MVP

With hopes of giving you all a better sense of the baseball scene in Ghana (and my work with the game here), I am going to write a series of posts about baseball in Ghana with a particular focus on the different actors involved. This first post is about Peter Tamberson, one of the best baseball players in Ghanaian history.
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Last Saturday, I watched Peter Tamberson, a 26-year old Ghanaian man, crush a softball at least 300 feet on four separate occasions. For the most part, his homeruns sailed towards left-center field and landed in the tall grass just behind the soccer pitch (which doubles as a softball diamond) at St. Thomas Aquinas Field in Accra, Ghana.

Had things gone just a little bit differently, Peter’s homeruns might have been sailing over the Green Monster at Fenway Park or the ivory covered walls of Wrigley Field. Several years ago, Peter traveled to the United States for a tryout with the Florida Marlins. Unfortunately, the audition, which was organized in part thanks to the efforts of a former U.S. Ambassador to Ghana, ended prematurely when Peter busted his knee during the 40 yard dash.

Though Peter no longer aspires to play professional baseball, he is still involved with the sport. Every Saturday, he and some of his friends from church play softball in Accra, and Peter is also teaching baseball to orphans here.

What impresses me most about Peter is that he does not seek fanfare or wealth (which, as I will discuss in a subsequent post, distinguishes him from other folks involved in baseball in Ghana). At this point, what drives Mr. Tamberson is a love of the game and genuine desire to help kids enjoy a wonderful sport.

In a country rife with corruption and a sport tainted by illegal drug use, Peter Tamberson stands out to me as a true MVP.

All Star Weekend

This weekend, I had the pleasure of practicing with some of the most talented baseball players in Ghana. Specifically, on Saturday, I attended the practice of the Little League All Stars, who are competing in a tournament in the Ivory Coast in two weeks. Then, earlier today, I trained with the Ghanaian national baseball team.

Both experiences were stupendous, and I will write more about them as well as the general baseball scene in Ghana in the near future. In the meantime, enjoy these photos that were taken at the practices and posted online by my colleague, Joe Luna: baseball photos

Baseball Stadiums Article

During my senior year of college, I wrote my thesis about government subsidies for professional sports stadiums, and, since graduation, I have done some work for a professor who studies the same issue.

This morning, I read this article; it provides an interesting perspective on the stadium subsidies debate by describing the derelict conditions of a minor league baseball stadium in Vermont and the team’s effort to obtain government assistance for a new park.

Typically, state and municipal governments subsidize new stadiums to prevent teams from relocating. This minor league team in Vermont, however, is arguing that it should receive government assistance because of the stadium’s historical value. The field the team plays on is older than Fenway Park!

Admittedly, the team is fairly explicitly threatening to relocate, and there is something that resembles a precedent for this. A few years ago, Soldier Field was renovated instead of replaced in part because of its historical value. Likewise, Fenway Park has been renovated and not rebuilt because some people argue that it has tremendous historical significance.

Still, to my knowledge, few teams have framed their case that a stadium should receive government aid vis-a-vis the field’s historical significance.

Very interesting stuff.

Early Bird…

In Ghana, the business day for a lot of people starts at sunrise. Because my work day usually starts at 8:00 a.m. or so, I typically turn my phone off at night (I don’t want anyone waking me up with a 6:30 a.m. phone call). This morning, however, I am off to Tema for baseball practice, and, because I had to get up early on a Saturday morning, I left on my phone and switched on the phone alarm clock. Big mistake: by 7:45 a.m., I had received four separate phone calls.

A Note to My College Friends

Last fall, when I first began this blog for my cycling trip, my roommates from college created a betting pool. The wager was over when I would get injured and have to end my trip.

To my knowledge, none of them has created a pool about the likelihood of me surviving my African adventure. Though I am perfectly happy not to have people gambling about my well-being, I miss their shenanigans.

So, I am imploring my college roommates to bring their ridiculous antics to whereswaldo. However, please keep in mind that my grandmother reads this blog, so do not do anything too ridiculous.

A Day in the Life

With hopes of giving you all a better sense of what I experience each day, I’m dedicating a post to pictures of some of the things I see nearly every day while in Accra. I’ll continue to post photos from my daily life over the next couple of weeks.

1. Goats: I share my neighborhood with many animals (roosters, crows, lizards, and dogs), but I think the most common animal around is the goat. Here’s one that likes to graze around the corner:

The Goat Down the Road

2. The Soccer Field: I try to get out on the soccer field at least once a week. Here’s a photo of the dirt field just around the corner from my house. It’s small, and we usually play 4 v 4. It allows each player to have lots of touches.

The local soccer field

3. The University: We’re collaborating with researchers at the University of Ghana at Legon. It is an absolutely gorgeous campus, and I feel fortunate to be able to spend a fair amount of time there. In what can be an otherwise chaotic environment, the University stands out as a fairly peaceful place:

The University

Dont Mess with Texas

Last week, my friend, Cody, introduced me to La Fiesta Haciena, a store/restaurant a few kilometers from my house. It is run by a woman from Texas and, for all intents and purposes, is a scaled down version of Costco in Ghana. Literally, everything in that store (I think) was shipped to Ghana from Costco.

Among other things, La Fiesta Hacienda has Cheerios, Progresso Clam Chowder, and Craisins. I decided not to pay $24 for Cheerios, but you better believe I forked over the $3.00 for the chowder.

More importantly, the restaurant attached to the store has, by far, the best burger and fries combination I have had in Ghana. For one thing, they wrap the burgers in tinfoil, which gives it a slightly greasier/authentic feel. More importantly, they somehow recreated that ketchup-pickles combination you find in a McDonald’s Quarter Pounder (not to mention the thick buns and legitimately tasty patties). Check-it out:

Heavenly Food

In other news, I fly home from Ghana exactly one month from today. I’m looking to finish strong here with the baseball work, the research, and the overall adventure. And, as far as I’m concerned, there’s nothing wrong with some good burgers to give me the fuel for that strong finish.

More Baseball/Softball Pictures

My colleague, Joe, took some great photos of a softball game we played on Saturday. Check them out:

http://flickr.com/gp/joseph_luna/8X3Y40

A Fresh Perspective

As many of you could probably infer from my previous posts, several aspects of Ghana have started to grate on me, especially the corruption and constant harassment of Americans. To be honest, I was reaching a point not too long ago when I couldn’t wait to come home.

Earlier this week, I had a conversation with a friend that has helped me to embrace my remaining time in Ghana with a little more enthusiasm. A friend from Newton (my hometown) spent the summer working in Tamale (a city in northern Ghana), and, before flying home on Tuesday, he and one of his colleagues spent Monday night at my house in Accra.

I asked them if they were really excited about going home, and they said that they had mixed feelings. On the one hand, they said they certainly missed many of the creature comforts and familiarities of home. At the same time, they said they were cognizant of the fact that they were ending a very unique experience that has taught them a great deal.

One of my colleagues, who spent last summer in Ghana, made a similar comment to me. He emphasized that, as stressful and challenging as life in Ghana can be, you are likely to miss it a couple weeks after you return home.

I’m trying to take both of these conversations to heart for several reasons. First, as both my colleague and friend noted, it’s not every day you get to live, work, and coach sports in an African country.

Second, I’m realizing that the remainder of this trip — i.e. these next five weeks — probably represent the end of what has been a wonderful but, ultimately, unsustainable period of my life. Since graduating from college in June 2008, I’ve focused largely on making the money and creating the conditions to do two things I thought I would really enjoy, my bike trip last fall and a job abroad. I’ve been employed at least part time for every month since college graduation and did at internship at the Center for Sport in Society that helped me to clarify my career goals, but, nonetheless, this past year has been, to a large extent, about having experiences I would cherish for the rest of my life, not career development.

I have no regrets whatsoever about how I have spent the past year. I’ve had a great deal of fun, clarified my career aspirations, and, to a large extent, quenched my thirst for adventure. At the same time, I don’t want the next year — or next five years for that matter — to be a repeat of this past year for several reasons. First, now that I have clarified my career aspirations, I want to work towards realizing them. Second, the past year has been a bit socially isolating for me. I’ve lived in a tent while biking down the west coast, at home while doing an unpaid internship and two part time jobs, and in West Africa. Needless to say, it is hard to lead a normal 23 year old’s social life in any of those circumstances.

All of that is say that these next five weeks represent what will likely be the last phase of a somewhat nomadic period of my life. Though I am starting to look forward to ending this phase, I recognize that, like Ghana, I will probably appreciate it more when it’s over. So many of the people who I went to for career advice said that this is the time in my life to do things like my bike trip and job here in Ghana because, later on, I will have more substantive responsibilities.

So, recognizing that I’m approaching the end of two very unique times in my life, I am going to try to enjoy, appreciate, and learn from the next five weeks as much as possible.

Having said that, mom and dad, do not worry: enjoying, appreciating, and learning from the next five weeks will not involve making the next Obama no matter what taxi drivers say to me.

A Colleague’s Blog

http://joegoesghana.blogspot.com

Take a look at my colleague’s blog!