There is so much going on in the office today since we are only a week and a half from our home opener.
For me, my big thing today is doing a test of all the equipment (some new, some old) that I need to broadcast our games online this year. Again, if you missed it earlier, we will only be online at http://www.silverhawks.com/ and http://www.sportsjuice.com/. Unfortunately, there will be no local radio station carrying our games, so make sure you have a computer close this season.
Aside from that, there is furniture being moved into the new suite, and some of the final touches are being put on the videoboard in right field. They are also still working on the field, while the updated dugouts have been finished. Check out the pictures below.
We've been posting these pictures on Facebook, Twitter, and at www.southbendtribune.com/thecove, but for those of you who don't regularly check those areas, I wanted to provide the latest field photos. These are pretty cool if you ask me:
You can tell it's close to the start of the season because I'm blogging like crazy lately. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to show off the field work today.
Very slowly it is starting to look like a baseball field today. More photos can be found at http://www.southbendtribune.com/, which also has a newly designed web page today!
A couple of weeks back, I had a nice live TV appearance on the morning of the Silver Hawks job fair. On Friday, my mug was back on local TV with a story about the stadium renovations.
National baseball writer and fellow blogger Benjamin Hill (http://bensbiz.mlblogs.com/) has written article for MinorLeagueBaseball.com about stadium renovations throughout the country. The Cove is one of three stadiums that is featured prominently in the article published on Friday.
As you all know, Coveleski Stadium is undergoing a facelift. While the original plans have been scaled back, there is still a lot of construction being done around the field.
I am still taking photos of the construction on a daily basis, and the best ones are now being published on the South Bend Tribune's website. The gallery has been set up, and will be updated frequently with new photos.
I asked you a while back which of the proposed stadium renovations were the most exciting, and here's how the responses came in:
Field Turf - 5 (15%)
New Team Store - 3 (9%)
Stage/Splash Pad/Fire Pit in Outfield - 2 (6%)
360-degree concourse - 11 (34%)
Updated picnic and group areas - 1 (3%)
State-of-the-art score/video board - 8 (25%)
Other - 2 (6%)
I thought the new scoreboard/videoboard would win, but I'm pleasantly surprised that the 360-degree concourse came out on top. I think this is a huge piece to making the Cove a better place by allowing fans the opportunity to walk entirely around the stadium, and check out all the new areas of the ballpark. It just opens up the stadium so much more and gives it a better feel.
I'm back from my vacation (more on that a bit later this week), and apparently I picked a bad week to leave town.
While I was away, the City of South Bend announced that they would be spending some money to help renovate Coveleski Stadium. Among the planned improvements are:
-Field Turf -State-of-the-Art Video Scoreboard -Walk-in Team Store -Renovated Suites and Upper Deck -New Center Field entrance that opens the Cove up to downtown -And much, much more.
You can click on the link above to see some artist renderings of the "new" Cove. I'll also spend some time on the blog tomorrow going over a few more details about the project.
I have to catch up on some things now, but I'll probably have one more post later today.
The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers have announced that they are going to renovate their stadium through the offseason, adding in some new seating areas and moving the bullpens from their current location.
The link above has the full story and a new seating diagram for what it will look like. To be honest, as the broadcaster, I don't care about the new seating areas. What I'm fascinated by is the fact that the bullpens are going to be moved to the outfield.
Remember, the Timber Rattlers had arguably the most unique bullpens in the league. Below are the pictures I took of the bullpens when we were there in July.
As you can see, the bullpens were sort of "carved" into the seating area, making for a unique experience for the fans, but also giving players more room to catch foul balls (or more room for wild throws to get caught up in).
Now, the bullpens are going to be beyond the outfield wall, which might make announcing who is warming up somewhat difficult. However, there's something to be said about watching a door in the wall open up, and having a flame-throwing reliever come running in while his music plays to excite the fans and intimidate the opponents.
Need an example? Watch below....and yes, I know it's in Spanish. I couldn't find it in English anywhere, but somehow, I think it's better in a different language.
Then again, the Silver Hawks don't go to Wisconsin this year, so I guess it doesn't matter.
