Road Trip:Burlington

Day three moved us on to Burlington, North Carolina for a visit that would move Burlington Athletic Park from the "been to" list onto the game list for the Burlington Royals and the visiting Danville Braves.

But that comes later, we begin in Johnson City as we planned to lunch in town before hitting the road.
Once again, Trip Advisor allowed me to check some stops out, send Fred a list of a few options, and have Fred pick where to go for lunch.
This once again would prove very fruitful when Fred listened to me and later not so much when he didn't!
Just kidding, Fred, but seriously Cootie Brown's was tremendous!!

I had seen a Cootie Brown's from our road trip to Bristol, so I was familiar with the name, if not the menu.
I ordered a Reuben (on Wheat, not the listed Pumpernickel) and added some extra meat.
I almost never do this, but it's a road trip, one does things like this!

I added a side of their "famous" homemade potato chips, which were OK, but nothing tremendously special, but our server Andee (yes, I asked about the spelling) told us all about the Key Lime Pie being famous.
Now, after the potato chips, I did wonder a little, but the Reuben was great, so I was open, especially when Andee talked about her baseball fandom and she knew her stuff.
I'm not always a massive dessert person, but the picture did look good and I usually like to try what a place is famous for, so when Fred accepted my offer to split a piece, I was all in.
Well, in a word-Wow!
First of all, that piece IS a half piece, so the serving is large and the taste has to be tasted to be believed!
If you ever are in either Bristol or Johnson City, you owe it to yourself to try Key Lime Pie at Cootie Brown's and ask for Andee-especially if you are a baseball fan!

I wish I could say the drive to Burlington was enjoyable.
I wish, but I can't mainly because the GPS kicked us far off the beaten path that we were driving through forests (although we did see a really cool lake) and a pouring thunderstorm during much of the drive. 

Instead of going on highways, we were going through places like Boone, North Carolina.
If you ever truly want to know just how much of an upset Appalachian State over Michigan was-drive through Boone!
It was far too long of a trip, but it was a good chance to talk to Fred (although I fell asleep) with a trip through Wilkesboro, where North Wilkesboro Speedway, the former home of two NASCAR races, we saw the track and the still existing, but badly faded Winston Cup sign from the interstate and had I thought about it, I might have asked Fred to stop and look around, but this trip and Wilkesboro brought the quote of the trip.
Entering Wilkesboro's limits, the sign greeting us said "Wilkesboro-Where the Mountains begin".
Me: "where the mountains begin? Then where the hell were we for the last two hours? the beach?"

We finally arrived in Burlington after riding by our hotel by accident and deciding to take advantage by checking in, so we were treated to seeing a parking accident right in front of us.
Considering there were so few cars in the lot, the offending party should have felt like an idiot for even considering squeezing in beside another car.
I wrote before about my trip with Mike to Burlington to see the park, but this was my first trip for a game there.
Burlington's Royals come from a clubhouse area so they have to walk through the crowd to reach the field.

I got most of a team set finished and was the only one graphing the Royals.

On the other side, Fred was trying to get some Kevin Maitan's for my friends since I had failed so badly on Maitan in Bristol.
Alas, Maitan was still just one per and the lucky winner was Mike Oravec of Maitan's lovely "KM".
We watched some of the game and watch Maitan make two errors at shortstop (considering he's 17 when I look at his build if he makes it'll be as a third baseman) and hit off for dinner.
This time, we went with Fred's recommendation at the Village Grill.
Our server was nice, but the food was slow and pedestrian for the price, although I did enjoy the "Chesapeake Slaw", which was quite good.

Back to the hotel, where I did have a television with something called "Spectrum".
Spectrum offered on demand for free and did something that cable/satellite companies never do and I've screamed about for a long time-they put their channels in alphabetical order!
Easy to find, easy to flip through-makes so much sense, and next to no one does it that way...

I'll be back soon with the final day of my trip with Fred which features lots of driving, a thicket with Lizards, Jack Morris, and the Charlotte Knights...

Another Cleaning of the Inbox

I know we just cleaned the inbox a few days ago,but these things can sometimes fill faster than others and since I have no news to write,I figured I would clean it out and keep the totals down.

Before we start I'd like to thank all of you that sent notes,messages,phone calls etc as my mom has suffered another stroke.
Looks like she is headed for a lengthy rehab stay as she attempts therapy to help her return to walking status.
Your thoughts have been appreciated.

Also wanted to thank those of you that have been giving the podcast a try.
I'm planning a podcast over the next few days that will cover the Indians,Pirates and maybe Giants prospects.
Normally this is a blog posting,but I think I'm going to make this a podcast and see how it works out.
Please feel free to pass us along to friends on the various social media platforms and otherwise as we would love to have the podcast become successful...

Two notable (to us) hirings at mid-major college basketball schools and it'll be interesting for us to follow as they head to their new jobs.

Cleveland Cavaliers legend Mark Price has held various jobs in the NBA-shooting consultant,color commentator (in Cleveland) and assistant coach (in Orlando and currently in Charlotte),but he has never been involved in college coaching-until now as Price accepted the head coaching position at Charlotte (formerly UNC-Charlotte).
Price is known as one of the nicest guys in the game and super knowledgeable,so the chops are there to be an excellent coach.
I'm also sure he will be liked by his players,but the top question is this-in this day and age-Can Price not be walked on by his players?
A mid-major job where the players are more likely to stay three or four years seems to be a perfect starting point for Price to test those waters.
I would not surprised in the least to see Price quickly turn Charlotte's fortunes around in Conference USA.....

Eric Musselman is notable for being a solid basketball mind that has some baggage after his NBA head coaching stints in Golden State and Utah,but has spent the last few years learning the college game as an assistant to Herb Sendek at Arizona State and last season to Johnny Jones at LSU.
The 50 year old son of the late Bill Musselman will get his chance to run a college program as he was hired at Nevada (Reno) as their new head coach.
The Mountain West is a better conference than is often given credit for so Musselman has work to do in rebuilding a team that went 9-22 last season,but I bet Musselman's commitment to defense might be able to make the Wolfpack contenders faster than most expect.
Credit to Ryan for sending me word of the Musselman hire.

We recently mentioned the death of former American League batting champion Alex Johnson and Hardball Times has a very interesting article on the career of Johnson.
I didn't know (other than obvious stats) that Johnson's career stalled so badly as an Indian that befuddled teammates watched him bunt time after time as if "he had lost confidence in his ability to swing away".
Good stuff on a player that at one time was among the best in the game.

I usually like making stops on youtube or various sites that show abandoned sites that once were popular and now are just left to fall down.
Some of these are amusement parks,stadiums,buildings etc,but this one from a photojournalist from the UK captures the former NASCAR stronghold at North Wilkesboro Speedway.
The last race at North Wilkesboro as a top level NASCAR track was in the first year of my few year run as a NASCAR fan,so I have a memory of the track,but the removal for the smaller,yet unique tracks in favor of the cookie cutter speedways in larger cities was the beginning of the end of my interest in the sport and (In my opinion) the beginning of the end of the upward fan interest in NASCAR.
Between the loss of the unique tracks and the retirements of the drivers that made the sport different and their replacements being right off the bland conveyor belt,it does not surprise me in the slightest that NASCAR's interest and TV ratings have dropped so far...

Glen Campbell's been in the news a lot lately for his Alzheimer's and the documentary on his final tour,but this note is about another documentary-this one on the legendary studio musicians-The Wrecking Crew.
Rolling Stone offers this article on Campbell's early touring struggles before he hit it big and when he opened for the Doors in the Pacific Northwest.
I'm a fan of both,but I'd be willing to wager that pairing wasn't filled with a ton of fans that crossed over liking both.....

We wrap up with the Asian "Fortune Teller" Spider,which apparently is making its home in the Southeastern region of the US.
The non-poisonous spider most likely hitched a ride on some sort of shipments and the weather in the area likely is a match for the humidity loving arachnid.....