During the final weeks of the regular season, Jon Busch will give fans an insider's look at the San Jose Earthquakes push for the playoffs. Check back each week for an updated version of Bloggin with Buschy!
Hello, Quake fans. It’s Friday morning so that means we are on the road again. Because we have spent the past few weeks on the road, the PR department thought it would be a good idea to let you guys know what life on the road is all about.
So, buckle up, here we go on the road of “excitement.”
We started with a 5-hour flight from San Fran to Dulles last night. We landed in D.C. at 8:55 p.m., but had to wait until 10:15 p.m. to get our bags(not sure why - maybe a union smoke break). So at 10:30 we finally departed to the hotel and should have been there in 20 minutes.
Nope, not tonight. It’s our lucky night: highway construction. We had the pleasure of sitting in traffic until 11:45 p.m.
It’s interesting to see what players will do to waste time. A few of the guys had a card game going on in the back of the bus. The rest of us - well lets just say thank goodness for cell phone technology (texting, Facebook, internet). All good ways to waste time.
Once we arrived at the hotel at midnight, it was time for dinner. All of our meals are put together by Bruce Morgan (head trainer). Last night’s meal was the best dinner we have had all season so let’s all take a second right now and give Bruce a round of applause. Well done, Bruce!
Ok, after eating I went up to the room to relax and unwind. I room with Sam Cronin and fortunately we have similar tastes in TV programs. This is very important on the road because a lot of time is spent in your rooms.
The choice of the night was River Monsters. Yes, you read that correctly, hah. We have a whole list of shows we watch: Manhunters, The First 48, Billy the Exterminator. These are all very educational, as you can imagine.
About 1 a.m. EST or so we crashed out to get some rest for training on Friday.
Friday at 10 a.m. most players are still laying in bed trying to catch up on their sleep. Some will be up due to the time change and others will be working on blogs for the Quakes PR department.
We had team breakfast at 11 a.m. and after that we will start getting ready for training at 1 p.m. It will be a lighter session to let the boys get their legs back from the flight. There is usually some 5v2 to see who will get megged the most. I wont say who it usually is. All I will say is it isn't a goalkeeper.
Once training is over, we are on our own for lunch and dinner. Usually it’s a quick lunch and a nap. When it’s time for dinner we always go out together in small groups. After figuring out what we want to eat and getting a good meal in, it’s back to the hotel for more quality TV watching.
Now, multiply this by a trip to Toronto, back to San Jose and then to Columbus.
At this point I think we should take a second for all of you guys to recover from all the excitement you just read about… OK, good. Lets’ continue.
So as you can see there is a lot of down time for us and we spend a lot of time together. This works well because we have a great group of guys that all get on very well. We always have a good laugh together.
Three Things I have learned on these long road trips:
1) Wondo can sleep anywhere, anytime and in any position;
2) Leitch thinks he is the best looking guy anywhere we are ;
3) Bruce Morgan must have the world's largest bladder. I have never seen him use the bathroom on any flight.
Well fans I hope this has enlightened you on our life on the road.
Until next time.,
Buschy
