[speaker001:] and I guess
[speaker002:] okay um so uh um uh do you have any favorite teams
[speaker001:] well I kind of like them all I played for about eighteen years all all the way through college and then uh kind of hung them up after college but
[speaker002:] oh I was going to say you played pro ball right
[speaker001:] no not quite
[speaker002:] not quite huh
[speaker001:] made it yeah made it all the way through four years of college playing ball but
[speaker002:] well that's pretty good
[speaker001:] anyway uh being in Rochester you probably like the Mets
[speaker002:] yes I'm actually a Met's fan I'm I'm one of these people who's actually a die hard Met fan and an avid Yankee hater
[speaker001:] oh boy it the I think it's like one or the other isn't it I mean you either
[speaker002:] yeah it's it's I I I find it very strange um more people you know real Met fans don't like the Yankees and real Yankee fans don't like the Mets for some reason
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] I never found I never quite found a New York fan I've always found a fan you know of of either one or the other and so that of course means that when it comes to the American League my favorite team is the Red Sox
[speaker001:] oh okay
[speaker002:] by default because I went to college also in Boston
[speaker001:] I see yeah I I like the uh uh I guess if I had to pick a favorite team I'd I anymore uh well as I kind of grew up rooting for Philadelphia
[speaker002:] oh
[speaker001:] I'm from New Jersey originally
[speaker002:] yeah so that that's sort of close enough
[speaker001:] yeah well we were thirty miles south of them so
[speaker002:] oh so you were pretty close
[speaker001:] right yeah right down the river but uh so what are the Mets going to do this year without Strawberry
[speaker002:] well I don't know um there's there's a part of me that says that you know I'm I'm sort of glad Strawberry went away you know when when he sort of went away I started thinking yeah well he was performing fairly well but he really wasn't worth the baggage you know
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] um I think they're okay I think they're you know I think they have enough people who are who are who are still in their prime you know um I mean certainly if you look at them compared to let's say you know um
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] just eight years ago or something they're they're they're they're you know they're sort of in in good standing whereas you know um I think
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] I certainly don't think that they're the eighty six team anymore
[speaker001:] uh well I was going to talk to you about that eighty six team that was that was the year that uh they beat Houston in uh extra innings right
[speaker002:] yeah I right they were either beat Houston in extra innings and then and then they actually won the series by by sort of a sneaky route um against Boston
[speaker001:] yeah yeah
[speaker002:] when there was the ball that was sort of hit to Buckner to Buckner
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] I felt real bad about that but hey what can you do
[speaker001:] hey the guy's making millions he ought to be able to perform right
[speaker002:] that's right well actually he he he was supposedly um there was there was something wrong with him at the time and I
[speaker001:] well his knees were bothering him yeah
[speaker002:] right and I and I understand that and I say hey if the guy can't play you don't blame the team that uh hit it to him you blame the team you know for putting him in
[speaker001:] yeah for having him out there
[speaker002:] that's right so
[speaker001:] sure
[speaker002:] so I I I was uh I was also I was in school at Boston at the time
[speaker001:] oh oh boy
[speaker002:] so I it was actually wonderful because where I was there were half Met fans and um half Sox fans
[speaker001:] yeah I think we were all pretty much uh Astros fans in the in the National National League Championship Series but there's like two fellows
[speaker002:] oh yeah
[speaker001:] from uh Brooklyn and they they were you know they were they were pretty much without having to say it they were pretty much Mets fans
[speaker002:] yeah yeah well I guess they were uh I guess they must have been scared
[speaker001:] no not really they they were they were pretty much thugs they weren't scared of very much you know
[speaker002:] after the uh well that's good well yeah Brooklyn boys I guess
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] you don't expect them to be uh much of anything but thugs no I know I was born there um
[speaker001:] yeah really
[speaker002:] yeah so I I was I was also born in Brooklyn so I so I can call myself a Brooklyn thug although I'm really not
[speaker001:] okay okay well I'm not to say that all folks from Brooklyn are thugs but these two were definitely thugs and they were from Brooklyn so I'm kind of hoping I I I guess uh anymore I pretty much pull for the Rangers though they were uh they're they're they're they they have the I think they have the best facilities in the major leagues
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] I love going to watch a game in Arlington stadium it's great
[speaker002:] well that that's actually I think that makes something because I think and and and as much as sort of fan support helps
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] you know it's good to have um
[speaker001:] the only problem is it's not large enough it only holds about I think they squeezed when Ryan struck out his five thousandth player they they squeezed about forty thousand people in there
[speaker002:] yes it is kind of small
[speaker001:] yeah so they're they're they have plans I mean the the owner tried to move them to Florida but uh
[speaker002:] right
[speaker001:] they ended up sticking around in Arlington and they're going to build a new stadium in Arlington as a matter of fact not even in Dallas so that's
[speaker002:] oh that's oh that's great so
[speaker001:] that's something that we're looking forward to
[speaker002:] yeah that'll be nice I mean that that I think tends to just keep I think stadiums have worked tend to keep people happy
[speaker001:] oh yeah case in point Toronto
[speaker002:] and yeah exactly
[speaker001:] yeah have you seen a game up there
[speaker002:] uh I haven't been to any Toronto games yet but um
[speaker001:] oh boy I saw I I was up there on business uh last June and watched a game in the sky dome it was just phenomenal that's that's probably the pattern for the future of stadiums I think
[speaker002:] of stadiums yeah well I I mean to get up there I mean the the best I've been up here so far you know up in in in up state New York is uh is um
[speaker001:] yeah uh-huh
[speaker002:] a Rochester Red Wings game
[speaker001:] now is is Rochester where where is Cornell University
[speaker002:] uh Cornell is in Ithaca
[speaker001:] Ithaca
[speaker002:] uh yeah so Cornell is about um somewhere uh about two and a half hours south of south and east of us
[speaker001:] okay
[speaker002:] so if you know where Lake Ontario is sort of is uh
[speaker001:] yeah well Rochester's like right on the shores isn't it
[speaker002:] yeah we're about ten miles south of Lake Ontario actually whoever built the city was an idiot in my opinion because they built it they built it far enough from the city that it actually couldn't be a port city
[speaker001:] yeah okay okay
[speaker002:] um but that
[speaker001:] uh well they say that from that space needle up in Toronto you can see the lights of Rochester on a clear night
[speaker002:] oh really I never I hadn't actually known that
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] well um but we have our own um our own triple A team here
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] the Redwings which is the uh farm team for the Orioles so everybody hopes that uh they go all the way around here they're the they're the big team in Rochester
[speaker001:] yeah okay yeah those games are fun to watch you you you watch those games
[speaker002:] oh I yeah I actually we we we make a point of going to a bunch of them every year because they're fun because they're
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] lots of really big you know lots of local fans you know small stadium you know um and they'll get a crowd of less than ten thousand sometimes you know um
[speaker001:] um-hum um-hum
[speaker002:] especially you know and I'll um I'll make a day game or something but they really seem to um people really get into it I mean I
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] I can't I I again I can't make any predictions about them but I suspect they'll go uh they'll go far
[speaker001:] yeah we used to like watching my my folks lived down in Beaumont and uh on on the campus of Lamar University they used to house the the Beaumont Golden Gators who were a double A team for the Padres I think but uh they they were fun games to watch
[speaker002:] yeah those those are those are always the I I think those are more fun than major league games sometimes
[speaker001:] sometimes well there's definitely a lot more hitting
[speaker002:] yes it's true well it's one of the advantages of not having pitchers who are uh uh you know I guess I guess when you start pitching real well well move them up bam you know there goes the little the uh worst team
[speaker001:] yeah  yeah
[speaker002:] yeah but um so what
[speaker001:] so as far as the major league teams I don't know it the Rangers have been you you know every year they they always knock on a door early and then just go into their skid about you know the end of June but they they've got so much young raw talent it's just amazing and then they just haven't been able to put anything together
[speaker002:] uh well the way I the way I see it is I mean um you know I I can use a Met analogy here
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] if you'll think back a few years to when the Mets were just all this sort of young bunch of guys who really were raw talent but weren't very sort of well trained you know back to the you know maybe eighty um eighty four or or eighty three or or eighty five you know when they were first when they weren't quite the eighty six team that that that they were um
[speaker001:] yeah um-hum right
[speaker002:] I that that probably gives the readers a good shot for you know this year or next year I think it you know the young talent really sort of has to build itself up
[speaker001:] yeah I mean they've been they've been young for a while and they're almost almost starting to age a little bit here I just um yeah they they're they're really hurting pitching wise I mean they've got Ryan but you know who knows what he'll be able to do he's been last year he started having some nagging injuries and
[speaker002:] right but that that's if if
[speaker001:] but it'll it'll be interesting to watch I hope to get up there we we usually try to get to opening day game there's several guys from our church try to go up there
[speaker002:] oh that must be nice
[speaker001:] yeah well I I guess we're probably oh maybe a hundred fifty miles south of Dallas
[speaker002:] well see that isn't too bad a couple hours
[speaker001:] no not too bad about it takes about two hours two and a half hours to get there
[speaker002:] yeah well it'd take me a good seven hours to get to Shay Stadium so so I don't know I don't
[speaker001:] that's probably because of the roads you just don't yeah we we've just got a freeway we just get right on the freeway and just go north
[speaker002:] yeah well actually we can we can I can take a highway the whole way down but it's still it's um
[speaker001:] well it's so crowded up there
[speaker002:] it's it's almost four hundred hours I mean I mean it it's almost four hundred you know barring traffic it's four hundred hours I mean I mean four hundred miles four hundred hours right four hundred miles
[speaker001:] golly
[speaker002:] barring traffic so it's um it it's uh you know it's it's a heck of a drive we are substantially north of New York enough that uh we don't get to go play
[speaker001:] yeah um
[speaker002:] too often
[speaker001:] well I don't know you're you're you're like a boat ride from how how far is it across the lake to Canada Toronto
[speaker002:] Toronto oh Toronto's only about two hours yeah Toronto is I mean I I want to go see
[speaker001:] yeah you do you drive there or do you take the ferry or what
[speaker002:] um I can I've actually I've driven but I've heard about the ferry as well haven't taken it yet though have you taken it
[speaker001:] yeah yeah it's a it's a beautiful city
[speaker002:] yeah um I I really love I I think that's one of the most uh enjoyable things about being up here I'm only up here for school
[speaker001:] I really like it um-hum
[speaker002:] so I
[speaker001:] so and then and then you go back to New York after school
[speaker002:] uh no probably south maybe Texas actually
[speaker001:] or New York City oh really
[speaker002:] some place south and warm I don't I'm not a warm I'm not a big uh I'm not a big uh cold fan
[speaker001:] well what what kind of weather are you having right now
[speaker002:] uh right now we're actually having uh it's getting nice I mean it was in the high fifties today but three and a half weeks ago we had an ice storm
[speaker001:] oh boy yeah we've been up in the oh seventies eighties even up in the nineties a couple weeks ago already
[speaker002:] oh that's great
[speaker001:] we're it's
[speaker002:] yeah well about that same time branches were falling off ev erywhere and we were actually in a state of emergency for two weeks
[speaker001:] golly because of the ice
[speaker002:] okay it didn't make the national national national national news too much which I find really weird
[speaker001:] hum
[speaker002:] but um we were I mean um you know all schools were closed for almost for for over or for for a week
[speaker001:] golly
[speaker002:] there were certain parts of town where it was illegal to drive
[speaker001:] huh illegal
[speaker002:] yeah because they had so many power lines down and so many uh
[speaker001:] oh yeah
[speaker002:] and so many things like that so they were