Aeros equipment manager and resident comedian Rick Bronwell continues his Aeros.com blog. Rick loves hearing from his fans...rather, Aeros fans...so e-mail him now
Blog man here. And rocker extraordinaire. My voice isn’t too good from the show Tuesday night at The Maple Leaf Pub. The show was awesome. Everything was perfect. But you can always make it better for next time. Let’s hope there’s a plan in store for us to do this again. I actually got an e-mail from someone who has a band “Dressed to KISS” – it’s a KISS cover band. They want us to open up for them at some big venue on May 19. I would love to do it, but I don’t know if Benny will be able to get here for it. If he does, that would be so sick. I’d love to play a 1,000-seat venue.
I want to say thank you to Jim O’Neill of Lonestar Sound, and also Screaming Buffalo for letting us borrow their P.A. equipment. The feedback was wonderful, thank you to Channel 2 and Channel 26 for checking us out. We’ll see if anything goes from this. Summer is coming up, Benny will go home to Alberta, and Hold the Mayo will be on hiatus for a bit. It was great to see everyone out there. Even my wife came out and had a couple of beers and didn’t even make fun of me afterwards. Imagine that.
Looking at our trip coming up, we’ve got Toronto, Syracuse, Rochester and Manitoba. We fly into Toronto on Thursday, and we get to unload directly into the locker room. But it’s not a direct flight into Toronto, so we’ve got to go through Detroit.
After the game in Toronto on Friday, the team is going to bus the three hours to Rochester, and stay there, even though we play in Syracuse on Saturday. I have to try to find out how to get the gear from Rochester to Syracuse, about an hour and a half. We may have to rent a truck, but I think Syracuse can come pick us up.
We’ll get in at 2 a.m., throw the gear on the truck and drive it to Syracuse and unload there. We play there Saturday, and then we’ll drive everything back to Rochester for Sunday afternoon. We’ll hop on the bus after our Sunday game and drive to Toronto.
They’ll drop us off on our flight to Winnipeg, where we play Tuesday and Wednesday. Then we’re pretty much done on long road trips. The most we have is a three-game trip for like four days. It’s tough for the team itself to do, but it’s great for families. The teams out east get to bus and they spend almost every night in their own bed. Here, we’re flying all the time, and if we have a day off, it’s actually a travel day. It won’t be bad in Toronto unless we get another Snow-O’Cane. It is March 14, and these people up north haven’t yet figured out it’s almost springtime.
Mailbag Time
Q: This my dog last year. He is Chilly's biggest fan. His name is Mr. Brownstone. I dig your Blog. My hubby and I are season ticket holders and would like to get our copy of "Hold the Mayo" autographed. Please put Mr. Brownstone's picture in your Blog as he reads them while I am at work. Thanks. Amy
A: Keep the dog pictures coming, I love it. I never expected this to take off, kind of like Hold the Mayo. So keep sending those pics in and we’ll post them.
Q: Rick – My son and I went to our 2nd EVER Aeros game. It was fun!! It is really hard to keep my son’s attention for any amount of time (he’s 6) but he has enjoyed EVERY minute of both games. I've taken him to numerous other sporting events (Astros, Texans, etc.) and he’s ready to go after about 30 minutes. But that’s not true at the Aeros games. He can’t wait until the next game as soon as we leave!! I normally don’t get into watching sports either but man I LIKE THE AEROS. My hat is off to all of you and your organization! Kudos!! Well be seeing you guys again REAL SOON!!! Thanks - Michael
A: Michael – Thank you, you rock. My daughters love hockey too.
Q: I don't have a question. I just want to add that you have a new fan for the team. I am a huge Aaron Voros fan and have followed his playing since he played for the Victoria Salsa. You have a great player there and I can’t wait to hear more of your games to hear him play. Ashlee, Victoria, British Columbia
A: Ashlee – Aaron sends his regards!
Q: Rick – Since you have also added professional driver to your long resume, are there any tips you can give to help the rest of us out when it comes to traveling in the Midwest in the winter during a little snow storm? Do you wear any special type of driving gloves? Maybe Mechanix gloves? Are there any special foods you should pack to make the trip easier? I have noticed there haven’t been any family guy references in your last couple Blogs. What’s up with that? – Kurt in Peoria
A: Kurt – I am not a pro driver. Ask Matt Shaw, he knows for sure that I’m not. Tips to you drivers – keep your hands on the wheel, and have your boss sit right next to you. The Mechanix gloves…We got picked up by Kurt from Peoria at one point and he had some of these Mechanix gloves, they have pads on the top of the fingers. I kept trying them on over the three hours. Next time I came in, there was a pair of mechanix gloves waiting for me in the truck. I use them when I pet my dog. He’s mean and bites me. My dog – not Kurt.
We were so busy jamming for the show this week, there wasn’t much time for anything else to happen. But I’m sure I’ll have lots of road trip stories next week when we get back! But keep the feedback, questions, comments and concerns coming!
