I Showed Up To Confusing First Day Of Tampa Bay Rays Spring Training After 99 Day Baseball Lockout
First Day Of Baseball Spring Training 2022
Transcript
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today's adventure begins here in
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celebration florida on market street
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6 45 a.m
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a cool crisp 41 degrees market square
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there as a recording of this
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sunday march 13th
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2022 i'm beginning here i'm going to
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take a 150 mile commute
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to the delayed but now opening day
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of spring training for the tampa bay
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rays in port charlotte
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florida
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charlotte sports park is where i'm
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heading
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it's early and there was a time change
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so
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lost an hour last night all fueled up
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from the art deco 711
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4.29 cents a gallon currently here in
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central florida and at this hour traffic
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shouldn't be too bad taking i-4
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westbound and then 75 south
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before i get over to 75 south picking up
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a friend just on the outskirts of tampa
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he's going to be tagging along and
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whenever i'm making a commute over
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either the tropicana field or anything
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raise-related i usually put on this
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podcast just to get kind of caught up i
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like listening to these guys
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just to stay informed and also
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piping hot caffeinated beverage here for
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the trip
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ah the sun is rising behind me
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i'm heading west
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sun's rising in the east
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it's gonna be a beautiful day there it
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is spring training home of the tampa bay
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rays
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charlotte sports park
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i've arrived
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if ever i needed a reason to go to this
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stadium which i have never been to
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this is it a historical moment
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when spring training officially begins
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after the lockout after the long delay
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this is when the players report for the
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first time
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22. welcome everyone adam the woo here
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wearing an appropriate hat
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and shirt
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and with me
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tampa j i'm wearing the appropriate
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shirt and hat as well you got and a
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glove i bought my glove and we should
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also mention i have no earthly clue what
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is even going to happen today what's
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going on i don't know there is no game
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there will be no
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there will be nothing happening on the
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field other than the players are
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supposed to report today
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and i don't even know if we're going to
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be able to get inside the stadium i have
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no no idea we brought the gloves i just
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showed up
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we just showed up this is a historic
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moment
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and we figured we would document it show
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our support for the team go raise you
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ever been to the stadium before this is
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my first time here this is a nice
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facility we just got here and
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it's pretty nice
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who you wearing there turn around i've
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got franco
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you got franco on the back
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yeah i got kirby here
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here show the back of mine there you go
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i gotcha
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right there
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kara bar
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i like that shirt i like that hat too
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so as of did a little research
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oh this is also the spring training hat
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this is the technical
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spring training which side the palm tree
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are here right over there palm trees
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there right there
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i think the players might be wearing
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these too
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all right i'm inviting you to join me
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and tampa jack all right
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shall you
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it's nice out here today it's like 40 is
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great
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but we both got like an extended
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beautiful extended long sleeve
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underneath us yeah great wise thinking
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like
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now it is kind of interesting that the
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team store is not open as a recording of
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this on a sunday they don't have this
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open so no souvenirs
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but they will be practicing or at least
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reporting today
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all the teams across the mlb
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are reporting here on this specific day
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home plate entrance
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home of the rays
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not tropicana field tropicana field is
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indoors it's an indoor stadium
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this
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is outdoors
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now the first spring training game would
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have already happened if the you know
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the lockout did not take place in fact i
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had tickets to a couple they have been
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refunded
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and just to reiterate or to state i
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don't have any idea if i'm going to be
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able to walk inside here and even see
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the players
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warming up possibly even
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talk to the players
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down this path are a couple gentlemen
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maybe they would know and it seems like
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the players are walking back there to
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report and just kind of play it by ear
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and they might not even be using the
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technical field over here you see raised
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dug out there visitors dug out first
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base side raised dug out but a lot of
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times at spring training they will use
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these practice fields over here there's
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an observation tower so possibly
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possibly there now we're just
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discovering this is the media entrance
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here
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and they said they're not actually not
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going to be practicing today we weren't
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really 100 sure but we showed up minor
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league
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is practicing this we'll be able to go
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over those fields and go around to
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another entrance so we'll see we can
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find on the other side
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i was trying to do a lot of research to
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see because i for a time
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back in the day i worked in kissimmee
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florida at the houston astro spring
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training facility but even before that
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and after that it was kind of a an open
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facility where you could just show up
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and watch the players talk to them i was
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thinking this would kind of be how this
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was but evidently this is the first day
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the gentleman up there at the gate said
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that we're not allowed to go in that
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particular one but then again that is a
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media
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access
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which makes me think if media is here
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something is happening in there
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yeah they're going to do something so
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we'll drive around to where the other
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road he said to go to and see what we
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can find just playing this all by ear
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and noticing all these cars here i would
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imagine this is not all media some of
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these are probably
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employees that work here
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you know for the stadium and possibly
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even players so you just never really
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never really know
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so it's definitely happening
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there's quite a few cars that are parked
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here besides besides mine walked along
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the sidewalk that ended right up there
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at the top of that little berm
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this is around the third base side as
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well
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i just want to see some players in
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action
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i think there's a chance
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i think so too
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peeking through the fence there you can
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see where it says rey's baseball
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boardwalk
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over there and
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down the first base line on the other
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side
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got some stuff on the walls over there
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and the trash cans
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are very unique
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has the tampa bay cap on top of the
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trash can
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and there will not be a hot dog consumed
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today the concessions
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are closed
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good thing is
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walking a little bit so we're
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staying warm keeping us warm yeah
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staying active it is he's a little
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chilly out here just a little chilly
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should have worn pants
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as of today no tickets can be purchased
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for
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the shortened spring training game or
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spring training season
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they have the 2021 spring training which
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was last year's
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still up here
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this year is not posted
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but definitely themed out around the
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there's a little burst right there on
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this bench and looks as if some other
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folks showed up to try to see what was
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happening it does feel as if it's
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warming up a little bit
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but it's still pretty nice and breezy
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i like this weather a lot
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anytime i'm not sweating i'm in a i'm
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pretty content
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gate c take a look here
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so this is 1a or should i say low a
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double a all the infielders are over
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here he was saying there's a slight
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possibility
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that in an hour or two
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these players will leave and then the
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raids after they get their physicals
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will be out here
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tampa bay ray's proper will be out here
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so that might be cool that would be
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awesome there's a you're you're telling
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me there's a chance either way we're
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going to watch some baseball which is
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that's really what i care most about
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me too that's like a little a little
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baseball durian bulls and montgomery
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biscuits i want to i would like to go to
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some of those those are the farm teams
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and as stated the gentleman at the front
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said
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they're all just kind of mixed in all
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the players are practicing together now
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i've heard at the montgomery biscuits
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games can't confirm this
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but they have hot dogs and burgers and
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stuff like that too but they also serve
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biscuits
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and gravy
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i've got to go to montgomery at some
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point this year
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gotta gotta respect the the lower league
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players
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kind of reminds me of the quote and feel
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the dreams ray liotta stating that he
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would just play for food money
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that's pretty much what they're doing at
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this level
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it just makes me really happy to know
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that baseball is back i was really kind
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of worried that this season
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would not be happening but they're
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saying that
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they might get a full season and i don't
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know if they'll get all 162 games
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got all the camera stuff set up there
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little documentation of speeds and
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whatnot
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this is actually turned out to be pretty
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cool
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didn't realize all the another 1a2a low
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a high they changed it it's not 1a2a
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anymore 3a it's called low a midday high
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a i believe kind of confusing now but
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all of these players want to make it to
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the big show they want to make it to the
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make it to the full on mlb
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that's the goal and when i was young
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that was kind of my dream except i
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didn't really really go for it mostly
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because i didn't have the talent
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nor did i dedicate the time it just
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wasn't that great
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i was okay but i wasn't i wasn't on this
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level i wasn't even like
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low a mid a level
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i just i just always enjoyed the game
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some folks trying to get a signature
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there and one good thing about spring
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training you always get a lot of
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autographs and signatures and photos
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with the players they're usually very
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hospitable
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walked over to the athletic performance
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center now and here's the gym
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right here
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the tv on the side and
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the weights on either side of it it's
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almost like tampa bay itself it's
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pumping some iron
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all the all the players got their cleats
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and gloves down here as they've gone in
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the gym
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this is such a cool vibe i love this so
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much got some plates over there i
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believe one of the new rules they're
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going to have in a couple years are
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going to
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change the size of the plates
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first second third
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there's a lot of changes that have
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a lot of changes that just got
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rectified with the lockout ending
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including a larger playoff i think it's
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going from 10 to 12 teams on the
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playoffs
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and then there's not going to be a guy
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on first anymore if it goes into extra
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innings yeah the guy on second rule the
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guy on second rule has been abolished so
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that means the games could go to like it
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could we could have like a 18-inning
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game 18 20 innings okay we weren't
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allowed to go in the other way however
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oh this is the media area over here is
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that kevin
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i think that's kept casual
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yeah that's him over there i think we're
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about ready to be told that we're not
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allowed to be here
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i have an idea yes sir
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oh a car
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okay so not allowed to be over there
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told to stay between the ropes but they
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didn't have anything blocking this area
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off
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that's someone being interviewed over
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there too and quite a few media folk
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now i'm hearing some murmurs and rumors
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from rumors and murmurings
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that the tempe rays are going to be out
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a little bit later hope people set it
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but then
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as they've been just kind of milling
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around
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these guys over here about ready to take
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their equipment out of the infield and
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little shout out to the grounds crew
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so for future reference even though
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it doesn't say anything down there that
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you're not allowed to go down there past
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the palm trees you're not supposed to go
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any farther over to the clubhouse so it
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wasn't supposed to be over there
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and was told by the one one guy and then
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another person so we're back over here
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in the main area all right now i'm
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hearing
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as they move the netting off of home
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plate
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that the players the rays themselves are
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going to probably be over at the big
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stadium not sure if we're going to be
13:40
able to get over there this is all just
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kind of a lot of wondering
13:53
now what is happening over here is an
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actual game an inner squad game
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between the montgomery biscuits and the
13:59
durham bulls
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which is kind of neat i was not
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expecting to see gameplay today
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three different fields of inner squad
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games going on at one time and the rays
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are playing in the big field and they're
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not allowing anyone in over there to
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also check this out so this is one i had
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from
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a game during regular season last year
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that i had kind of scuffed up
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it has the
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mlb logo on it there and this one here
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is from the
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spring training and this has practice
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written outside that's the difference
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the only difference between these two
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is this one which i got today
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has the practice
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emblem on the side
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of it as well both official major league
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balls but one
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is the spring training practice and the
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other one
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is not
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it's kind of neat to think about that
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pretty much the entire
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raised organization is out here whether
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it be the rays
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oh is there a foul wall
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or the low a middle a high a 1a no more
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aaa single a it's very confusing a
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couple years ago they changed all that
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but everyone's out here okay we found a
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couple bleacher seats we're just sitting
16:07
here in the shade we should probably be
16:09
in the sun but we're in the shade yeah
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there's randy or rosarina right there
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had a great year last year
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let's see if we can see if i sign my
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ball
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possibly
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and off he goes
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cutting underneath a
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little rope there yellow rope there
16:29
heading back over to the locker room
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probably just stopped in to say hi to
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some friends on the inner squad teams
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yeah pretty cool one of my favorite
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players on the race right there randy
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rosarina and it looks as if the next
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squad team will be taking over this
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field they're all behind me waiting to
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head on to this very field when this
16:47
game is completed and one would think
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that that would be a snack bar we can
16:50
get hot dogs and stuff but it really
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isn't just water coolers i believe
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that's going to be it for the squad
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games
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everyone's starting to head in now this
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might be the end of the training for the
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day
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all right
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that's it for the training for the day
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passing by the front of the stadium
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again
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we go try to find a bike to eat
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somewhere and we figured since we're in
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the neighborhood might as well go by the
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cool today park
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which is the braves spring training
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now it's already starting to get already
17:30
2 15 p.m so imagine it's probably
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starting to wrap up
17:34
or at least show the stadium
17:36
over here
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yeah there's smolts hank aaron
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even though i root for the race i did go
17:45
to the world series with my uncle this
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last year
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on halloween night in october
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all my family loves the brave so
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wow this is a really nice stadium it is
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like it's a few years old
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this is awesome nice stadium
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there we go bad attitudes must return to
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car
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ah spring training
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gotta love it now for a very long time
18:13
the braves used to spring train at wild
18:15
wilder sports
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at disney world
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just outside of
18:20
well the theme parks
18:22
and now they are
18:24
they're down a little farther south
18:27
not too far probably 10 miles from where
18:29
the rays practice as well
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and looks like they might have even done
18:34
some on-field stuff
18:36
a little bit earlier people in the
18:38
stadium eating at the tiki bar
18:40
having a good day enjoying the opening
18:43
day the technical opening day when the
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players report spring training 2022.
18:48
this is kind of interesting so on the
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31st of march the rays are playing here
18:52
against the braves
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that was when you and i originally had
18:56
tickets for ray's
18:58
opening day of the regular season
19:01
against the red sox in fenway and fenway
19:05
sad trombone moment
19:08
man that whole situation man that was
19:09
stressful
19:10
but this here what's gonna happen here
19:13
well it this is this is just spring
19:15
training though it's not even a regular
19:16
season
19:17
oh then they're doing the fifth also
19:19
okay
19:20
so you could go right down the road 10
19:22
miles down the road and see braves
19:24
versus tampa bay
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or the next day
19:27
here at this the braves spring training
19:30
stadium and as we were departing i
19:31
started to realize what would tie in
19:34
good
19:35
to baseball and the opening of baseball
19:38
season right around the corner spring
19:40
training
19:41
how about a hot dog now this is
19:43
obviously themed after wrigley
19:46
yeah it's the wrigley sign right there
19:48
no spoilers on wrigley
19:50
no spoilers at all but i it's wrigley
19:53
might at some point i'm not gonna talk
19:55
might happen
19:57
this year
19:59
but i have not had a hot dog at all in
20:02
2022. not not one single hot dog not one
20:06
hot dog wow i'm gonna get a hot dog
20:09
from tony's chicago beef company
20:12
if you like their beef
20:15
you're gonna love their wieners
20:17
let's see what they did there
20:24
and because this is a mecca of spring
20:24
training it's a lot of names over here
20:26
with different teams there's the yankees
20:28
there yeah so i'm here to document
20:31
my first
20:32
hot dog of 2022.
20:36
i've been good
20:38
on the
20:39
losing weight good mccalla really a diet
20:41
plan it's kind of a life change i'm just
20:43
eating a little bit better but today
20:45
when in rome
20:47
visited spring training of the rays stop
20:49
by real quickly to the braves
20:52
and then now gonna have
20:54
myself a tasty hot dog and here is the
20:58
menu they're not only repping the cubs
21:00
but also the white sox
21:03
as well and of course also the bulls
21:05
basketball we got quite the assortment
21:07
here tampa jack these look great you
21:09
went with the two chicago those look
21:10
like proper chicago though yeah i went
21:12
out of chicago dog not too long ago in
21:14
chicago in chicago you went to chicago
21:16
and had a chicago dog i have had a
21:18
chicago dog in chicago also and those
21:20
look like legit chicago dogs i went with
21:22
a one in one with chili and i'm kind of
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splurging a little bit on the calorie
21:27
count but you know what this is my first
21:29
at 22. i want to be memorable most
21:32
baseball stadiums do not have chicago
21:34
dogs
21:35
i wonder if wrigley has chicago dogs
21:38
well they definitely i think they
21:39
invented the hot dog so wrigley
21:42
very interesting if i go to wrigley no
21:45
spoilers i might see
21:47
if they have a chicago dog i think the
21:49
rays might be playing the cubs at some
21:51
point this year i think so no spoilers
21:53
on that but yeah i'm gonna eat myself a
21:55
first
21:56
chicago am i giving too much away uh no
21:59
all right this is for posterity kind of
22:02
kind of shattered out
22:04
yeah it's very shadowy over here hard to
22:06
see
22:10
oh yes
22:10
this is
22:11
was worth it
22:16
and with a full belly that's gonna do it
22:16
for you come over here be in the outro
22:19
that's gonna do it for today
22:22
i don't know where is this hot dogs what
22:24
this we're in venice yeah just north of
22:26
venice not on uh highway 41 right over
22:29
41 miami trail
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what they call it that's its nickname
22:33
because it goes from tampa
22:34
to miami tammy amy
22:37
tammy amy trail
22:39
venice not villas california nope venice
22:43
but we started over it at charlotte park
22:46
was that in charlotte the county where
22:48
it was in charlotte
22:50
the county port charlotte port sharp
22:51
port charlotte
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very a lot of lot going on
22:55
but so when i first we first arrived i
22:58
thought nothing was going to happen then
23:00
i realized around the back they were
23:02
doing the low a middle a
23:04
ball clubs were in there the farm teams
23:07
and then i thought we were going to be
23:08
able to see the tampa bay rays perform
23:09
we saw a rose arena but we didn't get to
23:11
see the rays practicing
23:14
so i'm putting this in the middle of
23:17
of not expecting anything to
23:20
having everything in front of us it's
23:22
kind of right in the middle yeah
23:24
but we polished it off with a with a
23:26
couple of dogs it was yeah it was a fun
23:29
you felt you felt it was a positive day
23:30
i feel uh fulfilled yes
23:33
positive day finish it off with some hot
23:35
dogs baseball's back it's a great way to
23:38
start the season you know it's not the
23:39
way we wanted to start the season a
23:41
little delayed yeah it was delayed but
23:43
yeah great day yeah thanks for driving
23:46
you're welcome
23:48
i'll see you the next video check out
23:50
tampa j
23:52
thank you from tampa bay
23:54
it's that one we're in the race all day
23:57
i'm gonna go lay some hay the vlog is
23:59
over
24:00
and i-4 was relatively kind on the way
24:02
down
24:03
at the way back heading eastbound back
24:05
to celebration
24:07
i4
24:08
giveth
24:10
and i4 taketh away
24:13
6 15 pm it's been a long day
24:16
still about a half hour from home at
24:17
this place probably 20 minutes
24:20
i'm almost there i'm making it
24:23
gotta love traffic
24:25
a lot of traffic