Well, ok, baseball is already here at least where college baseball is concerned.  As a matter of fact, Arkansas beat Alabama today with the help of Springdale native Thomas Hauskey.  Go Hogs!

I’m actually thinking minor league, specifically Northwest Arkansas Naturals, baseball.  Season tickets are being mailed out this week!  The season starts Thursday, April 8!  On Friday, Centerfield by John Fogerty came on my iPod and I got excited.  It’s not a Friday night post-game fireworks show without that song being played.

Minor league camp is still in session so the opening day roster hasn’t been announced yet.  One bit of roster news from this past week is that Fayetteville native, former Hog, & recent Kansas City Royal draftee Ben Tschepikow (pictured above) has voluntarily retired from MLB because of injuries that have plagued him since the end of last season.  No Naturals uniform for Ben.

See you at Arvest Ballpark April 8!

Today is the first Arkansas Razorback football game of the season.  The Razorbacks are taking on the Missouri State Bears at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock.  Go Hogs Go!

Some Exciting Former Hog News:

• Former Hog baseball player Craig Gentry has been called up from AA Frisco to the majors – the Texas Rangers.  Northwest Arkansas has been fortunate enough to keep up with Craig’s progress through the Rangers organization because Frisco plays the Northwest Arkansas Naturals.  Good luck, Craig!

Brad Keselowski has helped Dale Earnhardt Jr make JR Motorsports a weekly contender in the NASCAR Nationwide series.  Brad has 5 wins in the NW series and got his first Cup series win in April at Talladega.  Penske Racing announced Tuesday that Brad will join them beginning in 2010 and will drive the #12 Penske Dodge in the Sprint Cup series.  Congratulations Brad on this great opportunity!  Just remember that Rick Hendrick & Hendrick Motorsports isn’t out of reach!

The Northwest Arkansas Naturals have 3 games left (with only 1 win needed) and they will have clinched a Texas League playoff spot for the 2nd straight season (in only 2 seasons in existence in NWA).  Good luck Naturals against the Tulsa Drillers this weekend!

The Northwest Arkansas Naturals opened their 2009 home season on Thursday evening at Arvest Ballpark in Springdale.

The first home series of the season was against the San Antonio Missions.  The Naturals won the series with 5-4 win on Thursday night and a 5-2 win last night.

Thursday & Friday night I sat in my regular seats, which are located kind of behind home base.  My view is what you see in this picture.

Saturday night me, Shelby, Mom, & Dad got tickets to sit up in a suite.

Both views are great.  I like sitting in my regular seat because of how close it is to the action.  I also like sitting up in the suite because you get a whole different perspective on the action.

Friday night was a special night called “Pink in the Park”.  The Naturals wore pink uniforms.

The uniforms were auctioned off at the end of the night with proceeds going to the Susan G Komen Foundation to help fund breast cancer research.

As I mentioned in a blog entry earlier this afternoon, northwest Arkansas has been fighting the rain off and on all weekend.  Both Friday & Saturday evening games saw rain coming down pretty steadily at times.

We saw a rainbow on Friday night.

Saturday night’s rain required the tarp to be rolled out.  Luckily, the rain quickly passed and, as you can see in the picture above, the Naturals crew got to put the tarp back up and finish the ballgame.

Springdale resident Vance Wilson has joined the NWA Naturals this year.  He has previously caught for the New York Mets & Detroit Tigers.  He has been rehabbing from elbow surgery and is expected to join the play rotation soon.  There were lots of VDub fans in the audience each night.

Check out my photo album from the Naturals-Missions series.

2008 was a year of traveling, or so it seemed at times.  (You can read all about my travels this year, if you’d like, by visiting my My Travels page.)  I added 5 new states – Nevada, Arizona, Ohio, Michigan, & Georgia – to my list of states I’ve visited in my lifetime.  My mom, sisters, and I took a great unforgettable trip to North Carolina in June.  It was full of sight seeing, family history, and even a bit of NASCAR.

I went to 3 NASCAR races.  Shelby & I went to the race in Texas in April.  Penni & I went to the race in Michigan with Sarah & Andi in August.  Then, Penni joined me in November for the Texas race.  As far as 2009 and NASCAR goes, Shelby & I will be attending both NASCAR races in Texas (April & November).  (Penni may even join us in November.)  I’m also currently considering going to the Coca Cola 600 in Charlotte, NC in May.

I also went to Las Vegas for a week in September for a work conference (plus some sight seeing, of course).

Besides attending the NASCAR races, I watched some baseball & football in person this year.  2008 was the inaugural season of the Northwest Arkansas Naturals (Double-A affiliate for the Kansas City Royals).  Because of that, I decided to get season tickets.  Shelby & I went to several games.  I think Shelby & I both learned a lot about baseball this year.  Plus, we’re already looking forward to 2009.  As far as football goes, I got my season tickets for the University of Arkansas football season.  I didn’t make it to all of the games but I went to several.  This was head coach Bobby Petrino’s first year with the Hogs.  While the Razorbacks didn’t finish with a good enough record for a bowl game, they definitely showed us what is to come for the football team (i.e. Miracle on Markham Part Two).  I can’t wait for Arkansas Razorback football 2009.

I got to attend some great concerts this year as well.  I attended the Poultry Festival in June where I got to meet & see Blake Shelton in concert.  I saw The Black Crowes in concert while I was in Las Vegas.  Don Tyson sponsored a special concert for Tyson Foods employees in October with Willie Nelson headlining.  Joe Nichols (Rogers, AR native) returned to northwest Arkansas for a concert in October.  I flew all the way to Atlanta, GA to see New Kids on the Block with Penni.  (That was my crazy trip of the year, I must say.  I was in Atlanta for less than 24 hours but it was well worth it.)  Finally, Shelby & I saw OAR in concert at Barnhill Arena in Fayetteville in November.  I already have at least one concert lined up for January 2009 – Brad Paisley, Dierks Bentley, & Darius Rucker in Tulsa.  I’m also hoping to find a Benjamin Del Shreve show that Shelby & I can go to at some point in 2009.

I slept through the first 2 earthquakes I’ve ever been “in” this year.  They were both in the Dallas/Fort Worth area the weekend Penni & I were there for the NASCAR race.  One was centered in Irving where our hotel was.  They both happened in the middle of the night and neither of us had a clue.  We can at least say we’ve been in 2 now, though.

I opened this blog on April 13th this year.  (I owe a big thank you to Karah for the wonderful layout she made for me.)  I’ve really enjoyed posting my stories and photos for you all to see.  I participated in my first Day of Blogs this year and am already planning on participating again in 2009.

I turned 28 this year.  It seems like I was just graduating high school or still in college but the planning began months ago for my 10 year high school reunion next summer.  It’s just crazy how time has flown by since May 1999.

Here’s to 2008 and to what’s to come in 2009!

Some items to look forward to…
-Joe Nichols (Rogers, AR native) will sing the national anthem.
-There will be an F16 flyover following Joe’s performance.
-All players will be introduced. I’m especially looking forward to the introduction and play of catcher Cody Clark (Fayetteville, AR native).
-George Brett (former Kansas City Royal player) will be appearing.
-Professional baseball in Northwest Arkansas! (While I am not the biggest baseball fan, this does excite me very much.)

I’m headed to the ballpark about 4:30. I’ll post photos as soon as I can.