____Texas A&M & Baseball
_______________In No Particular Order


Saturday January 17th, 2004

posted at 8:22pm on 1/16/04

Texas A&M v. #12 Kansas

3pm at 'The Court' at Reed Arena, College Station....live on ESPN....Either be there or be watching it....It's gonna be crazyness....


Friday January 16th, 2004

2:34am

Jason Dubios

I was recently reading Baseball America's top 10 prospects in the Cubs organization, and I was a bit surprised.

I wasn't surprised at all by who was on the list (names like Angel Guzman, Ryan Harvey, Bobby Brownlie & Andy Sisco excite me), but I was surprised by who was not on the list.

His name is Jason Dubios (as you could probably tell from the title of the post) and he's a right handed OFer who just finished up his 2003 season with AA West Tennessee.

Here are his professional stats: 

Year         Team Age   G  AB  R   H RBI HR  SO/BB   BA  OPS  GPA
2001    A-Lansing  22 118 443 76 131  92 24 120/46 .296  n/a  n/a
2002    A-Daytona  23  99 361 64 116  85 20  95/57 .321 .984 .330
2003 AA-West Tenn  24 130 443 57 119  73 15 118/57 .269 .825 .280

Those numbers aren't too bad for a guy taken in the 14th round of the 2000 draft out of Virginia Commonwealth.

After being drafted by the Cubs in '00, Jason didn't play because he was recovering from a stress fracture in his foot. Apparently that healed in 2001.

There is a pretty significant drop off in stats for his 2003 season, which would worry me slightly. I did a bit of quick research and found that he suffered a wrist injury in 2002, which ended his season early and more than likely hindered his stats in 2003.

The reason that I'm not worried? He was named the Arizona Fall League's MVP this past fall as he led the Mesa Solar Sox to the AFL Championship. Here are his stats from this past fall: 

 AVG  AB  R  H RBI 2B 3B HR SO/BB   OPS  GPA
.358 120 25 43  29 12  2  9  27/2 1.096 .350
The SO/BB ratio is a bit scary, but look at the rest of those numbers. He led the league in hits, doubles, HRs and XBH. He finished 2nd in RBIs and slugging % (.717). He also finished 3rd in runs and 4th in BA.

Do I think that he's going to follow in the footsteps of past AFL greats, 10 of which have gone on to become Rookie of the Years and 20 of which played in last year's MLB All-Star game? I have no clue, but I do know that right now Jason Dubois' stock is quite high. Possibly high enough to be used as a bit of trade bait once the trade deadline rolls around....


Lady Ags 56 v. #16 Oklahoma 65 (OT)

Box Score

This was a heckuva game, but unfortunately the Lady Ags just didn’t have enough to hold off a ranked team at home for the second straight game.

Just like last Saturday against Baylor, the girls headed into the locker-room with a sizeable lead at half time (10 pts ahead of OU and 16 pts ahead of BU). Unfortunately, we just don't have the depth that these other Big XII teams have so our girls get tired late in the game.

OU's Maria Villarroel led all scorers with 21 points and with 13 boards. She was really good. As usual, Toccara Williams led the Ags in points with 13, although she only shot 5-of-25 from the floor.

The guy on the radio after the game said that we usually try to run our game through Toccara about 10% of the time, and the reason she had to shoot so often against OU was because of busted plays.

A congratulation goes out to Miss Williams for picking up her 500th career rebound. She is now only the 5th lady in NCAA history to have 1,000 points, 500 rebounds, 600 assists and 350 steals. Also, Janae Derrick picked up the 500th rebound of her career after her 11 board game.

We had the game too. With 10 seconds left in a tied ball game, Charlette Castile stole the ball from OU and called time out. Then, with 7 seconds left, we had the ball on OU's side of the court and inboundeded it to Janae Derrick who got a 12-13 foot jumper off at the buzzer but it was too hard and didn't fall.

Although A&M is now 0-3 in Big XII play, I wanted to talk about the great job Coach Gary Blair has done not only on the court, but with the fans. We're averaging 2,054 fans per game so far over our 9 home games this season. That's pretty good considering that the last 6 games have been during winter break while +90% of the student body is back visiting home. Last season we averaged 1,403 fans per game over our 15 home games. We should end up with better numbers than that since we still have #1 texas tech and #3 t.u. upcoming on the home schedule (Feb 14th & Jan 25th, respectively).

I really like Coach Blair. He's animated, funny, has a proven record (408-163 with 11 NCAA appearances before arriving here in Aggieland), but most of all he actually coaches the girls out on the court. You can see it during the game. He's running around on the sideline yelling for them to go this way and that and if someone messes up he always talks to them and doesn't yell at them. I was close enough to the bench on Wednesday night to hear him telling Lynn "The Stork" Claussen to "....believe in yourself. You've got to believe in yourself!"

Here are some quotes from the game recap that I thought show what I mean:

“I don’t care if we lose every game in overtime the rest of way,” Blair said. “We’re going to play. We’re going to learn. We’re going to get better. I didn’t come in this thing for the short-term fix. We’re going to win here, there’s no doubt in my mind about that.”

Oklahoma coach Sherri Coale said she saw a different A&M team than in years past.

“They’re going to win some games in the Big 12,” Coale said. “It’s a night and day difference (from last year). They have all five players competing hard.

“Gary’s a great fit here. He obviously has a track record that speaks for itself and all of his players know that. Already, the difference is not even close to the way they were last year.”

I've started going to the Lady games as part of my quest, but I actually enjoy the games quite a bit and find myself becoming more and more vocal at the games. I hope that we keep playing as hard as we have because I'm proud of the way the girls have played thus far.

Up next for the Lady Ags is a 2 game road trip to Lincoln, NE to take on Nebraska this Saturday and then on to Boulder, CO to take on #15 Colorado. Next home game is a 2:30 tip-off on Sunday January 25th against t.u......Good luck girls....


Thursday January 18th, 2003

4:06am

Legacy

I don't know how much everyone knows about Texas A&M, but let me use one word to describe our school.

Tradition.

Everything here is done because it was done before and no one really questions it, they just do it. While that may be a bit startling to some of you, it's not necessarily a bad thing.

Tradition is what makes this school so great. Without tradition, there would be no 12th Man at the football games and our stands would be full of drunk students who just stand and holler when we score and then leave at half time.

Without tradition, there would be no Silver Taps or Muster for the families of those who have passed, leaving those families without the closure from the entire student body that some may find helps ease the pain, even if it is only slightly.

Without traditions, earning my Aggie Ring, the same ring that every Ag has received for decades, would not be anything more than a reminder to start looking for a job.

With all these traditions (for more traditions check out the Traditions Council site....and that's right, we have an entire council to keep up with our traditions) it is easy to feel like you are part of a huge family. That is because you when you're an Aggie you are a part of a huge family. Once an Aggie, always an Aggie. That is why we call our alum 'former students', not an 'Aggie-Ex, like 'certain' schools do.

You may be able to see that becoming an Ag is something that is with you always, and if you're lucky enough to graduate and start a family, you can see how it may rub off on your family, especially your youngsters.

With everyone crying out for close knit families and more role models for our youth, children being able to grow up and follow and root for the same school that their mother or father (or both) went to is defiantly something that can bring a family closer together.

When these children grow up, there is a good chance that they would want to become Aggies as well, to share experiences with their families and experience things that they've heard from their parents for so many years.

Well, this may not become possible for some of those students anymore.

You see, here at A&M there has always been a slight pull for students who are legacy to the school. It is part of Aggies helping out other Aggies. While this has happened in the past, no matter how few students it actually does help, it will not be happening anymore.

Our school President, Dr. Gates, has decided that legacy should not be considered when looking at applicants.

The reason....diversity. I'm going to give my 2 cents on diversity right now, and this is one of the very few things that I will every talk about on this site that is remotely political.

I DON'T CARE WHAT COLOR YOU ARE...IF YOU MEET THE REQUIREMENTS THEN YOU SHOULD HAVE JUST AS GOOD OF A SHOT TO GET IN AS THE NEXT PERSON.

Simple as that.

If there are more Russians qualified to get into Texas A&M, and they all meet the requirements and want to get rowdy up at Olsen Field, then let'em in.

Same thing goes for green people and blue people too. If you meet the requirements, then I welcome you to our school. If you don't, then there are plenty of other fine academic establishments in our huge state. You shouldn't get in simply because you're green or blue.

Here is his statement that was emailed to all current students through their school email account:

STATEMENT ON LEGACY

On December 3, 2003, when I announced the comprehensive plan to recruit and enroll more minorities at Texas A&M University, I stated that all students would be admitted based on individual merit and potential contribution to the University community. Further, I stated at that time and in subsequent meetings with legislators and internal and external groups that all admissions factors—including legacy—were under review to ensure that we have a fair and equitable process. This was due in part to our understanding that there was an inconsistency in the continued use of legacy in a merit-based process.

We believe, as virtually every university in the country does, that students whose family members have attended its university add value to what makes those institutions unique. This is especially true at Texas A&M. At the same time, the solidity of the Aggie family and the strength of the Aggie culture are not the result of four out of 100 points on an admissions evaluation. For the three-fourths of our freshmen who were enrolled in the fall of 2003 under the top ten percent law and automatic academic admission, legacy was irrelevant. Indeed, not one student of the more than 10,000 who were admitted was admitted solely on the basis of legacy. In fact, legacy has been a formal part of A&M’s admissions process only since 1989 and has played far less of a role in admissions than either Aggies or others probably believe.

In an admissions process based on individual merit and potential contribution to the university community, prior affiliation with Texas A&M should not be a criterion. We intend to continue to urge students from Aggie families to apply to A&M and, if accepted, to enroll here. But, after consultation with each of the Texas A&M University System Regents, I have decided that, effective immediately, Texas A&M will no longer award points for legacy in the admissions review process.

I had intended that legacy be addressed in an ongoing review of our admissions procedures. However, public perceptions of the fairness and equity of our process clearly are important and require prompt action to deal with an obvious inconsistency in an admissions strategy based on individual merit.

Indeed, in retrospect, this decision regarding legacy should have been part of my December 3rd announcement and because it was not, Texas A&M has suffered unfortunate negative publicity. I take full responsibility for that.

Today’s announcement brings greater consistency and equity to our admissions decision-making process. We will continue our review.

Robert M. Gates
President
Texas A&M University

Now here is where it gets tricky. With 15,000-20,000 applicants every single year and somewhere near 10,000 openings, it can become very difficult to differentiate between applicant #10,000 (who gets in) and applicant #10,001 (who now has to settle for texas tech). Especially since in the state of Texas, if you finish in the Top 10% of your graduating class (public schools only) you are granted automatic admittance to the public university of your choice. 3/4 of the 10,000 openings here at A&M are filled up each year due to this rule (which hurt me terribly-see next paragraph)

Case in point....When I applied to A&M in the Fall of 1999 (on the first day applications were accepted-we over-nighted it), there was a boom of applications due to the greatness the school exhibited after the Bonfire Collapse that November. I didn't get the acceptance letter that all of my friends received. Instead, I was put on a waiting list until late spring so the school would be able to look at every application before making a decision on me (the deadline for applications wasn't until Feb. '00). During this excruciating wait, my father and I ventured up to campus to speak with an advisor.

We found out a lot of stuff, but most importantly that there is a point scale that is used with applicants, with 100 being the magic acceptance number. Different things are worth different points (like being an Eagle Scout may be worth 3 points or Honor Society may be worth 2 points) and that I was at 99 points.

Sounds great for me, right?

Well there were 700 students who were also at 99 points, which made it difficult to figure out who gets in.

Before last week, being legacy was worth 4 points and had either of my parents been Ags I would have been in. Since both of my parents went to the University of Houston, it didn't help me any.

Long story short, I took care of business and got my application up to 100 points.

Now there are 0 points awarded for legacy, which doesn't make much sense to me. Sure, I could have been squeezed out by one of those 700 other kids with 99 points had they been legacy, but you should get credit for your family supporting the institution. I didn't have the legacy, but I went ahead and found other things that made me a better candidate and I got in on my own merit. I would have loved the legacy boost, but if you really want something, you'll find a way to make it happen.

There are many people calling the race card when dealing with legacy, since historically A&M has been pretty dog-on white. Here's an article out of the Houston Chronicle supporting that side of the issue (and for the record, I don't like the way State Rep. Garnet Coleman uses "mommy and daddy"...we're not spoiled brats, we're traditionally an agriculture school with lots of farm boys, not Beverly Hills kids).

I understand that side of the situation, but think about this. If there are two totally equal candidates for a job, and you liked both of them, but your father fought back in the war with one of the candidate's uncles in the same platoon, aren't you going to be more likely to help out that one?

This is a totally different story if the candidates are not on equal levels. At a large public academic institution, everyone should get the same opportunity. However, if the candidates are equal there has to be some way to break the tie and I think that legacy is extremely fair. If you are a 'victim' of legacy, follow my lead and do something to make yourself a better candidate on your own merit.

If you'd like to voice your opinion to our school President, feel free to email him at president@tamu.edu .

For another article from the Houston Chronicle related to this story, click here


Tuesday January 13th, 2003

12:37am

Houston We Have Liftoff

taken from espn.com

As everyone in the world knows, the Houston Astros have successfully lured Roger Clemens out of his brief retirement to pitch for them in 2004.

There are a number of reasons that he decided to give it another go and you'll read them in every article on the internet and in magazines, but I think that Team USA not qualifying for the 2004 Olympics is what set this deal up. Sure, Roger wants to pitch with Pettitte, play with Bagwell and Biggio, drive his kids to school, sleep at home but I think he would have chosen the Olympics over the Astros.

I'll show you Roger's career numbers in a minute, but after that I want to briefly run you through the Astros' rotation v. the Cubs rotation. Since I'm a die-hard Cubs fan who was born and raised in Houston, I'm a bit torn on how I feel about this move. I think that it definitely hurts the Cubs chances at a repeat division title (although that is still extremely possible), but at the same time it will make baseball so much more fun here in Houston. Just wait to see how many season tickets were sold right after his press conference (the first number I have heard was between 4,500-5,000). Not only does everyone want to see Roger pitch, they are also given a better shot at getting tickets for the All-Star game (which we're hosting) as season ticket holders.

Ok, here are Roger's incredible stats for his career (bold means league leader; years in bold are Cy-Young seasons): 

Year Team   G  GS     W-L     IP    H    R   ER     SO/BB  HR  ERA
1984  Bos  21  20     9-4  133.1  146   67   64    126/29  13 4.32
1985  Bos  15  15     7-5   98.1   83   38   36     74/37   5 3.29
1986  Bos  33  33    24-4  254.0  179   77   70    238/67  21 2.48
1987  Bos  36  36    20-9  281.2  248  100   93    256/83  19 2.97
1988  Bos  35  35   18-12  264.0  217   93   86    291/62  17 2.93
1989  Bos  35  35   17-11  253.1  215  101   88    230/93  20 3.13
1990  Bos  31  31    21-6  228.1  193   59   49    209/54   7 1.93
1991  Bos  35  35   18-10  271.1  219   93   79    241/65  15 2.62 
1992  Bos  32  32   18-11  246.2  203   80   66    208/62  11 2.41
1993  Bos  29  29   11-14  191.2  175   99   95    160/67  17 4.46
1994  Bos  24  24     9-7  170.2  124   62   54    168/71  15 2.85
1995  Bos  23  23    10-5  140.0  141   70   65    132/60  15 4.18
1996  Bos  34  34   10-13  242.2  216  106   98   257/106  19 3.63
1997  Tor  34  34    21-7  264.0  204   65   60    292/68   9 2.05
1998  Tor  33  33    20-6  234.2  169   78   69    271/88  11 2.65
1999  NYY  30  30   14-10  187.2  185  101   96    163/90  20 4.60
2000  NYY  32  32    13-8  204.1  184   96   84    188/84  26 3.70
2001  NYY  33  33    20-3  220.1  205   94   86    213/72  19 3.51
2002  NYY  29  29    13-6  180.0  172   94   87    192/63  18 4.35
2003  NYY  33  33    17-9  211.2  199   99   92    190/58  24 3.91
------------------------------------------------------------------
20-yr Tot 607 606 310-160 4278.2 3677 1672 1517 4099/1379 321 3.19

Other items of note:

How Much Help?

Roger will bring the Astros more help than they could ever imagine getting from $5M.

The addition of Roger and Andy Pettitte makes the pitching rotation change from this-to-this: 

2003:
#       Player  GS   W-L    IP   H ER HR  SO/BB  ERA
1. R. Oswalt    21  10-5 127.1 116 42 15 108/29 2.97
2. W. Miller    33 14-13 187.1 168 86 17 161/77 4.13
3. T. Redding   32 10-13 175.0 178 71 16 116/64 3.65
4. J. Robertson 31  15-9 159.0 176 89 23  98/61 5.04
5. R. Villone   19 14-13 106.2  91 49 16  91/48 4.13 
* numbers are as starters only

2004:
#       Player  GS   W-L    IP   H ER HR  SO/BB  ERA
1. R. Oswalt    21  10-5 127.1 116 42 15 108/29 2.97
2. R. Clemens   33  17-9 211.2 199 92 24 190/58 3.91 
3. A. Pettitte  33  21-8 208.1 227 93 21 180/50 4.02
4. W. Miller    33 14-13 187.1 168 86 17 161/77 4.13
5. T. Redding   32 10-13 175.0 178 71 16 116/64 3.65

Now granted, Clemens and Pettitte both pitched for the Yankees last year so their W-L numbers probably won't be duplicated, but the work load that they can carry is almost priceless.

The Astros' starters averaged 88 pitches per start and threw less innings than the Milwaukee Brewers' starters. This led to the 'Stros having the most abused bullpen in the NL, throwing 581 innings. Replacing Robertson and Villone's 2003 IP with Clemens and Pettitte's 2003 IP would have reduced the bullpen's usage by 154.1 IP.

Something that I forgot to take into consideration above was the fact that the Astros have Carlos Hernandez coming back off the DL for this year (although he still needs to reprove himself after having his rotator cuff and labrum repaired) and they acquired Brandon Duckworth from the Phillies. Let's look at their stats from their last few seasons: 

   Player Year Age  G GS W-L    IP   H ER HR  SO/BB  ERA
Duckworth 2001  25 11 11 2-5  69.0  57 27  2  40/29 3.52 
          2002  26 30 29 4-2 163.0 167 98 26 167/69 5.41 
          2003  27 24 18 1-4  93.0  98 51 12  68/44 4.94
Hernandez 2001  21  3  3 1-0  17.7  11  2  1   17/7 1.02
          2002  22 23 21 7-5 111.0 112 54 11  93/61 4.38

I don't see either of those two guys knocking Redding out of the rotation, but it is definitely something that could happen.

Generally, I don't think it's a bad thing to see your #2 starter drop to #4 in an off-season because of a couple transactions, do you?

How This Effects the NL Central

This is where I become worried as a Cubs fan. I still think that the Cubs have a better starting rotation than the Astros, but not by much. I suppose that they have a better 1-2 punch, but the Astros have better depth (considering that last year's #4 and #5 starters will be available in 2004 to spot start out of the bullpen).

If there was a 3 game series with G1 set up with the #1 spot in the rotation for both teams, I don't know how I would bet. Here is how the Cubs rotation looks going into spring training: 

1. M.Prior
2. K.Wood
3. C.Zambrano
4. M.Clement
5. J.Cruz/??
Prior and Wood are unbelievable, but Wood is beatable. I think that Zambrano is still pretty young, so I'm keeping the book out on him for another season before I say he's a star. Clement has flashes of brilliance, but last year showed that his 2002 season was a bit more than we could hope for on a regular basis. As for the #5 spot in the rotation, I just pray that management goes out and makes a deal for someone solid. I'm thinking a 10-7 record with a 4.00 ERA would fit in wonderfully. Just about anything would be better than Jason Bere....

Other News...

...that was all hit up at other sites before I could get to it...


Monday January 12th, 2003

3:29am

Active HOFers

I'm not sure that it is fair to determine if a player is a HOFer while they are still playing. Players very rarely walk away from the game when they're on top, so it is difficult for us to remember their entire careers while they are hitting 60 points lower than their career BA.

This leads me to a poll that I ran across on ESPN.com's Sport's Nation. The topic was "Which Bubble Candidate is Most Worthy of Hall Of Fame". Here were the choices in alphabetic order:

While I will admit that the choices are definitely players who were at the 'All-Star level' for a good portion of their career, only a couple of them are true superstars.

Now let's look at each player, since each player did receive votes in the poll. 

 Hitters    G   AB    R    H  RBI  HR     SO/BB   BA   OPS  GPA
 Bagwell 1955 7125 1402 2137 1421 419 1406/1287 .300  .960 .322  
  Biggio 2253 8588 1503 2461  931 210 1373/1020 .287  .807 .277 
Gonzalez 1655 6428 1044 1901 1387 429  1254/448 .296  .907 .296
  Larkin 2069 7591 1274 2240  916 190   778/905 .295  .817 .278
Martinez 1914 6727 1174 2119 1198 297 1095/1225 .315  .948 .322
 McGriff 2433 8685 1342 2477 1543 491 1863/1296 .285  .889 .298
 Ramirez 1383 5004  959 1585 1140 347  1106/792 .317 1.011 .335
  Thomas 1851 6611 1255 2048 1390 418 1077/1386 .310  .996 .335 

Pitchers   G  GS     W-L   S/Opp     IP    H    R   ER     SO/BB  ERA 
 Glavine 537 537 251-157     0-0 3528.0 3379 1482 1344 2136/1206 3.43
  Rivera 512  10   43-29 283/327  649.2  515  194  180   582/177 2.49
All of those numbers are quite amazing, but you also have to look at the player's position and compare that to other players at that position. Fred McGriff is a good example....he has very good numbers across the board, but of the other 3 1b/DH players up there he's not too much better than they are, but he played in close to 450 more games than the next most 'experienced' player.

In my own opinion, only Thomas and Manny and Bagwell are legit HOFers. That is not what the poll voters said, but that's what I think.

Since the poll was asking which player has the best shot, let’s look at these 3 guys by them selves.... 

        Age    G   AB    R    H  RBI  HR     SO/BB   BA   OPS  GPA  
Bagwell  36 1955 7125 1402 2137 1421 419 1406/1287 .300  .960 .322
 Thomas  36 1851 6611 1255 2048 1390 418 1077/1386 .310  .996 .335  
Ramirez  32 1383 5004  959 1585 1140 347  1106/792 .317 1.011 .335
The most amazing thing about all that isn't even in print up there. It's the fact that both Bagwell and Thomas were born on the exact same day (5/27/68), played mostly the same position (1B), and both won their respective MVP award in 1994 (I figured all of that out one day when I was in middle school after scrutinizing the statistics on the backs of my baseball cards).

I think that when all three of these players walk away from the game, the player with the most impressive numbers will be Manny Ramirez. Right now, and especially since Molitor was elected, I think that Thomas is the most deserving of the three. Rich, from Rich's Weekend Baseball Beat, wrote an incredible piece on Thomas during this past summer showing his greatness in comparison with some of the all-time greats.

I know that all of you are just bursting with anticipation to hear the results of the poll, so I suppose I should let you know....

I was surprised at some of these things, and not surprised by some. It was no shocker that Rivera was at the top because he plays for the Yankees. He is definitely one of the most dominant closers in the game, but I think that the role of the closer still hasn't been totally defined yet in terms of baseball history. My other knock on Rivera is that while his regular season numbers are excellent, he is better known for his post-season heroics and while this is definitely something to look at, Jim Thome is also a complete stud in the post-season as well as an offensive force but his name wasn't even on the list.

I think that I was most surprised by how low the 'Crime Dog' was on the list. I think that a lot of people feel that with him closing in on 500 HRs he is the one of the first in the club to be benefited by the long ball era we're in right now and it is felt that his 500 HRs isn't equal to those players who earned it in the 40s, 50s, 60s.....

As for Manny, I think that since he is still somewhat in his prime, fans don't feel that he is as deserving to be mentioned just yet....


Gig'em Aggies

I was delighted to see that some Ags led the way for their teams this weekend in the NFL Playoffs.

Dante Hall-Kansas City WR/KR

Dante had 2 receptions for 19 yards and 1 TD as well as 7 kick-off returns for 208 yards, including a 92-yard TD return. Unfortunately, the Chief's defense sucked and wasn't able to hold off the Colts and lost 38-31.

Bethel Johnson (1999-2002)-New England WR

BJ had 2 receptions for 55 yards and a TD as NE knocked of Tennessee 17-14.

Robert Ferguson (2000)-WR

Fergy had 4 catches for 65 yards and both of the Packers' TDs in their 17-14 OT loss to the Eagles.

Those 3 Ags had a total of 5 TDs amongst them....which is more points than the Eagles and the Packers scored combined.....


Sunday January 11th, 2004

4:59pm

A Safe Return

As you can probably tell, Pat and I have returned safely from our adventures as demolition men.

We took off for Palestine, Tx at 8am on Thursday morning and made our arrival at the farm somewhere between 10:15 and 10:30 and went right to work.

Pat's grandfather was already out there and he ended up being a hawse. He may have done just about as much work as Pat and I did....and he is in his late 60s or early 70s.

The main house was built in 1902 by Pat's grandfather's grandfather (who would be Pat's great great grandfather). It was in great shape and the land was so peaceful and tranquil. As you can tell from the map, Palestine is in east Texas, which is more wooded than the rest of the state and has a lot of pine trees (I knew that Texas geography class would come in handy sometime).

Anyways, the barn was actually two separate rooms that were connected together with one being about 13'x15' and the other being about 22'x25'.

We had to clear out the inside of the smaller room, which took us about an hour and a half.

When that was done, we started to take it down. I was surprised to find that the barn was made mostly of tin with the only wood being the support beams and the framing that the tin was nailed to. Combined with the constant drizzle and cold temperatures tin wasn't too terribly fun to work with.

We got the room down and took each piece of wood apart and split them into 'good wood' and 'burn pile wood'. That entire room was done by 3:30ish and we cleaned up the work area and left the farm by 4pm and went back to Pat's grandparent's house.

After showering and eating a wonderful home cooked meal, we sat down at 6pm to watch the Rockets v. Knicks on TV. I was asleep on the couch with about 8min left in the first quarter. I woke up a couple of times throughout the course of the game only to succumb to my exhaustion. Finally I woke up with about 7min left in the 4th quarter and asked what time it was......it was 8:30....that was kind of embarrassing.

I was able to stay awake and we watched the Pete Rose interview on Dateline and we went to bed immediately following its conclusion.

On Friday morning we were up, fed, and back out to the farm by 9am. We had to clear out the big room and then work on it.

Even though this room was bigger, it wasn't as difficult because we had taken down the wall that adjoined both the rooms the day before. Also, there was another wall that was part of a log cabin shed that wasn't coming down either.

This room was more fun to tear down because the wood frame was in much worse shape than the wood from the smaller room so we didn't have to worry about keeping it in good shape. Once we got all of the tin off the walls and the roof we just tied a rope to the center support beam and yanked the structure over. It was pretty cool.

We finished up the project by putting up some fencing (a very little amount) to keep the cows off the yard around the house where the barn had previously stood. We were done and picked up by about 2 or 2:30pm and then headed back to College Station.

Overall, we had a good time and it was really nice to meet Pat's grandparents. They were extremely nice and pretty funny.


Tomorrow

I will have a good post up tomorrow. I'm sorry that I didn't get one up today, but it is my dad's birthday so Jennifer and I drove into Houston last night to celebrate today. Happy B-Day Pops....


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