Opening Day Ceremonies: The Highs, The Lows, and The Things That Make You Say.."HMMMM?"

Good Evening Bullets Fans!

It was a comfortable 83 degrees today. The wind-- coming from the NW at 14 mph. Humidity is at 53%. From my meteorologist point of view, a little overcast but the breeze is nice and you can smell the BASEBALL IN THE AIR! But don't just take my word for it. Let me show you what it looked like this morning at the homestead.

(Above: The view look out of the front door)

Where we last left off on our Bullets in Cooperstown tour, we stopped in the land of pins. Hope you all enjoyed the history lesson and the behind-the-scenes, inside look of Bullets Pin Trading at its finest. Next up on our tour, Opening Day Ceremonies.

Opening Day Ceremonies took place last Saturday (the 19th). It started around 5pm and definitely had some highlights, low lights and moments that left quite a few of us wondering, "Hmmm??" But first, the Highlights:

Coming into the Dreams Park was definitely one of the highlights of this trip. As I'm sure most of the Bullets parents would agree, for many months the main topic of discussion has been the Cooperstown Trip. We've seen videos and photos of this infamous park but of course, it's not the same as when you first drive onto the campus. On my previous pin trading blog, I included photos specific to the pin trading party. On today's update we will work our way backwards so that you can see a few other aspects of what the park looks like.

BRING ON THE VISUALS..

(A sea of vehicles with messages all about Cooperstown)

(Coach Ryan and Brandon)

(Arcade for the players)

(The infirmary)

(Fitz and Pickle were guests of this lovely establishment a few times. Nothing major, thankfully!)

(Conference Tent for the Coaches - Where a lot of the meetings took place)

(A view from where the boys barracks)

(GOT FLAGS? Walking towards the fields- there are flags everywhere)

(Players from different teams practicing)

(Just in case you forget where you are. These signs are all over the place)

(Above: The Bullets Entrance to their Castle - castle = humble abode)


....Live The Dream

View of the barracks

Another view of the field

And another view
By now you should have a pretty good visual of the park.

Now back to Opening Day Ceremonies..

THE HIGHLIGHTS

(The Opening Day Field)

(Another shot of the field on Opening Day)

The ceremonies were 2 hours long (WAY TOO LONG). For the first hour of the ceremonies the founder of Cooperstown talked. He talked about the history of Cooperstown, then we saw various parents come out on the field and dance the Can-Can routine to a random baseball song. Following that, a group of men (Cooperstown Volunteers) came out and danced to YMCA. Okay so everyone agreed that this part of the ceremony was completely random and did not make any sense. In keeping in alignment with baseball, the majority of the first hour of the ceremony was out of "left field." Of course, the moment we were all eagerly awaiting for...THE BULLETS!

...FINALLY...after an hour of waiting in an overly crowded stadium.

ENTER THE BULLETS!

(Hard to see because everyone is wearing the same red and blue colors--look for the banner).

( Above: Nate and Gigs carrying the banner)

Let's Go Bullets!

(Amidst a sea of red and blue)

The boys right after ceremony

Another shot

Just goofin' around

..And away they go

Off to the skills competitions.

They are:

Golden Arm (Throw from Center to Home Plate and hit a target):

Drew "Gigs" Giglio

Road Runner (Timed run around the bases):

Nate "Nater" Thimjon

King of Swat (Home Run Contest):

Joe "Big Joe" Marchant

Around the Horn (Throw the Ball to all 9 positions timed):

The other 9 Bullets

Overall, everyone did fine but nobody made it to the second round.

We've entered the LOW-LIGHT part of the tour.

The Around the Horn skill for our boys was a LOW-LIGHT of the day.

But there was one part of the skills competition that the boys and parents enjoyed.

Watching the King of Swat Finalists from the stands

Others need to be up and close to the action

The "King of Swat" competition.

2 kids tied in the finals so they had a swing off.

One kid from San Diego won 4 to 3 in the swing off by hitting 4 balls out of the stadium.

When asked what they thought of it, the Bullets response..

(Above: Scorekeeper Stan and "That Boy Just Ain't Right" Stu)

Overall, the night was very memorable. Some of the events we would like to forget. In addition to the really long speeches that took place before the parade onto the field, we could have done without the can-can dancers and the YMCA routine (Really??)

Also, while the sky diving surprise was supposed to add some flavor to the ceremonies, this was another moment we could have done without. Picture 3 men over the ages of 60 sky diving onto the field to give the game ball that would be thrown out. ...Yes, could have done without that part, too.

To sum it up:

The Low-lights: The long speeches, random non-baseball related dancing, the sky divers.

The High-lights: Seeing our boys in the parade and perform during skills competitions. Being in the Cooperstown Dreams Park, of course.

The things that made us say, "Hmmm": The can-can dancers, YMCA dancers, sky divers, and the statement the founder of Cooperstown said. And I quote, "Cooperstown is the only park that does not allow non-United States teams to participate. Let other countries allow foreign aid." A few of us looked at each other like, "What? Did he just really say that?" Then in his next sentence he said, "This park was established for my grandmother who could barely speak any English."...We all looked at each other and just thought, "HMMMM??"

We have come to the end of the Opening Day Ceremony Tour.

Join us next time when we discuss the heart of the Cooperstown trip..THE GAMES

Speaking of games. As most of you who are reading this know, we lost today's game 6 to 3. This was a tough loss for us. When I say "us" I am referring more to the parents than the players. Although some of the boys were upset, this emotion only lasted for about 10 minutes....More commentary to follow...on the next update.