Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Watching Nederland again...

It's a meaningless game except to win the pool since both they and Puerto Rico already advanced, but it's still a good game. I'm starting to wonder if they might keep winning - they have some good pitching.

I've been trying to think of a good Netherlands story but all the times I went there were rather uneventful. The very first time I went there I got out of the train station in Amsterdam and saw a man smash another guy's head with a brick. I've been to Amsterdam a couple of times, Haarlem, Utrecht, Leiden, and Rotterdam. About the only thing remotely interesting that happened in any of those times was when I went to a Thai restaurant and ordered something that was disgusting (and I eat everything). Imagine reading a Thai menu in Dutch. Then I ordered the disgusting Oranjeboom beer and I tried to make both tolerable by pouring the beer in the food. It didn't help. I ate Indian food for the first time in my life in Utrecht. My favorite meal in Netherlands was the pancakes I ate in Leiden with onions and mushrooms. Oh, I am hungry now to be thinking only of food.

I want one of those orange caps.
___

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I played in a softball tournament in the Netherlands back in 1984. About the only thing eventful was the beer and a friend of mine who managed to chat up the daughter of the guy who owned the bed and breakfast where we were staying. The two of them snuck into the kitchen in the middle of the night to get some privacy. She heard her parents come out into the open area (outside the kitchen). They snuck out of the kitchen onto a balcony, and the girl forgot that the door would lock automatically behind them. So there they were, half naked, no way down, and needing help. One of those stories you never forget, haha.

Aaahhhh, the memories of youth.

C.L. if you read this and I inadvertently changed anything about your Dutch girl story, please feel free to correct me!

-Gary Maloy (ex-USAF)

Anonymous said...

I have to say that the Dutch impressed me. What they managed to do by humiliating the Dominicans was nothing less than fabulous. (Sorry, Edison, Johnny and Willy.)

Sure, it was a short Series, and over time, the D.R. would surely prove to be the (much, much, MUCH) better team, but this is a microcosm of what the 2009 season can be for the Reds.

They enjoy little respect. They're a bunch of kids with a lot of heart. I hope they can surprise somebody in the 2nd round as well.

-Gary Maloy