Earned Fun Average
Earned Fun Average
Episode 227 - Double Cape
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In part 2 of our Father's Day weekend trips, Eric discusses ProffittPalooza 2026. We go over the itinerary, ballpark food and merch. We also preview the other trips we both were getting ready to leave on. Be sure to follow us online.
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So let's talk Profitpalooza 2026. I kept up through, Brother Joe, through the power of Facebook. Apparently my Brother Joe loves him something made with blueberry. I- there was a lot of blueberry drinks consumed I saw, uh, everywhere you guys went there was something, a blueberry ale being consumed. He had the uncanny am- and I, hey, no, nothing but love for that. I love some blueberry stuff too. So, if you can give the listeners just sort of the itinerary, for Profitpalooza, this year. So we left, it would've been, I guess, what? The same day you did 'cause we left on Friday, the 19th. And so we flew up to Boston and we started, after we flew into Boston that, afternoon. Well, we got there actually, kinda mid to late morning, got a rental car and that was the one thing I was really worried about because the World Cup was going on- up there. They had games in Foxborough. Now Foxborough is about an hour or so, kind of I think north west, or sorry, southwest of Boston a little bit. But I was still kind of like, "Eh, who knows if, you know, all these people are traveling, if they have rental cars. Hopefully they'll have one available." Well, luckily they had plenty, so that was kind of the main worry is, one, getting there on time with our flights and then getting a rental car. was able to get a rental car, drove up and went and started in Portland, Maine and- Mm saw the Portland Sea Dogs. So how was the Portland experience? One of our all-time favorite teams on the podcast. we love us some Portland Sea Dogs. When I went there, so I'd actually been there already. When I went there three years ago on Profitapalooza Jr., it had been kinda rainy, and so it was just kinda gloomy out. still had kind of a fun time, but that was also a couple days after trying to get over all of us being sick. That was that trip. so coming here, it was, uh, the sun was out, and it was actually a beautiful night out. So, uh, we had pretty close to the exact same seats. Uh, I looked up to see where we sat the previous time and got tickets right around in that same area. So I don't know if it was the exact same seats, but actually pretty close. Same section and everything. beautiful night out. we were able to find parking a couple blocks away, and it didn't take too long to walk over there, and parking overall wasn't, you know, super expensive. but no, the experience itself, uh, was a lot of fun. We actually started, at a brewery up there in Portland that's known for, one of their beers up in that area that's only... It's, like, exclusive kind of up in that area. It's called Allagash White. And so we stopped at Allagash Brewing kinda when we first got there. traffic was not very fun the entire trip. Mm. It took us a couple hours to get up from, Boston's Logan Airport up to Portland. but since we got in, around probably 11:00 or so Monday, or Friday morning, we had plenty of time to get up to Portland. Uh, it took us a little over two hours. coming back, it was only maybe an hour 40 or so, so it wasn't quite near as long coming back. But because of the World Cup, hotels were super expensive. So typically what we would do is we'd go and stay at a, nearby, within an hour or less, sometimes, you know, pretty close, 10, 15 minutes from a ballpark in whatever city But because of the World Cup, hotels were eight, $900 a night. Some I couldn't even find any, so we ended up, and I got a hotel really early, like late last year sometime, before, so it was a good probably eight or nine months ahead of time once we knew the dates of when we were going. And so we end up just staying in the same place the entire trip. It was just north of Boston, north of downtown probably 40 minutes or so. one thing that's nice about that is we didn't have to, like, pack up every morning and- Right bring our suitcases, put it in the car and move on. So that was nice. We didn't have to worry about that. But the bad part was some of the places we went about two hours away, we had to turn around after a game ends, you know, 10:00 at night or whenever it end and drove back. So there's a couple times we didn't get back till, like, midnight or later. Well, that's really a great idea to kind of set up a base of operations. You know, so you just kind of, you're, you know what your starting point is to, to the different places, that you guys visited. And I know, I, I don't even know why I'm asking this question, 'cause I know the merch store was fire. So much so that it was so packed it was hard to move around in there. Oh, wow. Um, I don't even remember, I heard on I think Ed's podcast when he had on, he's now the merch guy with the Columbia Fireflies, was in Portland previous. I think he set up a, a merch store somewhere, I wanna say down the first baseline, but I didn't, I didn't go all the way over there, so I'm not sure ex- where exactly it was. But the main one that was kind of behind home plate, it was just really hard to kind of get around in there. It was just... It's not real, real big. It's not, you know, extremely small. But just with, they had a very, very, very good crowd that night. And so it wasn't a sellout, but they did have, quite a bit of fans there, and it was, yeah, it was just really hard to, get around inside the merch. I mean, it's a lot of good stuff. I already have, trying to remember, I think I have a couple hats that I got, previous. Now, did I see on your, I still say Twitter feed, X, did they wear the teal jerseys that night? Am I remembering that correctly from what you had posted on X? They did, but it was actually a slightly different version of what they typically wear. So there's a group, I guess, that go to Red Sox games called Section 10, and I don't know anything about them. But, apparently they do like a podcast and stuff, and so these were specially designed Section 10, I believe is what they're called, jerseys that we ended up And I, I saw Jesse standing on the concourse, so I went down to talk to him, and he was trying to explain it a little bit. But yeah, they were something that the, this group wanted to design, and so they were able to get it cleared through MILB. And so they were teal, but they the numbers on the back were inside of like a square. but they wore their b- normal black and teal hats and everything. and then, uh, Jesse also, took me upstairs, so I did get to meet Emma for just a brief second. She came over, from her broadcast booth, 'cause she has a broadcast partner, and so she came over for just a quick second to say hi, but then had to get back over there. So I didn't get to stay and talk to Jesse for a lo- a very long, but I did, was able to get to see him briefly and, But yeah, they wore on that, that game we were at, the teal, but it was not the normal, black and teal that they typically wear. When are we gonna have a team dedicated to Earned Fun Average jersey, Eric? I mean, that sounds awesome. what team, would have special jerseys for this podcast? That's what I- now. Of course, we can't even get a gas station to sponsor us in four years. Hey, Lambers, we'll take your money. That's right. Love you. Al- although I did hear a little birdie mention that, 'cause I wore my infamous, Loves Travel Stop, Portland Sea Dogs hat, and mentioned something that Diamond Baseball Holdings is possibly trying to do something. I don't know if it's gonna be them specific, but try to get their merch out in other avenues. So it's possible that we may see stuff at a Loves or otherwise again someday. Don't know if that's gonna be the case, but that would be pretty sweet if they started doing that again. Yeah. Absolutely. So first stop was Portland. Where was the, uh, next game at after Portland? So what we did is, uh, one of the things we were really looking forward to was going to the Cape Cod- uh, to see the Cape Cod League, and that's the, so-called, best summer collegiate league out there. You know, kind of the highest, where you'll see some of the top college prospects go and play in the Cape Cod. And so that's one thing we really wanted to do. So we started out, so Cape Cod, from where we were staying north of Boston, and how traffic was, took us about two hours to get there. but we started in, Yarmouth Dennis. so there's two towns in Massachusetts on the Cape. technically in, I believe, South Dennis, Massachusetts, but And what's kind of funny is, so the ballpark's in, like, a school district, and there's like So there's a school right there that it's in. they are known as the Dennis-Yarmouth School District, but the team for college on the, Cape Cod League is Yarmouth Dennis, so they're known as YD, so the YD Red Sox. So it's kind of a little bit confusing that the school is known as Dennis-Yarmouth School District, but then they're the Yarmouth Dennis Red Sox. And to make it even more confusing, so they have the Red Sox name, but it's the White Sox- logo, basically the wording of the White Sox in red letters. Oh, wow. So if that's not even more confusing, if you ever look it up, look up the Yarmouth Dennis Red Sox logo. It's the White Sox, the SOX, you know, the, the classic S- SOX for the White Sox, but it's in red letters, and they're known as the Red Sox, but but it's the White Sox lettering. So all kind of confusing. And I don't know, it's been years since we've had on the, guy that ran the Chatham Anglers, but if you remember, he told us that Uh, MLB, I believe, started requiring them, if they wanted to keep those names, that they had to pay to keep them, and so that's why they switched from the Chatham A's to the Chatham Anglers. Right. And but the, the Red Sox And I don't know who they pay. Do they pay the Red Sox? Do they pay the White Sox? Do they pay both? Huh. But then you also have the Harwich Mariners, and they use that, baseball with, like, the compass as their logo, so kind of the old school Mariners. So I know those are two of them. The rest of them have pretty much, for the most part, if I'm thinking of it, have almost all switched over to their own unique names. but we started i- at Yarmouth Dennis, and, walked in, and all the games are free, but they have specifically for, like, at the Red Sox games, they had a big plastic tub right there at the tent as you walk in, and if you wanted to donate, you can donate money. So th- Joe threw a little bit of money in there, he sat down in the stands. And then I just kinda walked around both sides, just kinda checking everything out. just a lot of fans, with lawn chairs just kinda sitting there. They had a couple little bleachers. But what was funny is that the right field area, the net and the barrier only went, like, a little bit past first, and then so down the right field line was just open. So I could have ran out and just stood or tackled the, the right fielder- 'cause you could just access the field, uh, without any barricades or anything. You just, you could walk right on the, the field. Well, then it's unfortunately started pouring down rain, so we end up leaving. Well, we went out to the car, and it kinda started to stop a little bit. Well, our main one that we wanted to go see was the Chatham Anglers. Wow. And that's all based off of, you know, when we did our, sports movies preview. Okay. My favorite baseball movie is Summer Catch, where it's all based off of the Chatham A's. And so, and if you, go back and listen to that episode where we had on the guy with the Chatham Anglers, they did not film it at the ballpark or even at the Cape. I think they filmed it in, like, North Carolina. Right. but I love that movie, so I was like, "We gotta go see the Chatham Anglers." That was a great ballpark. So that was kind of in the middle of, like, a, a neighborhood that is a beautiful ballpark. the merch was great. They just had tables and everything out, but tons of shirts, just Cape Cod, Chatham Anglers hats. And so the very first, thing that I got, and my brother got was a Chatham Anglers hat. And so it had the A with the, kinda the fish hook, and then his on the side said USA 250 for the, you know, the 250th, and then had the Cape Cod on the back, logo, Cape Cod League. Mine, didn't have anything on the side, but on the back it just said Chatham Anglers on it. Oh, nice. And, and then I got a, a shirt that said, baseball and the cape on the front, and then on the back it had a picture of Massachusetts and had a picture of the Cape Cod and then had all the team names listed there. Awesome. Oh. And then g- got a, a brand new in the package Cape Cod League baseball. So it was like the balls they use during- Right the games but it was brand new. spent way more money, kinda like you at a summer collegiate than I would at any other like affiliated or Major League game. so that was kinda the two that we did was just a couple innings there in Yarmouth Dennis to see the Red Sox and then went and saw pretty much the entire game. cause Yarmouth Dennis doesn't have lights, so if they're at home all their games are earlier in the day. So like it was a 4:30 start But then for Chatham, they do have lights. so we went over there and stayed, and saw a majority of that game. It was kind of a little drizzly at the first, but then kind of stopped, and it was a little, not chilly up there, but, you know, cooler than what we're used to down here. but what was really cool is there was on the third base side, back behind kind of where people were sitting, there's a nice set of bleachers kind of built in, but then a lot of people were sitting in lawn chairs. Back behind us, there was a residential, a house, and a tall fence. Well, the homeowners built a tall, their own, bleachers, metal bleachers, had these really nice seats that they attached on the bleachers, and then the entire family, like a mom, dad, a grandma, and some kids all were sitting up on the bleachers. Now, again, it didn't cost to actually see it. Again, they take donations, but you didn't necessarily have to pay. But they wouldn't have had to pay even if it did cost to get in, because they had a built-in bleachers that sat up high enough over their tall fence that they could just sit there and from their backyard and watch, Yeah or actually it was their front yard maybe, uh, and just watch, from the fence right there on their bleachers, just the game. So I thought that was really cool. I took a picture of their bleachers of them sitting up there because it was really cool that somebody had built that so they could sit there and just watch the game. So Chatham was an absolute blast that we went to on that Saturday. Well, it sounds like it Yeah. That, that is, wow, that's that You know, and you just get such a, you know, I was talking about with the Cape, that sense of community, right? Here's these people that live near the ballpark. We wanna watch baseball. Hey, let's build bleachers, right? Let's, be there, right? We're there. And, and then the fact that they're, you know, not charging a ticket price and just taking donations. You know, again, about community. And, so many of the guests, you know, that we've had, especially in collegiate wood bat, about community and providing something for, fans to do during the summer, you know. And it sounds very much like the Cape Cod, which is really kind of the, the OG standard-bearer, in collegiate baseball. So where was the next adventure, next, next ballpark? Well, so since we love the Cape Cod so much, even though it was two hours one way to get there, two hours back, we went back on Sunday to the Cape Cod. Uh- Oh, wow so what we did is we kinda had one ballpark in mind. However, we actually wanted to see a couple others, so what we did is we went to three different ballparks and saw, based off of kinda how when the game started, saw a couple innings from the first couple ballparks and then finished out at the last ballpark to see the majority of that last game. so we started in Harwich, uh, Massachusetts to see the Harwich Mariners. They had a really sweet on-field hat that I wanted to get. It was navy, had a red, the baseball with the compass, kinda like the Mariners use, and then a tan bill. Just the- Oh, man neatest looking hat. And I'm like, can I see that hat over there?" And she grabs it and she's like, "Yeah, this is all I have, an extra small." Well, that might have fit my five-year-old, but, uh, that's not gonna do me any good. She's like, "Yeah, w- we probably, I think we're gonna get more in probably next week." I'm like, "Well, I'm from out of state." She's like, "Oh, okay." I was like, How are you already out of these hats and the season just started?" so unfortunately I did not get a hat from Harwich, but we stayed there for an inning or two. End up, left there and went over to Orleans to see the Orleans Firebirds. Their setup, they have a big hill that a lot of people have blankets and lawn chairs you sit on. Their center field was, what was it, 454. Mm. I was like, "What is this?" The... Was that, was it the Polo Grounds? What's the one that has that big outfield? It was the Polo Grounds, yeah. You're exactly- I was like, "What..." I was like, "What, what is this?" Like, it was the deepest center field I've ever seen. but then they had a tent, so I walked in there and I saw a hat. It was... Well, they had multiple on field, but what they had out was kind of small. I'm like, "Is this all you have?" They're like, "No, these are just kind of the display." I was like, "Do you have a, a large in this?" So it was a red hat, has the Firebird logo inside of an O, and then a black bill. Mm. Had the Cape Cod League logo on the back. And he goes, These hats are kind of big." And my brother's like, "Well, w- our heads are a little bit bigger. It'll be fine." And so I tried it on and it fit, so I got a... And same thing, we only ended up staying for, like, an inning or two, but I got an Orleans Firebirds hat. And then the other one we really wanted to see was the Hyannis Harborhawks, and so we went there and saw the majority of their game. they were actually playing. They were hosting the Chatham Anglers. So we saw Chatham in Chatham the day before, and then saw them on the road playing Hyannis on that Sunday. And this is the hat that I got. They had one other that was, like, orange and had kind of a cursive H, uh, that was really cool. But I ended up and obviously got this one, tritone hat. And that pa- ballpark was pretty fun too. So overall, out of the two days, we saw five of the 10. So there's 10 teams in the Cape Cod League. We saw five of the ballparks. We could have easily spent another couple days there, to get everything in. So I'd highly recommend the Cape Cod. if anybody has a chance to get up there, spend multiple days there if you can. the ballparks, there's a couple that are fairly close, but, like, Hyannis and Chatham are about half hour away. so they're- You know, you have to drive just a little bit, but it's not that hard to get to them. just travel, you know, wherever to get there. So I'd recommend for, yeah, anybody that has a chance, get to the Cape Cod League. Their hats are fairly hard to get for the most part. They're Sometimes they are online, but for shipping and everything. So I ended up and I got three different Cape Cod League hats, uh, while I was there, 'cause I know they're pretty hard to get. So, uh, overall, really fun experience last weekend when we were there in the Cape Cod for the two days we went. Wow, that's awesome. Oh, that's awesome. Well, that I'm almost getting chill bumps hearing about the Cape Cod League this afternoon. that is awesome. Okay. So after the time with the Cape Cod teams, where was the next, uh, next stadium or next community you went to? we were supposed to go to Worcester to see the Worcester Bravehearts of the Futures League. Oh, yeah. Yeah. So I, uh, bought tickets about a month before the game for Monday the 22nd. The Friday before we l- or the Thursday before we left, I looked on the schedule. They were on the road. Oh, no. And I'm like So I called. They have a phone number on their website, and I called, and this guy's like, "Hello?" I'm like, "Are you guys playing tonight? He's Or on Monday?" He's like, "No." I was like, "Well, I bought tickets and it says you are." He's like, "Well, I'm not at the office. Let me, uh, call you back." So somebody else called me back a little bit later. I was like, "Yeah, I bought tickets." He's like, "Well, we can, uh, exchange them for another game." And I'm like, "Well, we're not gonna be in town. My brother and I are on a trip, and that's the only day we could have gone." And he's like, "We'll refund the tickets." And, so didn't get to go see the Worcester Bravehearts. So then what we were gonna do is Worcester was playing in Norwich. So we were gonna go see the Norwich Sea Unicorns. Well, that game got rained out, and so we didn't get to see anything on that Monday, Hmm because of the rain. So Monday we didn't end up getting to see a game at all. so then on Tuesday was where we went to see our m- friend Mike Abramson with the Hartford Yard Goats. Oh, yeah. So that was my redemption game. Curse you Yankee hot dogs. That's right. I am back. I am strong. I have returned. I am here now. Is Now Hartford, was that the first pitch? It was, yes. That was... Yeah, I saw that on X as well, and on Facebook with Joe. But you would never know, because my brother did not get video of it. Mm. He was up there recording and he said he hit record, didn't think he was recording, and hit record again and stopped it. Oh, no. So I have no video evidence, but I did have the ball. I showed off the ball that I threw. It was a logo ball with the Yard Goats logo, and he did get a picture of me on the field. We didn't get to pitch from the mound, 'cause it'd been raining that day, so we were in front of it. And then the, the on-field host said, You guys are gonna be pitching up from in front of the mound so you're closer, flat level ground. You'll thank me later." Uh, but I did throw a strike. Uh- Good for you didn't bounce it or whatever, but they had about 19,000 first pitches, so I was just one that I was the second one to go, so there's this little kid that was probably like- I don't know, four years old maybe that went first, and he just kinda tossed the ball to the ground. Uh, but then I was after that, and all they did was just basically say, "And up next," and then said my name. So they didn't have, like, some introduction speech about, being there, uh, with the podcast or anything. But, only met him once, but Mike was down on the field pregame, and he walked by and kinda looked, and then I said, "Hey, it's Eric Proff." And he's like, "Oh, yeah, from Zoom. That's right." And so I real briefly got to, you know, say hi to him but didn't really get to say much after that. didn't see him the rest of the game. But didn't have any, uh, hot dogs the day before. Very good. Very good. However, I tried to make myself sick by what food I ate, and we can talk about, you know, 'cause there was a couple different games that I had some really good food. So we'll talk about the food that I had at the ballpark. But made it all the way through, all nine innings of the Yard Goats game. Did not get sick, so so that was the number one, the best thing that happened there. and then that Wednesday, we, uh, went up... It was actually closer to where we were staying. Manchester, New Hampshire, it was only about 40 minutes or so, from our hotel. so we got to see the New Hampshire Fisher Cats, which that's a ballpark I had not been to before. so we did that on that Wednesday. And then Thursday was that heated, bitter rivalry between the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park. So we got to see Yankees, Red Sox at Fenway. And I had been there before, but that was coming off, you know, being sick as well. So getting a chance to get back there and, uh, seeing that ballpark and my brother getting to see it. And this time we sat out in the outfield, so got a different vantage point from when I went a couple years ago. so that was, on that Thursday. On Friday, we went to Worcester, to see the Worcester Red Sox and the WooSox. Uh, had been there, did a tour of that ballpark and really enjoyed the ballpark, but got to see a game. That game was packed. They were not quite a sellout, but it was 9,000 fans, and it was super rowdy, and they were, playing the Toledo Mud Hens. All right. So your, you know, with your big logo hat that you wore on a recent episode. w- so that was a lot of fun to get to actually see a game there. And then we finished it off actually getting to see a Futures League game. they are back finally after being gone for about six years. The Lowell Spinners, uh- was only about 20 minutes from our hotel, so the closest of all of them was the last game then on that Saturday. They were hosting the Vermont Lake Monsters, so we got to see them. They were playing at, I'm not even gonna try to say the name of the, the ballpark, but it's where UMass Lowell plays. Oh, wow. so the college there plays at that ballpark, so we got to see the Lowell Spinners and the Vermont Lake Monsters to finish out one more summer collegiate. So that was kind of the itinerary. So MLB, triple A, double A, uh, and then a lot of summer collegiate as well. Wow, what a trip. A little bit of everything. y- you mentioned food. What were some of the favorite... A- as I mentioned a few moments ago, Joe, uh, Joe and I love blueberries, so, I know Mr., Joe Profit, Edward, my daughter, said a few years ago, talking about Brother Joe, she goes, "Is he a preacher?" It's a different kind of brother." Anyway, the one I so what were some of the, the f- uh, favorite food items, from the various ballparks? Well, since we were in Boston, you know, I was looking at maybe a lobster roll or some, clam chowder, but, as much as I spent on the trip to get up there, I didn't have another... Uh, it was, lobster is really expensive, and so I ended up not getting any lobster rolls because anywhere you go to find anything lobster related is, uh, lobster's not cheap. So I did not have any of that. I did get a- Uh, when we were in Portland, they had that, you know, we talked to Jesse about having the Sea Dogs biscuit, so it was basically- Oh, yeah a ice-cream sandwich, so two, like, chocolate chip cookies and then ice cream in the middle. So I ended up getting that. and then I had, the Sea Dogs biscuit, but then at a brewery there was a, a food truck that had whoopie pies, and so I got whoopie pies there, in Portland as well. In Hartford I got a cinnamon bun hamburger. Ooh. So it was- Okay a hamburger with cheese, bacon, barbecue sauce, and the buns were two cinnamon rolls. Mm. It was super messy and extremely hard to eat, but it was really good. And then I got an ice cream helmet afterwards. Uh, they had a specialty sundae called candy shop, so it had a bunch of, like, Nerds and little cotton candy pieces and different other candies in it. So I try As much as I said I'm not gonna get sick at this, uh, you know, at the ballpark, I, I didn't eat like I was not trying to get sick. I didn't get sick off of it thankfully, but, uh, those were kind of the main. I've had a couple ice cream, helmets at some other ballparks, but those were kind of the main ones, was the whoopie pie, the Sea Dog biscuit, and then that cinnamon roll burger i- in Hartford. So how many helmets did you come back with, ice cream helmets, for your collection? I think about six. Oh, okay. I actually had two of them from Hartford. They had two different logos that, that I wanted. the New Hampshire Fisher Cats had one on a, a different colored helmet. It was actually on a helmet of the... It was purple with green, and so it was kind of like the, space potatoes. Oh, yeah. That was... It wasn't the potat- space potatoes logo, it was just the NH, but it was those colors. I got a Boston Red Sox one, and Portland Sea Dogs I got one that had the, red snapper on it. feel like there was one more. Oh, WooSox. I got a WooSox with a smiley ball on there. So, those were the, the ice cream helmets that I was able to get. No, none at the Cape Cod, uh, none at Lowell. Spinners didn't have one either. So, So I wanted to ask one final question, uh, this afternoon. Of the affiliated teams that you and Joe visited, which one had your favorite team store? Our, one of our favorite subjects on the podcast. Well, what you'll find surprising, just to talk about merch in general, I bought more hats on this trip than Mr. Joe Profit did Which is shocking to him probably, me. there's some teams that he already had hats for, so he's like, "I don't really need any more." And just the prices, because, you know, he does the 59FIFTYs as well. Those prices are 50, 55 bucks. Yep. He found one that was like 65. It's some unique special something. Right. And he's like, "This is..." Yeah, so I ended up And that's all. You know, you asked about affiliated, so I'll just say first of all, Cape Cod, my favorite place, to get merch. I got all my hats from the Cape Cod, and I would've had a fourth one if Harwich had my size. but C- Chatham for sure was my favorite place. They had really great merch, great T-shirts, logo baseball, hats, all. They had a ton of different hats. They had a few 39THIRTY New Eras, uh, but mostly in smaller sizes. so I really liked that. Hyannis had a really small selection, but it was pretty, pretty nice for the most part. out of affiliated, you know, obviously with the WooSox, they have Polar Park is the new ballpark. Theirs- Uh-huh was a really nice, team store. I've been in it before, when I went. And we toured the ballpark on our trip a few years ago, so I had seen the, the stadium, team store before. That one, and then right behind that I would probably say Hartford. Mm-hmm. The Yard Goats, they had a really nice team store as well, and I had been in that one before since I had been to the ballpark there as well. So out of the affiliated I went to, I would say Worcester with the WooSox first, and then I would say Hartford probably second. I love the smiley face logo. I, I don't know why. They've been around for a couple years now. Why I've never ma- made that purchase. I think, and then it's, it's in honor of Ted Williams. It's just a really fun baseball, minor league baseball logo. And so yeah, I, I absolutely love that logo. so that's cool. So the rank, got those rankings. And so when is the next trip? And what is the next trip? So at the time of this recording, it is actually here in four days, what we're doing. So my son has some more travel ball tournaments. first one he has is in Springfield, Missouri, so we're gonna go up in that area. hopefully if it depends on his, uh, baseball schedule when he plays. And this trip is- A modified version of Profitapalooza Junior 2026. Samantha from 128, 175, and 200 will not be coming with us, so- Oh, come on it'll just be Shannon. She has to work, but it'll be Shannon, the boys, and I. we're gonna try, based off of where- wherever we can make it work, where he does not have his games, we're gonna try to go to some different games. So we're gonna try to go for, uh, Springfield Cardinals, and then we're gonna try to go to St. Louis Cardinals, and then hopefully maybe a Cincinnati Reds game- Oh, wow if it works out, and then maybe a couple others. Uh, 'cause then after that, he actually plays the next week in Nashville, so we're gonna be traveling. And so we're gonna try to see games along the way. And depending on what his schedule is in Nashville, we'll see if we can hit some other games. So it's actually here soon. So I just got back yesterday, and I'll be turning around and leaving for another 10 days, but this one's mo- more for going to see Zach and his games, and then hopefully get to see some others along the way. but at, at Also at the time of this recording, I believe you actually have something else that you planned on. Do you have any details of what your trip is gonna look like? Eric, just finalized today, I mean, of the day of this recording. Everything with the Bolens is tentative. That is what I've said for years. It holds true. Ladies and gentlemen, put your hands together. Bolens, back to the bayou. The with no equal. The return, whether they're ready for us or not, probably not. But we'll be, um The schedule for this, this week as we're recording, Thursday night, put your hands together for those of Kadian Cain Cutters. We'll be ch- checking Owen back to Furbacher Field. They're playing the Victoria Generals, so getting to see some Texas Collegiate League baseball. And then July 3rd, July 4th, back to Joe Miller Ballpark on the campus of McNeese State University. The Gumbo Gators, in those two nights, they play two of the different teams from Texas, not, named Prairie Dog/Flying Bison. Mm-hmm. These are other, I think the River Monsters and the Bombers are the two teams. Okay. forgot which night is which, and so we'll be, uh, as scheduled, three games, three this Three games, Texas Collegiate League, back to the Bayou. so that, that is our family vacation this year, heading out two days from the time of this recording, and then we'll come back Sunday, July 5th. So, we are looking forward to it. it won't be hot or anything, Aaron. It's not gonna be hot in Southwest Louisiana. and you know, we were talking before we started recording, we always kind of make it You know, Melinda likes going to the different places and seeing the stuff, where I, I'm kind of tunnel vision about baseball. But I enjoy, the, the tourist stuff that are in the area and so she's been looking up things for us to do. And, initially it was gonna be one night in Lafayette, but, uh, Drury Inn, we'll take you as a sponsor, offered me a fantastic deal if we stayed a second night. So now it's two nights Lafayette, two nights in Lake Charles. So we are heading back to the Bayou. What's the, uh, let's see, over under six boudin balls? She's already been talking about the boudin ball she loves. I'm a big fan of the pork cracklins- Okay which are delicious. We try- I tried those for the first time last year. we're eating She made homemade chicken salad tonight. This will be the last time I eat chicken till next week. I'm burned out. We eat a lot of chicken in the Bolin home. I want to eat stuff that has been swimming, not clucking and running around when I'm ready for some great seafood. visit a couple of the restaurants, we went to last year. Couple places that we've never been to, especially in Lafayette. This will give us more time to kind of explore Lafayette, on day two of the trip, you know, with having a second night stay there. And so, she I, I like boudin balls. I, I like most of that kind of food. And, uh, so yeah, there, there's several places that will sell you some delicious boudin balls in the great state of Louisiana. Well, I'm looking forward to hearing all about that, uh, checking out, see what food you got, and see how the games went. And hopefully you won't go another 0 and 4. Make it, what, 0 and 8 on the, on the- Yeah, that- year, so. Maybe I was what was wrong with Calhoun City softball. Maybe that- Might explain a lot, right? Well, I'm sure when we both get back, we'll, uh, do another episode and talk about those trips as well, so we hear about your Bolins Back to the Bayou and, a makeshift version of Profitapalooza 2026. So looking forward to following along with you for that trip, and, uh, had a lot of fun talking with you about, uh, your trip to the Cape. and I also went to the Cape, just different Cape. Yeah, double Cape. Double Cape. That's a, that's a good There it is. Double Cape, that's the name of the episode. See? It just comes to us. but I hope everybody enjoyed, uh, hearing about our trips. And, uh, make sure you go online, follow us. We are Earn Fun Average. Average is AVG. Instagram, Twitter, Blue Sky, and Threads. And really do appreciate it. thanks as always, Johnny. I really enjoyed it tonight. I loved hearing about your trip. Look forward to hearing about Profitapalooza Junior, this trip coming up. And, uh, yeah, that's It's always fun. And I said, I, I got chills hearing about the Cape Cod League. That is, that is phenomenal. Yep, it was a ton of fun. America, lower your standards. Average is what these guys do best.
