Late Night Bus Drama

Sorry for the lack of posts today, but I've been busy catching up on some things now that we are back at home.

Late last night, on our way back from Lansing, we had some drama involved with the bus ride home.  Just east of Elkhart, a motorcyclist in front of us hit a deer and wiped out entirely.  Oscar, the best bus driver in the world, hit the brakes hard and expertly handled the bus well to avoid hitting anything. 

As the bus came to a stop along the shoulder, manager Mark Haley, trainer Brian Czachowski, strength coach Mike Schofield and I all piled out to go check on the biker.  I dialed 9-1-1 while Brian found the man in the grass off the side of the road and made sure he was alright (remarkably, he only had road rash on the arm -- no broken bones, no head injuries, nothing). 

Everyone on the bus was fine, and after waiting for the police and ambulance to get there, we were on our way.  I'm happy to report that the biker appears to be okay as well, but it sure makes you think about how precious life is sometimes.  He's lucky to be alive.

Well That Was Fun

Last night got somewhat crazy. The Silver Hawks played two and a half innings, and then the players were pulled off the field because of some lightning in the distance.

We had known that there were some heavy storms in the area, but most of it missed north. Apparently, they were still developing over the plains, and the lightning (with some of the darkest skies I've seen in a while) soon gave way to heavy rain. We weren't 15 minutes into the rain delay when the GM of Clinton came out to the field with a microphone and as nicely as possible told everyone to get out of the ballpark and get home because there are tornados in the area.

I scambled to pack up my equipment, get a very short story put up on the website and sent out to the media, and load the bus. I thought we might hang out in Clinton for a while, waiting out the heavy stuff which was definitely located between Clinton and Cedar Rapids. I thought wrong.

We loaded the bus, and headed off into the storm for the trip to Cedar Rapids, driving right through the heart of the storm. We put a movie in on the bus, to distract everyone from the fact that there was rain, wind, hail, and the potential of tornados. As we were trying to determine what movie to watch, I believe it was Jordan Meaker who jokingly said "I have the movie Twister." That was both funny and not cool -- all at the same time.

Roughly 15 minutes into the trip, my mom called my cell phone, not knowing that we were on the road. Her words were "I was just watching the weather channel, and they are saying there are 80 mph winds between Clinton and Cedar Rapids. You guys won't be going anywhere for a while." Then, I probably said the dumbest thing I could have said at that point, when I responded "Mom, you don't have to tell me that. We're driving through it." I'd like to take this time to apologize to my mom for making her worry for the next two hours until I called her from Cedar Rapids to tell her we arrived safely.

Ultimately, the trip involved a lot of rain, more lightning than I've seen in a long time, and a bunch of wind. I don't think there was any hail on us, but the first 45 minutes to an hour were somewhat rough. Most everyone just let themselves get lost in the movie, and tried not to worry about everything that was going on around them.

Anyhow, we made it, safe and sound, to lovely Cedar Rapids.

Blogging from the Bus

For whatever reason, on this trip to Fort Wayne we have a luxury bus that has the following:

• Leather Seats
• Satellite TV
• Wi-Fi

Usually our buses have TVs and a DVD player, so the only thing you can watch is movies brought by the players. This gets interesting at times, and in my four years as a broadcaster, I've seen movies like BeerFest and Old School more times than I can count. Not to say that there is anything wrong with these movies, but actually having Satellite TV is a nice change. Unfortunately, there are no early MLB games today, so we're currently watching the Outdoor Channel. I realize I'm from Kentucky, but this isn't really my style.

The Wi-Fi is something we usually don't have, although I have to say I'm a big fan. I can get a lot done (like this blog and my media notes) if I had internet access at all times.

If you ever wondered what a bus trip is like, let me summarize it by looking around the bus and telling you what I see right now:

-TVs are on, only about 2 people really watching

-There are currently 32 people on the bus, including players, coaching staff, and the bus driver.

-I'd say about 12 of the 32 are currently sleeping...or at least they were until the bus driver just slammed on the brakes and just woke everyone up (not his fault, a bad driver in front of us made a stupid move).

-Half of the people on the bus have in earphones listening to music of some sort (myself included and my current selection is Billy Joel -- I have an appreciation for all types of music).

-I'm in the third row behind the driver, one seat back of strength coach Vaughn Robinson, and two back of Franciso Morales. Mark Haley has the first row on the right side. Normally Erik Sabel is directly behind him, but Sabel isn't on the bus on this trip for some reason. Brian Czachowski usually occupies the third seat on the right, but he's moved up to the second seat with Sabel being absent. The players fill in the rest of the seats. Most have a row to themselves, although a few have to double up.

-I think there was a card game going on about halfway back. No idea what they are playing. If it's not War, Crazy 8's, or Euchre, I'm not playing.

-That's about it. Trust me, it's not that exciting, particularly when you play 70 games on the road a season.