By David Saltzer, AngelsWin.com Senior Writer
Today started off like every other day for the past week. My youngest son woke me up (far too early) with a simple question: What day is it today? When I told him it was July 3rd he reminded me that it was “5 more days until the Cowboy Hat Rally Monkey give-away!”
My other two sons repeated the pattern.
I was awake, but perplexed because of one simple problem: We’re not going to be here on Tuesday, July 8th when the Angels are giving away the Cowboy Hat Rally Monkey. By the time the game starts, we should be done with dinner in Flagstaff, AZ, on our way to the Grand Canyon.
That’s a problem.
I love that my boys are Angels fans. I still had a game on the DVR from the last homestand, and they wanted to see the 1st inning again just to see Albert Pujols steal a base. We watched it this morning. And, after watching the 1st inning, they reminded me: 5 more days until the Cowboy Hat Rally Monkey.
Damned in-game advertising. Don’t you know that my kids are old enough to read the upcoming promo advertisements?
But today, thanks to AngelsWin.com, I was able to solve my problem. While at the game tonight, I texted a friend from the website who works in ticketing to find out what the ticket prices would be for the game. That person wasn’t at work, but was happy to help and let me know what the lowest ticket prices were for the game on a home computer (I won’t name the person just to avoid any potential of getting that person in trouble).
I then went to the ticket window in the stadium and bought 3 outfield seats for the July 8th game so that I could get the promo. As I explained why I was buying the tickets to the lady assisting me at the window, she asked me: How can I get the promo item when I’m scheduled to be in AZ, hundreds of miles away?
This is where AngelsWin.com came to the rescue. Over the years, I have met so many of the fans on this site and have formed friendships with so many people simply because AngelsWin.com. One person that I’ve gotten to know over the years is John Steverding. He’s a great guy and a great Angels fan. He’s almost always at the games and loves reading and posting on AngelsWin.com.
So, after buying the tickets, I asked John if he would mind using them to get the Cowboy Hat Rally Monkeys for my sons. He was more than willing to do so. I walked up to his seats, gave him the tickets, and thanked him profusely. Again, he’s a great guy, and at our next Fanfest, if you haven’t met him, you should. I always enjoy talking baseball and all sorts of stuff with him at our get-togethers.
Over the years, I have seen so many acts of great kindness on our website. Whether its people reaching out to others who are sick, driving each other to the games, praying for each other when someone is sick, raising money for the O.C. Miracle League and the Angels RBI League, or just helping someone get his kids a Cowboy Hat Rally Monkey—AngelsWin.com has made it all possible. I never would have met John without AngelsWin.com. I never would have been able to write on comment on the game I love without AngelsWin.com. I never would have had so much fun at Angels baseball games without AngelsWin.com.
On my road trip, I am going to spend some time in Orem, getting some interviews with the Owlz. If you haven’t been following how well that team is doing, you should. There’s a lot of talent up there.
While I’m doing the interviews and going to the games, I already have planned to meet up with Rick Dykhuizen. He’s a great Angels fan who can be found at either the Salt Lake Bees or Orem Owlz games taking incredible photos. He’s gotten player interviews for the website and given us many photographs for our prospect lists. Together, we will do some interviews and go to some games. It’s always more fun to do that with a friend, and Rick is a good friend. I never would have met Rick without AngelsWin.com.
Last night, I found out that there’s a good chance that I’ll be heading up to Seattle at the end of August. My first thought was on getting together with Chuck Richter for dinner up there. Tonight, while arranging everything for my sons, I also arranged for dinner with Chuck. Without AngelsWin.com, I never would have met Chuck or made such a great friendship.
I don’t know if anyone else noticed, but sometime last week, we crossed the 10,000 individual thread count on AngelsWin.com—since the reformatting of the website. That’s just in the main forum—so we probably crossed that number long ago for the entire website. That isn’t total posts or page views (which is in the 10s of millions)—that’s separate topics of discussion.
I could go on and on and on about all the great people that I’ve gotten to know over the years that I would have never met without the website and all the wonderful things that you all do. Every time I go to an Angels game, I run into someone that I know from the site. Thanks to AngelsWin.com, baseball isn’t just an individual thing—it’s a communal experience where we can share our joys and vent our frustrations.
That we have such a great community, that has so much to talk about, and is so willing to help one another—that’s why I love AngelsWin.com.
