Hanging out,Striking out and Tastee Freeze....

Hanging out with my friend Kendall Morris and discovering one of the remaining Tastee Freez's in the country salvaged a long,hot and autograph poor day with the Delmarva Shorebirds and their poor attempt at the South Atlantic League All Star fan fest.

We arrived in Salisbury over an hour before the event and figured that we would be near the back of the line.
What we didn't know was the line would be roughly to Ocean City and would move slower than a crippled crab at low tide.
The Shorebirds eschewed the far superior system that the Hagerstown Suns used for their team autograph sessions in the past,which put a few players at several different stations,in favor of a one group line that proved to be a huge traffic clogger.
Considering the large amount of fans that just wanted Hagerstown slugger Bryce Harper,the "Suns' system would have allowed more fans to grab other player's signatures by thinning the herd of the Harper groupies,who in return would have been more likely to get Harper's autograph as well.

The Shorebirds also had few employees stopping collectors from going through the line and then jumping back in the middle of the line and going through again.
Sometimes doing things the right way and waiting your turn as Kendall and I did today brings the Leo Durocher adage to mind-"Nice guys finish last".
The team was too busy sending their employees along the lines hawking 3.50 bottles of water ( 1 of these is about the size of the bottles that come 24 to a case for 4.99) and 4.00 half liters of Diet Pepsi to fans hammered by the heat pounding off the concrete to the fans that had to buy a ticket to attend and then get pissed on once the money was obtained.
A longer roped area and using people to enforce the line would have made more people pleased and fair to all,but the team apparently didn't feel that was important....
The line moved slowly and the Northern Division was finished for their hour and we were nowhere close to them.
Disappointed fans began to leave,so the line did move somewhat faster for the Southern players,but just as we got into hoping distance,a burly employee cut the line off and ended the session for the rest in line.
I watched one fan question this person about the whole fiasco,who basically told him to buzz off and take his lumps.
Disgusted,Kendall and I walked around the interior of the park a bit as the North hit batting practice and pondered a purchase of the All Star set for the game.
I was going to buy a set earlier and the Shorebirds could not even get that right as the line for the merchandise tent was pretty long as well.
I didn't mind waiting,but waiting behind several people trying on shirts,when I just needed cards that did not look likely to get signed was a huge time waster as well as do re mi-No sale.
I was reconsidering the set at the team shop inside to have cards to work on for the future,but my decision stood-they were not getting another nickel of my money..

Kendall and I decided to toss in the towel and head back to the Hub City,defeated in graphing,but not in conversation as those had been a riot all day,when we caught a break-some of the Southern players had stopped before the clubhouse and were signing!
I saw the one player that I wanted most-Asheville outfielder Kyle Parker,who had no cards when the Tourists hit Hagerstown,but now had the SAL top prospect card and was able to nab him on the SAL card.
I also added Savannah outfielder Cory Vaughn on his SAL and NY/Penn prospect cards.
Savannah never comes to Hagerstown,so that was a great addition  and Savannah pitcher Greg Peavey signed his USA card from a few years back.
I also got two Augusta pitchers Taylor Rogers and Shawn Sanford.
The Greenjackets come into town next month,but you get cards when you can.
A late rally and the player that I wanted most on the Southern team,but considering our time and money-a disappointing day.
Poor planning,poor customer service and price gouging fans in the heat that are placed there due to your incompetence put a scarlet A beside the Shorebirds name.

On the ride home,we stopped at one of the two Tastee Freez's in the state of Maryland and laughter ensued as the cash register took several times to take our order,the young man trying to get this to work was apologetic but he was being given orders by this scary older woman,who was at least 75 and had more facial hair then either Kendall or I.
This might have worked had she had any idea what the hell she was doing,but she didn't.
I paid cash,because I was afraid a credit card would have locked the damn place down and stuck us in Easton for the evening.
The restaurant also had a United States post office in the back of the building,which struck us as odd but as a good idea.
Keeping in the spirit of the day,as we left -a sign on the door read that the USPS branch was officially closing on Friday!

A quick pic of the large Chicken Bucket outside and we were off to finish the day.
Not totally successful as hoped,but fun in spots and an ode to my childhood with the burgers at Tastee Freez,which was the only fast food chain in Boonsboro when I grew up.
Thanks to Kendall for the good parts of the show and a big raspberry to the Delmarva Shorebirds staff for wrecking what should have been a productive and fun day......