First Day in Arizona For Fancave Top 30

by Dave Barclay

You guys, this whole thing is crazy. Last night I did an interview at 1:15 AM on TSN 990 (You can check it out here; I'm on at 1:56 but the whole show is great) and then left my house at 5:45 to go to the airport for a 9:40 flight to Arizona (I was worried about customs, so I left myself lots of time).

A lady gave me a voucher to use the special Maple Leaf Lounge, which meant free yogourt, but my good fortune turned to bad as the plane had some kind of toilet problem, and we were delayed for three hours as we had to switch to another plane

I arrived in Phoenix, foggy headed and loopy, at 3:30 and was quickly shuttled to Chase Field, home of MLB's Arizona Diamondbacks. There I was greeted with much enthusiasm by my 29 comrades, who it turns out are just as delightful in person as they were via social media. They had all been worried about me, which was very touching, and welcomed me with open arms.

Then things got real, fast, as I was on a trivia superteam with Benjamin Christensen of beard and tattoo fame and Lindsay Guentzel of Minnesota, and we dominated the MLB IQ Fancave Trivia challenge and won the right to be on a morning show in Phoenix tomorrow.

Then we had a lovely dinner in Chase Field and I participated in another all-star team, this time in the arena of Kareoke, joining Cardinals fan (and great singer) Kelsey Shea Weinrich and Angels fan (and great turn-arounder) Ricardo Marquez in a stirring rendition of Total Eclipse of the Heart. Did I mention this was all in Chase Field, the home of the Diamondbacks? It was.

This trip is turning out to be just as fun and mind-blowing as I'd hoped, and I haven't even interviewed 2003 playoff hero Aaron Boone yet. Tomorrow is a crazy busy day, and I'll try and keep you posted best I can as I go. Now I have to manage the difficult balance between work and sleep in the scant hours I have left here in desert paradise.