GamerSpeak:

Tourney Diary: Hockeystud29

Friday, June 11: I arrived at O’Hare around 1:15 p.m. and took off toward the baggage claim. I looked for the Xbox Live guys, but I didn’t see them so I called the number on my itinerary and found out they had just pulled in. I asked "What kind of car is it" and was told, "Look for the silver H2 Hummer." I couldn't believe my ears... I mean who needs a limo, huh? The great thing is that everything just got better. I arrived at the hotel and was impressed with the Hotel Allegro. I went to dinner and was a little late for the meet-and-greet so I was the last one in there. Everyone looked different than I would have thought by talking to them, especially JonBizzle(an 18-year-old Midwest “gangsta”). Bizzle was definitely the funniest, FlipDog0 was the most relaxed, andNYGiantFan seemed to be the most responsible. We then met all of the Xbox Live crew and ate some sweet food as we got hooked up with an Xbox jersey, two shirts, and a Nomar-signed baseball. The night was capped with a fun trip to ESPN Zone, where we sized each other up and played a few games.

Saturday: After a late night at ESPN Zone and some last-minute practicing in Bizzle’s room, I wake up after four whole hours of sleep to eat some breakfast with Paps. After one of the best omelets I have ever eaten we load up in the H2 and off we go to FanFest. We get in and check out as much as possible before we make our way back to the Xbox area. Flip and I are pretty determined to get some practice in, so we play each other using the teams our opponents are gonna use to get the timing of the other teams’ pitchers down. Then comes the man himself, Dan Patrick. One of the funniest guys I have ever met, and it was very cool to see someone that you see on TV every morning/night. Then came the moment of truth, the semifinals. First Flip and Giant got to play, so that calmed my nerves a little bit. I tried to watch their pitch selections just in case I would play one of them in the finals, but I quickly forgot because of my nerves. Flip won the game after a fine defensive effort and now it was Bizzle’s and my turn to play. The game went really fast because we were both so nervous. Dan Patrick’s commentary helped a lot, though, and made me break a few smiles. I hit the ball all right, but Bizzle kept getting me out on dumb base running moves. Finally, in the 13th, I managed a run and finished the game with a no-hitter. We shook hands, and I was so relieved to be done with that and in the finals. The XboxLive team then scored us VIP Lollapalooza tickets, and we got to see some great bands play, including a special barbeque with Jane's Addiction. We also got to test some demos for the new games coming this fall. We then took the H2 back and crashed at the hotel for the night.

Sunday: I got a little sleep, but I was still dragging from all the events we'd been doing. I went to FanFest around noon and got Andre Dawson’s and Steve Garvey’s autographs, even though I waited in a two-hour line for ‘em. We then got tickets to Sunday night’s baseball game, and we all got some pretty good seats. The game was all right even though my Cubbies lost, but it was just nice to see Wrigley field. In about the ninth inning, Flip calls my cell and says we got VIP passes into the House of Blues for Bernie Williams’ CD release party. We then all rushed back to the hotel, got changed, and half-walked half-jogged to the House of Blues, which was four blocks away. As soon as we got in there, we saw Harold Reynolds and Chris Berman. It was so weird, but I finally got the cojones to walk up and say hello. We all made our way upstairs to a special meet-and-greet. There we got to meet Jorge Posada, Bernie Williams, and Hideki Matsui, who was a giant. This was probably my favorite moment of the trip because I got to talk and hang out with the guys and get to know them more. We all crashed back at the hotel around 3:00 a.m.

Monday: I didn't wake up until about noon and went straight to the FanFest for a few hours and hung out until about 5:00. Then I went back to the hotel. There was a message on my phone. I checked it and was notified that the Xbox Liveteam scored us free tickets to the Home Run Derby. Now how awesome is that, huh? So we went, and I started out about seven rows up in the upper deck right behind home plate, which was awesome. The derby was going great, even if Bret Boone couldn't hit a homerun. :) Around the semifinal round, one of the lead guys on Inside Pitch came up to me and said "Start Running." I was like, huh... what'd I do now? He handed me his ticket and I looked at it and my eyes must have been huge. It was seven rows back from the FIELD, right down the third-base line. It was crazy. I got to see all the players up close and I took tons of photos. After the Derby, we got dressed up and went to the MLBPA All-Star Party at a sweet bar/hotel. There I met Carlos Delgado, Kerry Wood, Mark Prior, Randy Winn, Jim Edmonds, Kirk Herbstreet, Sean Salisbury, Mark Mulder, and a few more that I forget. It was insane and definitely one of the greatest times in my life. I was blown away after that night, but was ready to leave around 2:00 a.m. because we had to be up at 7:00 to be transported to the final game. So we peaced out in the H2 and crashed back at the hotel.

Tuesday: I woke up and headed off to FanFest for the final game. I picked the National League because I was the higher seed and had the choice. We both practiced at the Xbox kiosks while the announcer there did his best to embarrass us by announcing our Gamertags. After a game or two of practice, it was time to go to the diamond for the final game. As we entered, we saw tons of media crews there to do interviews and the fans beginning to fill the bleachers to watch, but they started packing in as soon as they heard Nomar and Mark Prior’s names being announced. After being miked up and interviewed, we went out and did our thing with Mark and Nomar cheering us on. I got lucky and came out on top of a great matchup between two former finalists. After the game, Nomar and Mark hooked us up with autographs and photos. It was so great; both ballplayers were class acts and great guys on top of that. After the game, the Xbox Live team offered to take us out for lunch/dinner at a great pizza place where we got tons of deep dish pizza. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention: I won All-Star tickets that were given to me at dinner. I got ready, and Paps and I took off to the All-Star Game on the Red Line. The seats were pretty good, but we did have one knucklehead who sat beside us and heckled about every ball player he could. We then got back, packed, and slept a little bit because of the early flight back home.

I just wanted to say thank you so much to the Xbox Liveteam who gave us anything and everything we needed and then some. They made this trip amazing and something that I can tell stories about for years to come. Also, thank-you to Flip, Giant, and BIZZZAL for a great time. You guys are all great, and I had a lot of fun hanging out with you. One more shout out goes to Rich, our driver, who hooked us up with snacks and a few tours of the city in the H2. Thanks again to everyone; you made a lifetime Xbox supporter out of me. Peace.