The...Chaos?...Before the Storm

So...my name's Kevin. Perhaps you've heard of me. I'm the man that won the Lottery...well, it feels that way, anyway.

When Daniel asked me to cover the Winter Warm-Up for C70 at the Bat with "honest to goodness" press credentials, it felt just like winning the Lottery. I've been on cloud nine ever since.

And tonight I'm a mess.

I always knew our Cardinals scribes worked hard covering the team, but only now do I begin to understand what that means. As I sit here on the couch, blogging away on the computer, it becomes clear that I am not ready. Of the 20 Cardinals players, coaches, managers, etc. that I may want to talk to, I'm ready for perhaps...three of them.

This is hard work.

I'm supposed to be prepared when I enter the media interview room - ready to join the hectic, fast-paced "media scrum" (it means something, I think, that they call it a "scrum") - but all I can think about is all the ridiculous questions I MIGHT ask Lance Berkman or Tony La Russa. I've thought of a hundred baseball writer faux pas I could ignorantly commit, and I've mentally compiled a list of more than thirty "Where the hell did they find you?" facial expressions I could receive from players when I open my mouth. And I've thought of one million ways my new digital voice recorder - quickly purchased for the occasion - could fail, burn out, lock up, etc., resulting in a total data loss before I can transcribe any meaningful quotes from the infernal machine.

But you know...tonight, as I kiss my daughter goodnight, I'm getting a peek at the other side of a baseball scribe's life. Leaving his family for days on the road just to chase a story.

You see, when Daniel asked me to head to St. Louis to cover the Winter Warm-Up, my calendar was clear. No scheduling conflicts, work problems, family obligations...nothing. And then my son made "Honor Band" for the first time...and wouldn't you know it, their only concert of the year is scheduled for this Saturday. I'll be five hours away in an interview room with the St. Louis Cardinals. I plan to text him good luck on Saturday.

Just a little while ago, I helped my wife lay our daughter down to sleep. She playfully refused to kiss me goodnight, a recent game she likes to tease me with, and I found myself saying, "Please, kiss Daddy goodnight? I won't get to kiss you goodnight for at least another three days." She obliged, but the damage was done.

This stuff is hard.

Don't get me wrong...on some level, I still envy baseball writers - their access to legends, their ever-present witness to history, their amazingly good fortune to watch the most wonderful game on the planet in person and get paid for it - but this part is tough. Leaving your family, missing out on all those concerts, soccer games, movies in bed, and kisses goodnight...it ain't easy, folks.

I haven't even left for St. Louis, yet, and I already have a new found respect for baseball writers.

What's to Come...
I hope you enjoy the posts I'll be bringing your way from the Hyatt-Regency in St. Louis. I'll do my best to give you an inside look at the inner workings of the Winter Warm-Up, and I'll desperately attempt to convey what it's like in "the scrum." I should even be able to bring you a first-hand account of the BBWAA dinner Sunday night. So check back often...I'll write back as soon as I'm able. Thanks for reading!

- Kevin


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