Gators beat Nebraska! Update from back home.

I just want to say OMG WE BEAT NEBRASKA!!!!!!

I said it before and I will say it again- I will not underrate you Gators!

Wow. I am at home for Father's day and let me tell you, what an awesome Father's day for my dad. Minus the whole Tiger almost winning the Open and then losing to some guy that nobody knows... But hey, did I tell you that I've been to Pinehurst and stayed in the Pinehurst Inn, and Pinehurst is the most beautiful place in all the world. (well not all the world clearly)

So FYI: DIAL UP SUCKS. Who the hell raises their children in the ice age? My parents apparently. I do not understand how my brother survives. How do you look things up that you need to know? Clearly, they do not do that around here. They also must get their weather from the weather channel and their sports from ESPN (on television). Seems so strange, I just click on my favorites and BAM weather.com and BAM espn.com. So weird this archaic form of knowledge gathering...

Anyway my old computer might crash soon so its back to Nick at Nite and lying in my old bed pretending to sleep for hours... Ah insomnia and home. So comforting and yet so restless.

I miss my laptop so much... tear.

Oooh ALSO Jeff Corsaletti is AMAZING!!! He went 4-4 with 4 doubles and a single and I can only imagine the other amazing stats he pulled in. The final score was 7-4. Hopefully 2nd floor will return with stats soon... or maybe I will get this beast of a computer to work again tomorrow and maybe, just maybe! I can get espn.com or gatorzone.com to load too. Oooh that would be glorious.

Ahh I feel so delirious and its only 2am. That's what being home will do, make 2am feel like 6am in Gainesville. Everyone has been asleep since like 11. My grandma even went to sleep at 9. Its funny because I go to work at 9pm... crazy place this is. or maybe its the other way around?

Okay I'm out.

night!

GO GATORS!!!

Brief update

FYI: Gators play Nebraska at 7pm tonight on ESPN2. Don't miss it! I wish I had my laptop so that I could post more about this AWESOME TIME IN GATOR BASEBALL HISTORY! as we are in the winners bracket after beating Tennessee even after committing a few errors! but alas I can only write brief updates as I am using someone else's computer.

Also, I will be going back home for father's day and a little preliminary birthday celebration (no big deal seeing as how any birthday after 21 for the rest of my life is going to suck...) but I will be back later in the week.

On the plus side! After two horrifying nights in a row at my place of employment, last night was awesome.

so keep in touch and I will be back later this week.

kc

Update: Laptop Woes, Baseball game on Friday

Just a brief update. I had written a nice long post at 5am this morning while suffering from the usual insomnia boredom and saved it to post today so that I could ya know, make sure I wasn't delirious. The post was actually in response to friends wanting to hear about more than baseball.

Unfortunately, my awesome laptop has been infected by an evil virus and will be out of commission (hopefully not for long). So the posts may be limited in the next day or two while I try to fix my laptop.

To stay up to date on the Gators, you should read 2nd floor's posts on the baseball team line-up, full with profiles and pictures! So fun! I know I am looking forward to his upcoming info on the Tennessee baseball that we will face in the first game of the College World Series.

FYI: The Gators play Tennesse in the CWS at 2pm on Friday, live on ESPN2!! YAY! I don't have to work till 6pm and will get to watch the whole game!

kc

Getting excited for Omaha, and reliving this past weekend's games

Seeing as how I have been working and drinking a lot this weekend and the beginning of this week, I have been unable to give you the details I promised about the Super Regional tournament. So today I'm going to abuse the fact that the Alligator got to write stories on the games before I did and I'm going to use some of my favorite quotes from their articles.

For starters, a quote from Matt LaPorta: "We've proven a point: don't ever underrate us."
I'd like to say for the record, LaPorta I apologize for underrating the Baseball team. I have grown accustomed to attempting to not get too excited about our Gators teams. I have failed at this attempt many times throughout the last four years, and gotten excited and full of hope and dreams for my Gators, only to have my little orange and blue heart be crushed by the weight of disappointment. So, it is clear to see why I try to remain bitter and doubtful going into the post-season of any Gators sport. You'd think after being a Pittsburgh Steelers and Pirates fan for so long, that I would learn to get over this pain, but alas, it haunts me in my sleep (or lack thereof as the case may be). Sorry for the tangent, now back to reality. I will now believe in you Matt LaPorta and the other amazing Gators Baseball players, but I will continue to refrain from putting too high expectations on this All-star, but still very young team.

Next up, Coach Pat McMahon: "I'm firmly convinced that every one of those guys on the field wanted that ball hit to them. When you can say that when the tying run is at the plate, the largest crowd ever in stadium history is cheering you on, that comes from practice and all the things you do to be successful. You see yourself in that position, so when it happens, you can do it."
Damn, I love baseball so much that it hurts. That quote sums up why McMahon is teaching these kids some amazing baseball. From watching this team with an infield of mostly sophomores, I get the feeling turning double plays is what these guys thrive on. They play with such vigor and strength and love for the game. It reminds me of my brother's little league all-star team the way the Gators love playing the game. And they play with such incredible accuracy that it borders on perfection. Which brings me to my next quote.

In the article, Gators get CWS berth, Tim Casey writes, "The Seminoles committed four errors in Saturday's game [In the Super Regional] and one on Friday while the Gators played error-free baseball all weekend."
Without a doubt Coach Pat McMahon is coaching the players to a path of baseball glory. Watching them play Notre Dame in a game that can only be described as batting practice for the Gators, woop FSU on Friday night and hold them down Saturday night, you can tell this team is in it for the love of the game and the desire to win.

What Coach McMahon is talking about when he said every player wanted the ball hit to them, is the bottom of the 9th inning of Saturday's game against FSU.
The Gators had held the Seminoles to only 3 runs off of 7 hits after the 4th inning. So the Gators entered the bottom of the 9th with the Seminoles up to bat and Alan Horne going into his 9th straight inning and with what could have only been a really tired arm.
Despite the cheers from the Seminoles who were 5 runs down and dying to come back in the bottom of the ninth, and a tired Horne, the stadium and I at work standing at the bar watching the TV diligently, thought we had the game in the bag and expected a couple ground balls or pop-ups to be caught and a strike out or so to end the game.
The Seminole player, Jernigan was first up and grounded out for the first out of the inning. At this point I really thought the game was over, I was just waiting for that fly ball to be caught or that third strike to be thrown. But Horne was tired and Seminole, Thomas hit a homerun on two strikes. So the score was now 8-4 and I was losing my patience while I at work.

Just to let you know: I had to cover for someone at work Saturday night at 9pm and while I tried to go to the game at 7 to watch the first hour or so, I was late and the student section was full. So I was at work during the end of the game and it was Karoake night so the only TV playing the game was at the bar and I couldn't really sit there the whole time, so I stood in a corner watching the game as much as possible.
But when the first batter grounded out and we only had TWO outs left until we could cheer our way to Omaha, I took a cigarette break and went out back and called my dad for a play-by-play of the last two outs. It was then that I heard my dad say, "they hit a homerun, they need to take out Horne." Stupid Seminoles.
So I sat in the back alley of the Pub chain smoking and listening to my dad tell me Alan walked the next batter. Now it was 8-5 and the next batter was a lefty so off the mound came Horne with what I hear was a standing ovation and his hands held high pumping his index finger in the air. Man, I love that guy. He pitched 148 pitches in 8 and 1/3 innings against the loathsome Seminoles.

Back to the game: So Mike Pete, a lefty pitcher, was now on the mound and to face the lefty batter. The lefty Seminole popped out to Corsaletti in center field, and we only had one out left until Omaha. But then the next lefty got a a single and there were two runners on base, and the batter on deck was the tying run, things were suddenly getting intense. With the next batter not being a lefty, the lefty pitcher Pete was replaced by Falkenbach, a very good closing pitcher in my opinion.
The first batter Falkenbach faced hit a single to left field and brought Robinson into score for the ugly Noles. 8-5, two men on base, tying run up to bat.

And now we are where the Coach's quote comes from:
"I'm firmly convinced that every one of those guys on the field wanted that ball hit to them. When you can say that when the tying run is at the plate, the largest crowd ever in stadium history is cheering you on, that comes from practice and all the things you do to be successful."
I was sucking the nicotine out of my cigarette like it was oxygen, my adrenaline was going crazy and I could just imagine my Gators team breaking my heart yet again. My dad reminded me that if we lose, I could actually get to see the game the next day and that it wasn't over for us yet. He also told me that the Seminoles players were now all wearing their stupid baseball hats backwards and inside out and cheering for a rally. I hate those damn Seminoles.
But, thanks to the awesome coaching from McMahon and the amazing talent and drive of the Gators, they were all thinking, I want this one hit to me. They were all dying to get that ball and make that last and final Seminole out that would take them to Omaha. As fate would have it, Matt LaPorta got that ball and made the out at first to end the game and to send the whole Gators team to the mound in a pile up of what could have only been a moment of glorious jubilation and overwhelming confidence in this baseball-loving Gators team.

I would also like to give a shout out to the other bloggers in Gainesville and afar who have "linked me" to their blogs. Be sure to check out the blogs I have linked on my page as well. 2nd floor has some awesome posts about the Gators baseball team that you all should read about it as the Gators prepare for the College World Series in Omaha!

peace and love and go gators!

TO OMAHA

OMG!!!!
THE GATORS ARE GOING TO OMAHA!!!!
We beat FSU 8-5 tonight and we are on our way to the College WORLD SERIES IN OMAHA!!!!!!
I just got home from work and I am so excited!
More details to come tomorrow!
GO GATORS AND F FSU!

kc

The long winded adventures of the bar waitress newbie

It is time to take a break from baseball...

Let me tell you about my job.

I took my senior year of college off from working (my first senior year, that is). But now it is the summer after my fourth year of college and I have chosen to stick it out at least one more year and try to finish with a degree.

But at what cost? Basically, my cost. I am in the process of being financially "cut-off" from my parents and taking out loans. I am living off of my boyfriend right now and we are surviving off of tuna, eggs, milk and water. Needless to say there was serious need to find a job. This time in my life, unlike every other time I was desperate for a job, I was really lucky. I filled out applications all over the area near my apartment and looked through all the classifieds and couldn't find anything. Until one day, I just walked into this bar and asked if they were hiring. And low-and-behold they were- for one position as a server. I was hired on the spot as a server.

I am now about three weeks into the job and it has been a blast. Its weird though because it truly is a bar. I serve alcohol and some food here and there, but mostly alcohol to college kids and even college professors. My favorites though are the old hippies who just never left town after college and have been coming to this Pub every Tuesday since it opened.

I think its safe to say that I have never had a job that I liked. Except for when I worked for my mom, every employer I have ever had, put me down in some way. It wasn't ever directed solely to me personally, they were just immature people working unimportant jobs for a living and taking it out on their employees. They say never to talk badly about your past employers to a future employer, but I'm hoping none of my future employers are reading this blog.

But now I find myself working with a huge group of college kids. All of them are big drinkers, smokers, and anything else you can think of. And these are the people I work with. Its seriously so much fun. I wait on people and serve drinks, and "work." But mostly I'm hanging out at a bar. My bar manager pours us shots when he's bored and the first rule I learned on the job was, if you're 21 and the bar manager pours you a drink, take it. I've gotta tell you, its really intimidating taking shots, chugging car bombs, and shotgunning beer with a bunch of long-time bartenders. You can imagine that I have been practicing my drinking skills now.

So last night I had to work until about 3am. Didn't get home till like 3:30am. I had a quiz at 11am. But I need the money and I thought I could survive... Apparently, not so much. Last night we had our first Beer Pong tournament, which is now going to be a fun summer Wednesday tradition. It was pretty crazy with lots of very enthusiastic beer pong "professionals." A lot of the employees came in to see how the beer pong thing was going. Some of the bar backs/bouncers (very large frat boys) were taking shots in the back and I conned them into getting me some shots too. Wise move or mortal mistake? Some of both.

Once our bar manager starts making drinks, he likes to keep it up. If he's not working hard at the bar, he'll make us all drinks as often as he feels like it. He's also an alcoholic so as often as he feels like drinking is pretty much all the time. So I had one shot brought to me while I was just walking back from the porch. That shot was tasty and the bar back that brought it to me was not too unimpressed with my flinching-smile reaction after I took it. It was SoCo with lime (lime grenadine that is). It was very tasty but I was also dying for some alcohol at this point.

After this shot I needed a cigarette break. After the stoge and the SoCo I actually had a buzz. I was a little freaked out by this until I remembered that I had not eaten anything all day. This little trick of denying food is paying off in miraculous ways, I'm turning into a light weight which is really a cheaper way to drink!

So the next shot was given to me by the bar manager (BM for now on) in exchange for washing cups at the bar (which I love to do for fun because I get to be behind the bar and talk to the people at the bar). BM hands me the shot while I'm mid dish-washing. So my hands are wet and people are watching. I go to take the shot while the BM is staring at me in anticipation for my reaction, as usual, but then he stops and says, "oh wait." And he grabs an ice cube and sticks it in. As if it would have been the end of the world if the shot wasn't cold. So, then the BM gets distracted and I take the shot quickly (in a lofty hope to be able to take in one gulp like the BM can). So people are still watching as I throw the shot back and the ice cube hits my teeth and I realize that this shot is twice as big as the double shot I took earlier tonight, and the SoCo goes pouring down my neck and chest. Not very much SoCo was lost as I had quite a bit more to drink. So with the bar backs and bouncers laughing at me I quickly tried to redeem myself by throwing back the rest of the shot, ice cube and all went smoothly down my throat.

I am slightly unclear as to how much SoCo was actually contained in these two shots. But I was definitely drunk for awhile and definitely hungover this morning. I'm not sure why. I suppose it is because I was previously unaware of SoCo's evil powers, but now that it has come to my attention I will probably still drink it when the BM gives me a drink, but I will definitely never drink it by choice. If I look at it this way, the only alcohol that I've ever seen my dad get drunk off of was SoCo, and you should know, my dad is about 6'3" and about 325 lbs so I'd say that SoCo really isn't my cup of tea. Particularly when I have pretty much stopped eating entirely at this point.

Fortunately one of the other waitresses was there last night and she helped me clean up and double and triple count my money at the end of the night. I also had a table order two pitchers with about 20 minutes left of bar time and demand that I help them finish the pitchers. They were a really fun group of Asian kids so I said, why not? And challenged the boys to a chugging contest... haha they were wasted and I looked cool. So that was one beer in 2 seconds. Rock out.

So all in all it was a good night. Would have liked to have made more money but it was the first night of beer pong and kind of chaotic. Plus I definitely made more than the last Wed that I worked so that was hot.

Well that was definitely a long and tireless description of my job but hopefully it will not bore you entirely too much.

I can't resist a little baseball FYI:
Gator Baseball games this weekend at McKethan stadium:
Friday, June 10 - Game 1
7 p.m.: Florida State (visitor) - Florida (home)
Saturday, June 11 - Game 2
7 p.m.: Florida (visitor) - Florida State (home)
Sunday, June 12 - Game 3 (if necessary)
1 p.m.: Coin Flip Would Determine Home/Visitor Designation

Florida NCAA Baseball

After four years of attending the University of Florida, the Gators baseball team is finally on a post-season winning streak. We have always had a great team since I've been here, ranked and even in the top 5 at times. But the post-season always kills us, its the curse of being a Gator after Spurrier left I think. We can end the season with enough intimidation and stamena to look like we could take it all, but we tend to lose it in the first post-season game. Its a curse that our football, basketball and baseball teams have all experienced many times throughout my tenure as a student here.

BUT the Gators baseball team is making their way through the NCAA post-season with flying colors and there is hope yet!

After an amazing weekend of baseball the Gators won the NCAA Gainesville Regional and will be hosting the Super Regional tournament this weekend against FSU at home for a best-of-three game series.

After seeing the Gators beat UNC and steadily beat the crap out of the Fighting Irish, I have complete confidence that our Gators can kick some Seminole butt this upcoming weekend.

In the Regional tournament this weekend, The Gators beat Stetson 8-3 on Saturday morning after being rained out Friday night. Which was kind of a bummer for me because I had planned on going to the Gators first game in the tournament after work but it was rained out and I ended up working until about 10:30 anyway and would have missed it but instead I drank entirely too much alcohol Friday night and slept through the rescheduled game Saturday morning. It turns out I also missed our "star" player of the year, Matt LaPorta, a sophomore from Punta Gorda, FL, hit his record-breaking homerun #24 of the season. LaPorta had been at 23 homeruns for a few games now and had matched the Gator record for most homeruns in a season but was just waiting on that one more homer to beat the record and make it his. So Saturday morning he hit #24 and I missed it. Bummer.

Okay well I guess I'm going to have to end this post for now. Today is Matt's birthday and we are going out to the pool. But get excited because the Gators beat Notre Dame 23-3 Sunday night and I have tons of fun stories about the game!

laters.

Gators Baseball Champions!

Gators are NCAA Regional Baseball Champions! Amazing times in the Gator baseball program. Will post more details about the awesome Gators baseball team after I take my midterm at 9:30. But get excited because the Gators are now moving on to the Super Regionals AND we are hosting the tournament right here in Gainesville! AND we are playing FSU!! rock out to kicking some Seminole butt and making our way to the College World Series!!
Go to http://www.gatorzone.com for more information if you just can't wait till I tell you all about the games.

The rambling introduction of an insomniac

Well, the insomnia has led me to jump on the blog bandwagon. I've spent enough time reading other blogs and now i find myself awake at 3am (a fairly decent hour) and ready to start my own ramblings.

I am a 21 year old college student with a decent chance of being in college forever at this point. Four years under my belt, not even an AA yet, and I've got one year left and less direction than I had in high school. At this point my goal is to graduate with a degree.

I'm a newly diagnosed/medicated ADD kid and henceforth an insomniac due to the narcotic stimulants I take every morning.

I'm a liberal and opinionated but I like to think I'm open-minded and very flexible. I love a good stimulating argument- which is why I am friends with conservatives, liberals and God-knows what else in between.

I love sports, always have. I have grown up around baseball and have an abundant amount of knowledge about the actual game of baseball but very little knowledge about actual MLB players, teams and whatnot. I will always be a Pittsburgh Pirates fan at heart, and a Tampa Bay Devil Rays fan because that's my home team; but I would kill for tickets to a Yankees/ Red Sox game anyday. My brother wants to play for the Yankees one day so I'm more inclined to cheer for the Yankees but at the same time, I can't help but be elated when the Devil Rays are ahead of the Yankees in the national standings. Right now though my baseball attention is all-absorbed by the amazing Gators NCAA Baseball team. So through my experiences of watching the games while in Gainesville this summer, and through my intended research of the Major Leagues, I hope to bring you a fun-filled and knowledgable source of info on baseball happenings.

In addition to being ADD, a liberal and a sports fan, I'm also a preppy sorority girl with a love of cigarettes and alcohol. Clearly I have an addictive personality but I like to say it makes me more entertaining. Anyway, if I were perfect, where would the fun be, right? So basically I love a good time and will probably ramble about my outings in Gainesville from time to time.

So that's it for now. My life story, well, enough of it to bore you I suppose.