Wednesday, August 16, 2006

I want your Sox tickets.


Yesterday I spent most of the day emailing back and forth with a new client who was extremely clueless. Actually, he was more than clueless. He did not know what he wanted, the terminology, or really anything more than the fact that he recorded 30+ songs. After I realized these back and forth emails were not going anywhere or accomplishing anything, except adding to my frustration and headache, I decided to call this new client.

I had to start from the very very beginning... I had to explain everything in detail, which I was not in the mood to do, but I did it with a smile. Since he could not see my smile over the phone, I made sure I was being overly courteous and kind. I made sure every few minutes to ask if he had any questions or needed me to slow down the flow of information I was filling his head with (not sure if a brain was in the head on the other end of the phone). You never know who someone knows, and you never want someone calling your boss and complaining about you.

The last question from this new client was about a pick-up date since he would be in Chicago on September 8th. I informed him that we do not ship from Chicago, so he would not be able to do a pick-up here. He revealed that the reason he would be in Chicago was to attend the White Sox game that evening. White Sox... now this was a subject I could talk about. Perhaps I just needed a good baseball conversation to better connect with this new client. Nope. When I told him that I was going to the game that night, and I have season tickets, he suggested that I should give him my tickets. He then said to me, since these were the company's tickets, I should give him the tickets. Now wait... these are my personal tickets. The company does not pay for them. So he decided a new approach: He told me (not asked) that I should sell him the tickets since his seats sucked and were in the nosebleed section. I said no. I told me a few more times that I should sell them to him. What a complete asshole this guy was.

And through all of this I not once blew up and told him to go f himself. I kept smiling and thought to myself that he is probably a lonely lonely person with no friends at all.

Saturday, August 12, 2006

Indy Team 7 goes out with a losing win.

Indy Team 7 made it to the playoffs. Indie Team 7 won the first round game 13-1. And Indie Team 7 ended up getting the loss because we did not have enough actaul team members to make a team. In the playoffs there are no substitutes allowed so out of the 15 people on our team only 4 showed up. Only FOUR. Very sad. So we took the forfeit and talked the other team into playing a game anyway. The umpire played for our team, and we completely crushed them. Hopefully next year we have team members that would like to show up. Go Indy Team 7!

Wednesday, August 09, 2006

Yankees Stankee.

Everyone that knows me knows how much the NY Yankees get under my skin. They seem to do this to lots of people, not just me (especially Red Sox fans). But for me it is not the players, it's their fans. And it's not their fans in NYC or surrounding metro area. It's the Yankee fans in the rest of the country that bug the shit out of me. My thoughts are that most Yankees' fans have never even lived in NYC... I am sure a large percentage of Yankees fans have never even been to NYC. It's just a bunch of people rooting for a winning team - one that can spend any amount of money to win. One of my new neighbors is just this... a "die-hard" Yankees fan that has never lived in NYC, nor has any connection to the surrounding metro area.

Now I will be the first to admit that I was once a Yankees fan. For two whole seasons while living in NYC I cheered on the Yankees, and then the next year after moving to Portland where there is not MLB team. My boss in NYC was (and still is) a huge Yankees fan. A season ticket holder. And when working for him you are a Yankees fan, or not a fan of baseball. Really. The first day of work I walked in with an Baltimore Orioles hat and was promptly given $20 to go out and purchase a new hat... a Yankees hat. But I was living in NYC. I was going to games. I was reading about them in the daily paper.

When I moved from NYC I stayed a fan for a year or so until I realized that being a Yankees fan outside of NYC is the worst. I didn't want to be one of those losers yelling "26 Rings!" I find more enjoyment by cheering for the home team... and the underdog. In Portland there is only AAA ball. The Portland Beavers. The home of Big League Chew. So along with my Beaver' hat I wore my San Francisco Giants jersey (home for me) and my Detroit Tigers jersey (the team my dad grew up with). I grew up with the Oakland A's as well.

So when moving to Chicago it was all about cheering for the home team, and LP and decided to be Sox fans just because it seemed like everyone is a Cubs fan, plus we had such a better experience at the couple of Sox games we attended. And then as our first full season as White Sox fans they won the World Series. Wow!



So there are all of these people who are Yankees fans that only cheers for the Yankees because the team seem to always win. Those people are missing out so much on the baseball experience. They are missing out on baseball in their cities. Baseball is not about winning. It's about watching the game. Hanging out with your friends and/or spouse. It's part of enjoying life. It's a good thing. Even as Sox fan, I am glad when people in Chicago cheer for the Sox or the Cubs. Support your city. If you want to be a Yankees fan that bad, or a Red Sox fan... why don't you move there. Go live in NYC or Boston. Be apart of what you so desperately want to be a part of.