Alot of you have asked me what I do while the Royals are on the road.  Do I chill at home and watch tv…maybe play golf 24/7?!?!  Well I can tell you that I only play golf for 5 hours not 24 but the truth is, I possibly might have more work to do than when the games are actually going on!  I get the work done during off days so game days go smoothier and with no glitches.  Most of what I do during the off days is update the website, upload some pictures and make sure that all the sponsors have their tickets and they are all satisfied. 

The website has kinda been my baby, I have taken it from something where people would come to the site but not know what to do, maybe just look at one or two things.  Now with all the Community & Fans information, fans can be more informed as to what the Royals are doing in the Omaha area.  And if you have not looked at the Community & Fans tabs, I advise you to because there are some great things that you can utilize as fans.  The Royals have numerous community projects that happen all the time, whether they are player appearences, casey appearences, scholarships for kids or any thing you could think of.  If you have any questions relating towards Community Relations, you can contact Lesley Crutcher at 402-738-5109 who can direct you and give you more information about the Royals in the community.

Along with fixing up the website, I have been asked by many of you how you can get the pictures that I take during the games. Well this past week I worked on our April pictures and uploaded a gallery under our Fans tab, http://omaha.royals.milb.com/fans/page.jsp?ymd=20080430&content_id=392319&vkey=fans_t541&fext=.jsp&sid=t541 

Here you can find some pictures from the Royals offseason as well as some from our April games.  I am trying to upload as many as I can, but not all of the photos will be put up on the website.  If you are wanting a specific photo, you can email me at ty.cobb@oroyals.com and give me the date of the game you attended and I can get a photo sent to you. 

I have been told by many of you that you enjoy reading my blogs and that I need to keep you more informed, well I am going to start making myself submit more blogs on a regular basis.  And if you think that I am not doing enough, then just stop in stadium and tell me, I will be the one with the camera!! Take care and see you out at Rosenblatt!!

Well another home stand has come and gone and with a one day off day, the Omaha Royals are back at it for another 4 games with the Nashville Sounds.   I don’t know if it is the aurora of Ty Cobb in Rosenblatt Stadium or something else, but the Royals are in first place and 3 games ahead of the Memphis Redbirds.  With the Royals playing good baseball and the weather starting to turn from winter to summer, it is starting to get exciting around ole Rosenblatt Stadium.  We are having a good number of fans come out since the season started, even with some games dipping down into the low 40s.  The promotions we have had are some of the best in Minor League Baseball and that is not counting the Rosenblatt Stadium Replica that is our giveaway this Saturday at 7:05pm!!  In all the season is really working on all gears and it is an exciting time to be in the park and the team winning.

For me it has been completing one task after another. Part of my duties is to get the schedule of the games events organized and put into an addendum.  That keeps me pretty well focused on what is happening around the ballpark, not just the game.  We have sponsors that have suites that I have to check on and see if they are getting what they need, we have community organization partners that have display tables and other special events that might happen during a specific game.  My main duties during the game are to capture the fans enthusiasm and fun through a device they call a camera.  The camera is basically another part of my body during the game, with me snapping everything that goes on during an Omaha Royals game. You will be able to view some of the photos from the games coming up on our website in the next couple of weeks.

One of my favorite promotions that we have had so far this season was our ExpressJet Paper Airplane Contest.  This was a promotion where fans received a David Cone Statue sponsored by ExpressJet and an entry form where they filled out the sheet and used the sheet as a paper airplane.  After the game we placed an ExpressJet sign on the field and the fans came to the first base dugout and tried throwing their paper airplanes to the sign.  The 5 closest to the sign won a FREE roundtrip ticket anywhere on ExpressJet.  Now if that doesn’t make you wanna come to a game then I don’t know what would.  The latter part of the promotion is the only part I do not like.  Try unfolding thousands of paper airplanes that have gone through the trash and entering them into a database, that, someone else could do but that is why I love doing what I do, working in baseball!!!

Well it is t-minus 72 hours until Opening Day!!! It is getting pretty hetic around here, finishing up wind screens, putting up signs and everything it involves in starting the season.  I have been getting video board design work done along with helping out with the wind screens.  They are an important part in advertising because it is easy seen when fans come to the games and when they are on television.  Today was suppose to be the Creighton vs. Nebraska game, but due to inclimate weather, the game had to be rescheduled for April 23.  Hopefully the weather will corporate with us and our Opening Night will be a success. 

Around the stadium, I can start to see the familar scenes that I am used to when I come to a baseball game.  The concessions, gift shop, signs and all the other items that make a ballpark are going up around Rosenblatt Stadium.  The players arrived today and had a short work out on the field, and tomorrow the headshots and media day will take place, all the happening of the season starting. 

It is getting interesting around here and I am taking it all in and getting ready to have a successful 2008 Omaha Royals season.  The next time I will write a blog the season might started!!!!

Opening Day April 3 vs. Albuquerque Isotopes 

It has been a while since I have "blogged" as you call it, so let me apoligize first.  It has been pretty hectic around here lately with Opening Day two weeks away.  I have been busy working on getting things ready for the season with tickets, gift shop and other essential things.  Creighton had their ticket party a couple of weeks ago and I had to help Jason with getting that ready and selling things.  It was a beautiful day which only reminded me that baseball season is approaching.  Last Saturday was our ticket party, in which season ticket holders came and picked up their tickets and enjoyed hotdogs and ice cold Coca-Cola.  Although the weather was pretty brizzy, the event was a success and alot of people are excited about the 2008 season.  Lesley Crutcher and I had the duty of standing outside and assisting the kids who wanted to play in the moon jump.  It didn’t take long for her to want to go inside because of the windy conditions, but I continued to man the ship and started greeting people who were not sure where to go.  It was helpful to see the faces of our season ticket holders because they are an important part of success for the Omaha Royals.  In all, the party was great for everyone and it just made everyone more excited about the upcoming season. 

Getting the program completed was a big mountain to climb but it is completed and almost ready to be printed.  The next big thing I have been working on is getting the suite and comp tickets out to our sponsors.  Another important part of the business side of baseball is fulfilling your promises to businesses that do business with us.  This will be part of my duties during the season in which I prepare all the suites and get the tickets to the sponsors before their games.  Other than that it has been common things such as newspaper ads and website stuff.

Well with NCAA Basketball playing it is hard to do work but eventually it will be completed and the games will end and it will lead us right to Opening Day which is only 14 days away. 

I would like to give a special thank you and good luck to our Dir. of Ticket Operations Jeff Gogerty, who will be moving down to Texas in a couple of days.  I have not known him long or have I seen him walk (he has been on crutches since I met him in Jan.), but the time I have known him he has been nothing but supportive and helpful to me with everything.  He is a great guy even though he is a Duke fan and I just wanted to say thanks for everything and good luck down in Texas.

The season is rapidly approaching with under a month to go till Opening Day, April 3.  The pocket schedules have been shipped and are ready to be given out to the community.  The commercial has been shot and is being edited as we speak and soon will be airing throughout the Nebraska area.  The players are finishing up their games in Arizona and Florida, Rosenblatt is trying to be cleared off and ready to go, and we here in the front office are gearing up for our single game ticket party which will be held next Saturday, March 15. 

I am working on our billboards that will be placed around the Omaha area, and also getting things ready to go for our sponsors.  27 days till opening day and then the fun really starts.

This is gonna be a short one, but on a personal side, I finally got cable in my apartment and what was the first thing I watched, Illinois vs. Michigan St.   I can not watch them this season, it is like watching my little cousins play at the YMCA.  They all huddle around the ball, each calling for it and when they get it, they run like chickens with their heads cut off and then turnover the ball.  I hate watching them and I wish it was baseball season so I wouldn’t have to watch them, but because I am still a fan I have to.

Well it has been a pretty interesting week around the office of the Omaha Royals.  We had the announcement that the City plans to give the go ahead to building a stadium in North Downtown of Omaha.  This comes after months of speculation over whether or not they were going to build a new one for CWS or renovate Rosenblatt.  It has been a very touchy subject with many people in the community and it will be interesting to see what happens as this new project goes ahead.  Also, our President Alan Stein was in town the last couple of days, attending meetings about the stadium issue, and just yesterday, shooting our commercial that will run before opening day April 3, which is just 34 days away.  WOW!

I believe that the commercial is going to be pretty good and pretty entertaining.  It was my first commercial shoot so I was new to the scene, but I caught on quite quick with the experience of fellow Hollywood actors, Paul Hammes and Adam Kelly. They had a couple of words to share with me before the shoot and I really took them to heart, "don’t look at the camera!"  It was fun because I was dressed up in a steak outfit, yep, a big T-bone steak!  My job was to move around and throw peanuts, which was a dangerous weapon at times, and my personal touch to the scene was when I began to sizzle like I was on the grill, YES!!!  The commercial should be up and running in a couple of weeks, and when I get a copy of it, I will for sure put it on here for everyone to see.  Just a quick sipnit, Alan was the main big-wig for the commercial and he was wearing my robe which has become a hot item and I will be selling on Ebay to the highest bidder!  I have some pictures from the shoot which was filmed all over the office.

In other news, I have brought my painting skills, which I honed from the experts at Cobb Construction, to Omaha and the Royals.  Last Saturday, I came into the office and helped our Merchandising Manager Jason Kinney touch up the gift shop in which he runs.  The gift shop was not up to par with respects to color and looks.  With my own spice, we came in and painted the areas in which a difference will be seen.  The place should pop more with the white compared to the tan color that was in there before.  I have to give all my painting skills to my teachers, Bill Cobb Jr. and Mike Elder, without their leadership and constant "teaching" about how to paint properly and efficiency, I could not have been able to do this job. Also I have to give credit to Clint Pierce who was there to pick me up when I slacked behind.  To tell you how good it went, I wore khaki’s and didn’t even get any paint on them!!

That is a lot of information and I am sorry that I have not been doing a lot of blogs, but I promise that they will pick up even though there is a lot going on.  I am anxiously waiting April 3 when the real work begins and the hard work that we have put in so far will be shown. 

On a lesser note, our basketball team won their game last week halting our opponents to 4 points in the second half.  That was not the less point, that would be when I "challenged" the referee to a call and it did not go my way, and then when the referee challenged me,  the ref won again and the bleachers lost…so basically I don’t like playing with ref’s because I never did get any experience in High School playing with referee’s.  I know those are excuses but if know me, that is the attitude I was born with and that is me, it’s a Cobb thing.

Commerical Shoot