October Baseball in Suriname

"Ninety percent I'll spend on good times, women and Irish Whiskey. The other ten percent I'll probably waste."--Tug McGraw(after signing a new 75K contract)


Due to our voluntary financial predicament, Peace Corps Volunteers around the World tip our caps to you, Tug McGraw.

America's pastime, not an easy ticket to come by in Suriname.
Strange start times, strange channel and not a lot of interest on the part of the Surinamese. Luckily, there is a bar located within walking distance of the Peace Corps Office and we've been chummy with the owner for a couple of years now. Infact it's almost a personal Peace Corps Suriname bar. If you've ever been to Chico, this bar is to Peace Corps Suriname what The Bear is to Chico State, it's not officially on our campus but it is. Last year, this was the only bar in town willing to play the opening Monday Night Football games for us, Patriots-Bills and Raiders-Chargers if memory serves me correctly. So, we got the owner's number and now we give him a call anytime we want to watch a game and I can't think of a time he hasn't opened up for us. Awesome! He's okay with strange sport kickoff/first pitch times, has the strange channels no one else has, TBS, and he can tolerate football although it appears he isn't too fond of baseball.

Since arriving in Suriname, I had one chance to watch a baseball game. Last year, the owner of this bar opened up but when we arrived we found out the game was rained out. I think we ended up eating some delicious barbequed chicken he cooked up for us and watched Family Guy and the other Sunday night cartoons on FOX. During this 2010 season, I had seen a grand total of 0 regular season games while in Suriname, although I caught a few games when I was back in the States on vacation. Most of my baseball updates this season came from two sources. First, reading my uncle's facebook status updates. I figured out the Giants had been on a winning streak and were moving up in the division when his facebook status changed to 'adopting a kid named Buster'. So either Buster Posey had a really good year or there's some new trend in America that I don't know about. My other source of updates came from over-the-phone play-by-play from my dad, "2-0 Giants in the 7th. 2 on, 2 out. 3-2 count to Tejada, here comes the pitch...struck him out! Grab some pine meat!" Kruk and Kuip meet Jimmy and Bobby. And so 6 outs after Tejada struck out, the Giants would win the division. My next trip into the city coincided with the opening of the Giants-Braves series.

Game 1, Thursday October 7, first pitch: 10:30 pm Suriname Time. But of course, we got to the bar earlier. Around 8 pm, I called the owner and informed him we wanted to come in, he said he'd open up for us at 9 pm and so we arrived accordingly. The night started off with my friend buying me a 1 liter Parbo Beer (referred to as a 'djugo' in Suriname) because the Padres finished second to the Giants. I toasted the 2010 NL West Champs, took a sip of the sweet, ice cold brew and noted that it tasted a lot like victory. My friend probably wanted to punch me. My 4 Peace Corps friends and I had a few drinks, shot the breeze with the owner of the establishment and watched the Yanks finish off the Twins. How far out of the loop are we? We had no idea Lance Berkman was a Yank. When did this happen!?

10:30 pm: Game time! Lincecum comes out dealing! Second batter and I'm already starting the left-field bleacher-bum chant: "What's the matter with Heyward!? He's a bum!" One of my New England based counterparts doesn't appreciate my cheer and begins her own anti-Yankee cheer; it was second rate compared to the banter that originated from the left field bleachers of Pac Bell Park--or whatever it is called now. In the middle of the first inning we're trying to explain to the owner the concept of baseball, he doesn't get it. He tries to explain cricket, we don't get that. Around the 2nd inning two more female Peace Corps Volunteers arrive and convince us to play card games and King's Cup. King's Cup, like baseball, also a first in Suriname. Also, a bad idea. I'm keeping an eye on the game the whole time but the owner sees I'm pre-occuppied and changes the channel to some FOX show. NOOOOOOOOOOOO! There's no score and Tim Lincecum is dealin'. But

I know he doesn't like baseball and I'm pre-occupied so I decide not to make a deal of it since it's early in the game. Little did I know I'd miss the only run of the game. By the time I had asked the owner to turn back the channel it was the 6th inning and already 1-0 Giants. And so the score would stand with Lincecum taking the victory and striking out 14. Got in a good couple fist pumps and a victory exclamation much to the dismay of the Padre faithful present at the time. I finally walked out the door sometime after 2 am Suriname time thinking clearly: better figure out where I can find a bed my next trip in the city so I can watch the Giants in the World Series. Go Giants!(This piece was written before the G's-Phillies series started)

(Now, This piece was written 10/24) I went to bed last night knowing the Giants had a 3-2 lead in the top of the 9th against the Phillies in game 6 of the NLCS. I wanted to stay up but it was already past midnight and the birthday party in Bendikwai the evening before had left me too exhausted to continue on late into the night. So I woke up this morning a bit anxious as I had not received any text updates from any friends or family updating me on how the game ended yesterday. So I spent the early morning hours biting my nails wondering, pondering, imagining how tourtous those last 3 outs must have come with Brian Wilson on the hill in the bottom of the 9th with what as far as I knew would be a 1 run lead in the bottom of the 9th. Not sure at what time I should wait to call home, my anxiety was relieved when a few minutes before noon I walked into my house after washing my clothes in the river and found my phone ringing... "Giants!" was all I heard on the other end, "Alright!"
I replied. My dad then gave me the whole play by play recap of game 6 and how the Giants managed to hold on.

This was perhaps the most unique way I have ever followed sports. In Gunzi, the electricity turns off at midnight or 8 pm on the West Coast. So for Games 1 and 4
I traded phone calls with my dad for inning to inning updates. Both games I stayed up well after the electricity turned off. So I had to light a candle and stay up with my phone kept close by waiting for a call from America with updates on the Giants. Glad I stayed up for those two games. Game 3 an afternoon game on the West Coast and I got a call in the early evening here in Suriname from my dad with an update on the game, that was pretty simple to coordinate. Games 5 and 6 occurred while I was in Bendikwai and immediately after I returned to Gunzi from Bendikwai for my friend's birthday party. Too exhausted to stay up these nights I had to go to bed each night and wake up both mornings not knowing if the Giants had won or lost and whether or not we had made the World Series. (Torture!)
Luckily I was able to see one of the games of the series, sort of, here in Gunzi in my hut! For Game 2, I was able to connect to the internet and was able to watch a live feed of the game from the middle of the jungle. And when I say watch the game, I mean my connection speed allowed me to see about 4 pitches every inning.
Fortunately the audio was loading faster and I got an every-other batter account as opposed to a play-by-play from McCarver and Buck. This was supplemented with the occassional Live Game Day update on Yahoo. And that my friends, is how you have to follow Giants baseball in the jungle. Go Giants!