Hello everyone, greetings from Jamestown, NY, which in case you haven’t heard of it, is about seven hours northwest of Aberdeen.  After a nice three game sweep of the Williamsport Crosscutters at Ripken Stadium, the team headed off to Jamestown on a five game winning streak.  The trip got off to a rough start, as after a seven hour bus ride, the game was delayed by rain for about an hour and a half, and then went into extra innings.  Now, the team has taken part in its fair share of rain delays this season, but this was the first time I can remember that the game didn’t start on time when it was NOT raining.  There was a little drizzle but the tarp was actually never put on the field... It was one of the craziest games of the year so far, and unfortunately the ‘Birds lost 10-9.

A little history about Jamestown before we get into what the quick stay there was like.  Jamestown is a small city of about 30,000 people.  Talking to the locals, there really isn’t a whole lot to do there.  Downtown Jamestown is an historic old city, most known as the birthplace of Lucille Ball.  There is a Lucy-Desi Museum in the downtown area and other assorted “I Love Lucy” attractions.  I would have liked to see some of these things, but the hotel we stayed at was about three miles away from downtown Jamestown and about a mile away from…well…pretty much anything.  There was a gas station, a Burger King and a supermarket about a mile away.  Needless to say, I’m glad we were only there for a few days.  Oh, and I forgot…no Internet in the hotel either…

As for the games, the ‘Birds went 1-2, winning the middle game of the series.  All told, there was a total of 38 runs, 57 hits, 13 errors and zero places to go near the hotel.  The team will be home for six games to take on Lowell and then Batavia before traveling to State College and then Oneonta for the big Hall of Fame Weekend!!!

Hope you’re enjoying the season.  Don’t forget to email me questions or comments at nsekkas@ironbirdsbaseball.com.  Hope to see you at the ballpark!

-Nick

Hey again everyone, hope you’re enjoying the 2007 season thus far.  After the six game homestand, we traveled up to Hudson Valley, NY to take on the Renegades for a three game series.  What we didn’t expect was rain, rain and more rain, which washed out the first two games of the series.  It’s funny once you get in a routine of doing games every day and then sit around and wait to not play for two days.  Lucky for me, the Renegades stadium is only about a half hour away from where I grew up, so I was able to go home once the games were cancelled.  The scene at Dutchess County Stadium was of pure comedy as the staff tried to pretend it wasn’t raining and trying to dry up the puddles in the outfield with a leaf blower and various other tools.  None were successful and it became very clear that there would be no baseball.  The next night…well…pretty much the same result as the rain washed away baseball again.  So, after a lot of sitting around and waiting, we would have baseball on the third day of the road trip.  After splitting the double-header with the Renegades, we boarded the bus and drove for about five hours to Auburn, NY which is right near Syracuse. 

The rain seemed to follow us to Auburn as after getting through game one of the series, we had a hour and a half rain delay in the third inning of game two.  Falcon Park in Auburn is one of the oldest ballparks in the country and the only park I’ve ever seen that has two tarps which they roll out simultaneously (trust me, after this road trip I know a lot about tarps).  Auburn is a very old city and if you walk through downtown it almost feels like you are living in the 1950’s.  Most of the storefronts haven’t been changed and the downtown area includes The Liberty Clothing Store, an accordion school, and a center for Morbid Obesity Surgery…no joke.  It’s funny to see that cities like this one still exist and people actually live there.  Anyway, it was good to get back in Aberdeen (even though it wasn’t until 5 in the morning and enjoy the day off.  All in all, five games, three wins, two rainouts and five tarp pulls. We’ll talk to you from Jamestown.

- Nick

I’m 22 years old and am originally from Croton, NY which (for those of you who haven’t heard of it) is about forty five minutes north of Manhattan.  I graduated from the University of Maryland last year with a degree in broadcast journalism so I am pretty familiar with Maryland and have been to my fair share of Orioles games while I was in College Park.  I’m absolutely thrilled to join the IronBirds staff this season and I hope that the year goes well!

A little bit about me. I’m a big sports fan and I pretty much live and die with the New York Mets during the summer, the Jets during the winter and I usually take the spring off to recover from what usually are crushing losses during the season.  I’d have to say that tailgating for Jets games is one of my favorite things to do, especially when the temperature drops below 40 degrees.  I also enjoy playing sports, going out with friends and pretty much anything that's going on.

I’m coming to Aberdeen from Hagerstown, MD where I was the assistant director of broadcasting/media relations with the Hagerstown Suns. Prior to that I worked as an admissions counselor for the College of Westchester up in Yonkers, NY.  Right after college, I did the play-by-play for the Pittsfield Dukes up in Massachusetts, it’s basically a college league team that Dan Duquette (former GM of the Red Sox) owns.

Let’s see, what else can I tell you, while in college I interned with Madison Square Garden Network where I was basically the guy the held the microphone in the locker room after the Mets games at Shea Stadium.  It was an awesome opportunity and maybe someday I’ll get to work at a major league stadium again.  I also did the broadcasting for Maryland student radio for football, basketball and baseball.  Now, I must tell you, that the two years I did Maryland basketball, they didn’t make the NCAA tournament and the year after I broadcast for women’s basketball, they won the national championship!  Tough luck for me I guess.

All in all, I’m a pretty simple guy and I’m thrilled to be working with the IronBirds this season.  Again, feel free to contact me with any questions or comments throughout the year.  GO ‘BIRDS!

-Nick