Monthly Archives: June 2010

By now most Ironpig fan faithfuls have heard of the Ironpig’s Fan Cruise in November. What you don’t know, or what hasn’t been publicized yet is what I’m going to tell you about.

Basic info can be found at the Boscov Travel’s website:
http://boscovstravel.com/groups/ironpigs/cruise.asp

7-Night Bahamas & Florida Cruise
Aboard Norwegian Cruise Line’s Norwegian Jewel
Departs New York City
November 14-21, 2010

Package Inclusions

•Seven nights cruise accommodations
•All included meals and entertainment while aboard the ship
•Services of a professional Boscov’s Travel Escort
•Souvenir IronPigs Gift
•Exclusive events with the IronPigs Organization: All Star 1st Baseman Andy Tracy, Kurt Landes (General Manager), Matt Provence (Announcer) and mascots FeRROUS & FeFe
•Cruise taxes and government fees, which are subject to change at the discretion of the cruise line

Itinerary

Day Port Arrive Depart
Sun New York City 4:00 pm
Mon Day at Sea
Tue Port Canaveral (Orlando), Florida 12:00 pm 10:00 pm
Wed Great Stirrup Cay, Bahamas 11:00 am 6:00 pm
Thu Nassau, Bahamas 8:00 am 6:00 pm
Fri Day at Sea
Sat Day at Sea
Sun New York City 8:00 am

Prices are usually subject to change so check the link above to confirm and make reservations. Also, make sure to mention that you heard about this from the NOISE NATION!

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So now the good stuff…

What you haven’t heard about this cruise is that it is very family friendly. After speaking to Boscov’s travel I was informed that this cruise is also being sponsored by Nickelodeon and will feature games and characters from Nickelodeon shows

From the Norwegian Cruise Lines web site:
•Meet your favorite Nickelodeon characters like SpongeBob SquarePants, Dora the Explorer and more.
•Participate in Nickelodeon’s signature messy game show, Slime Time Live!
•Parents and kids can reconnect with the whole family during scavenger hunts, Family Improv, Storytime and more.
•Enjoy exciting trips ashore designed specifically for families.

Also will be exclusive events for the Ironpig fans including:
– Question and Answer sessions with General Manager Kurt Landes, Voice of the Ironpigs Broadcaster Matt Provence and All Star First Baseman and Fan Favorite Andy Tracy!
– Hitting instruction session with Andy Tracy! (How cool is that?!)
– Ferrous and FeFe! (No word on new or old..)
– An exclusive dinner for Ironpig fans!

Now I know I am scraping my extra change together to get myself on this cruise. It is a perfect date span for me as I always take vacation from work on the week of my birthday and it will be an awesome break from the oncoming winter. Something else I really look forward to, other than the Bahamas, is a day at Port Canaveral. A day to tour the Kennedy Space Center and surrounding areas will make this trip worthwhile on just that day for me.

I am looking into more details and will be getting more information as the summer goes on so stay tuned.

Now a question for you all…

What do you want to know about the Ironpig’s Fan Cruise?

OINK!

It only took Ironpig’s pitcher Nelson Figueroa 2 starts to re-establish himself as a force in the International League!

Figueroa was named as the current IL Pitcher of the week this morning! It is his 4th time being selected for this honor and one of only 9 pitchers in history to be awarded 4 pitcher of the week titles.

In 2 games allowed 7 hits, no runs, 10 K’s and allowed only 3 walks.

I’m sure if I could pronounce Vuvuzela.. it would be a fun word to say. I know, I know, this is a soccer fans term. I’m not a fan of soccer. I realize soccer or football is one of the most popular sports around the world but guess what… I live in the United States and my favorite sport is baseball! Call me what you want, it doesn’t matter to me and I just don’t enjoy soccer. Like basketball, short chubby kids who can’t run just don’t enjoy it.

So back to the Vuvuzelas. To briefly revisit the infamous days from 2009 at Coca Cola Park we can remember when the Noise Nation was best known for the OINK sign and Horns (as we called them). With the return of World Cup I was channel surfing and came across a soccer game. Surprised? I wasn’t. What did surprise me was the noise coming from the fans. Horns! Ha! Love horns!

I’ve received many emails since this phenomenom has been getting media attention again and it looks like soccer officials are toying with the idea of banning these horns.. or vuvzelas from the inside of soccer stadiums. I have to say it did sound like a bee hive over the telecast and someone shared with me that television producers have been trying to filter out, and minimize, the crowd noise from broadcasts.

I’ve seen notes about opposing players complaining about not being able to sleep, not being able to hear signals and one team accusing the horns of affecting their play. Very interesting. Crowd noise impacting the play of the opposing team. Hmm. Like the fans actually helped the home team win. Very interesting.

I actually received a photo via email.. at least one company out there realized the marketing opportunity of a Vuvuzela. (If anyone knows the proper pronunciation of that I would love to know)

Yeah, I know there are folks out there who find these annoying. Heck, I admit we went a little overboard last season. But if you go to a ballgame and something good happens do you sit quietly and contemplate writing a thank you note to Michael Taylor for completing the first cycle in team history? Do you keep stadium music to a reasonable level so that each and every person in the stadium would not consider it too loud? Can you imagine a game where no one cheers for fear of being looked upon in a bad way?

Believe it or not, I like a noisy and excited crowd. It adds excitement and energy to the event and it draws people back. How many people do you know that would sing kareoke by themselves in front of a large group of people? (sober). Now how many people would consider singing kareoke if there was a group of 10 friends on stage already singing? It’s a lot easier to get excited and cheer on your team if everyone is doing it. I really feel that every fan wants to cheer loudly but most are intimidated and afraid of peer pressure and that someone may be offended by their actions.

Last summer I wondered what 10,000 horns all blowing at the same time would sound like.. now I know. It sounds like an angry bee hive. Perhaps if our team was the IronBees it would be different. It looks like our ‘minor issue’ from last season is finding the world stage. I never realized we were so progressive…

For now, we will just have fun.

OINK!

The Ironpig’s must have made a detour to Louisville on their way to Buffalo this weekend as they have found their bats this series. Tavares, Dorta, Mayberry and Ransom all had a multi-hit game and Ransom added his 14th Home run of the season!

Nelson Figueroa pitched 6 scoreless innings scattering 5 hits. Figueroa finished with 100 pitches, 68 for strikes. Let’s see if he is selected for the International League pitcher of the week…

If you check out the box score.. you will like what you see. The Pigs didn’t have a big inning, they scored the runs in multiple innings (2,3,5 & 6). This is a great sign that the team is ready to start a hot streak. If all the runs are scored in one inning there is usually an error plagued inning or a pitcher who was off. Not today. Although the Bison did commit two errors during these innings all but one of their runs were earned.

Brian Gordon came on in the 9th and allowed the Bison’s only run.

Pigs win 10 to 1!

OINK!

Noise Nation member’s Laura and Amanda made a trip up to Buffalo to see our Pig’s play the Bison but they also opened up a new connection between the cities of Buffalo and Allentown..

I did a little research and found this about Allentown (Buffalo):

Allentown is the first neighborhood north of the Downtown Buffalo core. It borders the downtown theater and entertainment district to its south, and runs north to North Street at its northern edge. Running from Orton Place on the west, to Main street on the east, the neighborhood is generally centered around Allen Street and Elmwood Avenue.

Allentown is known for its community of artists, for its embrace of bohemian and gay culture, and for the civic commitment of residents to the historic and aesthetic sensibilities of the neighborhood. Allentown is one of Buffalo’s premier areas for nightlife, dining, and antique shopping.
Wikipedia

From the Allentown Historic District Website:

“In the end it is easier to experience Allentown than to describe it,” remarked one neighborhood publication almost four decades ago. How true this observation rings today. Simultaneously high society and bohemian, the Allentown Historic Preservation District located in Buffalo, New York boasts one of the best examples of urbanism in Western New York.

Designated a local preservation district in 1978 and listed on the National Registry of Historic Places in 1980, Allentown is one of the first and largest residential historic districts in the United States. The Allentown Historic Preservation District is bound by North Street to the north, Main Street to the East, Edward Street to the South, and Plymouth to the West, and is walking distance from downtown Buffalo, the West Village, the Elmwood Village, the Fruit Belt neighborhood, and the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus.

So for all those folks that saw Buffalo’s Coca Cola Field (compared to our Coca Cola Park) and thought that was the only connection between us and Buffalo.. well, now you know more and have a good story to tell your friends from Buffalo.

OINK!

The Pigs made a great start in the series opener in Buffalo tonight. Suffering through 2 rain delays, the Pigs came on the board early and steadily knocked out 11 hits for 6 runs. Brian Bocock, Dane Sardinha and Chris Duffy all had a multi-hit game. Drew Carpenter went 6 innings allowing 4 hits and 2 runs. Both Zagurski and Mathieson extended their team leads in holds (7) and saves (12) respectively.

Pigs Win 6 to 3.

Waiting on our Buffalo travelers to send photos my way…. 🙂

OINK!

Pat yourself on the back Lehigh Valley fans, you are still first in average per game attendance in all of AAA baseball! Ok, now stop patting yourself on the back and get your clicking finger moving and voting for the Ironpigs for the Triple A All Star Game!

Stats below:

Average per Game Attendance
International League
Lehigh Valley -8869
Louisville -8494
Columbus – 7976
Durham – 6810
Toledo – 6804
Indianapolis – 6731
Buffalo – 6706
Pawtucket – 6639
Rochester – 5772
Syracuse – 5636
Norfolk – 4981
Gwinnett – 4737
Charlotte – 3937
Scranton/WB – 3815

Pacific Coast League
Sacramento – 8349
Round Rock – 8261
Albuquerque – 7126
Fresno – 6618
Memphis – 6580
Salt Lake – 6485
Iowa – 6481
Reno – 6128
New Orleans – 5566
Okla. City – 5499
Las Vegas – 4868
Omaha – 4787
Tacoma – 4317
Colorado Springs – 4255
Nashville – 4245
Portland – 2611

Per the Express Times, (Thanks to Bacon and Biscuits for letting us know), Paul Hoover injured his left knee during a collision at home plate during Thursday’s game.

Full Story at Express Times

It’s been a while since I’ve written anything about the Philly Force Pro Fastpitch Softball Team. Really it has been a while since I thought about them as they don’t have a team anymore but wanted to include this update for those of us who enjoyed watching this high level of softball and also the friendly spirit of the players.

What got me back into a softball frame of mind was an article posted on the Morning Call website yesterday telling us that Bicentennial Park in Allentown has been saved from the pending construction at the neighboring Lanta garage. The Park is alive and there are no plans to destroy, sell, remove this from our heritage.

To see complete article at Mcall.com click here.

The Philly Force played their home games at Bicentennial Park and I had a feeling last year that the pending doom of their home site may have fated the 2010 season to non-existance but there were other factors. I checked the Force’s website and it appears there may be some hope for 2011. See the statement posted by the team’s general manager:

05/24/2010 10:23 AM
ANNOUNCEMENT

After much thought and effort, sadly we WILL NOT compete in the NPF this season. As many of you no doubt are aware, I entered an Agreement to sell the Franchise back in September of 2009. A formal closing was held and the only issue that did not happen was the payment. Needless to say from then until now we have endured much with the hope that the new owner to be could finalize the transaction.

Unfortunately, that never happened, in spite of several promises from the Buyer’s Investors. There will be MORE information forthcoming in June/July re: plans for 2011. Additionally, follow our site for news re: Camps and clinics this summer.

That is it for now and I look forward to seeing you all at the Stadium again as soon as possible.

Tom
Thomas Kleinman
GM/Owner

Philly Force Website

Well you have to commend Mr Kleinman on his openness and honesty.

In the mean time, we can always head out to Patriots Park to see some good competitive play!

In fact a great opportunity will be next Wednesday when the Lehigh Valley Softball Hall of Fame will honor their new inductees at Pates Park! One of those inductees, Krysta (Pidstawski) Wolf, who starred at Parkland and Delaware, is the wife of Noise Nation member Matt Wolf. You may also know Matt as Matt Metal of the Metal show on WXLV 90.3 on Friday nights! Come on out and show your support for local softball!

OINK!

The Pigs lost again 4 to 8 in the series finale with Toledo. It was actually a pretty exciting game but they couldn’t pull it together. I am not mentioning an error (#3 of 5 that I promised not to mention) and overall it was fun.

I brought a new friend along to the game tonight and as I was giving her the nickel tour of everything at Coca Cola Park it gave me a good refresher of how good us Pig fans really have it.

We walked to the front gate to smiles and hellos. The first thing we saw was a sprawling green outfield and a mass of people who had the same look of awe on their faces as we all do as we pass through the gates.

On to the Trough where Annemarie and Scott welcomed us and got us drinks with a smile. Next out to the outfield where we just stood and stared at all the people buzzing around and happily waiting for the game to start. The grounds crew was hard at work manicuring the field to our high standards. She wanted to jump into the kid’s slide in the kid zone but we passed as we most likely didn’t meet the standards to get in. The picnic area buffet quickly turned our attention away and the ‘Wow’ factor provided by the smell of the food was enough to send us further into the grandstand.

We then went down to the front of section 119 where the autograph seekers gather. We met up with some friends and joked for a while, talking to the TV folks and some others in the area. Now onto the main grandstand.

We were immediately hit with the smell of smoking turkey and roasting nuts. She was overwhelmed by all the food options available. We bumped into Matt Provence, Radio voice of the Ironpigs and other front office staff who all welcomed our first time Pig fan to the game.

It was a little slow at first, but as we took our place out in the Noise Nation land she quickly warmed up. At first she grabbed a bell and was ringing and you could see the thrill in her eyes when she first noticed us up on the big scoreboard screen.

The sell out crowd of 10,000 was very into the game and the cheers and activities throughout the game kept us well entertained.

The night came to an end with a massive fireworks display and everyone went home with a smile, even though our Pigs didnt win. I have to admit my heart breaks a little each time they lose but tomorrow is another day and you can add one more fan to that long list of die hard Ironpig fans!

Pigs hit the road tomorrow for Buffalo and there will be a first time contingent from the Noise Nation in Buffalo! Good luck ladies and be safe on your journey!

OINK!