IronPig/Phillies’ Charity Banquet

Last night the Horn & Bell staff attended the IronPig’s Charities annual banquet. It was a great time and you’ll likely get more details from Kram and Dipro soon, but I’d like to share some thoughts I had as well.

I have to admit, last year’s banquet was disappointing. From the food, to the crowds, to the overly zealous event security… well it made it less fun to say the least.

I can’t say enough of how much better it was this year!

I arrived on time with Dipro and greeting us at the doors with a smile were IronPig employees! I almost expected them to hand me a giveaway as the faces are so familiarly related to walking into Coca Cola Park on a game day giveaway. I was immediately presented with a tray of bruschetta, which I accepted and was able to eat two portions before the server caught up to me and took her tray back. I took two more steps and a server offered me a lobster filled… well I’m not sure what it was called but think Red Lobster cheddar biscuit stuffed with lobster. Throughout the VIP reception (more on that later) we were continuously presented with delicious food. I filled up quick and headed to the bar for a ginger ale to wash everything down.

The gang soon gathered together. There were pictures being taken, lens caps falling off the balcony and a lot of laughs. The upper balcony had the banquet guests and we assembled in to get our photo taken with them.

The gang was friendly and well behaved with one, who shall not be named, did not mention recent transactions or that AARP had to be contacted in regards to player signings.

From there we moved to our table in the banquet hall. We couldn’t have had better seats! (More on the better seats later)

The event began shortly after. Matt Provence gave his classic joke sequence, waited for the expected laugh.. and waited.. and waited.. and then received it. I can say I do love the jokes!

A very short “highlights” video was shown from the Pig’s 2013 season followed by a nice dinner.

During dinner there were some of the “lesser” interviews happening on stage. “Greater” in my interest was dinner so I missed most of those. The homemade cream puffs for dessert didn’t last long enough for a photo…

As the show moved on we got to hear from Amaro, Ruf, Pettibone, Asche and Sandberg. There was a running joke about Cody Asche having a Twitter Q&A yesterday where a child asked what his favorite flower was. The answer? He doesn’t have one but Pettibone finds dandelions delightful and Ryne Sandberg has a 3 1/2 foot tall undetermined species of plant in his office. Of note, fellow IronPig Tyson Gillies was also involved in Asche’s Q&A session, less than modestly asking who his most talented team mate is… among many other comical inquiries. (Check their twitter feed. They provide enough off season entertainment to keep any fan happy.)

At this point the live auction started. The auctioneer came out and in a raspy voice told us he had a bad cold and apologized for his voice. It was brutal but he made it through and some serious bidding happened to support the charity. During the bidding Pettibone, Asche and Ruf mingled the crowd taking photos and signing autographs. A nice touch that I hadn’t seen before except for a very “happy” Matt Rizzotti a few years back when the event was held at Desales.

Winding out the night were a bunch of thank yous, goodbyes, plugs for IronPig tickets and Matt Provence wished us well and it was over.. or so I thought.

The most impressive part of the night began immediately after the event ended. I wish I had set up my video camera to film what happened next but I didn’t so I will do my best to describe it to you.

Zero hour – Event ends

+30 seconds – Swarms of Sands employees emerge, begin clearing tables, folding chairs, cleaning trash.

+5 minutes – Nothing remaining on the floors except for tables and a few stragglers.

+10 minutes – Tables are all gone, stashed away… brooms are flying and lights are starting to turn off.

+15 minutes – Other than people milling around there was no evidence an event had happened there that night.

Earlier I told you how disappointed I was in the food and service at the Sands Event Center last year and I cannot say enough of how much more improved it was last night. We had a server literally stationed at our table the entire dinner period, we did not want for anything.. even so much as when a drink was spilled a runner was quickly sent to the bar to replace it. The food was served quickly, efficiently and was hot. Not warm, it was hot!

Rumor has it that last year the event was catered external from the Sands and was taken over by Sands following the rash of complaints following that catastrophe. My hat is off to the Sands Event Center and their great staff!

Speaking of complaints… well, not really but Kram will understand what I’m talking about.

We had a great table location. We had a great group of friends there. We had a lot of fun.

There is only one person we can thank for that and that would be Kram. For the second year in a row he has organized this for us, fronted the cash, made the arrangements, tracked down folks for seats, cash, rides. We cannot thank Kram enough for doing this for us!

It’s pretty clear I was impressed. I left with a smile and as I left the first thing I realized was that my ride home, Dipro, was no where to be found. I looked up. I looked down (I guess looking up wasn’t such a great idea… 😉 I looked all around. I looked out the window to see a beautiful and peacefully quiet snow falling over the Steelstacks and wondered if there were any Decepticons hiding out there. (Transformers 2 movie reference) The tranquility was quickly broken by an SUV sliding up to me with the horn blaring. Dipro had gone out to warm the car up and picked me up at the door. Thanks Dipro!

Anyways, I didn’t touch on any revelations from the speeches, nor details on the auction items or any secrets revealed but those will come in Kram and Dipro posts. Also, stay tuned for video as Cheryl was busy capturing video of the event!

OinK!