Tidbits from a big weekend

Well Friday night as I was leaving for the Brookwood/South game I got a call from my friend Frank. He said I have two tickets to the Gwinnett Braves. Well how could I refuse. I got my wife and we headed over to the game. I had to check out the new P.A. announcer. You see I went to the audition for it and felt I aced it. Well I found out later they hired a former police officer with no experience. I was a little disappointed but wanted to see what I got beat out by. Well I knew he'd be a little nervous as anyone would be....including me. Here you are at tryouts in front of three judges;. But at the game you are in front of 10,000 people.

The announcer got off to an inauspicious start. He said first for the visiting Gwinnett Tides. Well we know it's the Norfolk Tides. I never heard #7 leading off until the second batter batted. When Clint Sammons was up Van Pope was still on the matrix board. Yes this might not have been his fault however, make us aware of it. Also the organ player was playing "charge" while we were on defense. Hmmmm. Not his fault but the glitches were far to many. Sure there are kinks and I understand but it also was quiet for about 4 innings. Then to his credit he started getting a little more enthusiastic. Yes were losing through most of the early innings but that place needs to be jumping. I mean it's the announcers job to be vocal and get the crowd into it on every single batter. Believe me you can keep a team in the game if the crowd is into the game. The players play harder. I was an announcer for Berkmar Football in 2004. This team was playing it's rival Parkview and I heard from the Parkview coaches that I got on their nerves and they wanted to come up and stangle me. I took that as a compliment. They actually said it kept Berkmar on the field with this much more powerful team. Another example was when I did the announcing for Central Gwinnett I had a Loganville parent ask if I could come do the announcing for them.

The announcer did a good job but for a AAA minor league baseball team they need to have someone that was more vocal. It's early. I hope he does well and gets better. After the Gwinnett Braves lost all three games this weekend, they need it. It's a team effort.

I also would like to say that I had T.J. Smith from Berkmar find me this weekend on facebook. Good kid. I hear he's playing at Clark Atlanta next year. He is currently in California at a junior college. I wish him well.

And Congrats to the Mill Creek baseball team. Went down to see them at Turner Field and they played a great game against the No. 1 team in the state South Forsyth. The Hawks pulled out a 4-3 victory over the War Eagles. Greg Brody knocked in two runs with a triple and Jake German knocked in the winning run in the bottom of the seventh. It was a long but fun weekend. Hope to have more like that soon.