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April 14 – 22, 2018

Albion College vs Adrian College

Saturday, April 14, 2018

Jackson MI

It’s been raining since before we left Windsor a couple of hours ago, the drive on the interstate past the Detroit airport familiar in its dullness. The only change is the incessant rain and the only interesting thing to cut through the curtain of gray was the billboard for the Michigan Whitetail Hall of Fame Museum in Grass Lake. As I drive, I think back to this morning’s tweet from Lancer Baseball: “Our Series at home vs Bowling Green on April 7th & 8th has been postponed due to field conditions. Our next games are April 14th & 15th at home in Amherstburg against Central Michigan.” The accompanying image was a closeup of a baseball sitting in slush.

I just tweeted a video I took on the highway with all the rain and captioned it, “Road trip to Albion College and Michigan is a case study in baseball optimism.” Getting fifty games in this summer is going to be an exercise in meticulous planning, patience, flexibility, and, when necessary, letting go of those plans. Maybe that’s baseball, too.

The weather has meant we’ve been struggling to find games to attend. The plan for this weekend is to meet our friends Tim Ackerson and Suzanne McMurphy at the Albion College-Kalamazoo College doubleheader today, stay overnight in Marshall, and then stop in Ann Arbor for the Michigan-Maryland game on the way home on Sunday. Suzanne is an alumna of Albion College and I’m really interested to hear her talk about the school and about the town.

The rain shows no sign of letting up any time soon, and I hold little hope that they’ll play at all today, especially when I read that Detroit City FC have cancelled their home opener and the Tigers-Yankees game scheduled for today in Detroit has already been postponed. Split doubleheader tomorrow. If we hadn’t already paid for our rooms at the bed and breakfast in Marshall, I doubt we’d have left Windsor.

The weather never really lets up all day, at least not enough for any baseball to be played. We do, however, take advantage of a brief break in the otherwise steady rain to walk from our B&B to Dark Horse Brewing. Ceramic beer steins cover the walls and the ceiling, making the bar feel like a small cave where the four of us can shelter from the storm. It’s a cave with very particular rules about what music cannot be played, all detailed on a ripped, well-worn signed affixed to the front of the jukebox with scotch tape.

DO NOT play AC/DC on this juke box.

Your song will be skipped.

NO REFUNDS!

“I hate AC/DC.” – Aaron Morse, Owner

DO NOT PLAY AC/DC

PLEASE, DO NOT PLAY AC/DC.

Also, you can’t play: Nickelback, Hoobastank,

Matchbox 20, Hinder, Buck Cherry, Def

Leppard, the song Wagon Wheel or any other

shitty, overplayed music.

Thank you for your patronage and no AC/DC.