Earned Fun Average
Earned Fun Average
Episode 212 - World Baseball Classic 2026
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The World Baseball Classic was finishing pool play at the time of this recording. Eric and his family got a chance to go down to Houston to see a couple of pool play games. Johnny asks some questions about the games, the atmosphere, the food and of course the merch. Be sure to tune in to hear all about the World Baseball Classic 2026.
Be sure to watch the World Baseball Classic on TV or get to a game if you can.
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Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another episode of the Earned Fun Average Podcast. I'm your host Eric Profit, coming to you from Wichita, Kansas, and with me as always, I have Bo from Stormy and Rainy by You Broadcast Center known to our millions and millions of listeners. Is late Charles Gumbo Gators super fan. Well, Joni, we're in the midst of the World Baseball Classic here in 2026 we're just gonna share a little bit about the experience. I got a chance to get down there this past weekend and, get to see some games. We're just gonna talk a little bit about the experience and as we're recording right now, it's us Mexico. The game just started scoreless right now. before we get into that though, what hat do you have today? In celebration here in the city. The city of Champions. It's not Pittsburgh. It's not Denver, Colorado. it is not New York City. It is Cal Food City, the city of Champions. Just a couple nights or afternoons ago from when we're recording. Those Caho City Wildcats secured the one a state basketball championship. So that is two state titles in one school year, unbelievable football and now boys basketball. So in honor of those Wildcats, I'm wearing the 2026. baseball cap, recently got, they were doing a fundraiser recently. Got this. And so I would not leave this hat alone with Donnie Wise'cause it is very Clemson es as we've talked about with their, with their logos. he told me, uh, texted him after they won the state title and he simply said The power of the Paul. So the power of the ball of those, uh, clems and tigers filtered here to Calhoun City, Mississippi, for the state champs. So are you the grand marshal for the state championship parades for both teams? Well, no. No. They, it's funny you mention that. They actually did a little rally Friday night when they came back. From Jackson, a two hour something drive. So they were putting on Facebook, be here, you know, before 6 45, you should be, good at six 30. And it was like that scene outta Water boy. Like this public pep rally. it was eerily like that scene. It was in the town square. The only thing we were missing was Jerry Reed pulling up in a bus with the cougars. So they had a little, I don't know if they'll do a formal, but they literally, the kids got off the bus, coaches got off the bus, had a rally in the gazebo, and it was, it was really kind of neat. We almost were late being there early. We got there right at six 30 and, Melinda liked scampered and I slowly followed behind to get there. But yeah, it was very, uh, Waterboy. Rally, uh, before the Bourbon Bowl, congrats to the state champions, uh, tonight. Yes, for sure. for me, this is the hat that I wore at the, at one of the games at the World Baseball Classics. So it is the El Paso Chihuahua. It's got the EP on, on the front. It's all Navy. The EP is in Stars and Stripes, red, white, and blue. one of the US. 4th of July hats. I don't, maybe two or three years ago. I don't remember what year that they had this, but obviously I like this'cause that's my initials. But because I was watching the US and one of the games had to wear the stars and stripes. So it's the El Paso Trail, Wawas ep, stars and Stripes. 4th of July hat Or could it Stand for Extreme Patriot? That as well. El Paso or Prophet and Extreme Patriot. Supporting, as they say, America. All we need now is some background music, real American, the Late Ho Hogan's theme song to get us pumped up to talk about the World Baseball Classic tonight. Well, you know, it's, it's interesting. I thought about this the other day. You're a curve. Re me, can I give a shameless plug to the parent company? There we go. Yeah. Oh, Kurt Media. We've got you covered with a World Baseball Classic, Eric Prophet in Houston, ed Rivera and Paul Mr. Caputo in Puerto Rico. We've got you covered. we, you know, two different parts. You had, uh, Kran Media folks there yourself, Mr. Rivera, Mr. Caputo in beautiful Puerto Rico reporting live. So Kran Media. but we've got you covered now. Saturday, I was also in Houston, Houston, Mississippi, went to Walmart. And then we went and got a corn dog at Sonic. So it was a big day. I said, I quoted you, this is a good corn dog, but where's the honey mustard you're outside the box. Hot dog, corn dog condiment. We could have used some honey mustard too late as we had already driven off from, from Sonic. So let's start with your itinerary for the trip to Houston. We'll start there. So we actually went down, left on a Friday afternoon and drove down on Friday night this past week and got there. So from us, GPS said it was about nine hours. Not Oh, awful. thought it may be a little further. but, obviously with the. Stops that we had to make, you know, to get gas or I think we stopped at one point to eat dinner and everything, took 10 ish or so.'cause we did stop a few different times, but didn't stop for too long of a, 10, 15 minutes here or there. So I'd say roughly around 10, 10 hours or so. Uh, if we would've gone straight through, would've been about nine, but get there about 11, 15, Friday nights, not terrible. I was expecting us to get in like at one or two in the morning, but got there at a somewhat decent time. if you remember, uh, Samantha from episode 1 28, 1 75 and 200, she was already down there. So it was her and her dad went down earlier in the day, because it was the Houston Rodeo and they went to see, that country singer and down in Houston, Lizzo. And if you're familiar with Lizzo, uh, you know, she's not a country singer from what I'm aware of, but she was playing the Houston Rodeo, so. her and her dad went down there, cause he's always wanted her to go down to see the Houston Rodeo. So they got down there a little bit earlier in the day and were able to go to that concert. And so that was kind of that Friday night. So was it Lizzo or Lasso? good question. Yeah.'cause I, I lasso, she could have done a, you know, rebrand as we talk about all the time with Minor league baseball. for that night only. You know, I've only been to one rodeo. Uh, I probably shouldn't even tell the story'cause it involves me nearly getting into an altercation with someone who had had too much to drink. I was actually on a date and they were in Birmingham Rodeo and it was raining a little bit and so I had in the car with me my 1994. UAB football positive. I've told this story. We've been doing this four years. I can't remember all these old stories when I've told them one thing. I've told this about the rodeo and it was like what the players wore. So it said UAB football, dark forest, green, everything. Because ironically Eric Profit, I didn't want my hair to get messed up, so I threw the hat on this far wore hats like I do now, but I still had hair and hope We're there at the rodeo and this guy comes bumbling and stumbling down the aisle, down the steps. I mean, and he's talking. He starts talking noise. Now you don't wanna punk out in front of you date. Right. And I've been trying to date this girl forever and it didn't. And it didn't go well. But anyway, And so he looks at me, he says, you play football at UAB. And I lied through my teeth, just lied. And then I said, you beep beep. I play football at UAB. And that joker turned around and kept on walking back to the, that's, that's good. So that's my one rodeo story. Never went back to another one. I think he figured, I don't know, I, I might could take this guy, but I bet he's got some buddies here. It's going to get really serious quick if I, if I punch him or something like that with that one. That hat, which I still have that hat. It still fits. Still old as the heels, but So they went down to see lasso, I mean Lizzo. Mm-hmm. Oh, and we also have to say, Samantha. Mendoza winner, we can add that to her. Oh, yes. Mendoza winner. so they were down there early, got there at 11 something. So what was the itinerary for Saturday? So what did Saturday look like? Well, so the nice thing about it is when, so Samantha's dad actually has retired and so he's back in Wichita now, but the apartment he used to stay at. is right across the street from what's now Daikin Park. obviously Minute Maid for those that are familiar with it. but they were able to get a little, apartment suite thing kind of in the lower, so we stayed in the same, the apartment complex that he used to be at when he lived down there. And so we were able to just, you know, wake up and walk across the street to get to the ballpark, which is really nice. So Saturday the. Gates opened at 10, for the first game at noon, and then they also had like a fan fest outside. Shannon went and then, Zach and Easton went and. Zach and I went around to, or we went inside to the stadium and Shannon and Easton went to the little fan fest, and so they had like face painting and balloon animals, and then you could take a picture. And they would put it basically like on a baseball card. And then you got the actual little printout and they put it in a baseball card sleeve. So it has, you know, Easton holding a big bat and then has his name on it. And then I think it said the, WBC Houston 2026 with the dates on the back. And there was a couple different times that Zach and I waited in line, but we should have gone when we first had the chance, when Shannon and Easton went.'cause for that first game. There wasn't much of a crowd at all, and so they didn't wait in line. But by the time we went, we waited too long. Well, the reason why Zach and I went in is'cause they had, uh, we found out, ballpark, passport for food and beverage. And so what it was is all five countries that were there, so the us, Mexico, great Britain, Italy, and Brazil, each had two food items and a drink item that were Known from, you know, those, those specific countries. And then you just had to get one item from three different countries, get a little stamp at when you went to the concession, and then you would get, go back and you got a WBC Tumblr. Zach and I wanted to get over there to get one of the passports. The passports were free, but then obviously you had to go and buy whatever fruit or beverage they, had for those. So we went in there and did that. and we were kind of walking around. We hadn't got any food or anything yet. Uh, Samantha and I started out and we got something from, I think it was the drink from Italy at one of the concession stands. And then we're just kind of walking around for a little bit. One of the things that part of Italy was a ice cream helmet, which, you know, I love to get Oh yeah. With cannoli and they had cannoli there. Well, when we got there, we got there obviously early, and they're like, yeah, we're still waiting on the, culinary team to bring us the cannolis. They haven't delivered'em to our, food stand yet. So we're kind of walking around. And I just kind of randomly walking and I'm like, I notice, uh, one of our friends there. Wearing a orange shirt, Mr. Terry McCutchen, I knew he was gonna be there, but didn't, hadn't texted him yet and just randomly saw him out in center field on the concourse. so I was able to, uh, say hi to him there. so yeah, the, the first game then was Italy against Brazil, and I was kind of excited to see that because for Brazil, their hitting coach is Paulo Orlando, my all time favorite Kansas City Royal. And then for Italy was current Royal Jack Cagle and Vinny PAs Quintino. And so I was kind of excited to see that game. Uh, and then we had a couple hour break before the evening game, which ended up being the US against Great Britain. Uh, and then ultimately then on Sunday, which would've been yesterday at the time of this recording, we ended up and drove back. didn't do anything really, didn't go to like the fan fest or anything. We ended up just packing up and going back home. So that was kind of the, main itinerary of this weekend trip. So, surprise, cameo. Did you ever get a cannoli. So I did what I ended up doing, and one of the American food items was, apple pie pot stickers. Oh, oh, that's sounds. And so they were, you know, you can put, I don't know, probably different meats and different stuff in the pot stickers, but this one was actually, basically an apple pie and they had a. Oversized helmet that they put ice cream in, then put like three or four pot stickers on there. I got one for Zach, and then they're like, we're out of pot stickers. Hold on, give us a second. We're gonna go get more. And so they brought in a fresh piping hot batch that they put on top of my ice cream. So it's basically like. warm apple pie, essentially on top of ice cream. And then they had like a little stand next to it that had, sprinkles or Jimmy's as your friend Paul would call'em, Oreo pieces, caramel drizzle. So I just put a, a lot of extra stuff on there, but that was probably my favorite, item that I got was the US item with the apple pie pot stickers.'cause it was really, really good. What were they offering for Brazil? I, I don't, you obviously know what that type of food is, what they're like known for Nashville. Yeah, so the one that we ended up getting, and it was kind of a funny little story, so, and I don't know if I'm saying it correctly, at Boro Barra sandwich, and so it was actually up on the suite level. And so what it is, is a, A sub rule piled high was sliced roast beef, tomato, pickles, and fresh mozzarella. Sounds amazing as well. That sounds so good. Wow. And, but so, because it was up on the sweet level, You're typically not allowed up there if you're just an average person. But I had the passport and I showed the lady and I was like, is there any way we can get over here? She's like, oh yeah, you just followed around, to the, all the way around to the first Bay side. she let Zach and I go, well, she, she mentioned to Zach. She's like, do you have a passport? He's like, yeah. Well, I guess, uh, Samantha from 1 28, 1 75 and 200 tried the same thing later on. but didn't tell her she had a passport and so they wouldn't let her up there. But I thought, so. I thought the, Baroo sandwich was good. It was a little dry. I felt like it could use some type of, uh. A mayonnaise or some type of a dressing a little more than what it was. and then I, I was actually doing a couple other things. So after I'd already ordered it, I didn't eat it right away and on the bread it kind of was getting a little bit soggy. But otherwise I thought that was a pretty good item. I didn't get this, but they also had a chimichurri beef shawarma flatbread, which actually would've been pretty good. Then each one of them have, like I said, like a signature cocktail or whatever. so they had some capina cocktail. I'm not even sure what it is, but some local cocktail. So, but yeah, that's kind of what Brazil is. So yeah, each, like I said, of the five countries had. two food items and then a drink item. But you only had to get three total items from three different countries. Now you could get more, but to get the little Tumblr, you only had to get three items from three of the countries. Samantha should, Samantha should have dropped. I'm a Mendoza winner. Yeah, I, I think that would've been easy for her to do, you know, um, because she said she was looking for that exact sandwich. Now they did have two, two stands altogether. The other one was way up on the fourth level. She ended up going up there and that stand was closed, so she didn't end up getting a chance. So I think her dad ended up just getting some chicken strips and fries, which you can't go wrong there typically, but when you wanted some specialty sandwich, didn't unfortunately go well for. she should learn the name drop. Well see, the reason they let you Zach in is you're an influencer, nationally known podcaster. Correct. Broadcaster influencer. So you didn't even need that passport, but poor Samantha Mendoza winner should dropped it. Reference earn fund, average reference, Samantha? I mean, not to, uh, kinda, you know, tell everybody who I am,'cause everybody already knows who I am, but I wears wearing my DHC sports show shirt that has the word influencer on the back. So I think when she saw that, she's probably like, I mean, she already knew who I was, but that just verified for sure. Just like I was wearing my, on field jersey like I was playing for the team or something. Yeah. Well, again, I guess in a lot of that she didn't have a prayer chicken strips and, and some french fries there. So, and it wasn't like she was not getting anything free. Right. You, you, like you said, you had to pay for Right. All the food items. So if you're, having to do that anyway, My next question, what was the start out with game one and then of course game two? What was the atmospheres like? So first game Italy, Brazil wasn't that great of an atmosphere, unfortunately. Uh, I did see a decent amount of people wearing Royals gear, which was kind of fun. You know, obviously unless the royals were playing against the Astros, you wouldn't see much Royals gear down there generally. But because the Vinny PAs Quintino and Jack Cag Leone were playing for Italy. Saw a decent amount of Italy jerseys, both of those guys names and numbers on the back or just Royals gear itself, but I don't know the official numbers. 10 to 12,000, so not great. Yeah. we actually found pretty cheap seat, tickets. So we were down, in foul territory down the left field line. obviously got really good vantage point, but some cheers here and there. Brazil didn't really have anybody, any name. The only one that anybody probably recognized is Dante Bette, Jr. Oh, yeah's, obviously the son of Dante, Bette and then the brother of Bo Bette. Bo I think was originally supposed to play, but I don't know if he ran into insurance issues or because he's now with the Mets, if that had anything to do with it. But, Dante Bette Jr. Had green hair, all kind of like, he obviously was playing for Brazil, so it's kind of a kind of crazy hair. But outside of him, they had a kid who pitched Friday night, against the US that was 17 years old and got to, uh, get judged to ground into a double play. We were watching the game as we were driving down there. that was, you know, Joseph Contreras, I believe his father played, in the majors, but outside of that, Brazil didn't really have any big names. Italy had a few, so overall it was kind of nice just because it was kind of a low key atmosphere. not too crazy. So just kind of get our first experience in and, we probably could have gone down a little bit closer pre-game to, you know, see if we could get autographs, but we're too busy trying to find the specialty foods and, and plus that's not too in fair, traditional baseball powers. Right, for sure. Yeah. Not like it's Japan, somebody like that, or Mexico or Cuba or Puerto Rico that are really powerhouses in baseball. But that's still a great crowd though. 10 to 12,000 people. And then of course we've, uh. We've been kicking their tails since 1783, uh, United States. they're owe for this continent. I love that. T-shirt, great Britain Blue, A 13 Colony League. Yeah. no offense to our British listeners. I know this is an international podcast, and I know I, I wouldn't want point, reports from Canada. That love us to get back to the mother country of Great Britain, uh, to, to England. I did see a cool photo. Apparently the Great Britain team has a home run celebratory red coat. That's that's, mm-hmm. That's kind of a cool little history, nerdish kind of thing. The British Red Coat, their celebration. Item there, the dugout is a red coat. That's kinda, of funny to me. so game two, totally different atmosphere from what I, what I saw. Huge crowd. If you can share about USA and Great Britain, It wasn't quite a sellout. It was close though. really good crowd. We were, upper level and, third base side, maybe halfway in between home and third. So we had pretty good vantage point. But it was funny, whenever they would have crowd moments where they would show the crowd, they would show some people with their Great Britain gear. And the whole place would boo them every time. And then they chose somebody with their US flag.'cause that's the one thing for all the games, is that a lot of people brought, you know, big size or smaller flags of their countries. And so they would put them on the video board and then so they'd switch over and show somebody from the US and they'd cheer and then go back over to somebody from Great Britain. Everybody would boo. And with the beginning of the game. The very first, it might've been the very first pitch or the second pitch. Nate Eaton, former Kansas City Royal, I think he's with the Red Sox now, hits a home run to lead off the game against Tarek Scobel. And so every time they would show the Great Britain fans, they'd be like, sh, like shushing the US because they were, and then one nothing. One nothing. And holding up kind of being cocky. And us didn't do anything until. probably the fifth or sixth inning or so. And then they finally turned it on and we know how Schwarber can be anytime he's up to bat. So both Zach and I had our phones out and we were recording and then he hit a huge bomb, to right feel that I think maybe hit off the scoreboard and the place just erupted. It was one of the best atmospheres and just so loud. And we had the whole thing. We're watching him. And as I'm talking here, Aaron Judge just hit a two run home run to take the lead on Mexico, but not quite as a big home run as what Schwarber had, but the whole place just went, went crazy, which was a lot of fun.'cause I haven't gone to MLB playoffs before, like I haven't seen the royals in the playoffs and I, I could only imagine if there's a big home run like that, that that's kind of what the crowd would be like. So that was a lot of fun. Ended up and they won. Think nine to one or eight to one. And so ultimate end to the game, uh, wasn't that close, but overall atmosphere was a lot of fun. Big crowd. And so, yeah, lot better than what the Italy, Brazil game was. So, had to bring the energy a little bit more that second game than we did the first. Who would've thought we would boo each other? We fought a couple world wars together and they gave us really our, our system of democracy where they, you know, taught us all. Anyway, I won't go into that, now you also, you mentioned Terry, you also ran into, our friend Mike Sellers who was rocking on Twitter. A uh, black cowboy hat. You know, I was trying to think before we started recording what I could have put funny on there about his pit, his giant black cowboy hat. So you ran into Mike Ringo, I mean Mike Sellers, not Johnny Ringo. So tell us, share with us about, uh, running into the Great Mike Sellers, our friend, big techs. Matt Dillon, I'd been talking to him for a while and I knew he was gonna be there'cause he, if you've heard him before, he says he has a friend there that does the, grounds keeping there for the Astros and some of the other, colleges around. So I knew that he was gonna be there and, he went Friday night to the game, so obviously, and didn't go to that game. Uh, he didn't go to the Italy, Brazil game. and then so I, I knew he was gonna be at that Great Britain US game and so I was planning on waiting until,'cause he had mentioned he didn't go Friday night to the little, fan fest. And he asked if I was going to, and I wasn't sure the planes quite yet for that. so we got there about 30 minutes after the gate opened and walked over to see if we can get in line for that little baseball card thing. And right there at the back of the line was a big giant guy with a cowboy hat. That looks familiar'cause I had never met Mike before and so I got a chance to, stand there and chat with him for a little bit while we're waiting in line for that thing. And then a storm was coming through, so they shut down fan fest and we didn't get the little baseball card picture thing. I bet he was kind of an opposing figure. Of course. I've never met him in person either. Yeah. This really tall guy with this black cowboy hat on and like I said, Matt, Ringo. That's right. Doc Sellers. Yeah, like I said, unfortunately didn't get a chance to get the little card. And, I did get to talk for a little bit, with Mike and Zach was standing there with us, and then Shannon and Easton were there, so they got to meet Mike as well. but then I, I look over and just kind of walking through the fan fest. Same guy with that orange shirt. he was wearing the NBC World Series, El Dorado Bronco shirt. Uh, our friend Logan from Old Fort, created when he did the Champion series line of merch for the NBC World Series Champs. And so he was wearing that shirt, but I run over to him and I said, Hey, Terry, do you know who Mike Sellers is? He's like, yeah, I don't know him that well, but yeah, I've never met him. And so I brought him over and so I got, I introduced Terry and Mike to each other, so that was kind of fun. And then Terry stood there with us. But yeah, the storms started to roll in and. speaking of, you know, our, our CBM on live on location, so yesterday, Paul and Ed were at, I believe it was Canada Panama, if I'm not mistaken, in Puerto Rico. And the game had multiple rain delays. I think it had like an hour rain delay to start and then got towards the end of the game and had a rain delay. It was pouring, absolutely pouring rain in Houston, but good news for us, they had a roof, so we weren't delayed at all. Dome Sweet Dome, right? Or closable roof. Sweet Home, right? Retractable. So what we did then is we all went inside and stood outside what's called the Crawford Boxes in left field, and the US was finishing up batting practice. So Mike, Terry, and I stood there with Zach and we watched a little bit of batting practice. And then at that point we all kind of split and went our different directions. Uh, we, I think we all went up to our seats to get kind of ready for the pre-game and everything. So, yeah, really fun to get to meet both of'em. But what was funny is I knew both of them would be there and planned on meeting up with both of them, but didn't be like, Hey, I'm over in Section one 20. I just randomly ran into both of them. Terry, just on the concourse, and he said the same thing. Something along the lines of, wow, I never would've expected just to. Run by and he,'cause you know Terry, if you see anybody with this dressed up garb, he is gonna take a picture with them. So there was some, everybody's dressed up as like Lady Liberty or you know, whatever Patriot US person. And so he was taking a picture and so I stopped, let him take his picture. And then this said, I made some little joke about that. So it was fun just to run into him randomly. without having to, know where to meet up with him. And then same with Mike, where I just happened to see him in line at the little fan fest. So good to meet up with both of them. stadium Food Girl, Val didn't get there until yesterday, so I didn't get to see her. And I don't really know. I think John Southie was talking about maybe going tonight as well. I'm not sure if he did. So. Uh, didn't get to see them at all since I was behind a little bit on, or, or they came later than I did, but did get to see a couple friends that were there, so that was a lot of fun. As you're saying that, I'm thinking, wow, that would be, it's one thing to meet up at a Clayborne, uh, railroaders game. Right? But to meet. In such a huge venue with so many people there. Yeah. The logistics wise, you know, if you had tried to, the three of you had tried to plan that out, that could have been kind of complicated. So the fact that you got to see them and spend time with them and didn't really hash out a formal plan and plan all that, because so many people there. even in that first game, 10 to 12,000 people. Yeah. Major League stadium and, and trying to find people. So that's great that worked out. Of course. I want to go next question, or one of our favorite subjects. What was the merchandise like, sir? What bring, I wanna, I just, in my mind, imagine all the march. when we first got going. Like I said, we were kind of, and this one thing just to real quick to touch or finish up on the fan zone is I wish I would've spent more time out there in the fan zone. like I said, the, that opened two hours before the game time. Uh, but also that was the same time that the. doors for the ballpark itself open, and I was too focused on trying to, I didn't wanna miss out on getting one of those little passports and they said they had a limited number of, the little Tumblr, so I wanted to make sure I tried to get that done. And so I didn't really get to spend as much time out in the little fan fest as that I wanted to. They did have where you could go in and they had a wall that had every single WBC team's hat, and then you could sit in stadium chairs and they took a picture with all the hats behind you. So I got that little cool picture, but there was also a lot of little giveaways, coozies and different stuff, but was, were walking around trying to find some of the food spots. They had, you know, multiple team stores as one, most MLB stadiums would the main one, or the one I thought was kind of the main one out in center field. I went into that first and they had just a couple hats. Didn't really have a whole lot. It was older Astro stuff. And so I'm like, well, that's kind of interesting. So we went back around and one behind home plate had pretty big, section of WBC merch, but the main one was kind of down the left field line, kind of by the entrance where we came in, kind of over by the Crawford box. And that was pretty much all WBC merch. So you walked in. Over on the left was, some different hat or the jerseys actually. Uh, the hats were in the back, but it was all five countries. So Brazil, us, Mexico. Italy and Great Britain. They did have a little bit of Japan stuff just because they're the defending champions and so they have some Japan hats, but outside of that, they didn't really have much in the way of any of the other countries. And so, they had shirts of a lot of the country's pennants, lapel pins, logo baseballs, and a lot of stuff with the WBC logo on it. Logo baseball, we end up getting with the WBC logo on it. I got a little lapel pin that had the little trophy. And said World Baseball Classic 2026 for my, lapel pin map. but the one thing I also got was a t-shirt from New Era. It's kind of a bluish shirt. It had all of the countries representing WBC, their hat on the front of it. So, you know, just like you would where you see some of those shirts that you talked about that has like all the. SEC schools, logos or whatever, this was all the hats that the teams were wearing on the front of a shirt. So I ended up getting that shirt, said like WBC, kind of really big in the middle, and then had all the hats around it. So I got that shirt. I. I didn't have the team USA hat, we've talked about it before. I'm not a huge, I wish they would do more with that'cause it's just kind of us and has the star on it. I kind of wish they would do more with the logo for the hat. and I was. Thinking that pretty much everywhere online where I saw the hat, it was all the same price and thought maybe if I wait and got it there, it'd be the same price and then I wouldn't have to pay for shipping. Well, it was seven bucks more at the stadium. So I think I've found somewhere online that it's a little bit cheaper, so I might try to get it then. So kind of want the hat. I do like where it's, the older version used to be all Navy, now it's Navy with a red brim or Bill on it. I probably will eventually get it, but yeah, just really cool big. I'm not sure the square feet, but they had a lot of room where they had a lot of the, main merch. And then, like I said, some of the little side stores had a little bit of merch here or there, but that main one we went to was really cool. A lot of, a lot of cool stuff. I could have spent a lot more, but I did get a few things, like I said, the lapel pin, logo ball, they did have a mascot, a pretty big mascot, just trying to see if it. If I could find it in Easton's room, but I think it's out in the living room. But they had like a little mascot guy of the WBC with the logo on it, and Easton called him Pancake. I'm not sure why he called him pancake, but it's like the, sometimes have like a mascot of the tournament itself. And so they had like this little plush, mascot doll, so he ended up getting that This thing is kind of big. It's a pretty big. mascot thing, so he was carrying that around, so he got that. But, lot of, lot of great merch. I, I still think about our excursion to Rickwood in that store that mm-hmm. it literally took my breath away. Like I need almost needed medical attention when I walked in there and just, there was just so much there. I, I, it just. from, I, I couldn't imagine that experience probably that that is multiplied with the merch and the setting there, in Houston. yeah, I like the us I'm, I agree with you on the US hat. and maybe it's'cause I love goofy fun logos. I love seeing Uncle Sam swinging at a bat. I know there's some minor league teams that kinda use it, But like, just, Uncle Sam bat, would be, would be kind of fun. I know that would be outside the box for, you know, the, in relation to the other, other nations, but, What they're charging for hats nowadays is insane. Yes. it is. Absolutely. Even the adjustable ones. Uh, even our friends at 47, which we'd love an endorsement, uh, even the dad hats and that, the dad hat world, it's there. Well, that used to be 20 bucks. Now it's 30,$35, you know, for the, even the adjustables now. My next question is if you were, if someone called you up and said, Eric, gimme some advice, I wanna go to the next World Baseball Classic, what advice would you give them? Yeah, for sure. If you get the opportunity to try to go, this is the first year they've done it in Houston. they've had it in Miami pretty much almost every year. 2017, I believe they had San Diego. Possibly Arizona. So if there's one somewhat close to you, or even if it's not, try to go, definitely would recommend going if you can. I know sometimes tickets are kinda hard to come by depending on who's playing. but I would recommend if you have enough time to go try to go to multiple games, because it's just so much to do. where I didn't feel like, unfortunately I had enough time to get everything done. Like Ed mentioned, I wish I would've had more time with the fan zone and got to experience that more, you know, obviously I was trying to focus on getting all the food items and everything, and so if you have time to go to multiple games, you know, I definitely recommend that, take your checkbook because you're gonna probably spend a lot of merch as, as we just talked about. if there's anything else going on in the area, maybe see if you can, try to, go do,'cause I know like for instance, Mike Sellers I think got over to see a university Houston game. And then on the way home, he went up to Fort Worth and got to see a TCU game or something like that, if I remember. So, got a chance to, if you can maybe go around, if you've never been to a town like Houston or city like Houston or wherever you're at. A, b, c if you can explore. So spend a few days there if at all possible. Obviously we just made a quick weekend trip, so we didn't really have to miss work at all since, you know, Shannon's right in the middle of school and we're not at spring break quite yet. So, yeah, if you can go, obviously with Team USA, you just see the lineup and it's, you have the All Star games, which those are the. Best players for the first half of a season, and that could be almost anybody. These are the best of the best hitters, pitchers, that you're not even gonna get to see in a, all-star game. some of these guys will be there, but you're not gonna have these exact same nine guys in the lineup that are gonna be in the same, because some of'em might be heard or some of'em. maybe just didn't have a good first half and maybe turned it on. But these, you know, over time, these guys have been the best of the best. obviously I think it'd probably be, and they haven't had, it's coming back in 2028. But the Olympics for instance, they haven't had baseball or softball for quite a while. But I, even the Olympics, uh, especially being in here, LA 2028, that is probably gonna be even bigger. opportunity to see, you know, team USA play and don't know what it's gonna look like coming outta 2027. But everybody's hoping that they'll allow MLB players to play in the Olympics. but just to get to watch your country play is, that's one of the first times I've ever got to see anything like that. So if you get the chance, definitely go. Which I'm old enough to remember that first dream team with the Summer Olympics, which was mm-hmm. Yeah. And I've never been a Big Olympics fan, but I did watch the dream team unbelievable. And you know, just to see them all together and just totally decimating these, these other countries, which I mean the greatest of the great, you know, if you did that, like you're saying, an Olympic setting for baseball, would be. It would be unreal. I'm, I'm very thankful for the World Baseball class, like you said, because we haven't had Olympic softball or baseball in, in a long time, but yet we can push stuff with a broom in the winter. But yeah, hey, that's probably my favorite that I enjoy watching in the winter. it's probably curling, but, I didn't really, I think the W BBC's going on since what, 2006? If I am not mistaken. I didn't really pick up on it and didn't really know about it till 2017. And I was watching, we were actually in Hawaii and I ended up watching the, maybe the last, like the semi-final in the championship when us won it in 2017. We were watching it, with Shannon's, uh, family in Hawaii. And then 2023 was a ton of fun. Uh, a lot of more MLB stars I feel like got more invested and joined and then obviously this year as well. So for the most part, they had issues obviously with a lot of insurance and some of the big names not being able to play for some of the countries. But for the most part, a lot of the big name stars are really getting invested into it. And so I hope it continues'cause it's a lot of fun. I've always enjoyed getting to watch these games over the last, you know, nine years or so. Oh, that's great. And then my final question as we wrap up tonight. Kbra Media coverage 2026. My last question is simply this. Would you do it again? Yeah. If we can make it feasibly work. Obviously we had to find somewhere to stay. Luckily for us, nine hours wasn't too terrible, so we ended up driving instead of flying. and then had to find tickets and then merch and food. So it is expensive. I'm not gonna say that if I can, I for sure would want to try to do it again. Obviously we don't know in 2030 when it's supposed to come back again where it's gonna be. So I don't know if it's gonna have part of it in Houston. My guess is they're gonna probably try to keep the championship in Miami like they've done, the last few times. but if they, you know, maybe it move it somewhere else to, I'm assuming it's probably gonna have to be somewhere always like a, because it's in March, it's gonna have to be like a San Diego and la. Arizona, Houston, obviously Houston's the closest for us here. if it's a feasible and depending on what the schedule's gonna look like, Zach may be playing college baseball, so I don't know what that would look like necessarily. but if it, if it works out, I for sure would wanna try to go back. And anybody else that's been or hasn't been, I would assume they would probably, hopefully say the same, that they tried to go back as well. It'd be great for you and your family if it was in Kansas City, just so Oh, yeah, a hundred percent. But yeah, I don't think there's any way they would ever do that in, in a March setting, unless they, well, if they were to get a new stadium by 2030, like the football teams getting in 2030, maybe it'd have a retractable roof. So it's possible, and if that's the case, that for sure be a lot easier to get to at three hours away than nine hours away or wherever else it may be. Uh, I should have asked this, sir. Any Bucky stops? We, we love Bucky's. 1, 2, 2. I was gonna say three, but I think we two. So one going down and one coming back. the one coming back so we almost always, when we head down, we stop at the one in Denton. Where University of North Texas is, uh, just kind of right there south of the Oklahoma, Texas border. That's almost always where we stop and it's busy, but we stopped, I think it's called Ennis, Texas, north of Houston by a couple hours. That place was insane. It felt like 5 million people there. The only other busier one that I've probably ever seen was in. I believe it was the Springfield, Missouri one because that's the only one that's in Missouri, whereas Texas has'em every so many miles. But, yeah, we did stop twice the first time. We just got a few snack items, coming back. We stopped, uh, for lunch yesterday, so yeah, we did make a couple Bucky stops that brisket sandwich. Did I say sandwich something? My grandma June sandwich is pretty, pretty remark. I've never had anything that wasn't good from Bucky's. I got the chopped brisket sandwich and I think Shannon got the sliced brisket sandwich, if I remember right. And then I, I always gotta get some beef jerky. And then I got some of the little, pecan prey lean. Ooh. Yeah. Their potato chips are pretty good too. The one, yeah, we got the beaver chips. Yep. Beaver chips are really good too. and I just had dinner and I don't know why I'm talking about food. Well, that sounds like a fantastic time. I appreciate your time tonight. Sharing, uh, again, wall to wall coverage covering media. if it's a big baseball deal, we're there, here and around the globe. We're, we got everything covered and corporate media, family, a podcast. Johnny do, I dare say, great Britain. Lower your standards average is what they did best.
