Search XXsportsradio.com
|
Show Blogs
Blogging with Darren Smith
Recent Posts
Welcome to Darren's Blog
Ready to come homeMarch 16, 2008, 6:41 amFinal blog of this trip to China and I don’t mind telling you that I’m ready to go. It’s been a great trip but this is a perfect time to end it. Sitting at Wukesong Stadium and typing during the second inning, I can tell you this is, by far, the coldest and windiest day of the trip. I am told that we should consider ourselves lucky because just two weeks ago in was 19 degrees. Yikes. That’s some lousy baseball weather. Sure, I would have liked to have had a little more time away from the computer and the microphone and baseball but this is the business that we choose. Still saw some amazing things like The Great Wall, Tiananmen Square and The Forbidden City. And I saw the first major league baseball games played in China.. I doubt there are many people around the water cooler telling their coworkers that. Plus it’s baseball, the sport I most enjoy covering and talking about. This is hardly just “work”. Talked to a bunch of the players today and they all feel the same way. Great trip – lot of fun but let’s get back to our comfort zone. A wave just broke out here in the bottom of the 3rd. And they just conducted the hot dog derby. Coming up next the sailboat race. Guess we can’t escape some of the crappy traditions of this sport even with a 15-hour time difference. Top five things I’ll remember about this trip: 1) Tiananmen Square. 2) The Great Wall 3) Adrian Gonzalez, Heath Bell and Justin Germano conducting a clinic for Chinese middle schoolers. 4) Someone eating a live scorpion on a stick. Where was my camera when I needed it? 5) The Friar getting kicked out of the hotel lobby for scaring little Chinese children. Really. Remember, religion here is not what it is where we are from. The Friar A lot of people helped make this trip possible and deserve to be publicly thanked. First and foremost is Warren Miller, PR Director of the Padres. I don’t think Warren has slept more than five consecutive hours in about three months and pulled this thing off perfectly. Corey Brock of MLB.Com and Mark Zeigler of the San Diego Union Tribune for hanging with me. I knew of these guys but didn’t know these guys. I encourage everyone to read their work. Corey will be with the Pads all season long and Mark will be here in Beijing for the Olympics – his 11th. Had a lot of fun with them and learned a lot. Sandy Alderson and John Lynch for getting me on this trip. This is a really big deal to the Padres and , in particular, to Sandy. As a matter of fact, I spoke with Padres owner John Moores yesterday and he gave all of the credit for this trip to Sandy, so thanks to both of them for thinking that I could do a decent enough job of relaying this trip back to the listeners of XX Sports Radio. Whether or not you thought this trip was a good idea or think that we shouldn’t be here period is a great debate to have. I had serious reservations about it as well ut came to the conclusion that sports should be apolitical. This is not some political mission. It’s baseball. The purpose of this trip was to spread the reach of the game and time will tell if it worked. Won’t be measure for years, maybe even decades. But it worked for the NBA here and you can barely travel a mile in this city without seeing a basketball court. Globalization of sports is here folks. Get used to it. BTW – you might be able to take Red Sox fans out of Boston but you can’t take the Boston out of the Red Sox fans….In the bottom of the 7th inning a “Yankees Suck” chant broke out from the bleachers in right. I’m done. This blogging experience has been fun and I hope you guys got something out of it. Back on the air from the John Lynch Jr Celebrity Golf Classic at Fairbanks Ranch on Monday. I’ll be exhausted and worthless, but what else is new. For the final time from Beijing, China…Adios. |
Hells Bells in Beijing!March 15, 2008, 8:57 pmHells Bells in Beijing! It wasn't a save situation and it wasn't even the ninth inning but the 12,224 fans at Wukesong Stadium stadium on Saturday afternoon heard a little AC/DC when Trevor Hoffman came in the game and, I must admit, it was pretty cool. Even Trevor, who won't let the song play when he's not in a save situation seemed to think that it was "pretty cool" as he told me after the game. I guess if the fans don't know what the song signifies then it can't be a jinxing situation, even in one of the most superstitious countries in the world. The atmosphere was different to say the least. I don't want to generalize, but in lieu of being able to ask the fans what they thought, I'm pretty sure they were a little confused. It was pretty obvious that they thought the foul balls were the greatest things in the game. The cheers for the fouls were far noisier than for the scoring plays or strikeouts. But that's OK..this is the first game that they've ever been to. It took a while for the crowd to get to its feet and I'm pretty sure that the majority of them had just as much in the "baseball experience" setup outside of the stadium's walls. There, kids could take their hacks off of a pitching machine and try to throw strikes to a simulated batter. Some were actually pretty impressive and others, well...not so much. I'd say that some of the Chinese boys threw like girls but I don't want to offend the girls reading this. But that is exactly why MLB, the Padres and the Dodgers are here. To change that to the point where 15 year old Chinese kids know what baseball is, even if they don't play it. All in all a pretty memorable day. The players always come back to a common phrase about looking back in a couple of decades and saying that you were there when baseball really began in China. I don't know if that's going to play out or not but I feel the way the players do. IF this thing does take off and IF China does start producing Major League Baseball talent, I;m sure that I will look back and appreciate the fact that I bore witness to history this afternoon. On a quick baseball note, Buddy Black told me that Justin Germano, though not great today, did nothing to damage his chances of making the opening day roster and thought he was pretty good overall. What impressed Buddy the most was Germano's ability to get himself off the hook after a couple of jams in the 2nd and 5th innings. In the 5th, he escaped a bases loaded nobody out jam with a strikeout and a double play ball to second. Final blog during the game tomorrow as we are scheduled to leave for the airport immediately after the game. As much as I've loved it, I'm ready for my own bed and some Mexican food. Go figure, I can't wait to get to the United States to eat Mexican...Only in San Diego. Adios. |
Bonus BlogMarch 14, 2008, 12:33 pmI'm not one for toilet humor. Hopefully, you know that about me by now. But I just got back to my hotel room after eating dinner with a couple of members of the group and had to share this picture with you guys. We often complain about public bathrooms in the United States and with good reason but check this photo and tell me how much you want to complain now. And tell me that this wouldn't be a problem for Coach after a night at the all-you-can-eat buffet..Folks, this was the only bathroom in the whole restaurant! Not just the mens room...not just the womens room - EVERYONE had to use this! This isn't the kids room, either.  |
MLB in ChinaMarch 14, 2008, 7:59 amLife returned to relative normalcy for the Padres today. Well, as normal as it can be for Major League Baseball players in China. The day started   Baseball has incorporated the help of some pretty interesting names as  On a personal note, I was able to break away from baseball and the team for a couple of hours today and took a stroll down the road from our hotel. About six blocks from where we're staying is Tiananmen Square. Yup. Tiananmen Square. As in the Tiananmen Square we all remember from 1989 when the government here clashed with students and one protester stood in front of a line of tanks. Stood right there. You talk about being overwhelmed. I think most of you know that I appreciate history  Games are on for tomorrow. I get the sense that the teams are anxious to put on a good show for the fans here. Should be fun. Click here for more pictures |
Was that Tiffany?March 13, 2008, 4:24 pmWhile the highlight of this trip will be the visit to the Great Wall of China, something else happened on Thursday that was noteworthy and, in the  Turned out to be a pretty good turnout for a bunch of players that nobody knows anything about. The players easily could have been Matt Antonelli, Josh Geer, Nick Hundley and Kyle Blanks and nobody there would have  One thing that occurred to me was the fact that THOSE four players went. Actually, Hoffman, Kouz and Bell were scheduled and Germano just wanted   |
What a day!March 13, 2008, 11:07 amI can't believe that I had any trepidation about this trip after the afternoon that we had climbing the Great Wall of China. And it wasn't just me. You can see the looks on the faces of the different Padre players and how awestruck they were after today's trip. To me, the one who stood out the most was Trevor Hoffman. Think about it - here's a Hall of Fame player who can and has done almost anything he's wanted to do in life looking as giddy as the greenest minor leaguer on this trip. He was filmed and interviewed the whole way up and represented San Diego, the Padres and Major League Baseball better than anyone could have. Stats are stats and W's and L's are what appear on the bubble gum card but the city of San Diego couldn't have a better representative. Period. And it didn't end there. All of the players were in awe that this great sport of baseball had taken them to one of the Seven Wonders of the World and gave them memories that they will never forget. We did get a little lucky with the weather, as you'll notice in the pictures. When we arrived yesterday, the haze and smog in Beijing honestly reminded me of San Diego during the wild fires this past fall or back in 2003. It was so thick that you could literally feel and taste the acrid air and it made you want to upchuck. Not today, though. Even    Plenty if baseball to come from Beijing with workouts on Friday and the games on Saturday and Sunday. It will be Justin Germano and Cesar Ramos starting for the Padres over the weekend and the boys are looking forward to getting back to baseball at Wukesong Stadium in Beijing. We got in too late last night to see what Beijing is all about so this evening will be a little different. I heard really good things about the tea rooms here... Adios from China. Click here gallery |
Greetings to you from half way across the world!March 12, 2008, 10:20 amGreetings to you from half way across the world. Welcome to day one of blogging from Beijing, China as I travel with the Padres in anticipation of these exhibition games against the Dodgers here on Saturday and Sunday afternoons (evenings back in SD). Forgive me if I am making little sense and don't hold the brevity of this first blog against  We all arrived at the Peoria Sports Complex yesterday morning at 8:30AM, were screened at the sight and headed to the airport for a 12:30 flight out of Sky Harbor direct to Beijing. I have had worse flights. Usually, they involve an expensive weekend in Vegas and a sweat-soaked rush into the Southwest terminal at McCarran but for all the hemming and hawing about a 13+ hour flight to Beijing - it actually was a piece of cake. Charter flights, the only way to fly. Plenty of room to stretch and attempt to catch some Zzzz's. Bodies were strewn across this 747 like we had been nerve-gassed. By the time we checked in and got unpacked, it was nearly 8:00 local time and most people wanted to get straight to bed. I give the Padres credit - the players who said they were going to go on this trip did (unlike a certain opponent). The closest that the Padres came to losing a player was Scott Hairston, who was hit by a pitch on Tuesday(?) and was a question mark even as we were packing our bags. Gamer. Made the trip and was even getting treatment 40,000 feet in the air as we flew over the Bering Strait. Trevor, Heath Bell, Kevin Kouzmanoff, Adrian Gonzalez and his lovely wife Betsy all made it, just to name a few.  And Tsingtao beer doesn't hold a candle to Miller Lite. But it does have a pull-tab and that's alright in my book. Chat at ya soon. Adios. |
From The Forum
In 'General Discussion': Phreaky billy
In 'General Padres Discussion': Ted's sports career?
In 'General Discussion': .
In 'General Discussion': stream
In 'General Discussion': Dear 1090
In 'XX Sports': Bring Back The Saw!
In 'General Padres Discussion': We're Bored
Audio Vault
| Download the latest podcasts! | |
Igor Olshansky
|
|
Mark Schlereth
|
|
Harold Reynolds
|
|
Marlon McCree
|
|
Adrian Gonzalez
|
|
Clinton Hart
|
|
| ...Archives | |
Station Promotions
On Air Now
Listen Live
Philly Billy Werndl and
Darren Smith
Mon - Fri 1PM - 4PM
XX Exclusive Savings
    |
Bud Light XX Insider Poll
| Who is more annoying? |
Sponsors
| Sports News | | Lineup | | Blogs | | XX Insiders | | Forum | | Promotions & Events | | Traffic | | Audio Vault | | Photo Gallery | | Station | | Sponsors |
© Broadcast Company Of The Americas