Award Time

It's time to give credit where credit is due. I do appreciate these four people for their continuous viewing time on the blog. Don't think that your dedication is going unnoticed!

Panthers end season ... 2^nd place again

We repeated in the same steps that we did last year: Make our way through the losers bracket, win the first game of the chapionship, lose the second game and end up in 2^nd place once again. We got off to a great start by winning the first game 7-0. Then in the second game, we scored 2 in the bottom of the 9^th to send it to extra innings (yes, more free baseball). The Black Sox came to bat in the top of the 10^th, and had seven consecutive hits to start off their 8 run inning. Needless to say, we didn't score 8 or more in the bottom of the inning and lost.

All in all, it was a good season and we'll definitely be back next year.

How close do you sit?

The University of Nebraska is awesome. First, it lets students sit closer to the basketball court than any other college I've ever seen. This goes for fans now as well with the new black leather seats. Now it's time to sit closer at a football game. It's time for football to start up in a couple of weeks, and it's time for all of the freshman to camp out 3 hrs. before the gates open to get the best seats in the house. That is usually true.... until this year. The only way that they are goin' to see the game from the best seats in the house is to pay $5000 up front to the University. Check these seats out:

Déjà Who?

Here we are at the end of the summer again. School's starting. People are moving things in. The LJS won't shut up about Husker football (not a bad thing). And the LABL tournament is wrapping up. Somehow the bruised and beaten Panthers have clawed their way (ok, no pun intended) to the championship through the losers bracket for the second straight year. This brings up the exact same matchup as last year: Panthers have to beat the Black Sox twice in one day to claim the crown. Last year we won 1 of 2, so we'll see what happens this Sunday. Hopefully a week off will help everyone heal up. We played 36 innings in 4 days. Needless to say, we're a little stressed and worn out. So come one, come all. Next Sunday at 2:00 out at Densmore.

Extra Extra (read all about it)

So once again, our team decided that playing 9 innings of baseball just isn't fun enough. So for the 2^nd time in 3 days, we played extra innings. Once again, in an elimination game, but this time against the Giants. It was a slugfest back and forth throughout the game, and at the end of 9, the scored was tied 8-8. We battled until the 11^th, and this is where we finally scored the go-ahead run, and held them in the bottom half of the inning.

So to recap, in 3 days, we played 27 innings of baseball. That would make it fine and dandy, but guess what? We have another game tonight! That means in 4 days, we are going to play AT LEAST 34 innings of baseball. OK, I'm going to be shot after this weekend, and my hamstring's have already taken their toll. So if you see me just laying around, or limping around for that matter, don't ask any questions. You now know why.

16 innings = way too much baseball

When I was a senior in high school, we played a game against Prague, and it took 14 innings to complete. Now that was a feat since the high school games only lasted 7 innings regularly. Last night, we played in our first elimination game against the Giants. We finally won in the 16th inning. The final was 4-3, with all 7 runs in the game being unearned. It was 2-2 going into the top of the 16^th, and the Giants scored their 3^rd unearned run. In the bottom of the 16^th, I led off the inning by reaching on an error, then advanced to second on an error, to third on a single, then scored the tying run on a fielder's choice. The bases were loaded at this point. It was right here (I swear this is no lie), when their starting pitcher came out of the game. Yes, he pitched 15+ innings! This is weird because when we played Prague in that long battle, the same pitcher pitched all 14 for them..... anyways, Drew hit a ball to the 2^nd baseman that he misplayed, and we won the game. A game that should've taken less than 2.5 hours to complete, was finally over 4.5 hours later. What a rush, huh? Now we play Sunday, and I don't know if there will be anyone on the team that will be geared up to play in that game now....

Down With Delta

So Erica got in last night around 11:30 or so. We waited until after midnight... and she didn't receive either one of her two bags that she brought back with her. So that really stinks. It's supposed to come into Lincoln today after 4:00. So hopefully it does for her sake. I mean, she moved back from Germany, and doesn't have either suitcase!

Greetings from Germany

My sister has finally arrived from the other side of the Atlantic. Or at least she will later on tonight. Her plane comes in tonight, and she wants to go out on Thursday with me and some other people. So if you're in town, stop by on Thursday night and see her, she's only goin' to be in Nebraska for a few days. Then she moves on to the beaches of California in a place called Monterey.

Moving

I thought today was going to be an awful and horrible day. It actually turned out pretty sweet, and The 436 will be grillin' on a new grill here pretty soon. It was the big moving day for Christi as she transitions away from her sorority house, and into her new apt. with Claire and Jenni. I thought it was going to be a long and stressful time, but it actually turned out alright, and went by very quickly.

Big time props for my man Ponec. He came through in the clutch and helped out all morning and afternoon by giving me an extra hand at carrying some of the heavier things up the flights of stairs. It was also nice that my mom came in and surprised Donna and Christi by helping move as well.

Once everything was all said and done, we came back to my place, where I had steaks marinating overnight (yeah, my mouth is starting to drool too!). We got back, drank some beer, and cooked some food. It sure was a lot of fun. Once again, I just can't complain over the summer: Good Times. Good Food. Great Friends and Family.

There shouldn't be a post tomorrow. Soccer at 12:00, then a HUGE labl tournament game at 5:00 for baseball. If we win, we'll be in the semi-final game.

The Total Ban

So finally the smoking ban has taken away something that I liked. Bob's Gridiron Grille & Pigskin Pub. Adam and I went at 10:30 last night to feast on some $0.25 tacos, but the parking lot was vacant, and they had signs up in the windows that read:
"Another business closes. Enjoy your smoke-free Lincoln."
Sad news because this place had the most Husker Football memorabilia that I've ever seen in my life.

Although, I'm not going to sit here and say, "Let's reverse the ban so we can get Bob's back." I still stand by saying that it's a good thing. Maybe a new Pastime Pub will open up there in its place. There are still 2 nights out of the week when you can buy tacos for $0.25. There are a lot of restaurants and bars that are still operating almost a year after this went into effect. I love walking into a place to eat, and not having to answer, "Smoking or Non?" I really can't put a price on it, but it's almost worth its weight in gold.

--

In a non-related (but somewhat related to what I wrote) story, maybe smoking is the answer. Maybe it's old fashion, but everywhere you look on tv, after "you're done", people are always laying around smoking a cigarette. Maybe that's what [ this stupid guy ] should've done!

Work

Well, I officially started my new job today. I'm going to be the webmaster for Student Involvement here on campus for those of you who didn't know. Here's the url of the new web site that we are putting together: http://involved.unl.edu/new_involved/

My job is great. Good people, and I really like what I do. But no matter where you work, if you have a long break like I did (month or so), when you finally go back, it always feels like this:

Atlanta (Sunday)

So our trip was over. But what a trip it was! We both had an amazing time. The only bad thing was that we had to get up super early to catch our plane ride back to Omaha. During our layover in Minneapolis, we were informed that our plane was overbooked, so people were running up to the counter to get their tickets for a later date so that they would receive a $300 voucher. This was not the case for us since I needed to get back for the first game in the LABL tournament. With all of the confusion of people canceling their seats, they upgraded Christi and I to first class for hour long trip to Omaha. It was everything that I thought it could be. Next time that I fly some place that takes over 2 hrs., I'm going to seriously have to consider how much it costs to fly in some great seats with plenty of leg room.

That's all for our trip. Be sure to come see me if you want to see all of the pictures that we took while we were there.

Atlanta (Saturday)

This was our last day in Atlanta, so we headed off to the richer part of the city known as Buckhead. Before we made it there, we stopped back at Gordon Biersch's for some more good food and beer. Once in Buckhead, we went to the Lenox Square to do some shopping (or lack there of). This is by far the largest mall that I've ever been to. That isn't saying much since I'm not the avid shopper or anything, but it was still huge. We probably walked around for 2 or 3 hours, just checking out the ridiculous price tags at places like Bloomingdales or Macy's. The mall was packed because we were there during their Sales-Tax-Free weekend. We bought some really good caramel chocolate there, and then headed back to the hotel to relax on our amazing bed and get ready for the game.

Once we headed off to the game, we had one goal in mind: To get Christi a Braves shirt. It took us a couple of stops once at the field, but we finally found a good one. We got some nice pictures up in the upper deck, then headed back down towards our seats.



We sat in almost the exact same place, except we were on the 1^st base side. On the way down to our seats, Christi was saying that she needed to pick a player to follow. She really liked Jeff Francoeur, and she said since she was new to baseball, and he was new to the Braves, he was the likely pick. So just like the night before when my player came through, Jeff came through for Christi and the Braves. He hit a 2-run homer and drove in 2 more on a bases clearing double to put the Braves up 4-3 after Jason Bay hit a 3 run homer for the Pirates in the first inning. Francoeur sure sparked the Braves with his double, as they went on to score 7 more in the inning, and win the game 9-6. A dream come true for me. I was at 2 Braves games with Christi, and they won both of them! We hopped on the shuttle back to the station, then walked to the hotel since our plane left at 8 a.m. the next morning.

Atlanta (Friday)

This was our first big day out in the city. Once we woke up from the night before, we headed out to the heart of tourist Atlanta. Here within a half mile of everything, we saw the World of Coca-Cola, the capitol building, the CNN tour and Olympic Park. First stop was the World of Coca-Cola:

This was a pretty good self-paced tour. They must have every single Coke artifact that was ever made right here in Atlanta. Three stories tall, and filled to the brim with posters, signs and bottles. It was here where I finally broke my 3 year long vow. I finally drank pop again. I used to be hooked on the stuff, and I really didn't have a reason for quitting to drink the product, so I figured if I was at the main Coke plant, I could splurge just once here.


You could also sample Coke from around the world here, and uncle Matt said not to drink the one from Italy. So what do you do when someone tells you this? You drink the one from Italy! It was HORRIBLE!

After the Coke tour, we walked around to the CNN tour. On the way, we saw a huge building that didn't look like anything else, and I told Christi I thought it was the Capitol Building. Since I took pictures of it, I wanted to know what it was, so Christi and I went in and asked the guy at the front desk. He confirmed my suspicion, we took a picture outside, and headed off to the CNN tour.



Once we got inside the massive CNN Center, Christi's recollection of her childhood hit her and said that this is where she stayed when they danced in Atlanta. And if I don't mind saying, a pretty nice place to stay. We'll get to a better place in a second or two....
So we went on the tour, and saw exactly how CNN is broadcasted across the nation. We even learned that CNN En Espanol is broadcasted here as well. Sorry for no pictures, but they were pretty adamant that you kept the lens on your camera at all times. Just like at the World of Coca-Cola, they dumped us off in the gift shop, and we were on our way. Right out the door was Olympic Park:

This must've been quite some place in '96 when they had the Olympics here. It was not that amazing in '05 though. It was cool and all, but it was just wide open spaces with grass and fountains here and there.

After our long day of site-seeing, we decided to go back to the hotel and cool down. On the way back, we passed the hotel that I wanted to stay at, and the hotel that I will stay at the next time that I come. The Westin Peachtree Hotel:



The humidity was absolutely horrible down there. If you haven't noticed, in ever single picture, my hair is wet from sweat. The weather never got over 86°, and we never saw the sun once, seriously, no joke. It was good, because with the mid 80's weather, and the high humidity, it was hotter there than any day in Nebraska so far, and we've had a couple triple digit days!

We made our way back downtown and ate at a great Italian Pizza place called Baraonda's. We had a great pizza there that rivaled Yai Yai's and it was only $8! By far our cheapest meal there.



Once we got back to the Sheraton and cleaned up, and it was time to leave we got our tickets and took the Braves Shuttles off to the highlight of the trip, Turner Field:



Forget Iowa, this was my field of dreams. After watching Braves games since '93 and at Turner Field since '96, I was finally here. All of the images on television were finally right in front of me. Right as I write this, I'm watching the game on TV, and I can see everything there that we just saw a couple of days ago. And they just said that Rafael Palmeiro got suspended for steriods! Anyways, the field was everything that I thought it could be, and from looking at our tickets, we had amazing seats. We were only 13 rows up from Chipper! It was amazing to see Chipper up close and in person. And just for me, Chipper had the game winning 2 rbi single for us to watch a thrilling 2-1 Braves victory over the Pirates. After the game, we took the shuttle back and got some food and drink.



The place we wanted to go to was closed, and done selling beer at 11:00 p.m.! Yeah, what a joke. So we went to the Hard Rock that was 2 blocks from our hotel for a late night dinner.

Atlanta (Thursday)

First of all, Atlanta was amazing. It's always great to get out of Nebraska, and go to another big city that you've never been to before. It was good for Christi as well because she's been there, but never really got to experience the city because she was dancing the whole time.

After we picked up our luggage from the airport, we hopped on the MARTA train system, and realized that right there it was going to be an expensive trip. The fares for riding each way/per person was $1.75. So we bought our tokens, hopped on, and took the train to our station by our hotel. When we got off, we took (what I thought then) the longest escalator ride ever. We got to the Sheraton Hotel, and upon arriving, got upgraded to a king size bed for free! So right off the bat, the hotel was a good find. Plus their beds have to be the best that I've ever laid in at a hotel. No questions asked.




Then we slipped on some nicer clothes, and headed out for a night on the town. First stop was Gordon Biersch's, a local German brewery.


After we had some amazingly cheap and great tasting beer here, we walked around and found a couple of other local bars just to see what they were like. Once done, we headed on over to Halo to experience some good night life and after-hour drinks. What an amazing place. Christi and I both thought that if we have the expenses and the time later on in life, we should open up a place like this in Lincoln. It was by far the best night-life-place that I've ever been to. Quite amazing. If you're in Atlanta, you should definitely go. The only trouble is finding the front door. This place seems pretty exclusive.... which makes it an even better find.


We sat on the upper-upperstairs in the background.

The Clique

Ben VanKat
Troy Bell
Chris VanKat

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