March 6, 2009
The La Salle men's basketball team heads to St. Louis, MO to wrap up the regular season tomorrow night with the Saint Louis Billikens. The Travel Blog will give you an inside peek at life on the road with the team. Send any questions or comments to: lasallesid1@aol.com . Go Explorers!
- Kale Beers, Director of Athletic Communications/Voice of the Explorers
Sunday, March 8
2:33 PM CST
I am back in the office at La Salle. I did not have time to check the video before we boarded the plane. Only now do I see that the video is incomplete. I just re-cut and uploaded the complete video and it should be accessible soon. Just at the tail end of the upload last night my battery died without warning. When I reconnected I saw that the video was in the appropriate folder at CBS-C but apparently it didn’t upload completely.
I am glad to see Rod finally got an A-10 Player of the Week. That is a bigger accomplishment than I think many realize. In a 14-team league, with all of the great players you need to be more than just a good player, you also have to have some luck. Not only do you have to have one of the best week’s worth of performances but you also pretty much need to have won all of your games or someone else on another team with comparable numbers who DID win all of the games will get the nod. So, some of Rod’s biggest week’s didn’t get the honor because we went 2-1 or 1-1. Or, if a player wins all the games and scored a bunch of points but shot 30% from the field or had high turnovers – that, too, will affect the outcome.
The server here at La Salle is inoperable but for some reason I can work off the wireless on the laptop.
I know that Peter would like to send and email blast to Explorer Club and Entourage members regarding Wednesday’s game but he may now have to wait until tomorrow so, please help us out and spread the word! Let’s represent in A.C.
OK, that’s going to do it for me. I think I should go home.
Here ends the blog.
8:45 AM CST
We are in the airport. I would like to apologize for not posting after the game last night. However, with the end of the season, the post game stuff and not having Degs to do the post game show on the radio- it got really hectic. I edited video until about 12:30 AM and now see that I need to tweek some audio levels on a few cuts.
I also want to apologize for butchering the tie-breaker scenarios on the air last night. I had the handbook on me and consulted Brother Ed and we just interpreted the guidelines wrong. I messed it up and I am sorry.
When we got back to the hotel last night we got our pre-ordered personal pizzas which were . . . not good. I don’t know if there is such a thing as “St. Louis Style Pizza” but if there is, and what we had last night is it . . . St. Louis should get out of the pizza business.
I edited video in the lobby while catching up with alum Kirsten Kraas (her maiden name) and her husband. Kirsten is a South Dakota native and alum who ran for Coach Torpey at La Salle and now lives in Kansas City, MO. I haven’t seen her in many years, so it was great to see her.
After I got done loading the video I connected with alum Kevin Hyslop who introduced me to a blues club called BB’s two years ago when we were here. We went to BB’s but only got there in time to catch two numbers before they shut down. I was bummed out. Now, the Blues is not my preferred genre of music but anyone who follows this blog knows that I am a music man with a guitar “problem” and seeing the guys at this place is priceless. Kevin and I relished the victory, listened to an acoustic duo at a place adjacent to BB’s who actually let me take a spin on their Martin acoustic guitar, and then came back. I will make this very blunt – if ever in St. Louis and, you have any remote interest in music – go to BB’s on South Broadway. Props to Kevin for making the trip.
Last night’s experience was on the top shelf of those I have had as a La Salle broadcaster. The crowd was loud and crazy, the action was intense. . and the mighty Explorers prevailed.
I am still angry at Xavier for losing, not because we will have to play them if we can defeat the Billikens again, but because we will have to play at noon on the first two days (if we defeat SLU in the first round) and our dedicated fans deserve to have a better draw to see the team.
Time to fix that video and nominate Rodney for A-10 player of the week.
If there is time left afterward, I will post again.
Fight On Explorers!
Saturday, March 7th
7:33 PM CST
Time for one quick last post before tip-off . . . I just got some face time with Gene Wojciechowski from ESP in the media room. He is way-back buddies with SLU coach Rick Majerus and came to town to do a pod cast. In my travels I’ve connected with most of the national writers but have never come across him. Seems like a good guy – good conversation.
They are expecting a sell-out here at Chafeitz Center. The band is booming and there is much energy in the air.
Time to get ready to go on air. I think the Explorers rotation will be a little “expanded” tonight. We will see.
Go Explorers!
4:59 PM CST
It is taping time in our room so I am taking refuge in the lobby. I found another use for the excess media guides and that is to send a few with Peter D'Orazio and John Dolan to the alumni function. So, it all worked out well in the end.
The hotel is much less crowded because the Southern Illinois people cleared out. They lost to Bradley yesterday but, I assume, they had the rooms booked for last night so most of them stayed at least for the night if not for the remainder of the tourney. From my hotel room I could see a mass of royal blue-clad people (Creighton) making their way across the park toward the ScottTrade Center.
Now, I am going to sit down and read the A-10 tie-breaking procedures thoroughly and hopefully have it somewhat figured out by game time. I didn't realize there were so many night games in the A-10 tonight. Anybody wonder why St. Bona is playing at 4:00 on a Saturday? My only guess is because they are on break. But, then why not 1 or 2PM?
How about Rhode Island? So much for that bubble. Tough break for the Rams.
2:42 PM CST
For you runners - I mapped out my route from this morning. I am really pleased and surprised - it did not seem that far but it was and I went pretty fast. Maybe that's why I golfed so porrly . . . yeah, that's it.
2:09 PM CST
I am back from golf with George Levesque ('70). He took me to his club which was a very scenic and challenging new track opened in 2003 called Old Hickory. He arranged to have a set of rentals ready for me. We decided to only play nine holes considering how much there is to do today. It was my first time out this season and his third and . . . let's just say . . . that after two holes . . . we decided it wasn't that important to keep score. Enough said.
George is a tremendous guy. He is extremely passionate about La Salle and so proud to be an alum. On the ride home he was returning and receiving calls from his buddies who are excited to come to the game. The alumni chapter president for this area is out of town so George has stepped in and arranged an alumni function for a small group. I genuinely had a tremendous experience. The quality of golf notwithstanding, we covered almost all the bases in Explorer hoops. We talked about all eras, traded stories . . . great stuff. Thanks George - I had a great day.
The weather was still pleasant but the wind has really kicked up and was pretty rough There is supposed to be a really strong storm coming through tonight.
Team meal is at 3:00 - time to relax a little - watch some scores and get ready for the big show!
8:38 AM CST
Good morning Explorer fans! It's an overcast but wonderfully pleasant day in St. Louis. I just got done with a 40 minute run that took me past the Gateway Arch - twice, and into another state and then wound up at the new Busch Stadium.
Whenever I am running in an unfamiliar place and not sure where I want to go I always rely on bridges. It's a good bet that if you see a major bridge and decide to run over it and back - that you will have a pretty decent length run . . . and not get lost. So, that's what I did. Not only did I keep in theme of crossing state lines as I did in Washington, DC but, to my memory, it is also the first time I traversed the Mississippi River by foot. It was so warm that I only wore a t-shirt and shorts. It did get a little windy on the bridge but nothing too bad.
Finishing around the ballpark was awesome as well. They really did a great job with it. It is awash in red and it seems as though you can hop right into centerfield with how centrally located it is. I could not go all the way around it so I had to stop and back track but I got around most of it. The coolest part, other than the statues of old players outside, is the statue of broadcasting legend Jack Buck where they have a constant loop of his calls playing. Obviously, that's sentimental and very interesting thing for me.
Another cool thing was passing hoops fans of all stripes out for a morning stroll/run. Everywhere I looked: Creighton, S.I.U., Bradley, Wichita St., etc. and everyone was so friendly and upbeat.
Across the street is - or should I say "WAS" the Professional Bowlers Museum/Hall of Fame which used to cohabitate with the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame. Last time we were here my broadcasting partner Steve Degler and I stopped in during our walk to see the park. It was blistering cold at the time and we really didn't have enough time but he wanted to take advantage of the two free games for the price of admission. I can now confirm that the PBA Hall has packed up shop and moved out of town because the building is vacant Degs! I believe they went to Houston. In fact this calls to mind how I heard that news: I was listening to KYW NewsRadio one morning with one of my old professors, back-up La Salle P.A. announcer and friend Jeff Asch read the news. He said that "as they packed up the pro bowlers' Hall of Fame, it was rumored that you could hear a pin drop . . ." If you know Jeff you will have no trouble believing that story.
Finally, I have found another ingenious use for the extra media guides that I brought out here. I decided to leave them randomly placed in the gathering areas (lobbies, restaurants, bell stands, etc.) where all of these folks from the Missouri Valley Conference tourney are passing by. I took five of them down on the way to my run and when I came back there was one remaining. I am surreptitiously infiltrating the Valley with La Salle/A-10 propaganda!
OK, I have to meet George Levesque soon so here are the bands I heard on my IPod during the run: Van Halen (DLR), Van Halen (DLR - yes, back to back), The Clash, Weezer, The Postal Service, Foreigner, Kansas, The Cult, TV on the Radio, The Killers, Sponge). Fight on Explorers!
12:08 AM CST
Kale & Rod: 356 (3-4)
Yves & Paul: -44 (4-3)
Kale and Rod lead all-time series 9-5
It took a couple months and 13 hands tonight but finally Rodney and I came roaring back with a vengeance. This game should not have even gone five hands. With a 141- -32 lead after two hands Rod and I went a little to strong and bid and eight on the next hand and came up one book too short. I kind of felt bad to ruin Paul's Senior Night in spades but he has been living on borrowed time all season anyway. There is talk about a rematch tomorrow but we shall see.
I told you about the great vibe that the city has already but it gets even better. We are situated right in the middle of an area that has the new Busch Stadium, lots of merchants and the arch serves as an awesome backdrop over the courthouse that the Dred Scott decision was made. More fascinating history.
Anyway, I walked outside along the park I was stopped by a pair of Bradley fans who read my shirt "La Salle basketball?" It so happens that they were from Havertown and were considering going to our game tomorrow. Then, one of the guys asked my name and when I told him what it was he laughed and told me that his brother was a classmate of mine at La Salle, Reece Cox. He laughed and said that he has listened to our broadcasts before - how bizarre.
Tomorrow is going to be an early one as I will need to wake up at about 7:15 AM to get my run in. I am actually looking forward to it. The weather is just so incredible here - you guys will not believe it when this makes its way east as it is supposed to - especially since we had a snow storm four days ago.
Fight on Explorers!
Friday, March 6th
11:08 PM CST
We finally checked into the hotel. We ate dinner at a place just across the street and I got done a little bit earlier than the guys so I walked over to the hotel which is a flurry of activity for reasons I will soon explain.
Dinner took much longer than usual but we got to watch Creighton stun Wichita State in the Missouri Valley Tournament which . . . is taking place right down the street at the ScottTrade Center (former home of the Billikens)! The whole restaurant erupted at the first "game-winning shot" then when Creighton hit the real winner it went nuts again - shortly thereafter, our restaurant was infested with Blue Jays. I think, but have not yet confirmed, that the team was in there eating as well. The manager was openly rooting for Creighton as he explained to one of us that they are staying in the adjacent hotel. So, he needs them to stay around all weekend for the business.
Southern Illinois is staying in our hotel but they lost earlier today.
The whole town has an awesome vibe to it. The weather has a great deal to do with it but also having hoops fans all over the streets is a great thing to experience. I love MARCH! The only experience I've had better than the effect that a conference tourney has on a town is that of the pinnacle of the college hoops. A few years ago a couple buddies of mine went to New Orleans on Final Four weekend and that was tremendous. Whether you are a college hoops or football fan, in my opinion, there is just nothing that compares to the passion and excitement of the college games, the fans, and championship time.
OK, it's getting late and there is a game of spades to be played. Rod and I are reeling - we are desperate for a "W".
7:18 PM CST
We are now at the arena and I just shot a little video of the team arriving. I am editing it as we speak and will post it ASAP. You will be able to view it by clicking here.
On the way here we passed the Gateway Arch and, as usual, Coach went to the back of the bus and gave the guys a little bit of a background sketch about the historic significance of the land mark and how it symbolizes the expansion of America. He also told them about the perils of the Lewis and Clark Expedition and, as corny as this seems, I think the symbolism is awesome . . . Coach talking to The Explorers about some real-life Explorers. The guys seem to like this stuff.
We met up with Associate Athletic Director Peter D'Orazio who visited Christian Brothers College High just outside of the city. Pete and John Dolan will be hosting Pat Cantwell the Chairman of the Board at CBCH at the game tomorrow. I will probably have him and John on the air at halftime tomorrow which will be great.
John Dolan actually pointed out that University Vice President for Advancement Brian Elderton was actually the offensive line coach for the Keydets. Brian was with us last time we came to St. Louis.
6:24 PM CST
Touchdown. Well, I got one of the three previously mentioned things accomplished. I really got to dig into the game notes and learned a great deal about this young Billiken's team. Most notably about them is the fact that they lead the nation in three-point field goal percentage. It's pretty impressive (27.7%) but, although we have had success from the arc in recent games, we generally don't rely on that area of the game. Still, it helps to get a few in from deep. They were tied with Duquesne 27-27 at the half on Wednesday AND shot 65% in the second half AND lost.
It's also interesting that they will do their senior ceremony after the game tomorrow as opposed to pre-game.
I did not break down the seedings because I don't have the complete A-10 schedules on hand which you need to determine head to head tie breakers. However, the general jist of it is that if we win - we will be #6. If we lose it's 8 or 9. Of course some different things can happen in a number of games but those are overwhelmingly the two most likely outcomes.
We are going right to practice from the airport and then right to dinner. Yves has already declared that tonight is Paul's "Senior Night" in spades as it is our last game of the regular season - at least until further notice. I told him that he is lucky to have the cast off because he is going to need both hands to handle us.
Sneaking a run in will be a challenge. I received a voice mail message from Mr. Levesque telling me to be ready outside the hotel at 9:00 AM tomorrow. I may have to get up at 7:00 to run before I hit the links with him.
It is overcast but 70 degrees outside. I will check in with a report from Chafeitz and possibly fire up the camera to give you some images of the new joint.
3:44 PM EST
We are now airborne. Obviously, I will not be able to post this until we land in about two and a half hours but I figured I would throw little something together I the meantime.
I am a little bummed that I have nothing to read. I have ordered two books on line. One of them is a companion reader for the HBO series The Wire and the other is Michael Dobbs' One Minute to Midnight which is about the Cuban Missile Crisis and was recommended to me from some of my friends in our Advancement Office. That is one of the reasons I went home today before we left - hoping the mail brought them - but they were not there. My back-up, which is a copy of Dan Patrick's "Outtakes" which has been sitting around my house for years, I stupidly left in my checked baggage.
I have no movies, I am well-rested and over two hours to kill . . .
seems like two or three things are going to happen here; 1) I am going to read the heck out of the Saint Louis game notes and 2) I will have LOTS of blog entries to post when we touch down and/or 3) I may be able to go over all the hypothetical pairings for the A-10 Tourney depending on tomorrow's outcomes.
I am sitting next to a pair of guys returning to Tulsa after a trip to Iceland! This is very exciting for me and Brother Ed. It has been a goal of mine to go there for about a dozen years now and Brother Ed, who has been there several times, is always sending me literature and information about it. Brother is just two rows in front of us so he was happy to hear about their journey. These guys' accounts of their trip corroborate the great things that Brother Ed has to say about the place and further heighten my interest in getting there some day.
Oh, and I just tapped one of the guys to show him what I was posting . . . he is blogging his trip right now too . . .
Travel Blog: Iceland - that's what I should have named the Cornell blog. p>3:10 PM EST We are on the plane now. The good news is that we had e-tickets and could just do it ourselves at the kiosks. The bad news is that there was a broken pipe in the ticketing area that they were cleaning it up, therefore, half of the kiosks were in accessible.
Once we got through security Coach Giannini sent the text that he was at the food court. After meeting him there Coach and I indoctrinated Coach McNelley into the world bourbon chicken. We both agreed that today's batch was a little weak. Not enough flavor - still good stuff.
Enrollment Service Director John Dolan is on this flight as well. John is a St. Louis native and was to join Peter D'Orazio out here yesterday to tend to some University business but he had a hang-up and could not leave until today.
I had to make sure to pack a few extra things in my laptop bag. Since we will be the final game of the A-10 regular season, I want to make sure I have the brackets handy for the broadcast tomorrow night to try to dissect when and whom we may be playing. Also, in anticipation of meeting up with alum George Levesque I wanted to grab a little something to give him - I will keep that as a surprise.
I did have something fortuitous occur at the ticketing counter as well. My radio gear box was three pounds over weight so I opened the box and took out some media guides to move into my carry-on. It so happened that of the ladies working the counter was an alum and another whose father was an alum. So, I gave them about five media guides to keep and give to family. I got under weight and spread some La Salle love!
OK, better try to post this fast. I apologize in advance for any typos - I won't be able to proof this as hard as I would like but will correct anything when I land.
1:30 PM EST - We are on the shuttle bus now. Of course, as we were pulling out the call came from Chuck at SLU to tell me that the media guides had arrived. At this point I have distributed a whole new set among four different bags and all at the bottom of the cargo hold. Figures.
Well, I guess I will just be lugging a set back to Philly on Sunday. It is possible that we will go through them, however. With senior night at SLU, new arena, last game of the season, the only time we play each other in regular season etc. it's possible there may be use for extra.
One of the default duties that gets passed down to those of us who have traveled with the team for so long (i.e. Brother Ed or I) is to make sure that the bus drivers - be it the shuttle or motor coach drivers - take the quickest way to and from campus. In this case, as has happened before, the driver wanted to go up to Broad St. to catch the Roosevelt Blvd. - when we all know the "back way" across Germantown Ave. So, with Director of Basketball Operations - a native Floridian - running the show - Brother Ed and/or I need to keep our eyes peeled so that they don't make one of these moves and add an additional 10, 15 or even 20 minutes to the trip.
Other instances where travel experience has come in handy in the past are; coming north on I-95 from D.C and NOT letting them take the Blue Route, the Limekiln Pike/20th Street short cut from Rte. 309 and the reverse of what we did just now - the Wissahickon exit off of Rte. 1 on the way back, etc.
OK, we are in Center City already on 76 and hitting some traffic. Not bad but slow. It's a little hot and stuffy on here . . . there it is . . . the guys just asked for the air conditioner or a window. The driver quickly obliged.
Next time I check in will be accompanied by the BOURBON CHICKEN!
11:00 AM -So, the training call with CBS-C is over. It wasn't too painful but we won't really know how it affects GoExplorers.com until we start writing, cutting and pasting code ourselves when hoops season ends. My guess is that we are sharp enough and can pick up on things pretty quickly in this office. We have a bright staff (myself notwithstanding!) that can adapt pretty quickly but I am sure there are going to be some snafu's and speed bumps that hopefully we can get through.
OK, I need to run home. I specifically left my bag there because I have an errand to run as well so I better take care of that to be ready to leave with the team.
8:15 AM - I received lots of feedback and requests about the Blog for our final trip so - here we are! The final one of the season. I am not yet sure if there will be an Atlantic City edition since the tourney is such an unusually hectic schedule. If we do one it will be a collaborative effort between me and others in attendance. So, let's make the most of this one. I wanted to get a quick start on the Travel Blog since it will be a busy day. We will leave for the airport sometime this afternoon but our office (Athletic Communications) is going to have a 10AM training call with CBS College Sports since our service package is going to be changing (read: we are going to have to do loads more ourselves). Stay tuned on this story - more to come. So, with that going on - and trying to make sure all is prepped to get on the plane, I didn't want to have to build the initial blog post in a van or at the airport.
Right now I am trying to figure out the mystery of the media guides. To avoid extra weight and potential extra baggage charges I mailed our media guides to Saint Louis about 2.5 weeks ago. They have not yet arrived at Chafeitz Arena. If the great SLU S.I.D. Chuck Yahng does not call before we leave this will mean "smuggling" another case-worth on the plane. And I say "smuggling" because it means that I put five in my laptop bag, another 5-10 in my clothes bag and then some more wherever I can fit them - radio gear box (which is already close to 50lbs.) or the managers' bags. Then I have to round them up - find a box at the destination and then unload them at the arena. Just an extra hassle that I tried to avoid.
By the way - for the purposes of this blog: whenever you see the spelling Saint Louis - it refers to the University, as opposed to St. Louis which will indicate the actually city. SLU - like its A-10 brethren (Bonaventure and Joseph's), and almost every other "Saint" school in America made a clear distinction a few years back to have the word "Saint" spelled out. Therefore, I am not being inconsistent with my writing - just following the rules.
OK - will check in later.
