Well, the Roanoke Rampage had our first game this past Saturday and there’s good and bad news. The bad news?? We lost…9-0. The good news (and a lot of it) is that the game and entire day was a huge success. I’ll begin by saying this. Not many people got behind us. Most laughed. Others made the smart ass comments. It was wide spread that we’d never get it done. We were all gonna have broken legs or arms and subsequently be fired. We were gonna look like idiots, be an embarrassment to our city and department and would never draw a crowd. HA! Guess what…. we did it! Just by opening the gates and taking that field, we proved a lot of folks wrong and I believe changed some minds and gained fans / support. There were over 700 paying attendees and over 100 sponsors / guest. South Carolina’s team said this was the largest crowd that they’ve seen in the league yet and we were their 5th or 6th game! And, good crowd meant money for our charity…Steps 4 Billy. Karen and Randy were in attendance and even took the field pre-game to accept a signed football from the team. More good news… no serious injuries. A few bumps, bruises, pulls, strains etc. but basically we held up. We learned a TON! Hey…this was the first time we have ever done this. There were bound to be mistakes and short falls. Now that we know em we can work on fixing em. Our next game is at home as well on April 24th. against Washington DC. I’ll post more on that on another day. But back to Saturday, it seemed as if everyone enjoyed themselves. I haven’t heard a negative comment. The tailgating was awesome both before and after. I left the station that morning and went straight to the stadium to set up. With the help of my brother Jackson and Smurf (from station #6C) we were up and running by 08:30.
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Smurf had the “cyber cafe” set up inside while Jackson got the corn hole boards and outside entertainment ready. Several friends from the farm rolled in with the grill, about a 1/2 beef, 1000 or so hot dogs, kabobs etc. Oh yea…and COLD BEER. Then Chuck, Chad, David, Buddy and the crew rolled in. They backed the trucks up and unloaded just as much stuff! The last count was 36 people all together! It was a blast. Here are a few more pics from early on…
The Buckaroo made it out to wish me luck as did my baby sister (and mother / step father) who came in from NC to see me in action. The stands were full of fans as well..here are a few random shots from the cheap seats..
And believe me… we had just as much fun down on the field. Our defence looked fantastic…offence needs a little work. South Carolina played BOTH WAYS! Wow..talk about heart.. my helmet is off to those guys. I have a few action shots but they didn’t turn out too good. Luckily, I found some though. I got to meet Angela Jones Peay today. She is the wife of one of our firefighters from A-shift Mike Peay. Angela used to be a sports photographer and did an awesome job behind the lens. All of the pics below are compliments of Angela…
Angela has a lot more for you to see on her “picture book” (thats Face Book for all you computer geeks lol) page. Check em out, again she did a great job of getting some quality shots. And, Yes…the 3rd pic down is me running the ball. Ok..it’s me running for my life LOL (i had an off day and shoulda cut that one back)but theres the proof for all you non-believers. I dont know all the name / number combos so I wont attempt to list everyone pictured. We do however have a TON of media guides (programs) left over. Cost is $2.00 for a piece of FD history. Contact any player or Todd Stone via the team web site for your copy today. Ok, that’s enough football for tonight…just remember next game Saturday April 24th and the Wednesday before that (4/21) the Salem Red Sox are promoting “Rampage Night” at the baseball game. All players have tickets for sale. Make plans to come out for a night of fun and baseball to support your favorite football team. OK OK on to firehouse stuff. It’s been another busy one! Running all day, classes, physicals you name it! I haven’t been able to get any good rumors or gossip because we haven’t stopped long enough to talk to anyone. We started the morning off with a little ARFF training… joy joy. Afterwards, we did a little pump training as well. Here’s a few shots of Eugene putting her through the paces..
I wish I had a name for her but I don’t. The Engine I mean. You see at Station #9, we called our rig the “War Wagon” and she was! She was an ENGINE. She didn’t have one of those almost a half of a ladder thingy on top. A stick….blitz attack..LMAO yea right riding with 3? Anyway, I haven’t found a name / title to fit it yet BUT give me some time.. I’ll get one. Better than that, give me your suggestions. What should we (I) call Engine #3? Post your reply in the comment section. Speaking of the number “3”, while at training this morning I noticed something kinda cool. Some history. They have the old wooden lockers that used to be at old station #3 on 6th and Rorer (the REAL station 3). Anyway, if I remember correctly, then Captain Terry King (now Battalion 2B), Lt. Chris Brown (now Captain, deceased)and the remaining C-shift crew built the lockers in order to give our new turnout gear a little more protection from the elements. Anyway, I had made Captain and was assigned there as well. Back then, before these fancy name plates and such; we simply wrote our names in our spot. A lot of names scribbled on those lockers. Some good memories too. I even found mine…wish I could go back there now..
And, since I mentioned Station #9…I had another realization today. You know, we’re really not THAT far apart. It’s almost….ALMOST starting to feel like #9 out here now. (long pause and uncomfortable quiet) Ok.. well it IS starting to look more like it…
“Pimp Mobile” in our territory … LMAO! Guess there really is “one in every group”. Ok to wrap things up, Pee-Wee managed to tame the beast tonight. Our grill that is. You shoulda seen him out there “doing it”. It pushed him back for a minute but Ol Pee-Wee stood his ground. Hamburgers done to perfection…
Last but not least.. our 2 ride-a-longs from Rookie School. Cadets James Walker (left) and Ronnie Mitchell (right). Graduation is scheduled for Friday April 16th. Congratulations to them all, good luck and we look forward to seeing you out in the companies..
And YES! I pulled a pretty good one on em before they left. Amazing I know..there are a lot of things I can tolerate but fretting is NOT one of em 🙂
Stay safe and in the house. We’re back on Friday and Sunday.
Capt Wines