Road Trips – Part 2: “The Hotel”

Just like riding busses, I have had my fair share of staying in hotels. I’ve stayed in a countless amount of places, starting at five-star hotels all the way down to places that make you question your safety and livelihood. For the most part, the better the hotel, the better you’re going to play that weekend, although that’s not always how it goes.

Fresh linens, your choice of soft or hard pillows, and if you’re lucky, refrigerators, are all perks of staying in classy hotels. Plus the best part is every time you come back from a game your room is sparkling clean and smelling like new.

I’m sure most of you have stayed in hotels before so you know exactly what I’m talking about. So what makes staying in a hotel for college baseball any different you might ask?

Well for one, everything is scheduled right down to the hour. Pickup clean uniforms at this time, breakfast at this time, dinner at this time, be on the bus at this time. Every minute of the day is scheduled down to a tee and for every minute that you’re not playing you’re most likely laying down on the comfy beds, perhaps even wearing one of the extravagant hotel robes.

However, the biggest decider of your weekend at the hotel can be summed up into one word: ROOMMATES!

On the road you may have upwards of one to three different roommates all in one room. Back in my junior college days, we would take a road trip all the way from a small town in central Iowa and travel down to Tucson, Ariz., for about a week and a half. Not only did we have to sit on a bus for 24 hours, but we also had to have four guys to a room for the entire time. Thankfully here at UTPA we not only get spoiled with nice hotels but we also have two to a room if you’re an upperclassman or three to a room if you’re one of the new guys.

Staying with different guys each week can be a blast, don’t get me wrong. A good friend of mine, Nolan Atkins, says “Staying in hotels is like the ultimate sleepover party, except you get your own bed.” Nonetheless, some guys can be a bit of a damper when rooming with. For instance, a few times (thankfully less than more) I have been roomed with some guys who have different qualities about them, that makes the rooming experience quite interesting. Some of these qualities include:  a person who is a slob, someone with bad hygiene who literally stinks up the room with their musk, or someone who stays up late and they continue to be loud as they can as they Skype or talk on chat roulette late at night (yes it has happened to me), and finally using your stuff without asking (a personal pet peeve of mine). It’s none of their faults, but it’s not ideal to room with these particular types of guys. Having said that, of all the guys I have roomed with, no matter how messy, clean, or loud they were, I have not regretted even a minute of it. They’re still my boys of course.

Next week we’ll discuss eats and all the “Bobby Flay”-type cooking we get on the road, but until then I’ll leave you with a favorite quote of mine.

“It’s not the size of a man, but the size of his heart that matters.” – Evander Holyfield

Dylan

(photos by Dutch Cowgill)