Quote:ACC Tournament Journal - Day 2
by Drew Hankin

I don't know how many innings of baseball in a twenty-four hour period is considered too much, but I do know that it's somewhere between the twenty-eight innings I saw on Wednesday, and the thirty-four I saw on Thursday. Somewhere along the way, I hit the wall and went into baseball overload. Funny how it just seemed to happen in the seventh inning of the FSU/GT game.....

I spent somewhere in the neighborhood of twelve hours or so inside the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville today. I had a very good time talking and meeting various FSU fans who had only read my stuff online from afar, as well as seeing old friends from previous tournaments (particularly the ACC volunteers from NC State).

FSU is as snakebite against Tech, as UNC is with FSU, and Miami is with Clemson. I get the feeling that the Jackets could spot FSU five runs in every game right now, and the Bees would somehow find a way to win every single time. Course, it doesn't help matters when you have an umpire the caliber of Arthur Schmidt "Happens" blowing major calls at first base.

One of the most interesting things of the game was seeing Coach Martin walk from the dugout to the mound, and then back to the dugout without taking his eyes off of Arthur "Full of" Schmidt. If looks could kill, Arthur "Bull" Schmidt would have dropped dead right there and then.

We started off the day down in the sun along the first base side, literally five feet from Miami's bullpen. We exchanged some pleasantries and barbs with the Hurricanes' bullpen staff, including reliever Brandon Camardese. They all seemed to be pretty good sports about it, but I assure you that none of us shed any tears seeing the Canes go 0-2 and BBQ in their first ACC Tournament. Welcome to the conference boys!

I spent the second game of the day wandering around the park trying to stay awake after my four hours of sleep last night. It worked, and the above mentioned NCSU folks helped.

I found out what the two best deals were at the concessions here today.  The first is that corn dogs are only $2, and the second is that they sell a gigantic plate of nachos for $6, and you can get it piled as high as you want with everything from peppers to pulled pork, to tomatoes, and all the rest of the usual nacho toppings. I'm not really a nacho guy, but I may have to try one of those tomorrow. I saw some folks with plates that were easily six inches deep!

The other thing that I’ll probably be try is the bratwursts being grilled at one of the stands. At one point during our game on Thursday, I saw a line of at least twelve people waiting. They've gotta be good if that many people are willing to wait.

Once again, I was very impressed with the staff at the stadium. After originally stopping a couple of Animals bringing some Starbucks cups of coffee inside this morning, the security guy let them pass with coffee in hand after making sure they knew who the best ACC team was (FSU of course).

Later on, I went to get a soda and handed my empty cup to a friend.  As he was standing there at the concession stand with me, one of the other ladies behind the counter offered to fill his cup with ice and then water free of charge. Just nice people who seem to like what they're doing.

So the Tribe faces off against Wake Forest on Friday at 7:00. Wake will be playing their fifth game, and there's absolutely no way that the Deacons have any pitching left. FSU will counter with Jones, who is fresh off an outstanding relief effort against the Wolf Pack last weekend.

#1 - Jones isn't pitching for the Noles.

#2 - FSU is leading 3-2 in the 3rd. I wouldn't call this game a sure win for the Noles AT ALL.

#3 - I don't suppose you knew you could have posted this in the ACC Tournament Journal thread that was already open. :rolleyes: