Wooden's World of Baseball

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Um, where's the '09 schedule?

There are two reasons my blog has gone fallow, despite my new situation.

1) I've agreed to write what amounts to an article a week for Suite101.com, and one of contractual items is that I don't republish previously written material, to ensure that that page appears ahead of this blog (which is 99.99% more likely anyway, but I digress)

2) The Carolina League has still not released the 2009 schedule.

Admittedly, #1 is the stronger reason of the two, but as the 2008 PNats championship season fades into a sweet memory, my thoughts turn away from recapping it and towards planning and previewing next season's "fan plan."

I had stated a goal of attending 70 games in 2008, and it turns out, I got to 75 games. And it could have been more, had it not been so rainy and cold in April and May. Four of those games were at the new Nationals Park, from four very divergent views: The Presidential Seats, the press box, the Club Level and the Gallery Level. Three of those games were at the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs, the Atlantic League's southernmost franchise. Three games were at Nationals low-A and AA affiliates, and believe it or not, just once did I make it to Bowie and Frederick.

The family vacation to the Carolinas kept the streak of multi-state (three or more) sojourns going, a streak that dates back to 2004, the first full season I was a season-ticket holder. Otherwise, my travels were limited to just Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and DC. It's a silly distinction; perhaps I ought to shoot for every level, which would require more effort, since the nearest AAA team is now in Norfolk.

But it all starts once the Carolina League releases the 2009 slate, the delay for which I don't understand, since expansion has been tabled until 2010... unless there's some backroom bargaining I'm not aware of. I'd ask his highness at Ballpark Digest, but that entails playing nice, and I'd much rather endure that supplication only on as-needed basis.