A Day of Rest?

March 6 - When most of us think ahead to our off days, we envision it in its simplest form: a day in which we are off from having to work, sweat, focus and answer to our leaders. That certainly wasn't what occured during Thursday's supposed day of rest in Tucson.

By 6:00am the staff was rolling in, at 6:30 Tony Clark started the parade of players and by the time I arrived at about 7:40, work was being done. Coaches had laptops open in the conference room, the manager assumed the same position in his office while visiting with his troops individually as they randomly stopped by with questions, while the weight room, the batting cages and the video room were all in use.

Eric Byrnes put his hamstrings to the test on a back field as he ran between orange cones, certainly hoping that by not taking this day off he would be able to avoid any vacation days during the regular season. By the way, remind me in a later post to share with you how he made sure his tv show would air again this year on FS Arizona. That's for a later time and it is a great story, but I'll hold on to it until he's playing in games, because that's what he wants you to know him for first and foremost.

Augie Ojeda arrived to gather some gear and get work in the day after his "other team" Mexico blasted the Dbacks in a warm up for the WBC. In a typical and funny clubhouse moment, the super-sub was verbally banished from the room and told to go be with his other teammates. Those green lids are pretty nice.

There was hitting, fielding, baserunning and fundamentals during this so-called day off.

Happened to find one of my favorite quotes in a long time while preparing for the ASU-Stanford hoops game. It comes from Lawrence Hill of the Cardinal, a young man out of Glendale, Arizona, who played at Deer Valley High School. In the media guide under his most memorable athletic moment, Hill said, "Being able to play another day." You can learn a great deal about a person with words like that.

With that in mind, a word of deep thanks to both Arizona State Univ. (Men and Women) and Univ. of Wisconsin at Milwaukee for the opportunity to call their basketball games on television during this regular season. Best wishes to Coaches Jeter, Sendek and Turner Thorne this March. Here's hoping they all play as long as they can!

See you at the yard.