Spring Training 2009: Ishigaki Island

Here is how this year got started back in January...
Date: Saturday, January 31, 2009, 4:58 AMOff for the land of Zen at 10:45 Texas time. Say my goodbyes to my beautiful new bride and check in for my flight. I take my seat in "business class", and was blown away. Fully electric reclining chairs, tons of bells and whistles, and unreal service. I was served a 5 course meal featuring shrimp cocktail, lump crab meat, salad, halibut, fruits, cheese and crackers, and dessert! I was in heaven. (I found out later, my seat cost a few thousand dollars...yikes!) I max and relax for the next 14 hours and finally land in Tokyo. Since I have been here before, getting through customs and retrieving my bag was not quit as intimidating. I get through with no problems, grab my bags and head out the exit to find 15 cameramen running towards me snapping pictures!!! I just stand there smiling, not knowing what the heck to do. A team employee finally saves me and has me stand against this wall while all these guys fire questions at me. The questions start off normal, "have you been training...How will you help the team...whats your goals?". Then they got out of hand. They start asking me about Japanese toilets and whether or not I prefer theirs or American ones. (They must have read my Travel Journal). I answer there silly questions and happen to mention I just got married two days before. Boy did they run with that one. The next 25 questions where about Sara! They asked if I had a picture, I said yes, and they proceeded to take my picture while I held the picture of me and Sara next to my face! (The next morning's paper had a picture of me holding a picture of Sara! ha...too funny. Sara is celebrity in Japan!) After about 30 minutes the press conference ended and I jumped on a van and headed to Makuhari. I get to my apartment which is really nice. Gary Burnham was there to greet me. We catch up a bit and head out to dinner with Bobby and some of the coaches. We ate at a Korean steakhouse which was PHENOMENAL! We run up a huge tab crushing tons of beef, tongue, liver, heart and intestines! I stuck to beef mainly. I'm starting to fade from the jet lag and crash around ten. Up at 8 to catch a 10:30 flight to Okinawa. We meet the rest of the team at the airport and are greeted by tons of Marine fans. We board the plane and take a three hour flight to the island of Okinawa. We are greeted by even more adoring fans as we exit the plane. We jump on another plane and fly about an hour more south to the tiny island of Ishigaki. As we are taxiing towards the airport I see a line of people on the tarmac beating drums and screaming. "What the heck are those people doing?" I ask. I find they are here for us! Right as I'm about to step off the plane and bask in my celebrity, the bottom drops out of the sky and it starts pissin! The rain was comin down sideways and the people didn't budge! They just kept screaming and pounding there drums. I was handed an umbrella and sprinted for the airport (I was sporting my new suit from my wedding and didn't want it gettin ruined). Once inside, there were even more screaming fans all waving marine flags and snapping pictures. I felt like a Backstreet Boy! We quickly jump on a team bus and head for the Spring Training complex where we are to be honored at a pep rally in a gymnasium. We line up in numerical order and are announced one by one to the hundreds of adoring fans. The fans made a tunnel for us to walk through en rout to the main stage where we were to sit. Me and Gary are freakin' out. We high five all the little kids and take our seat on the stage. Our team owner, own team president, and Bobby all make a speech and then we are treated to a performance by a high school dance team. They dance and sing for us as the fans wave there flags and squeal with excitement. We wrap up the rally and jump back on the bus to our team hotel. What a trip!! We arrive at our hotel and HOLY!!! It is a "five star" resort ON the beach, and I have a suite with a balcony over looking the ocean!!! Gorgeous turquoise water, immaculate grounds keeping, palm trees, the works! My room is off the charts and I have it all to myself! (No sharing rooms in the big leagues.) Me and Gary are like kids in a candy store, and cannot believe we are living out this dream. To top it all off, we have a couple boxes in our room FILLED with goodies. Six different uniforms, fleeces, hoodies, shorts, pull overs, t-shirts, a huge suitcase, ball bags, bat bags etc. And everything has my name and number embroidered on it! I'm number 43. It really rolls off the tongue doesn't it? ha! We snap off some pics and head down to the restaurant for dinner. We have a little coupon for dinner and it says we have to keep it under $63!!! HA! I of course order a $63 chef selected 5 course meal. Lots of funny dishes, but very good overall. We crash after dinner. Up at 6 a.m. because I cant sleep. I sit on my balcony and watch the sun rise. What a site!! I feel so blessed!! Gary and I head down to breakfast around 8 and it was AMAZING!! TONS of food. They must of had 30 different things on the buffet line. We crush until we cant walk and head upstairs to change for our practice. Since practices can't officially start until Feb. 1st, we have free reign to do whatever we need. The complex is super nice. A Full field, an indoor facility, and lots of cages and bull pens. We play catch, take some ground balls, hit, and lift some weights. There is tons of media all over the place. They snap pics every where we go. We take it back to hotel and have ANOTHER amazing meal which was followed by a team meeting. To be continued.