Italy
August 17, 2009Just finished my first week here in Italy and I’m really enjoying myself. First off, this country is amazing on a lot of different levels. The food, the history, the beaches, the style, etc, etc.
It’s a pleasure to see how the Italians navigate life. They seem to have a nice pace to the day. Let me say one thing…they’re not scared of a two hour lunch and then a nap. It’s great, and such a change from that in the States.
As far as the baseball goes, that has been great too. These kids that we are coaching are unique. Geez, you have to be a little eccentric just to play baseball if you’re from a country like Uganda…and you have to be really interesting to play as much as these kids must have played to be as good as they are.
When I say good, I mean it. There will probably be upwards of 15 kids drafted to play pro ball out of this group, and many of them have yet to turn 16. There are another 20 kids that could easily play at the highest levels of junior college baseball in the States and they’re only the equivalent of high school juniors. A number of them could play for division I programs.
And the best part is they don’t know it. They’re eager and fresh and will run through a wall if you ask them to. They play the game with enthusiasm, joy and passion. You never see a thrown helmet or a bad attitude. You never see a kid who thinks the game owes him something.
As a whole they love the game for what it is, not what they can get from it. It’s really cool.
And it’s gonna be really cool when one of these kids makes it to the show.
Brent,
Great to hear the young Euros are making progress. Can we get an update on the food when you get a chance? Grazie per tutti.
The food is solid. It’s very difficult if not impossible to eat a bad meal here. These folks are seriously committed to food.