Episode 230 - 6th Inning Stretch

We are joined by Virgil Brooks, Chris Storm and Terry McCutchen to discuss the 2026 NBC World Series Baseball Round the Clock. From extreme heat, extra check-ins, a 6th inning stretch, and lots of baseball, you'll want to check out this fun episode.

Be sure to follow all of them online and come visit the NBC World Series next July.

National Baseball Congress World Series -

Website: https://www.nbcbaseball.com/

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Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/NBCBaseball (@NBCBaseball)

Virgil Brooks -

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Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/thelostgumbel (@TheLostGumbel)

Chris Storm -

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hatstorm/ (@HatStorm)

Threads: https://www.threads.com/@hatstorm (@HatStorm)

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/HatStorm (@HatStorm)

Terry McCutchen -

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/terry.mccutchen/ (@Terry.McCutchen)

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/tbmccutchen (@TBMcCutchen)

Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/foul-tips-and-bat-flips/id1804531362

Earned Fun Average -
 
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Blue Sky: https://www.bsky.app/profile/earnedfunavg.bsky.social  (@EarnedFunAvg.bsky.social)

Threads: https://www.threads.com/@earnedfunavg (@EarnedFunAvg)


Curved Brim Media -

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Transcript

0:17

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another episode of the Earned Run Average podcast. I'm your host, Eric Prophet, coming to you from Wichita, Kansas. And I'm by myself today, but not really, 'cause I have some, uh, wonderful friends with me. you can't see them on here, but I believe they're all still asleep. we have three guests with us today. We have Mr. Terry McCutcheon. How are you today? I'm wonderful. Doing wonderful, Eric. How are you? Good. Thank you. Mr. Chris Storm? Everything's fantastic down here in Oklahoma. And last but always least, Mr. Virgil Brooks. How are you, Virgil? I am good, and apparently sleeping is for the weak. That is correct. Well, speaking of lack of sleep, we have a panel here that all just completed baseball round the clock. the one to my left, Mr. Terry McCutcheon, has completed it for the second time, and then the two newbies are below us here. So we're gonna just do a little discussion about how the NBC baseball round the clock went for everybody. but as we like to do, we like to talk about a favorite hat. Virgil, what hat do you have today? So I've got my main travel hat. This was the hat that I wore for baseball round the clock, so Eric, it will be easy for you to find pictures of this one. It is my original Trash Pandas hat. I love it. Appreciate you sharing that. Mr. Storm, what do you have today? I've also got the hat I wore for, uh, baseball round the clock. It's the Hickory Dickory Dock set from the Hickory Crawdads. Yep, that hat was very fitting with the clock on it since we were up for 33-plus hours. And Mr. McCutcheon, what about yourself? I've got a NBC World Series cap that, uh, purchased last year, and I wore it for some of the games this year. I kinda had a rotation of several hats that, uh, kinda traded off this year. and so this is one of the ones that, that I wore to several of the games, uh, this year, and I It's one of my favorites, so. And for myself, this is a new hat that I picked up on game one of baseball round the clock. So I was hoping more teams would have their on-field hat, but one of the ones that I really wanted, saw my brother. Well, my brother had left. I didn't even know that he had gone anywhere, and comes walking back up the stairs, 'cause we were setting up at the top when it was hot out, and he was carrying a Liberal BJ's hat. And I'm like, "Where'd you get that?" He's like, "It's in the team store." So I ran down and got one, got a couple from, couple for our other friends, and then I know at least a couple of you. Virgil, I don't know if you got one or not, but the other two, I know you went down and got the Liberal BJ. So it's white, got a blue bill on it. says, "BJ's" with a baseball in red on the front. So Liberal BJ's, who were back, were not there last year, but they were back again this year, played in the tournament. So I think the only on-field hat that I saw that a team was selling, so I got the Liberal BJ's today. Yeah, and what was funny about that, you know, Joe came up with that, and, the whole group was like, "Oh, hey, we gotta go, uh, make a purchase." And he said, "Well, I don't know that they had many sizes." And, uh, we asked the guy at the, that was working the little store, and he's like, "Oh yeah, I've got plenty back in the back." And so he just went out there and brought several sleeves of them, so it was kind of cool. On Instagram, they sometimes do, ask the chat, and so that's something that on one of their Instagram posts on their story, they were say, "Ask me anything." So of course that's what I put, "Can we please have more teams sell their on-field hats?" And then it m- was either yesterday or today they sent out an email asking to take a survey, and that's another thing I put in there. So I keep reiterating, "Guys, please have the teams bring their on-field hats," 'cause I really wanted to get an Alaska Goldpanners hat, Seattle Studs, amongst some of the others. So brought the, uh, at least the one team had it there, but hopefully more teams here in the next few years will start to bring their gear. A few other T-shirts and stuff from some of the teams, but on-field hats, still, not that many out there, so hopefully in the future they'll start bringing their f- hats, 'cause we sold at least six of them for them, so that's, you know, better than what they sold before the tournament started. Right, and that's a lot more than they sold if they'd have left them at, at home. Well, let me ask, so Terry, you are, I don't know if I'd call a veteran now at this point, but just kind of a broad question in general. So you completed it last year, and then again this year. Which year was harder? Which year was easier? I thought last year was harder, only because I had no idea what I was getting in for. this year was easier, for a couple reasons. One, I kind of had a, I had a couple breaks, or a break, uh, from the weather. that may come up later, where I got to sit in the air conditioning for a bit. But, I also was able to know what was coming up, so most of the time I was finding shade and conserving energy early to make it last longer. Whereas last year, all the energy and excitement and my adrenaline was so early, I think, that at the end it was just an, you know, adrenaline dump, and I was just tired on Sunday afternoon, uh, more so than this year. But, this year seemed easier, even though it was ungodly hot, this weekend, that weekend, but. You were, you're from Texas though, so shouldn't you be used to the heat? You would think so, but, uh, we, we have air conditioners down here as well. So we have electricity and air conditioners that, uh, definitely get used to, so. Well, I want to ask Chris, so we'll start with you then. So it's your first time doing it. Just, uh, initial thoughts, kind of going into the NBC Baseball Around the Clock. just give me a few thoughts of, you know, as you're getting ready to start, and then as we kind of got going. my main concern, going in was, oh my gosh, it's gonna be hot out for the entire time. and that actually turned out to be not that much of a problem at all because again, like Terry said, you just chase the shade around in the stadium. And there, there's plenty of room, to change your seats every game if you want to. And yeah, that turned out to be f- N- not a real issue at all, just stay hydrated. made sure to, to go grab a large either water or soda, kind of alternated for every game, and I could certainly tell when I forgot to go get one. but yeah, it's just kind of remembering to stay hydrated and all those. And, it really helped to have people to talk to, the whole time. I can't imagine going by myself, which I probably would do sometimes if, uh, nobody was there. But, um, yeah, it was fantastic, and truly the only... It was just endurance was the issue. And if you have people to talk to, even if they are the people on the screen right now, it just made it, I don't wanna say, easy, but easier. Yep, for sure. Mr. Brooks, what about yourself? So obviously, your first time as well, so just kind of the initial thoughts kind of going into it, what you were kind of maybe afraid of or anticipating and, uh, any initial thoughts for us? So there were two things you told me to do beforehand, and that was get a lot of sleep beforehand and eat a good breakfast, and I did neither of those things. So I was already ill-prepared there because, like, it was, I had the adrenaline the entire time. Like, just, you know, going into, like, the, this is a whole new thing, brand-new territory, doing, doing 11 games, doing the fact that I'm scorekeeping the games, which we'll talk about that later on because there were some problems with that. And really, it was just, you know, I was excited I got to see the Gold Panners for the first time. I was excited I got to see, you know, Liberal BJs, you know, Foresters, like, all the teams that you guys have talked about before. And I really didn't hit a wall until a certain game that I know we will definitely be talking about because that was when I was starting to wonder, "Am I gonna survive this?" But, like, I was used to, like, staying hydrated, definitely good that I had sunscreen on, which I rarely have to wear sometimes, but you know, it came in handy. My only thing I wish I brought more change of clothes because I only brought a backup shirt with me, and I realized I should have had a backup to the backup to the backup. as I said, I'm pretty sure that was something that was not pleasant. But overall, great experience. Definitely staying hydrated was the main key for that, and that's, that, that just kind of kept me going. Yeah, I did something this year that I was trying to kind of pace myself being hydrated. So went in before the, round-the-clock started, had a bottle of water. you can bring in a bottle of water sealed, uh, to the game, so I had one during the first game. Had one in between the games, so there's usually 35-ish minutes or so in between games. So went out to the car, had a water, and then came back in during the next game, had a water. So I was trying to keep, you know, one in between and one during the game, and so I was, I was even kind of keeping track. So I think I had like eight or nine bottles of water by the, like, 3:00 AM game. I kind of got off a little bit. Uh, Terry and I will talk about the... Uh, we actually got to play in the NBC tournament, which was a lot of fun. obviously had some water during that, but didn't really get to keep track, and then had a little, cup that I was able to have somebody bring over and started filling that up. So I kind of lost track. But yeah, that was my goal. Obviously to stay hydrated just 'cause of the heat and everything. And Terry, if you probably remember last year it was hot, but the weather was bearable. This year- Right was a lot worse. I mean, like Chris said, there is some shade sometimes, if you go up to the very top, during like the noon and 3:00 games, you can go up to the very top. There's a little bit of shade up there. But yeah, once the sun kinda started to go down, 'cause it's a really tall ballpark, so the sun goes kinda back behind, pretty quickly. But then we went down and sat kinda lower level for most of the parts where, the sun was down or whatever. But yeah, that was my goal was to try to stay as hydrated as possible. but for me, I thought it was Obviously I've done it before, so I've done it, previous when they did it like eight or nine years ago. I did it probably five or six times or more. Didn't do it when they brought it back, for the first time two years ago. did it last year. Last year the basis of Around the Clock wasn't that difficult, but I think what they were saying is they were trying to make it where they wanted to bring fans back and do it, and then once they kinda got used to it, then they would ramp it up. So, uh, for Chris and Virgil, they, you know, obviously didn't ex- experience it last year. There was a lot more check-ins and- Mm some kinda difficult ones. So it was a lot harder, to complete Around the Clock itself, outside of, trying to stay awake for 33-plus hours, plus trying to stay hydrated. So I think Chris, you had mentioned it was kind of a, like a mental game trying to keep yourself, awake, hydrated, paying attention. But it is I think a lot easier to do with a group. Mm-hmm. And Terry, I don't remember if you remember from last year, we had eight of us maybe. I think so. And then this year we were 12, 13 plus. Right. So we had a bigger group this year, and that's what we did in the past when they did it years ago, is we had a group of us of at- at least five or six or more, and I think that just makes it so much easier. Because there was times I'd run to the restroom and there was a check-in, so Virgil would call or I would text somebody and it's like, "Hey, there's a silent sounder." Right. So we can kinda keep each other accountable. Yeah, like I say, I, I was kind of fortunate that the first Silent Sounder I wasn't responsible for this year. I didn't have to worry about that one, but I, yeah, I couldn't imagine. It would be a lot more difficult doing it by yourself, for sure. and it would drag longer. you would definitely wanna, you know, just start talking to people and make, make friends while you're there, which One of the things that I liked about Around-the-Clock last year was that you could easily do that, 'cause it's such a community. You know, everybody's in it together that i- it's not gonna take long where you just m- meet up with somebody, whether it's, you know, the, the 15-year-old kid who's trying to quit or whatever. You know, you're gonna come up with somebody to, to kind of hook up with and make friends. But yeah, it, the group of people is, is a world of difference, and, and I love it because of that, so. Well, Virgil, obviously we've kind of been talking already about Baseball Around-the-Clock, so I guess we should probably back up a little bit. So, for our listeners that may not be familiar kind of with the tournament itself and then what the Baseball Around-the-Clock is, would you mind just sharing an overview with everybody? So the tournament itself is National Baseball Congress World Series. So it's a group of- There's leagues that are affiliated with the Congress that will send their champions usually, and they'll play in the World Series, which spans multiple days. Of course, they'll have some, other independent teams involved in that too. And then usually, they will save the Saturday and... It's always Saturday and Sunday? Yeah. Always Saturday and Sunday for baseball around the clock, where they will play 10 tournament games, and then there'll usually be an exhibition game in there, and that goes for 33 straight hours, and then they will continue playing until they do, um, knockout play, and then the final of that will be at, or was at the Wichita Wind Surge Ballpark. Yep, and we just finished that here, at the time of this recording, two nights ago. Uh, Mr. Storm came up for that, so he got to see the championship game, and, uh, it was a battle of the two powerhouses. So, uh, we'll jump back into around the clock, but real quick, Chris, would you mind sharing with everybody about the championship game and the result? Yeah, it was a g- until about the, oh, what, middle of the eighth probably, until about the eighth inning, it was very, very even. It was the Alaska Goldpanners from Fairbanks, versus the s- uh, Santa Barbara Forest- Foresters. and I believe both came into their, that game undefeated- Mm-hmm in the tournament, and so they were... It was a pretty good pitchers' duel. looked like Santa Barbara had a little more depth in terms of relief pitching, and ultimately, that decided kind of the outcome of the game, but, but it was a lot of fun. It's a pretty lively crowd. It was fun to see kind of a, quite a few Alaska fans there. whether or not they're from Alaska, uh, you know, but they're fans of the team. and it, yeah, it was just a really neat experience And a great ballpark They were worried about, the attendance and what it would look like in the championship game without a local team. So last year, the Hutch Monarchs won the championship, and so there's a pretty big crowd that came over from Hutchinson about an hour away. This year, you had two teams on the West Coast, obviously from Fairbanks, Alaska, and then Santa Barbara, California. But those are the two most storied, NBC franchises that had actually never played each other in the championship before, which is kind of surprising. Alaska has not been, or has not won the championship since 2002, so it's been quite a while, and they actually had, like, a seven-year hiatus where they weren't even in Wichita. came back last year after that little, long drought that they were gone. they're back again this year, which we're glad to see, and I think I ultimately saw them five times this tournament, five or six times. because after we saw them actually twice during round the clock, then during the, uh, knockout bracket play, I saw them, I want to say Friday and Saturday and maybe, maybe on Thursday. So I ended up seeing them, I want to say around five different times. they've won seven, or no, six championships looking for their seventh. And then Santa Barbara, which is, you know, only four years ago, but for them a drought since the last time they played in, for the championship in 2022 when they won it. Because they won it, 2020, 2021, and 2022. And when they won in 2022, that, they set the record with 10 NBC championships, and then they ultimately won, I think it was 7-2 was the final And so they continued their record-setting, uh, won their 11th championship. So, each champion gets an automatic, berth to come back next year. So obviously we'll get to see Santa Barbara again next year. hopefully Alaska will come back and, it's been the last few years a 16-team tournament. it looks to be like they may try to expand it hopefully to maybe 20 or 24. We'll see what that looks like. But it'd be good to get some old leagues back in and some new leagues and, have some new teams maybe we haven't seen before. There was a couple new teams this year that we hadn't seen before. Tessa's Army, who's made up of, I think, a lot of local, but it's in honor of, uh, the coach's, what they believe his sister. and so they were kind of playing kind of charity for, for her, and it was their first time in there. They only won one game of the four they played. They did get to advance out of pool play. so there was four, four pools, four teams in each, and the top three from each advanced. The winner of each pool got to have a bye and move on to the quarterfinals. but yeah, Tessa's Army and then, Virgil's favorite team, the Oklahoma Lookouts, that had the, basically the Chattanooga Lookouts logo, but obviously with the O for Oklahoma. That was their first time in. And then Great Bend and Liberal weren't there last year, and they were back this year. So it's good to see some new teams and some old teams that hadn't been there, and then obviously some familiar teams. So, pretty good format, but looking forward to hopefully expanding that here in the next year or so. Yeah, I would love for, the Texas Collegiate League to, latch onto it, you know, to shorten their season, end their season ear- a little week earlier or whatever, you know, and, and tie into there, 'cause, uh, it's a great event, you know, to, tie into, so. Yeah, and that's what we were talking with, so I think I'd introduced most of you guys to Katie Woods, and she runs the NBC, and, uh, she's been awesome, obviously taking over the NBC the last few years and bringing back Around the Clock. This was the third year since it's been back, and I've been able to complete the last two. And, uh, they had a fun little thing where they have a lapel pin, uh, where you can, get a free lapel pin, from certain, days of the tournament. They had an opening night only lapel pin. they had a r- one during Around the Clock. they had one when the, Reigning Champs from Hutch, the Monarchs played, a Champions logo pin. And I'm excited now to see next year when they come out with the Santa Barbara Foresters 2026 championship pin. And then they had one that had the old Lawrence Dumont Stadium, a little bat and logo from the old stadium They had that at the championship game that's a cool deal. I hope it was popular with, everyone, 'cause it, I think it was in our group, for sure. Yeah. That's, I collect lapel pins, and so I was excited for that, and looking forward. Katie mentioned maybe they could do, like, uh, if you complete Around-the-Clock, cause the one they had was just kind of a generic baseball Around-the-Clock one, but if you complete it, they might have, like, a com- finishers lapel or something. And, they gi- did give away, little thermos mugs, and you get tickets for the rest of the tournament, and then get a finishers T-shirt. So, and then they also did some things where they'll choose a handful of participants, and they'll do some Coleman gear, and they'll draw winners for that. And, uh, we thank Terry for giving Chris and I- his stuff. So appreciate you handing that over to us. Yeah, that drawing, uh, that- that's out there somewhere between Eric and, and Chris at this current time. So yeah, congratulations. It's probably in a pawn shop somewhere between him and I. Yeah, right. Dropped off in Blackwell. That's right. There you go. Well, so Terry, last year, and again this year, your wife completed it with you as well, so she's done it the last two years. But last year she kept score. Now, this year she didn't wanna do that, probably for various reasons. So, uh, first time doing it, Virgil, you decided, "Hey, I kinda like that idea. I keep score at pretty much all the games I go to. I wanna keep score." So let's just hear about scorekeeping for 11, basically 11 straight games, 33 hours, not really any sleep. Uh, just tell us about your experience keeping score at all the games. So all the problems I thought I was going to have with it, I didn't have. I thought my hand was gonna cramp doing it for that long. I thought, you know, fatigue was eventually going to kick in. I think it was, I had a goal to accomplish this, and that kept driving. The only... I had a few complaints with it. One is, of course, with the sounders going off. They do it in the middle of the games, and some of the locations were not scorekeeping friendly, to say the least. Like the third base concourse, when you can't even see the board or anything. So there was some, there was some creativity, or I had to go back and look up and see what I missed. I think next year I'm going to implement walkie-talkies, and just have somebody sit there and just feed me the information. I think that's the most logical thing to do. The main problem, of course, was also trying to get trying to get rosters, or when they changed players, because they had the, on the scoreboard that has the roster up there, but they rarely changed it for, like, pitching changes. They rarely changed it for substitutions. They didn't show who was at bat, so I almost had to pay more attention to make sure I had the right person up there, because after, after all those games, it does blend in at set sometimes. So, that was definitely fun to do. And, uh, but ultimately, like I... Would I probably do it again, that part again next year? I don't know, but I enjoyed doing it. It was definitely a nice accomplishment to add to my list of scorekeeping feats. Well, what's funny is starting on Monday through the rest of the week with bracket play, they did start putting the, batters up on, with their pictures and where they're from and everything. They started putting that up. Didn't do that during pool play, but during bracket play throughout the rest of the week they did that, so we always knew who was at bat- Mm-hmm and everything like that. So yeah, I could see how it makes it a little bit difficult. I don't know if it's worth, if you do it again, typically they'll have rosters. They did some of the time during the, in the team store. However, they closed the team store, so that does you no good. Right. But they did put out the official rosters on the website. Would it be worth maybe printing those out before you come? I may have to do that. I do have to give a shout-out, though, to the staff, though, because I remember the 3:30 game, I think it was Liberal and Great Bend, the team store was already closed, so I couldn't get rosters. The, I, I just asked one of the attendants, "Hey, do you know where I could find rosters?" So she went into their media room and got me rosters. So I appreciate that, for sure. Yeah, I think with a little more planning, that would have probably gone better for sure. But yeah, I agree with the rosters. Well, one thing we look at in trying to, come up with a title for the episode is, uh, a, a good name, and obviously Virgil and I know exactly what name we're gonna, have for this episode. It's called The Sixth Inning Stretch, and so I know you keeping score, that kind of probably threw you off quite a bit. So, let's start with Virgil, and then anybody else that wants to hop in. Let's talk about, was it game 10, or was it game nine? This, this was game 10. 10 of 11, so we were already at 24, 20... No, we were further than that. No, no, no. 30-some hours. This was game nine. I'm sorry. This was game nine. Okay. Yeah, see, I can't even remember Anytime, anytime. I don't know what game it was. They all run together, but yeah, that was funny. Well, it was the, it was the Austin Gold Sox against the Oklahoma Lookouts, and I was particularly excited for this one because, of course, the Gold Sox had Dayton Tucky on it, on the team. So after seeing what he did for the College World Series, you know, it was great to see... It was great to see him in person, especially at this kind of level. And I knew there was a problem with this game at first because all the other games they announced the starting lineups. This one did not have that. We just kind of went into it right after the, after the game before that, and, you know, we're just going by. It's, it's dragging a little bit. It's not too bad. And then the sixth inning happens, Austin finishes on top of the sixth, and then the announcer says, "It's time to get up for the seventh inning stretch." And we're all confused. I'm looking at Eric. I'm looking at Joe, everybody there, and then I just had the realization, "Oh my gosh, I fell asleep during an inning, and I have no idea it happened." Oh. I, I was, I was confused. I just, I didn't know what was going on, and then we play. We, we keep on going, and then the bot- the seventh inning comes along, and of course, they have this tradition where they do Sweet Caroline, the worst song in the world, by the way, in the eighth inning. So they did that, and I'm like... I, I'm thinking, goes like, "Are they..." It's like, "D- do they have a rule where, like, they have to cut an inning to time?" Like, I'm trying to make legitimate sense of this and not just accept the fact that maybe the announcer's screwing up here. And then bottom of the eighth happens, and they play Sweet Caroline again, which is a war crime at this point, to be fair. it's like they never really... He- The announcer didn't acknowledge anything or say, "You know what? My bad, it was wrong." So yeah, we had a six-inning stretch and a game that was pretty much my head into a brick wall game that I thought I was gonna fall asleep during. Yeah, we weren't sure, 'cause I kept looking at you. I'm like, "You're keeping score, or what inning are we in?" The scoreboard was showing correct. You said it was correct and that matched, but he kept going along with it, and the songs they did were in the wrong innings, and we were super confused. And then there was the dela- a delay. I think maybe one of the umpires or the players got overheated, 'cause by that point it was Sunday afternoon, and it was like 197 out on the turf, and the game dra- drug on. Yeah. It was like four hours long, and it was- quite the, uh- Yeah, if I, if I'm not mistaken, that's the game that just drug forever. It was, yeah. Right? Right. It took forever. There were a couple delays. in the defense of the PA guy, the way that thing is, is written is every i- half inning there's a sponsor read, and you just flip the page. And so I guarantee what happened, he just flipped the page and got an inning ahead, and he's like, "All right, it's the seventh inning. Here we go." And he, in his mind, he wa- he didn't keep a score book is probably what happened, so he wasn't keeping score, and he just... It was the next page, that's what he read, and that's just where he was till somebody finally said, "Hey, that's not right." he didn't have a clue. I'm guessing. But yeah, it's like, "Oh, wait, wait, wait. We want it to be the eighth, seventh or eighth inning, but it's not. We gotta sit through another one of these." So. And it's certainly not a th- Again, it, it should not be a reflection upon the tournament at all. Oh, no. It was just- Oh, God, no every now and then in baseball, there's just one of those games where just nothing seems to go right, No up in the stands. And it just happened to be during the hottest game of the of the tournament. Right. Exactly. Yeah, I will say every other game, no... Actually, no, there's one other thing. I don't remember if it happened in this game, or if it happened in the game afterwards, where I think it was the same announcer was saying, when the sounder went off, it was the final check-in when it was not the final check-in. Mm-hmm. So that caused- Which- that caused some, uh, issues too for people. Yeah, I felt sorry for the staff on that one, 'cause I think- Absolutely they, uh, They did... It wasn't fun for them, that check-in But no, it was- You know, obviously we talked about how hot it was. Luckily we didn't run into any storms or anything. Chris and- Just Chris Chris, Chris intended. two years ago when they brought it back, my brother Joe did it with our nephew Steven, who did it again this year, and they ran into some rain, like, at 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning and had, like, an hour and a half delay. So they went and sat out in the car, but they didn't know when it was to start, start back up. So my nephew was watching the NBC feed on Twitter to see when they were gonna start back up, and so they had to go back out and they had to finish it, but they just had this long delay. Well, Terry, you remember last year kind of after the 6:00 AM game, then they had- Right we had a little bit of a, a longer break before the 10:00 AM Miracle League game, and then had a break after that got done, m- what? Less than an hour, and they weren't gonna- Mm-hmm start the other game until noon. And so this year, you know, you and I had to get ready for our game for the 10:00 o'clock, but for the most part, outside of maybe roughly an hour, there wasn't really that much of a break this year, which I think was a better thing where they can kind of keep things on track. And for the most part, we didn't get too far behind. We stayed on schedule fairly well. Last year, if you remember, we were way behind schedule to start for the first few games. We were probably a good two hours behind schedule, if more. Got within about 10 minutes of, think, the midnight game, and then by the 3:00 AM we got caught back up. But- Yeah this year for the most part it seemed pretty on schedule. We got a little bit off there after all that super long game on Sunday afternoon, but for the most part we stayed fairly on schedule, which is what you always hope for. Right. Yeah, it wasn't until Sunday afternoon that we got behind really. Uh, yeah, and I, and I had asked Katie, uh, and it makes sense that that part of the reason for the, that Sunday exhibition game Sunday morning is to build in time for those Saturday games to run late or have weather delays or anything like that is. Oh, yeah. That would make sense then, so. 'Cause they did... I feel like when they did the exhibition two years ago, it was the very last one of the day. Uh, whereas this last two years, the Miracle League and then the Vintage Cowtown Baseball this year, which we'll hop into here in a minute, both of those were at the 10:00 AM. So that would make sense that to try to get what they can in, because it starts at noon on Saturday, and then they run 3:00 PM, 6:00 PM, 9:00 PM, and then midnight, 3:00 AM, 6:00 AM, then 10:00 AM, do the exhibition, and then noon, 3:00 and 6:00. And then, that ends roughly about 9:00, but they actually did the Sounder in the 6:00 o'clock game, which didn't start till, like, 7:00 something, 7:30 or so, what? First inning, bottom one, maybe top two. So they did it early. Yeah. And then I was over it by then 'cause I did not sleep at all, so I went ahead and left, but I know Virg- and I don't, Chris, if you stayed or not, but, for sure Virgil and maybe a couple other people stayed to the very end of that game, but you didn't technically have to 'cause you completed it by the last chicken, then at the beginning of that last game, game 11. at But I was getting pretty hungry. Yeah, I think that's one thing that I did at the start, I did pretty well. We went out and ate a little bit, but then by the time that second game rolled around, they gave away a donut at 6:00 AM, and then I didn't even eat again until... Cause Terry and I went down on the field, I don't think I ate again until probably 6:00 at night, 5:00 or 6:00. So I was super hungry. I didn't eat until after that, super long four-hour game. So I'd been going on, like, 12 plus hours where I didn't really eat at all. I know Joe had some biscuits and gravy during the morning. I don't know what time he got those, 6:00, 7:00 in the morning. But since we were getting ready to go out and play our game, I didn't end up getting anything. So I went a long time. I did pretty well trying to stay, fed and eaten and everything, but didn't get a chance really that second day. So yeah, I, I agree, Chris, it was kind of one of those things, you get pretty hungry by the end of it Well, I had mentioned before that I've gone to quite a few of the National Baseball Congress World Series games growing up, and I remember my dad used to take me and everything, and, uh, it was always one of those things where, you know, you wish you could play in the tournament since it's a prestigious tournament. I think they said they've had over 900 players that played in that tournament go on to play in the MLB, and, uh, I actually played when I was a freshman in college on a team. The league we were associated with at the time was affiliated with the NBC, and if we would've won the league, we would've got a bid into the tournament. We ended up finishing second in the league, so I didn't get to play back in the day. But Terry, you and I actually did get to play in the exhibition, so we were down on the exact same field during the middle of Round the Clock. So, tell everybody what we got to do at that 10:00 AM game then on that Sunday. Well, you and I got to suit up and play in the Cowtown Vintage exhibition game with 1870s rules of baseball. and so that was, man, that was unreal. two different levels of baseball you and I played. I was out there, uh, and you actually got to, uh, have some input in the game and everything. I mean, I, I put the ball in play, but- You did turned a double play, helped turn a double play. But, that was so fun. I felt unworthy to even step on the field, uh, with that. But, uh, yeah, that was a blast. words still can't express it, what, week and a half later, just how much fun that was, so. So for those that aren't familiar, so with 1876 rules, uh, the main thing is you don't wear a glove. and then if they hit the ball and it bounces, you can catch it off the bounce and it's an out, so as if it just hits the ground once and then you catch it, it's an out. However, if it does hit the ground, the runners can still advance. it was the Red Stockings against the Bulldozers. Terry and I were on the same team, on the Red Stockings, and so we got outfits that made us look like we played in the 1870s. we ended up losing pretty bad, 16 to five, but, uh, I did have two of the five runs that I knocked in. I was unfortunately out, but I had a ball that I hit over third base that bounced in front of the left fielder. He ended up catching it off the bounce, but the two runners were able to advance and score, so I did knock in a couple runs. But kinda interesting, um, when we talked to some of the guys that usually play, they mentioned that it, on the dirt field that they play at Old Cowtown Museum here in Wichita, when they play most of their regular games, they said it bounces pretty well, but I thought being on the turf would be a lot easier. But didn't somebody say that they was actually easier on the, the grass and dirt that they play on? Yeah. Two or three of the guys said it was easier on the field that they normally play on, so. Which I, I'm like you. It, I found that surprising I would have thought that turf was more consistent- Mm-hmm of a bounce and stuff, but I guess just the difference of, than what they're used to made it that much harder, so. Yeah, we ended up playing, eight innings, so we didn't quite get to the ninth inning, but, lost pretty bad. But we had talked about it, you and I, kind of as we were going, looking at the other team, the Bulldozers, and they were pretty stacked with some young, pretty athletic guys. And from what we gathered, the Red Stockings, their four, three or four athletic outfielders had all gotten hurt playing previous, so we were down. And so it was just bunch of us old guys getting out there and play, but it was a lot of fun. It was pretty hot, 10:00 AM, out there with our full 1870s garb. But yeah, just playing. What was really cool is they had an announcer that kind of sounds like an old school announcer, and the very first time you came up to bat, he would say your full name, but each player has a nickname. And so you were T-Mac and I was The Influencer, and so they would say that when you came up to bat. And then my name was up on the roster on the scoreboard, but yours was down below where you blocked it out and you couldn't see it. But anytime you came up- They conveniently left mine off Anytime you came up to bat after the first one, they would just say your nickname, which was really cool. so it'd be curious, Chris, just from your vantage point, just getting to watch it, what were your thoughts on the vintage Cowtown game? Well, it was, took a while to get used to the variations on the rules, but once you did, it was pretty fun to... I mean, it was fun to watch anyway, especially knowing a couple players on the field, but, it was pretty fun. And who, who was that one player that almost hit a homer? Big Red. Big Red was, that was amazing. I think that, is that what, I think that was his name. But yeah, he hit one almost straight away center that was right around the warning track. Didn't quite go out, but I think, what'd he have, a triple out of it maybe? I think so. And then Virgil, I don't know that I even have spoken to you about it since then. Did you end up keeping score, and if so, how'd that go? So yes and no, because with the rule changes, it wasn't bad. I even put, you know, B- B5 for bounce out. So, you know, it's like, you know, I was getting into it. But I wish somebody told me that it was gonna be more than nine batters- because there were more batters than I had slots in the book. So at that point it's like, "I'm gonna have to abandon this." But I will say you having a two run productive out and two fielder's choices, you had a good game, Profit. Thank you. Uh, it's been a while since I've swung the bat. They were wood bats, obviously you don't get batting gloves and everything, but I had a couple, yeah, fielder's choice ground outs, but then I had a really good hit that in it, in in any normal rules it would've been a base hit. End up, like I said, it bounced and they caught it, so I was out. But because it bounced first, the runners on base could advance, so I did, uh, knock in a couple runs. But yeah, it was really fun getting a chance to play. And, uh, they play, like I said, at old Cowtown Museum here, so it's kind of a, old, super old 1800 style. Uh, you walk around and there's a saloon and but they also play that vintage baseball, but they play against other teams. Not only is it the two that play there, there's a team out of Hutchinson that they play. There's some vintage teams based out of Kansas City. And so I think they said they play roughly a 22-game schedule, and they included me on the list. Terry, since you're out of town, I don't know that they sent it, but they have a few games left that they're gonna be playing that they, you know, were keeping me on the list. So we'll see if maybe I can get back out there and play a little more with them, 'cause it was a fun experience to get out there and play that game. Yeah, no, they did not include me on the list. My, one, I'm too, way too far away, but, my two weak ground outs, they kept me off as well, so. They, they gave me a connection of a group in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, and I, I cont- called them, this was back before, just to try to get some experience, you know, before going up there, and that group had disbanded. They don't play anymore. So I'm on a list in the metroplex if there's any other interest, to start up a team. And we have a museum here in Buffalo Gap, not far from Abilene, that I may talk and see if there's any interest of just having an exhibition of it down there, 'cause that, that would be fun, so. Well, I wanted to then ask a little bit for, obviously Terry and I were familiar, but for the new ones, uh, they do, uh, what's called Midnight Madness. So, Chris, we'll start with you, and then Virgil, you as well. just tell everybody a little bit about Midnight Madness, and if you, partook and got into that at all. if I remember right, it was, was it every, the top of, basically the top of every hour f- starting 10:00 AM through 6:00? 10, 10 PM to 6:00- Or 10 PM through 6:00 AM. Yeah, to 6:00 AM. Yep. and there were various prizes. and one of the neatest prizes was a pillow, that everybody got. But, um, couple nice things, one is that you don't necessarily have to be doing the baseball round the clock, it's just the first 100 or 150 or 200, fans to a particular spot, can grab the prize. it was also, I kinda like having all of these alarms, if you will, or, or alerts going off during the game, 'cause it keeps you going. cause you, you obviously don't wanna miss a prize. and that I thought helped, yeah, keep me awake, and that was fun sorta running to different parts of the stadium. And, yeah, every now and then you kinda look and you can kinda see, ooh, they may be right there, and sometimes they were and sometimes they were not. but yeah, it was a lot of fun, and the prizes were pretty cool, and- Yeah, I believe, uh, Terry, we cut- talked a little bit about this last year. That kind of kept us awake, especially in those late hours where, so when they do the round-the-clock sounder, it's a cuckoo clock. But then they have like a kind of a Twilight Zone sounder, uh, separate, and then the PA guy would come on and say, "All right, first 50 fans, first 100 fans down the first base side, go down and get a prize." And so we'd go over and get those and everything. So you're right, Chris, just b- having little sounders go off, both not only for the check-ins, ba- but also for what they called midnight madness. something to kind of get you up and moving around as well. But, Virgil, what about you? Yeah, when the, Midnight Madness Sounders first started, I remember it was just kind of like, you know, gift certificates or little things for, like, Wichita-based stores, and I'm like, "I can't use any of this." It's like, I hope it's not that. But then when the pillow happened, I was like, "Oh man, I've never been so excited getting a pillow." And then the mini fan was a nice touch. So yeah, they definitely... Uh, the, the prizes got better throughout each one, I would say. But yeah, it was definitely a nice, nice way to stay awake, for sure, on those. Yeah, the... In addition to that, they had, like, a, a full pack of Big League Chew, and then they do this pretty much every year, but, they'll end it at the 6:00 AM where they'll have, donuts that they give away a- along with a carton of, this year it was just chocolate milk. but then it was actually part of the check-in right around midnight. so the Wichita State baseball coach has an RV that he parks out in center field, and he had the rest of the coaching staff with him this year. In the past, there's been maybe one or two, but pretty much all the coaches were there, and I think maybe their wives. And, they would grill out hot dogs, and so you'd go out, check in for whatever Sounder we had at the, you know, midnight game or whatever, and then you'd get a hot dog. And then he... They made so, so much that you'd go back and get more. But, that's a tr- tradition that Coach Brian Green's done since they brought it back, two years ago, so the third year now, that he's out there with his RV, and then he brings out the grill and makes hot dogs that you can go out and get a free hot dog around, roughly around midnight or so. Yeah, that was definitely probably one of the best parts of the whole event, in my opinion. Well, I think it was for the midnight game, I want to shift a little bit to, uh, Terry here. So, uh, you had disappeared at one point, and you talked earlier about, not having to be out in the heat. So tell everybody what you got to do then during Round the Clock. Personally, I like to say that I actually hit for the NBC cycle. I got to participate in Round the Clock, of course. I got to play on the field. but then also I applied and was accepted to do PA for a game, which I did on Friday, not part of Round the Clock. I got to PA for, the 3:00 game. But then at midnight on Saturday, I got to do color commentary for the YouTube, live YouTube TV call, YouTube TV, whatever, And so that was something that was kind of a surprise actually. Katie had asked me, said, "Hey, do you wanna go on the YouTube feed and with, I didn't even who, know who it was. It was Frank Martinez, who's the 30-year, PA guy for NBC, and he was doing the play-by-play and he said, and you know, "Just go on there." I thought it was for an interview, about Around the Clock and stuff. Well, when I get up there, "No, you're gonna do color for the game." And so, uh, I get up there and I'm doing color commentary, uh, with this legendary broadcaster. Uh, so I get to do color for the, the midnight game In the press box. It, and so, one I, th- that part was just cool. I, I don't, I don't know how to say it other than it was a, chance of a lifetime to do that, to cut my chops up there and, and see what I could do as far as helping call a game. I, I told him from the beginning, I said, "I don't want to step on your toes. I don't wanna get in your way." normally he does, the color guy that works with him is the head baseball coach and GM of the Newton Rebels. I can't remember his name off the top of my head. so I'm coming in as a new guy. I said, "I don't wanna step on your toes. I don't wanna get in your way." I said, "I'll just try to follow you and do the best I can." we did that, and I'm sure it sounded clunky at times, and, you know, I, I didn't do any homework. I didn't know the players ahead of time, anything like that. I'm trying to read the stats, and, you know, we just worked together. anyway, I had a blast doing it, making the call and, and doing the best I can, and I hope for whatever listeners were out there, moms, dads, grandmas, grandpas, whoever was listening, watching, I hope I didn't, you know, just bungle it too bad. Yeah, for the few minutes that I did listen while I was out there in the stands, mostly your fault, but not really your fault at all. Nobody knows what happened. We think that there was a balk, but then we thought it was maybe a pitch clock violation. And so I'd turned, tuned in, and you guys were discussing it, and we were down there in the seats discussing, "Well, it had to have been a balk because pitch clock violation, it wouldn't have been, like, ball four." So nobody really knows what happened. That's the one time I end up tuning in and it was super confusing. Yeah. That's the, that's funny that that's the time you tuned in because neither one of us knew what happened. We, we happened not to see the call, and so we were asking the official scorer, and official scorer told us that it was something other than a balk, but the only thing that makes sense is a balk. Right. Uh, c- 'cause the runner moved, and then we, th- they cleared the count on the scoreboard, and so we were confused on the count. We didn't know what was happening. Uh, it took us about three pitches to figure out what was going on. Because Virgil, didn't you say that it, maybe you saw it or somebody, you thought that he, tapped his wrist like it was pitch clock violation? I initially thought pitch clock violation until I saw the runner advance. Mm-hmm. Because it wasn't, it wasn't a full count, which caused the ball, which, which, which what caused me to put balk in the end because, I mean- Yeah there's no, unless there is some obscure interference rule with the first baseman that caused an advance, I don't know what it was, but- Right I thought he summoned, he did mention for pitch clock And it makes me wonder if it was both at this point. that's what they told us was something pitch clock, but the running the runner moving over made no sense at all in that, so during that game was the first silent sounder. Mm-hmm. And so I, I see that on the board, and I've got my phone over there, so I send a text, uh, to, to Carol. I don't remember if I sent one to you guys or not, but I was like, "Hey, silent, silent sounder, don't miss it." then, you know, that was when they had the giveaway, I think, for the, the pillows during that game- Mm-hmm and some of that other cool stuff. But, yeah, I, that game was... I did, was sitting in the air conditioner that game, so I can't complain. Yeah. Just to kind of circle back then, that leads us right back in to just Around-The-Clock in general. So, Terry remembers from last year, they just did one sounder, pretty much every game. I think there was one game they did two sounders, 'cause one of the games maybe they didn't do one. but it's pretty straightforward. but then, you know, they had talked about just trying to get the fans back into Around-The-Clock, maybe new people that hadn't done it before, old friends that have done it pr- in the past, just kind of getting back into it. Well, they truly ramped it up this year, and obviously for Chris and Virgil, that was your first time doing it. That's the first time, even when I did it in the past, that it was that, I would say, intense of the number of check-ins. Hmm. Uh, because not only did you have the 11 little punches at the bottom. So basically, when you first started, you got a lanyard when you checked in before it started, and then there was little hole punches you'd have to go and check in during the sounders. Well, they did it in the past, but usually it was only maybe once where they would have a silent sounder where they would basically flash it up on the video board, Around-The-Clockers go check in," down the first baseline. They did, what, probably a good four times or more where they did double check-ins in games and multiple three or four sounders. A couple times they did do the sounder, like the cuckoo clock, but then they didn't say anything. But then there was- Hmm one true silent sounder where they didn't do the... They were just playing music, and they just flashed it up on the board. And I thought they'd leave it up the entire 10 minutes, but they didn't. They would flash it up there for a few seconds, then, "Five minutes remaining." And so if you were out in your car for a few minutes, you would really miss it. Well, I think it was the 3:00 AM game, my wife had fallen asleep in the seats for most of the game, and I saw... You know, usually with us doing it, and that's going back to having multiple people do it, is you can have somebody focused on the board pretty much the entire time. And so I saw it, and I'm like, "Shannon, get up, get up." And I think I even startled Virgil for kind of yelling at her. And she's like, "What?" I'm like, "You're asleep. There's a silent sounder. Let's go." And so it was really pretty intense, I thought, this year with the number of check-ins. And we had two spots left that they didn't do, so I wonder because of the heat if they maybe cut a couple out. Uh, but overall it was a lot more, which I think was harder. But I think we saw the final numbers were 152 signed up and 121 completed it, which last year, Tara, I think- They said just under 100 completed it overall. Right. but to have over 150 and then 120-plus completed I thought was pretty good this year. Yeah, and wasn't it about 122 or 3 signed up last year? Is that about right? Do you remember? Roughly around there, yeah. So that's, that's good numbers. I don't know what their goal is, but that's a, that's a good jump, so. And listening to some, some fans in the stands throughout the night, it sounded like this was Some of them used to go all the time, and this was their first time back- Mm doing baseball around the clock. yeah, they seem pleasantly surprised. And they, yeah, they have a good time Eric, I've got a question for you. Yep. It seems like some of the, I'll call old timers, the veterans that did it before, talk about the 56 hours. Mm-hmm. Was there ever a time that it was 56 hours straight, or was there always a three or four-hour break in each night at, during that time? When I've done it or when I did it in the past, there was always a break in there. When they talk about 56 hours, I don't know prior, like in the '90s, whenever they did it, you met, some family friends of ours, and they used to do where they would have a, an additional contest in addition to Around the Clock where it was see how long you can stand, last man standing, and you couldn't sit. Now, they would give you time for, like, a bathroom break. I don't know if that was true 56 hours, but what it basically was in the past when I did it, you would start at 5:00 PM on Friday. You'd have the 5:00 PM and then, like, the 7:30 and then a 10:00, and then you would have a 12:30 AM game. Well, when the 12:30 AM game got done, 3:00 in the morning, whatever, the next game didn't start till 8:00 AM, so you had a good three-ish hours break- Okay in there. So we'd all run home, get in a couple hour nap, and then come back before 8:00 AM. Well, now they switched it where it's nonstop, you know, like I said, noon, 3:00, 6:00, 9:00, midnight. Yeah. 3:00, 6:00, 9:00, noon, 3:00, basically. So, it could have been prior to when I did it, but when I, jumped in in, late 2000s, early 2010s, it was the 56-hour timeframe, but you usually had... Now, we did run into, I remember one of the very first years I ever saw, sunrise during a game was, because of rain. It kicked the games, you know, not only the length of the games, but it pushed the games back. We didn't even start, so we, the 12:30 AM game didn't start till about 4:00 AM one year, so we got to see the sun rise, and as soon as that ended, I think it ended around 7:00, well, we didn't have enough time to go home to sleep- Yeah so I think we went to Braum's and had some biscuits and gravy and had to go back. But there usually was a couple hour window in there, because yeah, once the 12:30 AM game ended, whenever that was, the next game wasn't gonna start till 8:00 AM. So I think in that retrospect, it's harder now because there are really no breaks other than that 30 to 35 minutes, in between the games so the new teams can come in and warm up. So even- Yeah though it's less number of games and less number of hours, I think the way it's structured now makes it even harder. There was one gentleman was telling me one of the years, he said he's only not made it a couple years, one was surgery, but one year he had gone home to take that nap, and his, he was on his way back and his daughter forgot her ph- phone or something. and they went back to get it, and he was late coming back, so. Yeah, it would've been like, "You're forgetting it. We're getting it." Right, right. Yeah. Don't bother. Yeah. You, you can get it at the end of the tonight or whatever. Well, so I wanna get some parting thoughts then. We'll start with Chris. So just kind of your final thoughts, anything else you wanted to add, and then, what question then in addition to just kind of final thoughts is, would you do it again? couple things that, about the game, one was the quality of play was great throughout every single game. You would think a game at, starting at 3:00 in the morning, the players would be a little rusty or their timing was a little off, and it wasn't that way at all. I didn't notice a lull in any game. secondly, the overall experience, it was 33-plus hours, and it was pleasant the entire time. there's plenty of time for your... to give, give yourself a little bit of a mental rest, but not too, so long that, you know, you nod off, but it was very, very pleasant. Anybody out there thinking about going, to watch it, again, the quality of play was excellent all, the, the entire time, and it was just so pleasant to go, and absolutely I would go back. Appreciate you sharing that, and was glad you were able to join us this year. Uh, and that's what I was, one of the things I was thinking off, uh, before we kinda got going is just kinda your guys' thoughts on the, the play itself, 'cause we're, as this group here, we're familiar with summer collegiate ball, but some of these are the best in the country, the best in their leagues and everything. So let me go ahead and ask, uh, Virgil then, what were your kinda parting thoughts then with Round the Clock, the NBC tournament as a whole, and then would you do it again? Uh, definitely talk about the, the games themselves. they were definitely, I would say, great games, for sure. there were some match-ups that were kind of, you can kinda tell the difference between talent. I kinda go back to the Foresters against, uh, BTL, that got run a little, but BTL, you know, they won, I think they finished two and one in pool play, so it's not like they were a bad team. So yeah, it was just, it was nice to see so many different players. It was nice to see... We didn't even talk about the, uh, brothers playing against each other, the Sanduskys, so that was kind of a nice story there too. one thing I do wanna talk about, whenever a local team was playing, whether it was Hays or, Hutch, the fan support that was there. that was definitely... If there's anything that kinda drove me from, you know, keep, staying awake, it was definitely the fan support of some of the local teams when they brought out people, especially Hutch, Hutchinson, in their game. That was definitely nice to see on that one. we didn't even talk, we didn't talk about this, but also the anomaly that after the first game- The road teams won the rest of the games Oh, yeah, we didn't talk about that at all. Yeah, so- So out of 11 games And that even includes the, the Cowtown game. Mm-hmm. So, uh, Hays Larks played the first game. They beat the, uh, Stars on a run rule, and they were the only home team to win in that, those two days. So I thought that was definitely funny, for sure. Would I do it again? Absolutely. Would I score keep it all? Eh, we'll see. Well, it's funny you brought that up, 'cause I had actually looked at the week of bracket play, and there were quite a few home teams that won during the week, but when we got to, I think Thursday quarterfinals, Friday semifinals, both games sem- semifinals, and then the championship, as soon as I got to the championship game and found out that Santa Barbara was the visitors, I already text Virgil and said, "Congratulations, Santa Barbara for, for winning." Game hadn't even started, and sure enough, they won. So yeah, during Around-The-Clock out- outside of game one, all the visitors won. and then so when you're at that where unless there's, like, a run rule, you're going the bottom of the ninth, where when it's hot out, you're hoping for the home team to be ahead, especially that game nine. It's like, of course the home team's not gonna win this one. Right. I'm happy to go the whole way on that. but yeah, glad you could, come this year as well, Virgil. I, uh, we were talking about the run rule of that one. I felt audibly bad. I felt bad for the Lookouts when they cut it down to, it was 10 to two at some point. Mm-hmm. It was in that run rule, and then they scored three runs, and I, I swore I heard groans. And I'm like, "Oh, man, no." I feel sorry for them, but at the same time, I understand wanting the game to end like that. Yeah, for sure. And then Mr. McCutcheon, your second year doing it, your overall thoughts this year on the entire NBC Around-The-Clock, and will you be back for a third time? I'm gonna answer the second question first. I'll definitely be back. I've, I said it last year and I've just, cemented that thought. in my opinion, NBC World Series is on a, an annual, it's just pinned into the calendar as an annual event, for the McCutcheon family. I love it, love everything it's about. until Mrs. McCutcheon or something else changes, I'm scheduling the third, weekend in July in Wichita, Kansas, because I, it's just that good. as far as this year's tournament, the Foresters I thought were the cream of the crop. talent-wise, uh, their roster was that deep, especially on the offensive side. Obviously, their pitching, uh, stood up too, only giving up, what, four runs for the whole tournament. I thought that the Alaska pitching staff, uh, was as good, it apparently wasn't, it wasn't quite as deep. but I, I love this tournament. Part of the reason I love this tournament is because you're matching up some, kids who just got out of high school, on some of those rosters, with kids that are, you know, Power Five, top of the level, players, that'll get drafted next year. And so, it's just fun to see, see how they match up and, obviously you'll have future major, major leaguers because, the Hall of Fame enlist is, is so deep. So anyway, loved it again and, uh, can't wait to, to get back next July. So appreciate you hosting us like you do, Eric. Yeah, you're welcome. Thanks for everybody joining us, and hopefully everybody, in this group, plus anybody listening, will come to the 93rd annual NBC Tournament next July. They'll have firm dates here in a couple months. But, uh, make sure you guys, uh, go follow these three fellas. Mr. Brooks, where can everybody follow you online? I am currently on Twitter and Instagram as lostgumbo. And Mr. Storm, what about yourself? On Twitter and Threads and Instagram, and who knows what else, at hackstorm I love it. And Mr. McCutcheon, what about yourself? At Twitter, I'm @tbmccutcheon. Instagram, Threads, terry.mccutcheon. And then make sure you guys go follow Johnny and I, Earn Fun Average. Average is AVG, Instagram, Twitter, Blue Sky, and Threads. And do we say on our ending, sleep is what we lack best? Is that how the sign-off sh- should go? speaking of sleep, I've got one more story I need to tell about that. Okay. So of course you guys know, I went straight home. A- well, afterwards, I drove nine hours. So after getting home from Jackson, and I was planning on going to bed, we have a old-style German cuckoo clock in this house, and I- Yeah wound it up before going to bed. And I heard the thing at 1:00, and some kind of Pavlovian thing, I just woke up immediately. So thanks for that, Eric. I appreciate that. Yeah. Anything we can do. America America Lower your standards Your standards Standards. Average Average Is what these guys These guys Do best Do best