This is might be a big moment for Team Jokbal, maybe one we never really expected to happen. Something we aimed for but never really believed would happen. I still can't believe that it has happened. In case you haven't heard yet, Team Jokbal has finally managed to collect items or received pledges from all KBO member teams. The feat was finally achieved by a determined weekend of campaigning. On Saturday, an 8hour camp out at Jamsil stadium led to LG delivering their goods and a truly special item being donated by Michael Bowden and his Doosan team mates. (Read Andrew Dunham's soon to be published contribution about that day.) All I will say is that left us with 2 teams to go. Hanhwa and SK! Guess what? Those 2 were set to play each other the next day at the Happy Dream Park in Incheon. Well fate is a beautiful thing. As luck had it, my fiancé (then my girlfriend), won 2 VIP tickets for that game earlier in the week. However, she knew nothing of my marriage proposal planned for Saturday night. So after a 10 hour stake out, a game, a marriage proposal and an engagement celebration that went on till 3am, Min and I headed to the Happy Dream Park. Initially, the day seemed destined to end in disappointment. An underground VIP parking lot seemingly blocking any chance to talk to players. Not to be deterred, I bought some Cass and decided to explore. With beer as my guide, I managed to find the underground player entrance. but only to find out that all the players had arrived. Disaster! But then, up popped the Hanhwa team bus and came an encounter with our No1 target, Wilin Rosario, the Hanhwa home run hitting machine. Wilin is a big dude and a powerful hitter but nothing prepares you for just the softly spoken gentleman that he is... oh I forgot, he was recently caught reading a book in the middle of game that he was playing in. He immediately walked up to me and shook my hand and offered his help with our cause. Extremely nice guy! Success! Despite the positive experience with Rosario, there was still a feeling of disappointment. Failure even. 1 team remained and I had failed, blown my chance. I felt that we would go in with a glaring omission from our work. Completeness was a requirement. No matter how much other players and teams had given us, the inability to get anything from SK felt like a real failure. To celebrate the engagement news Blake Sibley and Rae Lanczak came and joined us to drink Maekguli before the game. Still on a huge high from the night before and with good friends I was quickly able to get over this disappointment. However, the maekguli may have fueled what happened next. Something had to be done! Luckily our VIP seats afforded us a chance. A long shot but enough of a chance. I was determined to take advantage. Their location made one last crack possible. Struggling to see any other options, being reasonably drunk, I decided to take a risk. I took advantage of a change of security in the sixth inning stretch and ran to the edge of the dugout. I shouted and got the attention of Trey Hillman. He initially looked pissed that I dare bother him during a game. I don't blame him! I really didn't want to do things this way. It isn't the Team Jombal way! We try not to interrupt too much and let everybody get on with their job. However, in this case I saw no better option. I am sorry but I don't regret it! Hillman agreed to meet at the end of the game and it looked like the mission may finally be accomplished. Coach Hillman kept his word, no matter the drunk jackass I appeared to be and he went into the locker room and fetched us a jersey and another box that he had signed. I was on the bus home when I realized that it was a bible. Yes! A signed bible! Definitely the most unusual item in our stockpile but still very much appreciated! Thanks Coach Hillman! So now Team Jokbal has a pledge or has received some kind of item from every single team. As long as some players and teams keep their word, we will have succeeded. We aren't tempting fate yet but given how well things have gone, we are very optimistic of being able to raise a lot of money for good causes. We will continue to pick up what we can for our auction as that will raise us more money but for now it is great knowing that we have reached all teams. 1 more month of regular season to go, the collection grows
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Since we just got the blog up and running this week, I am going back and filling in some of the stuff about our Jokbal Campaign to raise money to buy sports equipment for kids. Now that most of you have hopefully read the first post explaining how Team Jokbal and the Jokbal Campaign came about, I am here to talk about some of the items that we have so far and pledges that we have from some KBO players. The first person to donate to us was Michael Bowden, a pitcher for the Doosan Bears. On the weekend of April 22~23, me and a couple of other Team Jokbal members made our way out to SK Happy Dream Park (aka Munhak Stadium) to catch a couple of games of the SK Wyverns vs. Doosan Bears series. For a couple of months prior to this weekend we had been working social media and trying to get in touch with some of the KBO players to explain what we were doing and hopefully get some donations or game used gear to auction to raise funds for purchasing equipment for kids. Finally, on April 23rd, the work paid off and we got our first item from Michael Bowden. As Michael was walking across the field, near the dugout, I let out a "What's up Big Mike?" He turned to me and happened to recognize me from previous social media posts and said "Are you the guy that's trying to get the jerseys for kids?" In a lot of joy, I said "that's us" and he told me to hold on for a minute. He made his way over to the Bears dugout and came back with one of his jerseys and handed it across the netting. It was great and we were really excited to finally have some players realizing who we were and what we were working to do. I have been to many games and that will always be one of the most memorable games for me. That one and the night of Michael's no-hitter when I got so excited that I took the subway in the wrong direction and missed my bus home and had to stay at a motel for the night.
I have said it a few times before on my other blog and in person, but I will say it once again. Thanks, Mr. Bowden! You are a great guy with your heart in the right place. We couldn't achieve what we are working to achieve without players such as you! Cheers, Team Jokbal |
Team jokbalA group of guys enjoying the KBO and raising money for orphanages. Archives
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