that with as much as I have traveled in the past year and a half that I may never get the opportunity to travel ever again? I hope that's not the case.

OK, this is too long already. I'm wordy, deal with it.

I leave Monday, September 7, 2009 (Labor Day) and we fly to Munich, Germany and then we bus to Regensburg. We are only six hours ahead of Eastern Time so email me! Comment on the blog!

And look on the MLB Network (Cable, satellite) because they are going to show some of our games. Maybe you will see me!

I hope you all enjoy the blog. It'll be fun, hopefully! I hope you all enjoy reading about my trip and my last days at USA Baseball... it's going to be a trip of a lifetime.

Peace out, homies!