Gaedele Feature, Something Heavy, Something Light

BYE BYE BURLINGTON

The departing Bees clobbered the TinCaps 10-1 on Friday night at Parkview Field. The nine runs were the largest margin of defeat for Fort Wayne and the four errors tied a season high.

Now the Peoria Chiefs, Midwest League affiliate of the Chicago Cubs, roll into town for three. Remember– game times for this series are all different. Saturday is 5:05, Sunday is 3:05 and Monday is 11:05.

Today we present a special TinCaps Report Podcast. This is a feature story on Fort Wayne outfielder (and former Valparaiso Crusader) Kyle Gaedele. It’s a nice piece of storytelling from TinCaps Broadcasting and Media Relations Intern Tom Felice, who you hear on all home radio broadcasts with Mike Maahs. Please have a listen:

SOMETHING HEAVY

April 27, 2011 was the day that an F-4 tornado ran through Tuscaloosa, Alabama and killed 50 people. I remember sitting at my kitchen table last year and reading the piece in Sports Illustrated, which detailed how the lives of a few individuals had changed, using their stories to represent the whole.

Now a year later, Univeristy of Alabama journalism professor Lars Anderson revisits the scene:

“In many ways, the storm continues to swirl in Tuscaloosa. In places like Alberta City, which is only a few miles from downtown Tuscaloosa, there are still blocks of damaged buildings, mounds of debris and rubble and houses cleaved by downed trees. The F-4 level tornado narrowly missed campus, but it decimated T-Town and killed 50, including six Alabama students. The horror of what everyone associated with the university experienced that day is still as vivid and raw as it was one year ago.

A few days ago I gathered with my students for a class party at a restaurant in Tuscaloosa. We talked of the tornado — nary a class went by during the semester when we didn’t — but there was also a sense of promise in the room as the students spoke of their futures and their dreams for their lives.

Yet they all understand the cost of being in Tuscaloosa on April 27th, 2011. Because long after the rebuilding of the city is done, the tornado’s terrifying winds will continue to haunt their memories.”

SOMETHING LIGHT (OR NO SUGAR TONIGHT)

At Starbucks, waiting for people to put cream and sugar in their coffee. Oppenheimer took less time to design and build the atomic bomb.

—
Jay Bilas (@JayBilas) April 26, 2012

If you follow college basketball, Jay Bilas is your guy. No question.

Anyone who can mix in the line: “As the urban philosopher Young Jeezy says, ‘Ya better call your crew, you’re gonna need help’ into an ESPN broadcast is superb.

However, I do have to say that putting cream and sugar into coffee is an art. A delicious art.

On a related note, if you’ve watched TinCaps TV broadcasts the last few nights, you’ll know that the specialty coffee I bought on the last road trip was , and continues to be, atrocious. I’m drinking it right now as I write this post, in fact. I’m one of those people that once I’ve bought something and I don’t like it, I ride it out until the end. The lone exception I remember making to that rule was the one time I bought the sandwich bags that you just fold over rather than the ones with the ziplock device…TERRIBLE DECISION. I threw them out after about two lunches.

MUSICAL GUEST

Kent Hormann and I talked a little about Billy Joel last night, and I brought up Billy Joel’s last show at Shea Stadium, the former home of the New York Mets. I highly recommend you watch the concert documentary Last Play at Shea. Guests include: Paul McCartney, Tony Bennett, John Mayer, John Mellencamp, Garth Brooks and Steven Tyler. It’s fantastic. And so on that note…

Billy Joel…take it away!

If you’d like to get in touch, you can reach me at Couzens@TinCaps.com or on Twitter @MikeCouzens.