We moved from the Hampton Roads area a year ago, and as a result, it’s been a year since I vacated my seat in section 309 of Harbor Park. That has made it very difficult to keep up with the continuing adventures of the Norfolk Tides and to report on them here in this blog. Recently I found myself really missing writing about baseball here, which I find ridiculous. Nothing has kept me from watching plenty of baseball, and nothing has kept me from writing about what I’ve seen. I just didn’t take the time to figure out how to adapt the blog to my new baseball environment.

Perhaps I should describe this new venue from a baseball standpoint. We live in south central Tennessee, about an hour from the Joe W. Davis stadium in Huntsville, AL. This stadium is the former home of the Huntsville Stars. It’s an older stadium, but a decent one. I enjoyed watching games at this park on past visits to Huntsville. The teams were good and the fans were great. There were lots of them, too. Much to my chagrin, owner Ken Young (also the owner of the Tides, ironically) decided to move this team to Biloxi, MS. We did have the unexpected pleasure of watching the “Biloxi Shuckers” at the stadium in Huntsville for a couple of weeks this May, while they awaited completion of their new stadium next door to the Beau Rivage in Biloxi. It was a bittersweet time. About two dozen hard-core baseball fans sat in a rather lonesome stadium one beautiful spring afternoon, eating old hot dogs and saying our good-byes to our local franchise as they beat up on Mobile.

Now, a month later, Joe W. Davis stadium sits silent, and we minor league fans are left looking elsewhere for our continuing dose of small-town baseball. There are rumors of a new team locating in Huntsville, but I have heard nothing definite. The A’s triple-A affiliate, the Nashville Sounds, is probably the best alternative until that time.

The bottom line of my ramblings here is that, with a dearth of minor league ball here at the moment, I need to refocus the content of this blog somewhat. I will opine on general baseball topics, the ongoing trials and tribulations of the Cincinnati Reds, and whatever minor league news I run across. This approach will let me continue to write about baseball topics that interest me, even if I don’t make it to the ballpark as often.

It’s a different spin on things for me, but hopefully it still makes it home. – RR