I know there is definitely m’ore to life than baseball. It is only a game we have for competition, fun, fitness, skill, and entertainment among other things. Losing is just a part of the game—it happens. It is frustrating as a player, but now even more so as a coach, especially when I was brought here to coach and help the team become better and lead them finish in the playoff race. I take it personal when we lose; therefore I was fairly upset by the past weekend. The worst part is we could have easily beaten Sundbyberg in each game—each was close until the end. I should have gotten a few more hits, but couldn’t put enough in “hit” territory. I continue to cringe even more when we hit the ball well—people we starting to come alive and hit the ball solid—even off one of the National team pitchers. I was very pleased with some of our execution with bunts and hit and runs. There weren’t too many errors—the other team hit well when they needed too. When we got two outs in the bottom of the ninth, up by one run, no runners on, and still managed to lose, it hurts. I know baseball isn’t very popular here, but a loss is a loss. We needed to win both games in order to still have a good chance at the playoffs so in that sense I feel that I have failed to do my job since that was one of our goals. I can’t control everything, but I surely should have been able to better prepare our team to reach the playoffs. We certainly have a good enough team, and if most of the guys stick around and the youth teams continue to grow, Gefle will definitely be a higher contender in the future. We still are able to win the qualifying league, which enables our team to stay in the elite series. This is very possible, and will ensure that it happens. Other than that, it was still another unforgettable time with everyone on the team.
It has been quite some time from my last post and much has occurred as usual. Camps with the local schools are now over and we have our final, week-long baseball camp (9am-2pm) coming up tomorrow. So far, Olle told us that nearly 800 kids have came through the camps this year! It is always reassuring to know that many kids have attended and that some want to attend more. We have picked up roughly 5-6 new kids on the youth team! The annual baseball camp only has about 20 kids as of now and half of them are already on the team. It is really no surprise, and should be a great time.
The weather has been much more relaxing—everyone still says that it is really cold for this time of year, but Erek and I still think they are just trying to make Sweden sound nicer than it is (lol—kidddding). Midsommar is on its way I believe on June 22nd—the longest day of the year with 24 hr. sunlight—it already stays light out pretty much 24 hrs., but I guess it will be much brighter during mid-June. We have plans to go to Leksand where they have an overwhelming amount of people gather for festival-like activities. A guy on our team, Kristoffer, said we could stay at his parents’ place. From what I picked up, there are several dances, including the frog dance that people complete in a circle around a giant pole—sounds hilarious, but should be a great time. I guess last year they broke a world record for midsommar when nearly 20,000 people gathered and danced. Now come to think of it, there are a lot of funny Swedish traditions. If I can remember correctly, Kris and Peter said that when two are getting married, sometimes they have a celebration either before or after the wedding where the men build some kind of pole or structure in front of their house. If the wife is able to bring it down or dissemble it, then she is the one who will technically “wear the pants” during their relationship and vice-versa. I am sure not everyone participates in every little tradition, but it made me wonder what kind of things are tradition in America, especially of peculiar behavior. Although most things are different, the bachelor party I attended appeared to be quite similar.
Upon our two games last weekend against Gotenberg, Peter, Tomas’ older brother, planned out a surprise bachelor party for Tomas who is getting married in June. Upon the end of the games, we headed for the locker room and surprised Tomas with a t-shirt that said something in Swedish (they told me, but I have already forgotten—something ridiculous). We turned up the music (ACDC of course) and gathered several drinks from a stocked fridge in the back closet. We literally began drinking and playing mini-games on the baseball field. The dugout was lined with beer and liquor. I believe Tomas was quite surprised, but whether he already knew or not, he was still having a good time. As I look back on it, the police would have broken something of this gathering up within the hour back in America. We had air rifles, golf clubs, footballs, etc… We competed in a shooting competition, golf shot game, and a shot-gun beer race. I thought I at least won the beer race, but too many factors attributed to arguing and no conclusion. I supposedly had too much beer on my shirt, and spit some out another time. I am always up for another challenge haha! After much team-bonding, Irish car-bombs, and non-sense, the raggers finally arrived! By the way, during the party, we spotted 3 kids on the other field basically hitting around a baseball and catching with hockey gloves that goalies use. I found this hilarious—ONLY in Sweden. I also couldn’t believe 3 kids on a Saturday night decided to go hit baseballs—I would never expect that in Sweden! I remember doing that back home, but here I would expect to see every kid hitting hockey pucks or soccer balls. You are probably wondering what I meant by, “raggers.” They are a specific group that only exists in Gavle that pride themselves on owning old American cars—Pontiacs, Fords, Chevy’s etc… They cruise around as a club (The Gavle Hillbilly’s) and slowly drive through town with very eccentric style and tattoos. They look like bikers as they wear patched, black leather jackets, thick black boots, and usually have dark hair with piercings all over. The nicest people you would ever meet, but just have their own group and style and passion (unique bunch).
They arrived right on time to take us to a town called, Sandviken, where we would see our team manager, Mattias, play bass in an Irish band at a bar named, Mulligan’s. Peter, Oskar, Joel and I hopped into the old beaten up Pontiac, and the boat-like gargles from the engine triggered. I already knew I was in for quite an experience. We drove into town and slowly rose through the city loop two times as if to show off our rides and stare at people. When looking back on the ride, we probably looked ridiculous as we suddenly pulled over by some building and about 15 guys got out of the cars to release the heavy bladder pressure of alcohol consumption. After the quick pit-stop, we headed for Mulligans.
The drive was fool of more consumption as we had a cardboard tray full of beer—it is legal here to drink as much as you want in the vehicle as long as the driver has nothing. We arrived at Mulligans and as we entered the place seemed a bit dead. Not saying we brought the party or anything, but a large group of drunken mid-20 year old kids can definitely cause some noise. As the band played on, we broke into what we may have thought to be an Irish jig or two, but really just a mess of jumping and legs kicking. I thought for sure that I was going to go sailing into the bandstand and wreck the place. Loud singing ensued to some Irish songs that I unfortunately do not know, but just yelling at any pitch seemed to do the trick.
After what seemed like hours of music and dancing, we finally decided to cut out when Mattias’ band had finished their setlist. It was nice to finally get together with everyone on the team and join on the common bond of celebration for Tomas. When leaving, it was a collective vote that we wanted to go back to Gavle and make it some to some other clubs, but as soon as we were picked up by the raggers and made our way home, the overwhelming rush of alcohol finally caught up to everyone, me in particular. About halfway home, I had the slight dizzy twisting feeling in my stomach and head and let’s just say I know when I am not going to hold back. I warned the driver to pull over and Peter helped me with the warning, but just as he stopped, I felt all four or so hamburgers screaming to get out of my alcohol-soaked stomach. The majority made it out of the vehicle, but no one is a perfect shot with vomit, so some stayed on the seat. They were actually very kind about it, assuring me that they would be in the same position the following week so it was no big deal. Bostrom actually made a funny comment, saying that I actually increased the value of the car by dressing it with a part of me—meaning the dirtier, the better—raggers. You would think that I would have learned to hold back after experience in college, but sometimes certain celebrations still get the best of me. Damn alcohol. Oh well, it made for a much less hungover Sunday. Everyone else seemed to be passed out in the car, so I guess at least I stayed awake haha. I quickly found out the next day how good kyckling kebab (chicken kebab) was at Peggy’s, a local grill in the shopping center behind our apt. Kebab is very popular here, and it usually means a thin sliced beef (kind of like a gyro) with lettuce and vegetables and a Greek-like white sauce. You can find it either in a pita wrap or by itself, but never like the shish style like back home. People find it crazy that we do not have it back in America, at least not where I am from—it is on every corner here! Everyone apparently had a pretty slow Sunday.
Erek and I are still planning possible trips with our vacation days. We asked several people and the big ones to try and see would be Paris, London, Barcelona, and Rome. We won’t be able to catch everything, and there are so many train options that it gets pretty exhausting to plan! We would like to try and take a train for the experience, but with planes being cheap and fast, they seem like the better fare. Either way, I am excited to see the different cultures and though there is plenty to see in America, there is so much more ancient history on this side of the globe. I have got to go finish the laundry since the booking system did not track my sign-up for this week. We had to hop through the window because they lock the doors and do not allow laundry after 9 or 10pm. As long as we plan ahead it isn’t too bad, but if we miss a day or do not book the room in time, we could be stuck with dirty clothes for awhile—pretty annoying. Gotta plan for the camps--goodnight
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