Getting Back To Baseball After All These Years - Empty Stadium & Memories of Wanting To Play in MLB
Baseball memories and getting back into it
Transcript
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welcome everyone adame the woo here as a
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recording of this is saturday
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june 19th 2021
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and i am holding about to consume a
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freshly squeezed oj not piping hot nor
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caffeinated
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in front of orange world and i chose
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this location for the intro
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not only because it is full of vitamin c
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that is good but also because it is a
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sphere that looks similar
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to the top of a baseball granted it is
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orange
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and baseball as far as i know unless you
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paint it is not working also
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i have a new haircut the wind is blowing
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so i kind of have a little bit of a
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cowlick is it cowlick cadillac
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it looks like a farm animal has
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licked the top of my head
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nonetheless i digress back in the day
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look at the look at the wind blowing my
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hair there i think it's pretty decent
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haircut though
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back in the day when i was younger i
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wanted to be a baseball player
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i was really into baseball collected
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baseball cards
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followed all the teams this was late 80s
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into the 90s and then after that i
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considered for a very short while
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of going to umpire school these are
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things that you might not realize so i'm
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going to
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share that info with you talk about the
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past
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and how i would like to get back in to
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going
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to baseball games making that
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proclamation now as i sip on this oj
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freshly squeezed and i'll give you a
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little tour and i'm gonna go buy a
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couple maybe at least one
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maybe two or more baseball caps
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and talk about some games that i will be
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attending
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as time goes on it's official i'm
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getting back into watching
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baseball and going to games heck it
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change things up a bit rediscover what i
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used to really enjoy and love
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inviting you to join me shall you
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no need to worry big the foot there
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won't be a major shift in content on any
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any kind of level it'll just be
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something i do occasionally kind of
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pepper it in
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if you will let's have some fun do some
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enjoyable things in life
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mixing it up a bit went ahead and
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decided to stop by lids here in the loop
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kind of wedge between little greek and
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vitamin world
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should have a nice assortment of hats in
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there i pick out a couple of
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stadiums i plan on visiting and then
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well we'll say near future but in a semi
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near future
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ended up getting four ball caps thought
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i was going to get one or two ended up
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with four
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these this will pretty much seal the
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deal on me visiting
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these stadiums of course tampa bay is
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about 90 miles from here
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to tropicana fields two hour drive
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give or take probably more with traffic
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might not go over there quite as much
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but i will over time this is not going
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to be anything
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immediate but one day i will you know go
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there
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show the stadium show some food watch
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the ball game
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as well as atlanta braves of course the
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dodgers in anaheim
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are in close proximity to my place out
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in orange county california in fact
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anaheim angel stadium now called
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the los angeles angels of anaheim
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is probably a mile or so
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maybe two miles walking distance or a
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short commute to that stadium from my
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place
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out in the oc so i will probably be
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frequenting that ballpark
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quite a bit now sometimes tampa bay will
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play the angels
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and i have to go with wearing my angels
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cap if i go to any of those games
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down the road the bag just fell
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but in the other games i'll wear the the
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tampa bay cap
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i tried to find a devil raised hat a
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throwback but they didn't have them at
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this at this store
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there you go i might buy more hats down
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the road not really partial to one team
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but i believe
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that the angels the los angeles angels
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of anaheim will
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probably quickly become my regular go-to
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and the team i support the most because
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it's really close to my place out there
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and i want to go to some games enjoy
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enjoy the ambiance the sights the sounds
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and the smells of a good baseball game
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drove over to the back side not the back
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side of water the backside of the
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osceola county stadium
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heritage park this building here which
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is now
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used as the orlando city soccer
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or football club depending on whichever
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you refer to it as
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which was another sport i used to play
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soccer when i was very young
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never really followed the game so
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baseball really was the only
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the only sport that i followed closely
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didn't follow basketball basketball and
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football as much
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a little bit when i was younger but
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baseball
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really had a pretty good handle on in
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fact i would in the early 90s when my
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family first moved here to central
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florida
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this was part of the houston astro
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spring training
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and i would show up here and get
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autographs met jeff bagwell
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in fact i met yogi berra right here in
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this parking lot i got a baseball signed
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by yogi berra who was a coach for a
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little bit
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in his later years for the astros for a
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short time period
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let's continue this way and go up to the
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stadium which i worked at for a little
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bit
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as well i worked at the hot dog
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and vendor stand for a few seasons
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i wanted to showcase that first kind of
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fell into the subject matter a little
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bit also right over here
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is the former florida christian college
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right across the street from the stadium
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and i went here one semester back in the
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early 90s
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oh yes went to many a games down in
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there osceola heritage park you can see
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the stadium
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back there that is the the wall home run
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wall
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outfield behind those two fences
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spent a lot of time in there back in the
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early 90s quite a few trailers over here
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and
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campers rvs they are having a event at
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the rodeo grounds
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over there it's a barrel racing horse
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event as well
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how's it going here is the osceola
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county stadium
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former spring training home of the
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houston astros back in the
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90s and i worked at one of these
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concession stands actually i kind of
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hopped around
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from concession stand to concession
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stand
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they also used to have the kissimmee
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cobras
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with spring train in here and then in
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later years up until recently there was
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another
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team that would play here but they have
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since moved on to another area of the
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state
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as far as i know there are no
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spring training teams here at the
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osceola county stadium anymore
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which brings me to another point now i
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realize i will be
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hopping back and forth between socal and
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peppering in a couple you know couple
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games here and there won't be an
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overload by any means just every once in
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a while the mood hits me
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but this is a a mecca of spring training
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a lot of teams
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practice in arizona and a lot of teams
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in central florida
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so that could be something for the
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future as well just kind of
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enjoy not only you know full mlb
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but also the farm league teams
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as well yeah look at this they have they
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got a rodeo
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going on over here as well pretty cool
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this used to be the ticket booth here
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well it might still be the ticket booth
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for certain events
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right along here just have merchandise
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in there and whatnot but
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i don't believe they do now states right
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here that the main box office for
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anything that's happening is over at the
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well the main box office is located at
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the silver spurs arena
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which is right over there oh there's a
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horse
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right over there behind a golf cart
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walking across
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just something about baseball that i
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always always enjoyed
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kind of lost touch with that over the
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years
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yeah this was the team store at one
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point right in here
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now it's just some tables and empty
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walls
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no longer the team store and around this
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way if you follow this around
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is where a lot of the spring training
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activities
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in fact i would show up here early in
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the spring training
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season when it was only pitchers and
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catchers would show up before the other
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fielders
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and whatnot and they would always
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practice over here i got a heck of a lot
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of autographs i don't even know whatever
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happened to all those baseball cards
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used to really be into collecting
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baseball cards back then
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what got me really thinking about this i
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did a road trip with my dad
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about a month or two ago it's been a
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little while i've been over it's been
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about a month
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probably should have looked up the exact
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dates but i did a 10 day road trip with
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my father
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and we went by mickey mantle's house
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commerce oklahoma have
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bought two baseballs this one is still
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shrunk wrapped the other one
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i unwrapped and threw the ball around
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had a father and son catch
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at mickey mantle's house where he grew
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up commerce illinois
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commerce oklahoma not illinois i lived
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in liberal illinois another time
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commerce oklahoma
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the the youthful home of
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one of the greatest baseball players
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ever mickey mantle and then
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shortly after that a couple days after
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that we went
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to the field of dreams field in
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dyersville
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iowa it's not heaven it's iowa
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and threw the ball around in the same
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spot as kevin costner
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and his fictional dad there very
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dramatic
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kind of tear jerking scene for sure
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and it made me realize gosh i real i
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love that movie i love field of dreams i
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love the natural
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those are probably my two favorite
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baseball movies and it just
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made me kind of hearken back to my days
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of how much i love
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still love baseball and since then i'm
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always watching like highlight clips
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and i've really kind of fallen out of
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who's playing for what teams
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what's really going on and i feel like
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that would be good for me to kind of get
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back into that
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that whole vibe that whole experience
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going to stadiums going to games
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enjoying a nice hot dog
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some nachos beverage
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help me out either in the outfield or
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having seats and i can kind of
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showcase thing now i don't know how it
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works with
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regulations on filming i don't believe i
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can film the game
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i can film segments of the game i can
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film the players
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i can film a tour of the ballpark but i
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think
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it is frowned upon by the mlb to
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to film the entire game i'm holding this
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baseball because it just makes me feel
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good it's like a comfort
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it's almost like a teddy bear
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oh should i wear the hat backwards i
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don't know something about the braves
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hat i like
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i like the way the braves hat looks on
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me as stated i'll probably go into more
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anaheim angels los angeles anaheim of
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angels
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games than any of the other ones but who
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knows
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maybe at some point over time may take
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a while years or a year or two years or
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five years at some point i might hit up
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all of the stadiums who knows
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not making any guarantees i'm just
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thinking out loud kind of getting
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excited about this whole
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now i'm thinking which will be the first
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game
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that i that i go to which will be the
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first one what will be
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the first baseball game back for me that
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i will document
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and experience hmm things that make you
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go
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hmm be kind of nice if i could get up in
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there if i could walk down to the field
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you can see the first base sideline
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right there yeah this concession stand
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you could have seen a younger adam
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before
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the wu that's me i'm talking to myself i
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shouldn't probably even say that you
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could have found a younger myself
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right there before youtube
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before any of that stuff i would have
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been
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selling hot dogs brewski's to those who
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wanted to have a nice beverage while
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they watched the game
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a lot of nachos i could remember a lot
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of nachos i made
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right there with cheese and whatnot and
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jalapenos
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i need some baseball nacho they need
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some baseball dogs
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hot dogs this could be fun i'm excited
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about this
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i'm excited about this what might happen
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now this gate is open should i try to
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walk back there
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probably not and what's the worst they
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could say no
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oh yeah this is what i'm talking about
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look at this
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oh they have the soccer nets up okay the
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soccer team is practicing out here
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check it out yes wow this brings back
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some serious memories right here
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look at this so cool
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wow oh check it out they have removed
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the netting behind home plate in fact
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there is no home plate anymore look at
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this there's no home plate
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it's no longer a baseball field no home
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plate
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just a soccer field now bases have been
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pulled up
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wow yeah this is this is wild
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this is a throwback for me
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sure is so a lot of spring training
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games here so a lot of kissimmee cobra
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games here i think i'm saying that right
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my apologies if i'm misquoting the team
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that used to be the
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i think it was a 1a or 2a there are
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three divisions
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there used to be three divisions of the
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farm
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team system for major league baseball
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one a two a and three a starting at one
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you work your way up to two to three
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and then if you were good enough and you
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were in three for long enough
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they would send you up to the big
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leagues and that's the way umpiring
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works as well
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umpiring works the same way i thought
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about that for a short while and then
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decided against it
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because you have to put a lot of time
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into it you don't just
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jump right into a major league game into
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the big leagues
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i'm walking over here i'm walking over
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to this section
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because i met tommy lasorda right over
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here
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back in the 90s tommy lasorda was right
15:16
down here
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a few people around signed a couple
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autographs
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didn't sign a couple autographs signed a
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couple and that was it for him made it
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very vocal
15:26
that he was done signing but i got to
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see tommy lasorda from about this
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distance
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in fact i think i was right about here
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and he was down there
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pretty cool tommy lasorda met yogi bear
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here tommy lasorda here
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good times going up the steps now to
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tell someone
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some groundskeepers that saw me walking
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around no one has said anything yet
15:47
since the gate was open i just walked in
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and reminiscing a little bit
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there we go look at that
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man i wish i still had baseball here
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that would be fun
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this used to be a section up here where
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you could grab a picnic table
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have a hot dog another concession stand
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up here
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i guess the orlando city soccer club
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they use this for practice still can't
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decide
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if i should well i should take the
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wrapping off of this still can't decide
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i also took the stickers off of my hat i
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know sometimes it's
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it's a good thing to leave the stickers
16:30
on but i
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took the stickers off i also wear a
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fitted hat
16:36
seven and five-eighths i believe yeah
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seven and five-eighths the four halves
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that i bought seven and five eight
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you can use the snap back but i went
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with the fitted i should probably take
16:43
the
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the plastic off of this even though
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there's no one else here to
16:47
toss it around so maybe i'll just wait
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for later
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mark my words all goes well i will be
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sitting in a seat similar to this at a
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stadium somewhere
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either here well either probably one of
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the first two will either be
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tampa bay tropicana field
17:10
whoa hello or anaheim angels
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los angeles anaheim angels stadium los
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angeles angels of anaheim
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those are probably going to be the one
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of the first two stadiums i go to i
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haven't decided which one
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it will be so i'm leaving these sections
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and heading back out
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that was nice of them to not say
17:30
anything we're walking in here
17:32
just talked to a gentleman in a golf
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cart who approached me
17:35
and said that there is no longer
17:36
baseball played here
17:38
and they are doing i don't know if it's
17:39
an exhibition or a game a soccer game
17:42
no guests are allowed interesting no
17:46
more baseball is here right now even if
17:47
he said the fire frogs
17:49
or the other team that used to be here
17:51
and the fire frogs
17:54
have left the building there might be
17:56
some other minor league teams around
17:58
florida though that i could
17:59
i could check out oh
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always always lawn maintenance
18:05
everywhere i go
18:06
there's one minute all right that was
18:08
cool lots of media is pulling in here
18:10
now
18:10
it feels like they're gonna be filming
18:12
the game for the soccer match
18:15
but not says that has media written on
18:17
the side
18:18
but it will not be allowed for guests
18:20
interesting
18:22
don't tell anyone supposed to be a
18:23
seeker okay heading out to the osceola
18:27
that's pretty much it an informational
18:29
video
18:30
describing on what i'm going to be doing
18:32
i'm trying to
18:33
kind of pepper in things a little bit
18:36
differently i don't want to get
18:37
completely predictable with what i'm
18:41
doing i want to
18:42
kind of make making a pact with myself
18:45
or did
18:46
recently or just to do whatever i want i
18:49
made kind of a new year's resolution
18:50
about that and
18:56
trying to hone that a little bit and
18:56
really do more of what i enjoy
18:58
and showcase that as opposed to just
19:00
always being the same type of
19:02
repetitive stuff mix it up a bit that's
19:05
it that's about mixing things up
19:07
being happy doing what you enjoy and
19:10
really trying to transform
19:13
this channel the daily woo channel
19:16
which i usually do a video every day i
19:18
would say probably
19:19
at least six to seven times and we still
19:21
get on a roll and do three or four five
19:22
i think i missed a day in
19:24
a while probably a couple months
19:28
but really the whole consensus of that
19:30
is to just
19:31
document my life document i'm doing tell
19:34
my thoughts
19:35
and show my day and show what i what i
19:37
enjoy
19:39
see the next video the vlog it is humid
19:42
out here
19:42
can't decide backwards
19:45
forwards good times
19:49
the vlog
19:53
i'm cutting down some palm trees
20:01
i'm excited to get back to socal awesome
20:01
this humidity here is intense
20:03
i'm excited to get it's been it'll be
20:05
close to 20 weeks by time i get back
20:06
there at the end of the month
20:08
all right i'm done see the next video
20:11
is over oh yeah and the reason i never i
20:14
never followed that dream or that
20:15
pursuit
20:16
is mostly because i didn't have the
20:18
talent and the lack of talent i had
20:20
i did not put the time and effort and
20:22
discipline
20:23
to continuously practice to make myself
20:26
better to even reach that level that's
20:28
why i never that's why i never did it
20:30
it was a nice little thought didn't put
20:32
the work in it takes a lot of work to
20:34
to achieve that status plus i was home
20:36
schooled
20:37
and i went to i went to schools that had
20:40
very
20:41
very low attendance so it wasn't really
20:44
a lot of a lot of teams
20:46
that i could play on but really what it
20:48
boiled down to is i just didn't want it
20:50
bad enough and you have to want
20:51
something
20:52
to make it happen