Slowly back to earth... but not without a bang

This morning bright and early at 7 am Beijing time we had to say good bye to the Olympic Village. We got up around 6:45 to hand in our keys, then headed out to eat our last meal in the dining hall. 8:30 we finally were on the way to catch our all Netherlands team flight, filled with all the athletes, coaches and a couple media members. A better than normal flight meal, and I passed out for about 4 hours... which was much needed.

We landed in Amsterdam around 3:30 local time, and had a big league welcome, walking down stairs off the plane, straight onto the tarmac, and onto our busses bound for the Olympic team welcoming. About 1 hour later we arrived at the stadium, and enjoyed a very very warm welcome by thousands of Dutch fans.

Now, I'm back home again in Rotterdam for the first time in about a month, and I can't wait to shower and head to bed, so you'd better appreciate me posting this!! I'm just kiding, but here check out some pics from today...



The last picture I took in the village. Bright and early this morning (now almost 24 hours ago, which means I've been semi-up for almost 24 hours.....). The Dutch team all checked out and prepping to catch busses to the airport about 30 minutes down the road, a lot quicker since we can take the olympics lane through traffic hour though



Flying into Holland off the European west coast...



The medal winners needed to exit the plane first to get on a different bus, so I popped this shot of 2 of the main players from the women's water polo tea, the blonde one being the best goalie in the world. Then and their gold medals. I have one of me holding a gold medal, I'll post that in the next couple days with the Heineken house post



A picture of the nice welcome we received at Schiphol airport in Amsterdam. I was just heading down the stairs to a huge KLM and airport staff welcoming us, putting us straight on the Busses. We didn't have to go through any security checks, or passport crap for the first time in my life



The Dutch team exiting the KLM flight we took.



Our escort from the airport on the about 20 minute drive to the reception, we had 2 apache helicopters, about 8 police, and closed roads. At several points large groups groups of people were waving at the 8 busses in a row and 5 trucks filled with our suitcases



The Fans off the left side of the walkway... tons of low fives required here



Myself and tiny walking down the fittingly orange walkway into the Amsterdam areana where the 1928 Olympics where held. We were greeted by about 6-8 thousand fans family and media in an event that was way bigger then I thought it would be



The medal winners from the dutch team were specially honored after all us 'non-medal winner' olympians were done walking through. They all completely deserve their medals, and some even more then what they got. I am very proud to know, and work out at the gym with some of these people. The Netherlands finished 12th in medals with 16 which is pretty good for a country of 17 million, compared to China's 100 medals having 1 billion people. Quick side note, Canada had 3 golds, and Netherlands... 7



My cousins Jess and Dan. They are awesome, and were kind enough to drop me off on the way to the Olympics, and pick me up upon return. My wife Jeana would have had some part in the pick up and drop off, but she is at home in the USA for 2 more days, and left 2 days before I departed for Korea. They are aparently checking out one of the medal winner to the left. Thanks again you two!!!



Finally everyone gets to see their families in the special zone that was only for permitted family (Jess and Dan had passes). It was pretty neat to see all the Olympians back and reconnecting with their loved ones, from significant others, to parents to children to dogs even. This didn't last long, most of the athletes were pretty tired from the almost 10 hour flight, we just wanted to get our suitcases and go home

Last day

So they cut our internet off today.

I'm in the international zone which is right next to the athletes village just to get a few minuntes of connection before we head out to the closing ceremonies. Not sure what is in store in the ceremonies tonight, but I am looking forward to it, and heading out tomorrow morning.

I will be keeping up the blog with a few posts from thelast couple days here that I haven't had a cchance to post like: The Holland Heineken House (party house for dutch people, I've got some good pics from there), closing ceremonies, more pics and travel... Also in the next month we are rolling in to the end of the dutch season, and playoffs. Should be good somegood baseball to report, stay tuned...

Final flares

I'm getting to see some baseball (semi-finals yesterday, and todays finals) and doing some things before we take off in 2 days. Tomorrow is our closing ceremony, and we have some part in it, which I don't know anything about at this point. I slept in nice and long the past couple mornings making up for the 7 - 9 am breakfast times we've had to endure the past 4 weeks.

I've been downloading pictures, and skyping all day so I've had enough of this computer for now. I don't feel like posting a picture blog since it will take another hour or something, so I'm hoping to get that done tomorrow, or later on tonight.

Time to shower and head to Wukesong to see Cuba take on Korea for the baseball gold medal. Speaking of gold medals, I got to hold my first one yesterday, and damn they're nice... maybe someday.

The Great Wall

Yesterday morning 4 of us got up bright and early to head to the Great Wall off China. A 5000 km long wall built in the Ming Dynasty. It was breathtaking to see it and imagine how much work went into building this juggernaut structure. Unfortunately we went on a horrible weather day, it was pooring all morning and rained steadily all day long, inclusing some fog up at the wall.

It was about a 45 minute drive there, and we stayed at the wall for about an hour and a half, walking up it a ways, thenback down to enjoy a cappucino, and checking out the gift shop (bargaining shop pretty much).

It was a wet day, but definetely very worth it, check out some of the pictures...



Our first day off after competition, and we got up at 7 am to go, and woke up to monsoon rains. I was very close to shutting down the idea, and going the next day. It may have been a good idea since today (the next day) it's nice and sunny. Either way, I went, and my shoes were soaked and so was I before we even got on the bus to head there



The opening of the mountain where we got off the bus. This arc was the first thing we saw. Welcoming all the athletes to the great wall area



The first sight of the wall I had to pop a picture. Also the "One World One Dream" super-massive slogan on the hill for the Olympics was a neat addition to the experience



Walking the wall. This is Tiny, also David Bergman, and his father Frans Bergman went along, the umbrella's were very necessary...



Getting my Great Wall picture in. You can see the fog and limited visibility in the background. It was a bit of a hinderance in seeing the long distances, but we got a few breaks from the fog and tried to pop some pictures whenever that happened



The wall on the mountain across the way



The stairs (when there are stairs) are all over the place in distances between the two. A lot of the steep parts don't even have stairs, it's like walking up a very inclined hill (I'd compare it to Oxford in White Rock for those Vancouverites reading this)



Had to do it... this is me in one of the semi-dry-but-still misting moments

Spectacular spectation

Like I write in the 'Golden Ticket' blog a couple back, I got tickets to the Track and Field events last night at 7, it was awesome, and something I'll never forget. We witnessed several different sports, including the highlight of the night, the men's 200 meter final where Bolt, the Jamaican, broke another world record.

We also saw women's hammer throw (some scary looking ladies in that one), men's 5000 meter heats, men's pole vault, men's 110 meter hurdles finals, and the men's 200 meter final. All together it was awesome to be there for the few hours it lasted, and definetely unforgettable.



Posing outside the Bird's Nest, it's something amazing, such a humungous breathtaking structure



Setting up for the 5000 meter race, these were just the heats, 14 guys running for 3 spots, there was lots of pushing and shoving going on in the pack



Men's 5000 meter race. It takes these guys about 13 minutes to run 5 km, or approximately 3 miles, that is rediculous. My fastest 2 miles was just under 12 minutes



A successful men's highjump attempt



I went to the Bird's Nest along with Dave Draijer who had the other ticket, he also had some pins (which I always seem to forget) and gave one to this pricelss little chinese girl in fron of us... she was working for a while to get it on her shirt, and finally was successful



Pre-race the Men's 200 meter. The crowd was huge, about 90,000 strong, cheering loudly, and the loudest for any Chinese participant of course. There are 2 big screens, one in Chinese (this one) and the other in English for all us english speaking folk.



The Jamaican sprinter, Usian Bolt, on the big screen right after he broke the Men's 200 meter sprint time. An Antillian got silver, one of the less then 10 athletes they sent, not bad for the Dutch colony.



I know, cliche. I had to.



The beautiful Water Cube, with the Bird's Nest in the background. The Olympic green in an amazing spectacle at night, so many amazing lights and sights.

The last blow

We had a long tournament. Despite all the downfall and hard luck, I still took it in as an amazing experience, and I think it will be one of the defining moments in my life.

The game, we lost, 10-0 in 8 innings, for our 5th shutout loss in our 6 losses. Bats were silent (4 hits) and the defence struggled some against a very talented Korean team. Enough about the game though. Time to start blogging about my experiences here and in the Olympics decline.

Couple shots of yesterdays game and whatnot...


Our last team photo. I would put everyones names on here, but that would take a bloody long time, so you'll just have to guess which one is me.



Exchanging pins with the Koreans pre-game



This is the only contact with families we are permitted, other then leaving the village on our own. Through a fence, for about 10 minutes after our games. This is Michiel Van Kampen talking some with his folks, they are in Beijing to see not just Michiel, but his sister Judith, who pitches for the softball team



We had about 10,000 people at our game, several hundred Netherlands fan, and the rest were cheering for Korea



Tiny stroking his first hit in his limited olympic playing time, also made an amzing grab in the outfield right before this

I've got a golden ticket !!

I was just gifted with this wonderful suprise handed down by 2 teammates. I am going to head out to the Bird's Nest in about 20 minutes to see the track events.

We all put our dibs in on what events we want tickets to, 2 days in advance, and I asked for athletics. They only have a certain amount of tickets to give out to athletes, so even though our player asked for about 20 track event tickets for tonight, we only got 2. They were handed down to me first my Jeroes Sluijter who already has tickets to the field hockey (Netherlands women in the semi-finals), and Tiny who already has plans tonight to see his girlfriend who travelled to China.

I'll have time to update todays game tomorrow with some pictures. We lost 10-0 to undefeated Korea, it was the 5th time we got shutout in our 7 games.

Time to go have an experience with 91,000 other people that I'll never forget.

Passport face off, Netherlands vs. Canada

Today was the 6th game of our 7 game tournament here in the Olympic games in Beijing. We didn't play well, again, and lost 4-0 to Canada. They have a solid team, and had 4 hard luck 1 run losses in pool play to keep them from the medal rounds. We are also out of contention for the medal round. It's too bad, but we definetely did not play well enough to deserve a shot, we've been shutout 4 of our 6 games.

Tomorrow we get undefeated and 1st seed in the medal bracket, Korea. They are hot right now, especially after knocking off previously undefeated Cuba this morning 7-4. I am most likely done for pitching in the Olympics. If we had a chance to move on, I may have pitched tomorrow, but circumstances have changed. Overall I had 2 appearances including one start, going 6 2/3 innings, giving up 6 hits, striking out 6, hitting a batter, and walking one.

Tiny and I are planning on heading to the Great Wall of China in a couple days, should be pretty neat, even though we have to meet at a hotel out of the village at 7 am to meet up with a tour group. Also, I've requested (as many other players have) tickets to some events like Beach Volleyball and a seat in the Bird's Nest to watch some track events.

Here's some of today's action...


Signing bats and baseballs are part of the job. For signing all this stuff today we all received one Olympic ball, a pearl. I'm planning on making it the center piece of my now massive baseball collection



As before every game, we exchange pins with the other team. We usually get pins in return like today, but we were given pens from Chinese Taipei, banners from the cubans, and stamps(??) from the Americans



First pitch of the game. Shy (Shairon Martis (the guy who threw the no-hitter in the WBC)) throwing to Stubby Clapp (yeah, that's his name) a Canadian team veteran and captain. He came out of retiremet to play in the Olympics, and has done quite well



The coaching staff. L -> R Robert Eenhoorn (Manager), Brian Farley (Pitching coach), Win Martinus (BP thrower/1st base coach), and Jack Hubbard (3rd base coach/funniest philadelphian I've ever met). They were trying to figure out where the hell the strike zone was today in this picture, the Cuban umpire was all over the place



A picture from the bullpen of us playing on field two at Wukesong baseball complex in Beijing.



This is Canada's left fielder from today Brett Lawrie. He's quite the player (despite not getting a hit in 3 games against us). He was drafted with the 16th pick overall in the MLB draft in June, and signed a reported 1.6 million dollar contract with the Brewers, at the age of 18. His siter is also in the Olympics as a pitcher for the Canadian softball team. He is a resident of Langley, about 15 minutes away from White Rock where I was raised.



Netherlands team in the dugout, waiting for action that never transpired.




Shy facing a Canadian lineup of 8 lefties and one righty. This is rare considering about 60-70% of batters tend to be righties. In Canada though, because of the popularity of youth hockey, and hockey being a left hand dominated game, many of the young baseball players start out hitting lefthanded. The Swedish team is the same.

Us versus the best team in the world

Today we had Cuba. They are strong, very strong, and were too strong for us today. They run ruled us in 8 innings 14-3. This is about the worst defeat I've experienced since being on the national team. Our starter was 18 year old JC Sulbaran (Just signed with the Reds for $ 500,000), he has very raw electric stuff, but struggled to find the strike zone in this one, hitting 3 batter, and walking several also. He ended up with the loss throwing 90 pitches in less that 5 innings. Our bullpen struggled to hold the game close, and fielding yielded our first few big mistakes of the Olympics, resulting in a 5 run 4th, and a 4 run 5th.

Anyways, it wasn't a real pretty game, and it puts us now at 1-4, so we need a miracle to make it to the medal rounds. It's looking quite bleek right now, but you never know in baseball.

I've seen a couple of articles that said I would be starting against my home country tomorrow, Canada. Not true. Not many pitchers can start on 2 days rest after 100 pitches, it's very hard on the arm, and can easily ruin a pithers career, so we're going to go ahead and NOT do that. A highlight of today would be eating/ordering McDonalds right next to none other then Ronaldinho. The best and highest paid soccer player in the world. He was surrounded by athletes taking pictures and whatnot, so we weren't about to bug him. This marks the 2nd time I've seen him in person along with last september in Barcelona when our national team went to check out a Barcelona FC pratice during the European championship/Olympic qualifier.

Tomorrow we play Team Canada who is also 1-4, time to take it to the home country, I really hope our starter dominates them. Damn Canucks!!

Some pics from today...

The Cubans taking batting practice, launching homeruns left and right. This was the end of their BP, I was running poles for most of it, and it seemed like they were aiming for me, I had to dodge about 10 liners right at me



Our field with the Olympic basketball stdium in the background, it's about 100 meters past the right field wall, a very nice looking complex where the dream team has been dominating...



Lining up before the game, my funny expression is brought on by about 40 Cuban fans sitting right on top of our dugout. These people had noisemakers and drums, and were making noise the whole game, it was rediculous, but expected from the Cuban fans



Brian Engelhaart, our leftfielder hit his second homerun in as many games launching a ball into the night in deep right center field. We also got a long homerun off the bat of our DH, Percy Isenia.



A conference on the mound between the pitching coach Brian Farley, and pitcher David Bergman. This was in about the 5th inning just when things were turning quite sour for us



Martijn Meeuwis, my roommate, getting his first action in the Olympics, unluckily he was put in to face the Cuban closer who throws 91-97, and has a very dirty slider, needless to say he was slightly over matched after not getting a game at bat in about 3 weeks



This is called the "mixed zone" where players parade by the press directly after the games handshakes, and the press ask for who they want to question, I haven't been approached yet for this, but I did have a press conference after the China game



The final score, a bit embarassing, but the Cubans played very well, and were hitting everything. I would be suprised if don't get the gold medal.

Our mid-tournament day off **Updated**

It was good to unwind some and catch some of the other sports on the 40 Olympic channels we get here in the village. That's right, we have a TV in the common area of the 8 person apartment, and it shows 40 channels of olympic action. We never know what to watch, so we normally go to channels where Netherland teams are playing.

Speaking of which, the Netherlands softball team played the best team in the world today, team USA softball, with Jennie Finch, Crytstal Bustos and the whole rediculouly talented squad. They gave up only 1 run the whole olympics in 2004, and have given up 4 hits in 6 games here (including 4 no-hitters) this Olympics, crazy.

We had an early breakfast, followed by a 2 o'clock lunch, and a message that we have no practice today. No idea why it was cancelled, but it might have to do with the fact it was sprinkling all day long (which earlier in the week meant it would poor later in the day).

We ended up watching a lot of sports on TV including womens softball, volleyball, fencing, men's field hockey, and both mens and womens rowing (ladies won silver).
The Netherlands won a gold and a silver today which is a pretty big deal, and I happenned to notice that Canada won the 8 person mens gold in rowing, I wasn't to unhappy about that, for obvious reasons I guess.

Tomorrow we play team Cuba (about the best international team there is) at 6 pm, it is pretty much a must win just like the rest of our games... wish us luck!!

I didn't have much to photograph yesterday, so I took a couple of the epic USA vs. Netherlands match on TV...



Netherlands softball against the toughest opponent in the world, Team USA. They lost, compared to normal standards it was a respectable 8-0 defeat, they were also the 4th victim to be no hit by the USA in their 6 games.



Crystal Bustos. The cleanup hitter for USA is so rediculously good, she took this changeup and hit a line drive over the center field fence. She was completely fooled by the pitch as you can see, but it didn't matter, she is huge and strong, and I'm scared of her.



The relief pitcher for the Dutch was Judith Van Kampen, the sister of one of our pitchers, Michiel. Also, in another coincedence, I went to college with Judith. She was the top pitcher for our softball team in my first year of college at Treasure Valley Community College in Oregon. Way back in 2001-2002. She is still a dominating pitcher, and is one of the best in the Dutch head class.