They landed in Fort Myers just before noon and were greeted by rainy weather and not quite 40 degrees. They are not going to complain because it was negative 12 (-12) in the Twin Cities on Saturday morning.
As the rookie campers entered the hotel they were greeted warmly by Tony Oliva and Juan Berenguer who were also just checking in at the Holiday Inn. On the elevator ride up a conversation about the Vikings ensued and Oliva made this remark, "I think it is good the Vikings lost a couple games - everyone gets in a slump". Let's hope he is right; that means Purple will be on track in the playoffs then.
Our favorite campers found their room and headed down to registration to get the information they will need to ensure getting to the ballpark in a timely fashion and stay on track for the week.
The Rookie Meeting commenced at 6:00pm - they were told to be on time as the Judge of the Kangaroo Court (Bert Blyleven) will keep track of all campers and will assess fines (for any reason basically) during the week. The Kangaroo court is in session on Tuesday and Friday evenings (a separate blog post might be in store for those experiences). Frank Quilici is another judge - so the campers have to watch their step around those guys. One rumor from a camper last year is no shower shoes - $50. Our favorite campers found $1 flip flops at the Target nearby. These fines go to charity so it is all in good fun! The meeting was highlighted by camp director Stan Dickman going over how this week is going to look like and told us how unique this opportunity will be. He stressed on how we will need to pace ourselves and not get hurt (that doesn't 'add' to the fantasy experience of baseball!). The meeting adjourned around 6:30pm and on to the banquet for all the campers. PB & MW found a table in the middle of the room - before they knew it, Lee Stange and Harmon Killebrew were sitting at their table. Harmon was having a great time and introduced himself to all. One unique thing about this fantasy camp is the access and fan friendly the pro staff are. As the night wore on PB and MW were able to chat with and hang out with the likes of:
Bert Blyleven, Dave Boswell, Tom Brunansky (who is lobbying hard to be Bert's political consultant for 2011), Juan Berenguer, Tony Oliva, Julio Becquer, and many others.
Sunday should be fun - "Rookie Tryouts" and the drafting begins later in the evening.
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