Blogs from Latvia, Europe - page 28

Riga is undoubtedly beautiful. An art noveau overload with cobbled streets, spires and turrets. Its medieval old town is heritage listed by UNESCO and it was nothing short of bustling when I arrived a few days before the summer solstice festival. However, now Riga risks losing its UNESCO status with the construction of too many modern buildings. Even worse, the cheap airlines have got in and every weekend bring obnoxious and arrogant groups of bucks parties across from the UK. There is a vibe about Riga I just didn't like. Organised crime is a problem and strip clubs, casinos and other sleazy outfits are taking over the city. One look around Riga and you'll notice the gap between the rich in their schmick black cars and the regular locals. Despite all this, you can't help but ... read more

I learned that Vikingas, one of the teams from Vilnius, has two Ukrainians on their team, one of them being the pitcher we faced that day. According to Sigitas, they have six paid players on the team. One paid player they acquired from another Vilnius Club, another from Utena (a city two hours away). In both cases the guys were on teams that did not have money to pay players. Sigitas did not how much they were paid, simply that they were paid. When I asked him how they could afford to pay six players, he explained to me that of all the teams in Lithuania without a home field, Vikingas was closest to getting one. They owned land in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, which is hard to come by, and Sigitas thinks that corporate ... read more

After our game on Sunday I had dinner with Sigitas, his sister, and both of their families. They took me to a restaurant away from the city that was on the banks of the Namonas river, the largest river in Lithuania. And when we had our drinks, Birute made a toast. She said (translated by Sigitas) that she brought me to this spot because it was beautiful, and she wanted my last dinner to remind me of how beautiful Lithuania was so that I would come back. ‘Never forget Lithuania,’ she said. PS-check the gallery for photos.... read more

More thoughts on baseball............ I have been thinking hard about baseball while I’ve been here. And about sports, why we play them, why they are important to us, and how they become important to us. And I think about how structured sport is in the US, even at the youth level (YMCA, Rainbow Soccer, Challenger, Little League, Pop Warner football…). Take little league baseball, for example. There is a clear structure for how it works. There is the coach. He is in charge of bringing the balls, helmets, gear, some bats….he is in charge of making sure the field is ready for play when his team is the home one. The league provides him with equipment, guidance for how things should be run. There are the parents, their job is to bring their kids to the ... read more

(Welcome to the backlog/catch-up sessions. Back in June this year, two-days before we departed to South America, we spent two weeks in the Baltics and Russia.) 12 June 2006 Landed in Riga at 7.30pm to glorious sunshine and warm weather! Managed to get the bus to Riga with some Aussies (all very happy with their 3-1 win against Japan in the World Cup). On arrival at the hostel we were given free beer! Bit of a novelty. The 5 of us went to explore the vast expanse that is Riga... it's actually surprisingly small (and apparently the largest of the Baltic capitals). The hardest thing to get used to was the late sunlight. As we were out and about until the early hours it wasnt completely dark until after midnight! The next morning we went to ... read more