[misc] Which Angels player loves Cheesecake Factory?

看板Angels作者mjhsieh (ぼくサッチー)時間17年前 (2008/06/25 14:02)推噓1(1推 0噓 1→)

留言2則, 1人參與討論串1/1

這篇不太重要, 不過鮪魚如果要去某家店去堵 Figgins 和 Kotchman 的話記得找我。 http://www.ocregister.com/sports/inside-the-angels-2074640-figgins-likes Which Angels player loves Cheesecake Factory? Angels Q&A: Chone Figgins talks about his life inside and outside baseball. By KEVIN TRUDGEON THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER ANAHEIM – Register reporter Kevin Trudgeon caught up with Angels starting third baseman Chone Figgins recently. Figgins, 30, who made his debut with the Angels in 2002, reflected on baseball players' superstitions, the issue of instituting replay in the game and more: Question: What was the first thing you bought with your first big- -league paycheck? Figgins: Probably the first big thing I did was get my family to fly out. I bought them all tickets so they could fly out to see me play. I think it was five of them, and they ended up staying in the hotels we were at, which were expensive, but it was nice. I'm not really big on the cars or anything like that. I don't do a lot of shopping. So for my family to go somewhere they'd never been and probably wouldn't have gone to in their life, (it) was great. It was my first call-up, which was in Boston, which was a special place to go for them, coming all the way from Florida. They would never vacation up there or anything, so for them to get the opportunity to go up there was big. Q: What's your favorite and least favorite city to travel to? Figgins: Tampa. My family lives there, so I love going to Tampa and getting to see all of them. I'm not really big into stadiums or anything, but for me, I'm big into food when it comes to places we travel. Like Baltimore is a great one, they've got good food. New York is a good one, too. The East Coast has great food all over. And there's Seattle too. Seattle has great food. Everything up there is fried, and I'm from the South, so we like fried foods. If it's fried, I usually like it. For places I don't really like traveling to, probably Oakland is on the list. I don't really like the food there. I don't like the food in Boston really. Cleveland isn't that great, either. For me, if I'm eating good, I feel better. I don't eat a lot of P.F. Chang's or seafood, I can't eat that stuff, so I like to find good places to eat in the cities. And if there aren't any good ones, that just ends up making the trip bad for me. Q: What about at home for eats? Figgins: When we're home, there are a couple places I usually go, before the game and after the game. Charley's, over by Main Place mall, they've got some really good steak sandwiches. Then there's a little Mexican restaurant that I go to down the street. Me and (Casey) Kotchman go to Fashion Island and eat at the Cheesecake Factory and a couple other places over there now and then. If it's got good food, I'm all for it. Q: Any superstitions? Figgins: I think a lot of players do stuff mostly to keep a routine, to try to say, 'OK, if I do this over and over, I'm going to concentrate to get to where I need to be in the game.' That's what I do. There's a couple things that I do that makes me concentrate on my at-bat or when I'm in the field. I'll write something in the dirt before I bat or do a couple things in the field before the game starts just to tell myself, 'OK, now you're on defense, think defense, concentrate on defense.' Just like when I'm at home plate before I hit, I try to focus myself so I can concentrate more. Q: What's the best part of your job? Figgins: Baseball is not like basketball or football, where you only get to play every other day or every couple days. We get to try to compete against the best every single day. There are 162 games a season, and on almost every day, we get the opportunity to go out there and compete. And for baseball players, that adrenaline rush is different than a lot of sports. Whether stuff is going bad at home or stuff in your personal life, you still have to go out there every day. There's so much that goes on off the field, (but) you still have to compete against the best, and that's something that I respect about a lot of baseball players. It can be tough, but at the same time, you just have to have fun with it. We're in a lot better place than a lot of people are. We get to do a lot of things that most people don't get to do. Now obviously, there's a lot of pressure coming from different places and things that we need to do, but our job is pretty special. Q: What about the worst part of your job? Figgins: I think your perception having to change. Growing up as a kid, it's not the same thing as you thought it would be. It's a lot different once you get here; it's a business now. And when you see it as a kid, you're just thinking of fans clapping whether you did good or bad and just getting to play baseball every day, but it's not like that. And to adjust to how it is, it really just depends on the kind of person you are. Some people come from different backgrounds, and some people handle it and some people don't. You don't expect every person to handle it, just because they aren't going to go about it the same way, but it's just like any job: You work as long as you can and try to make money and be good at what you're doing. And when it's all said and done, you still have your family, and hopefully you did well to take care of yourself and your family financially so you can enjoy the rest of your life. Going through this, it's not easy. You're on the road, you're away from family. The money is great, but a lot of stuff that doesn't come with money isn't seen. Q: What family member really pushed you in sports growing up? Figgins: I would have to say my immediate family. My mom, my dad and my brother, we used to be together so much growing up, and we just had so much fun together. My mom and dad both worked two jobs to get us to play Little League. I mean, until our shoes had a big hole in them, we would wear them. But once it got to where we couldn't wear them anymore, my parents did whatever they could to get us new ones and keep us going. A lot of times, that stuff isn't seen behind the scenes, but it plays such a big part in a person. I think one of the big reasons you don't really see players in the offseason (is that) a lot of times they're spending time with their families and really just enjoying life with them. Q: Did you ever consider another sport? Figgins: I actually played some basketball in junior high, mostly because one of my buddies was really good and had told me to just come and try out. But once I got to my junior year of high school, scouts started saying that baseball was the way to go, and after that I figured that was probably the right way to go. I mean, I was all right in basketball, but we went and played against teams in Miami one time, and I find myself chasing guys who are like 6-7, and I'm thinking to myself, 'This isn't going to work.' (Note: Figgins is 5-foot-8.) Q: What baseball player, not on the Angels, would you pay to see play? Figgins: It would probably have to be my best friend, Juan Pierre with the Dodgers. Because I'm a similar player and I like watching players who come to play every day, no matter if it's going good or bad. And with Juan, I know his background. We played together coming up, in Colorado a couple years and through some instructional leagues, and he brings it every single day. And if you play with a bunch of guys that do that, you have a shot to win every night. We talk probably every other day, and when we play together, we don't really talk trash, but you can see that we get after each other a bit. It's funny because he's in the outfield, but when he comes up, I'm right down there at third base, just kind of looking at him, letting him know if he bunts it down here, I'm going to come up and throw him out. So it's really competitive, but that's good. We're best friends, but when we step on the field, we're both trying to win. Q: What about all-time players? Figgins: I would say Ozzie Smith. I think he was able to be good on both sides of the ball, offensively and defensively. I really followed the St. Louis Cardinals back in the day, when they had the Vince Colemans and the Terry Pendletons and the Willie McGees. They were all fast, and that was right down my alley. I just liked the way they played. You have to stick with what you can do Q: What do you like to do on an off day? Figgins: For most of the players whose family doesn't live near them, they usually try to have them fly out for the homestand before the day off so they can spend the day with them. My family comes out. Mom cooks, and we just spend the day together. We might walk down to the beach or go shopping, just laughing about everything that used to happen and what's going on back home now, and that's just stuff you don't get to see every day when you're in the business. Helps you to relax and gives you something to look forward to in the offseason. Q: If you were commissioner for a day, what would you change? Figgins: I'm not sure. I know I couldn't have instant replay. Because, to me, it's not fair just to do it on home runs. There are so many plays that change the game other than home runs. It can be a strike call or me beating out an infield hit. I don't hit a lot of home runs, so I'd rather have instant replay for me beating out a bunt than to have it for a home run that I probably won't be hitting. ... And I wouldn't agree with them having instant replay for everything because the game would move too slow. There are just so many calls, and it's already hard enough back there for the umpires. Contact the writer: ktrudgeon@ocregister.com -- ※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc) ◆ From: 128.195.81.90