Run! There's Bats Everywhere!

Jan 31, 2010- (The views expressed in this blog are the views of Bryan Benway,and may not be the views of the Laredo Bucks organization). Oh Hi Friends. I am writing to you from the press box at the Ector County Coliseum about three hours before the Bucks take on the first-place Odessa Jackalopes in a 4pm Sunday game.

As I write to you I am dodging bats flying at my head about every two minutes or so. No i'm not talking about baseball bats i'm talking about the animal bat that flies and swoops everywhere making loud screeching noises as he looks to dump white stuff on your head. Yeah, that bat. Isn't there a spray for that you can by somewhere? Jackalopes broadcaster Brien Rea tells me that the bats just add to the charm of the "Jack Shack". Anyway I hope I get through the day without getting attacked by one.

As we all know by now the Bucks fell to the Ice Rays again last night keeping the "curse of Corpus" alive and well this season. I have to tell you that I thought it was going to end last night the way the Bucks came out and played in the first period. I mean, Laredo had a 2-0 lead after one and seemed to be setting the pace of the game and taking advantage of situations. That was not the case in the second period as the Ice Rays scored four straight goals and then tacked two more on in the third period.

It honestly seemed like it was a totally different team in the first and second periods. I think El Presidente Coach Rosco is at his wits end with this whole Corpus debacle. And I think debacle is a great word to use because it's exactly what it is. A debacle. Laredo is 3-7-1 against Corpus this season and are winless in their last six (0-5-1). Somebody is rolling over in their grave when they see how the Bucks are playing against Corpus this season.

But as we've said quite a bit this season the Bucks need to forget about last night and bring their 'A' game against the first-place Jackalopes who got to sleep in their own beds last nigth while the Bucks traveled eight hours and arrived in Odessa at 6:45am this morning.

Let's talk about the bus ride last night, which was not as bad as you would suspect. After packing up as quickly as possibly and eating a marvelous catered meal from Hal's Landing we all piled on the bus to begin the trek.

As you might have expected Rosco put the game DVD in. But as might not expect he didn't have the guys watch the whole thing (which is normally what happens after a loss). Instead Rosco fast forwarded to the hit at the end of the second period that sent Igor Agarunov head first into the boards and kept him lying face down on the ice for about two minutes. Thankfully the enigma was not seriously hurt. He did not make the trip here to Odessa and it's not known how long he will be out. So as Rosco says quite a bit, "another game another injury." And that has been true quite a bit this season. I'm suprised that the Bucks went three games without having an injury last week on the road trip. That is an unprecidented feat for the Bucks. But the bad streak continues as they have suffered injuries in back to back games (O'Leary on Friday and Agarunov last night).

Back to the trip last night.

Rosco only watched about 10 minutes of the DVD and then everyone was in bed by midnight.

We arrived at the "Jack Shack" at 6:45am this morning to unload the gear and head for breakfast at everyone's favorite IHOP. For a normal 7pm or 7:30pm game the players will eat their pre-game meals around 12-12:30pm. So when there is a 4pm game they have to adjust their eating schedule to maximize the carbs. So 7:30am was the time that everyone ate breakfast to get the carbs in for today.

I know a lot of people like to call me overly optomistic or crazy but let's look at the positives real quick. If the Bucks can somehow pull off a win today in Odessa they will have a 2-1 weekend. Anytime you can go 2-1 in a three-in-three that's a successful stretch. Now look on the other hand if you somehow can just get a point now and take three out of six points on the weekend I don't think you could call it a completely horrible weekend. However a 1-2 record with a loss today would be horrible, especially after taking a loss on home ice last night.

Speaking of last night I hear that there was a nice little tilt in the concourse after the game between Bucks and Ice Rays fans. I was not there so I can't fully report what happned but I heard that it got pretty heated and shoves and possibly punches were thrown. There's no need for that at a sporting event. I'm all for having a good time and cheering for your team and doing a little ribbing. But for it to escalate into a post-game fight is uncalled for no matter who started it or finished it.

Back to today.

After the game the Bucks will hop back on the bus and head back to Laredo with a scheduled arrival of 3am at the LEC. There will be no practice tomorrow regardless of the outcome of today's game and there will be no work for me tomorrow no matter what. I'm pretty excited about that. I have not had a Monday off in so long I forgot what good soap operas are on so I can watch them.

Enjoy today's game and hope for the best.

Until next time,

It will be a hot one in the old town tonight!

GO BUCKS GO!