A few quick words before my third installment of the BoumanBlog vlog.
I grew up playing baseball, I love the game. Every time I go to a Major League 
ball park I revert back to my childhood, idolizing the players. I’m star struck, amazed by their physical abilities. I soak in the smell of the grass, the sound of baseballs hitting rawhide, and the crack of a finely crafted wood bat. I used to dream of being a MLB player and now that I know that dream is dead, I live (somewhat) vicariously through other people, most notably, my high school teammate Chris Nowak. Chris finished up last season in Triple A for the Tampa Bay Ray’s organization. Last year, he played Double A ball, and one of his more well known teammates was Evan Longoria. This association gave me the perfect conversation starter if I ever met Evan Longoria…which I did today.
Evan Longoria is the reigning American League Rookie of the Year. He is a Long Beach State alum and one of the rising stars in the Major Leagues. I saw him numerous times on television, but never thought I’d actually meet him, even with his Long Beach ties. Well, last night I saw him out at the bars, but was too scared to approach him. I didn’t want to be “that guy”. So, like I’ve done in the past with recognizable people, I gawked from afar. But today, I saw Evan at Trader Joes in Long Beach. My friends and I (others who knew who he was) were giddy with excitement.
It may seem lame, but we couldn’t but help but let our inner child out when we saw the Major League baseball player. My friend approached Evan to congratulate him on his recent accomplishments while I looked on. I then moved in and used my Chris Nowak connection to strike up conversation. We briefly chatted about Chris’s chances of making it to the majors (which Evan said he will…someday). A strong hand shake later, we parted ways, with Evan promising he’d give Chris a hello for me the next time he saw him. For a 23 year old millionaire, he was very humble and quite “cool”. He handled the unsolicited engagements in stride. I got a huge kick out of the whole situation and can’t help but root for him in the future.
Here is the latest installment of the BoumanBlog vlog. It’s still in the rough stages, but hopefully in the weeks to come I will give it a more polished look. This episode gives you a brief snapshot of how tired I get from working seven days a week and my future plans for this blog (don’t worry it’s not going away). Cheers!
