The First International Tournament

Oldenzaal, The Netherlands - Two of the Stuttgart Reds players joined the Northern German Baseball Alliance for an international wood bat tournament in Oldenzaal, Holland. Bret Helenius and Mark Perea joined players from the Paderborn Untouchables, HSV Stealers, Bunde Berserker and Munster Cardinals.

In 5 games as cathcer and 3rd baseman, Mark Perea went 8-12 with 3 walks, 2 doubles and 5 RBI. Perea was also selected as the MVP for the week by coach Hans Ricter. In game 5 of the week, Perea blocked an astonishing 30 pitches in the dirt to avoid any passed balls by pitcher Mike Reed of the Paderborn Untouchables.

Bret Helenius pitched game four against the reigning tournament champion and host team, Run 71 from Oldenzaal. On three days rest, Helenius got the win pitching 5 innings, giving up 2 earned runs with 4 strikeouts and 2 walks. This marked the first time the NGBA beat the Run 71 team since the NGBA started attending the tournament four years ago. Helenius also went 2-4 with 2 runs, 2 walks and a double for the tournament.

Mark Perea also participated in the Home Run Derby, making it to the finals.

It should also be noted that the beer isn't quite as good in Holland, although the more you drink of it, the better it tastes. I would also have to say that the woman are definitely a beautiful (although no comparison to my wife!). Isn't that right Adamac?

Being a kid at linkin park

I haven't been to a big concert since I was at the "Live" concert in college. For those of you that don't know about that episode, I was slightly inebriated and went crowd surfing and managed to get thrown out before the concert was over. It was worth it!

Nico, one of the players on our stuttgart team got us tickets. Lisa calls him the "Under The Tuscan Sun" boy. If you haven't seen the movie, he is the sweet innocent cute italian guy that makes a love connection. Nico just adds his own goofy bit to it. Anyway, lisa, mark, nico and I headed out to the concert after some bp at the field and a quick beer at ingoville (our concession stand is run by a big german guy named ingo; hence ingoville). The concert was held where they have the big beer festivals during the year. Mark and nico wanted to get way upfront, but I stayed back with my lisa. I was expecting it to get kind of crazy (slam dancing...), so I was ready to protect my beloved.

Evidently in germany, you don't move from the spot you are standing in once the concert starts. It was weird. People even gave you space to stand! I'm used to pushing and shoving in the states.

The band was awesome and sounded better live than in the cd's. They did stick one of the side projects in the middle of their performance, which we weren't ready for, but all in all, it kicked ass.

After the show, we went downtown for a drink. After a few, we walked home and crashed. Not bad for a couple approaching 40!
Bret Helenius
Bret@skithewest.com
866-250-7313 x 4435
Fax (Direct) 866-542-5730
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a Rocky Mountain Tours Company
www.TaosSkiTrips.com

From amsterdam to oldenzaal, holland

So mark perea and I just spent a couple days in amsterdam before playing in a baseball tournament with the northern german baseball alliance in oldenzaal, holland. Sounds like we are playing with a bunch of American players who are playing n the bundesliga in germany. Should be fun. There will be teams from holland, germany, the us, moldavia and other places.



Our couple days in amsterdam were pretty uneventful. Saw lots of naked women on posters, plenty of head shops (places that sell weed related instruments), "coffee shops" and of course the red light district. I found out the girls have a union, medical coverage and the works. Sounds better than the us! We ended up getting an apartment instead of a youth hostel. For only $90 we got our own place with private bath. It was no palace, but ok.



Ended up purchasing the wrong ticket from Amsterdam to oldenzaal, but the train conductors were really nice and helpful. They made it really easy for us.



Next stop, oldenzaal, holland. Have to pitch on three days rest, so we'll see how that goes.