July 7, 2025 • 36 mins
The grassroots Sandlot baseball movement has exploded across North Carolina, creating a vibrant community with custom jerseys, creative team names, and cross-country connections. Mike from the Carolina Kudzu shares how these adult recreational teams have created authentic baseball experiences complete with DJs spinning records during games, custom ice cream helmets, and even live organ music.
• Carolina now has numerous Sandlot teams in Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, and beyond
• Team names like Kudzu, Reapers, and Durham Fruits reflect creativity and local culture
• Teams travel across the country to play other Sandlot communities in San Diego, Austin, and more
• The Revival event showcased mascot races, custom merchandise, and family-friendly activities
• Social media has fueled growth by sharing team logos, game highlights, and the welcoming atmosphere
• Teams emphasize inclusivity with players of all skill levels welcome to participate
• Cross-team friendships and community building extend beyond the baseball diamond
• Custom team merchandise, especially hats, have become coveted collectibles
Hit the subscribe button for new episodes of the DadHack Chronicles podcast and Five Questions where I ask fans why they fell in love with baseball.
Make sure to follow the Dad Hat Chronicles: https://linktr.ee/TheDadHatChronicles
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Well, hello you, beautiful people, and welcome to
the DadHack Chronicles podcast.
My name is Ed, also known asthe DadHack, and this week we
finish my conversation with Mikeof the Carolina Kudzu, a
Sandlot team here in Raleigh,north Carolina.
We talk about how Carolina isreally is becoming a really good
hotbed for Sandlot baseball,which I am a part of.
(00:28):
We also discuss my famous notso famous questions, guys.
So, before you go, guys, do mea huge favor Go ahead and hit
the subscribe button, becauseI'm always putting new content
here for you guys New episodesas far as the DHC podcast and
five questions where I ask fanswhy they fall in love with
baseball.
So, like I said, go ahead andhit the subscribe button and
(00:51):
then now, without further ado,I'll give you the episode so,
like, one of the things thatKudzu has been doing is we've
been bringing our DJ to ourgames.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
we've got we've got a bunch of friends who are really
great DJs, but one inparticular who just loves being
around the team, mike Forno, andhe's become our like rostered
DJ and he brings all of his gearand his turntables to the field
and he spins for three hoursstraight while we play.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
He doesn't take any breaks.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
See, that's what's cool about this, see, yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
Mike and Ed catch me up to speed real quick, so I'm
looking.
You guys are in the same leagueas the Reapers, Like they're
within.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
Yeah, we've got three Raleigh teams the Reapers, the
Kudzu and neuse river.
Nine.
That's so we've got.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
We've got three teams in durham, one team in chapel
hill, one team in wilmingtonokay, so you need is a team down
in this area, but where I'm at,like the holly springs, few
yeah, area.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
Yeah, maybe you're going to start that team.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
I got to start recruiting people.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
Hey, all you got to do is come up with a cool name.
Some people can get behind andthey're like, yeah, I want to
play for that team.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
See, that's the problem, that's the hard part.
People think it's easy to comeup with a cool name.
It isn't easy.
Yeah, and it's got to have astory too.
That's the problem.
So now I'm gonna have to do myresearch here, yeah, but that's
in the future.
Right now, right now, I'mhaving so much fun enjoying it,
(02:37):
um, and that's why I'm doinglike all these, like you know,
social, like you know my updatesof, like you know I just bought
a bed, or like you know how Ifeel about this, just because
it's like I want to bring a.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
I want to do my part to bring as much awareness to
sandlot baseball as possible aspossibly can that's really cool
to share that experience becauseit resonates with thousands of
sandlot players across thecountry, but it will probably
also convince the people thatare on the fence to show up, you
know can I ask um?
Speaker 1 (03:07):
where did the name then kutsu?
How was that?
Inspired?
Speaker 3 (03:11):
yeah, my friend joseph.
Um, he had that idea he wanted.
He has a whole book of likeinvasive species that he wants
to name baseball teams after andthat was like at the top of his
list.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
It's such a cool name .
Speaker 3 (03:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
I got two hats from them, by the way, val, I bought
two hats, that's the one that'smy favorite.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
I like that it's just those simple ones.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
These are from my friends in San Diego.
This is the avocados and thisone they did for the Durabless,
for the revival they put that'scool yeah.
I get.
These are the only.
These are the only dad hats Iown.
I mostly have structured caps.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
The hat that you have on is taking a little bit of
something from the West Coastand something from the East
Coast it made.
That is so cool yeah andsomething from the East Coast.
That is so cool.
I love that.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
Yeah, and we've made so many friends from across the
country with all these otherteams and in particular, the
Avocados have become reallyclose with us and we traveled to
Austin with them last year andwe played on those fields I was
telling you about.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
I saw you that you dressed up for them, didn't you
doing the revival?
Speaker 3 (04:25):
Yeah.
So, like we, when we go on aspecial trip or something, we
invite a few of the avocados tocome play with us, and they do.
They do the same thing.
So when they go on a trip, theyinvite some of us to go play
with them, and you know they'll.
They're really cool.
They'll get you a uniform andput your name on the back of a
jersey and I'll tell you thisthose avocado jerseys were cool.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Yeah, they were cool, and I saw somebody dressed up
in an avocado during the eventthat was awesome.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
Val, I'm telling you this thing.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
I'm telling you it's like one of the coolest events
I've ever been to, just becauseof the camaraderie, everybody
talking to each other and all ofthat.
It was such a cool event.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
How often are y'all in San Diego?
I'm only four hours away.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
We're going to try to actually get to San Diego later
this year.
It's our goal to do one bigroad trip every year.
We play most of our gameslocally right here in the
Triangle in North Carolina.
Do you guys do that drive?
We've flown.
Last year we went to Austin.
The year before that we went toTulsa.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
But nothing in.
Vegas yet.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
Nothing in Vegas, but yeah, we're going to try to get
to San Diego for, hopefully, amulti-team event, kind of like
the Revival, but out in SanDiego.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
Man Ed.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
You want to come to Vegas soon, ed, you still have a
chance to, and then we can alljust drive up.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
I know, I know.
So I'm going to Vegas at theend of September for the AAA
championship.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
Oh cool.
Have you been to that before?
Speaker 2 (06:10):
That would be.
So here's what happened Lastyear was supposed to us to go,
but there was you know that Iremember that time that we had
like a hurricane in that, inthis state.
So they canceled my flight,they canceled everything and I
couldn't make it.
I could not.
And then val for the longesttime, when she was checking her
phone, tracking all of theplanes, it was like ed's coming,
(06:34):
ed's coming, and I'm like, nope, I'm not I was tracking every
flight from from north carolinato vegas and I saw like so many,
and I was texting our otherfriends on the side.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
I was like he's coming See this and I would send
them screenshots.
And then the day came and Ednever showed up.
But it was a fun game.
I do recommend the AAAchampionship game in Vegas.
It's always fun.
Speaker 3 (06:57):
Have you been more than once?
Speaker 1 (06:59):
I have, I've been twice yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
Okay, did you see the Bulls win a championship there?
Speaker 1 (07:04):
Oh, they played them when they played.
Don't Tell Me, don't Tell Me.
Was it Nashville or God?
Who was it Two years ago, Ithink, when they won it right?
Speaker 2 (07:15):
They won two years ago, yeah who was it when they
played.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
I don't remember who they played.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
I think it was Nashville.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
Yep, okay.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
Yeah, yep, okay, yeah , yep, I was there for that and
um, it was really fun.
Um, this past year though, likea few months ago, we got to
watch it up from the club leveland oh my gosh, sorry, thanks,
dude, but um, it's cool becausethe chef for um, the, the
ballpark, the aviators, healways puts like a special
curated burger for the two teamsthat are in town, because the,
you know, the not the PacificCoast, but the- International
(07:50):
yes, international.
Those teams never visit Vegas,and so it's always fun to see a
burger from those cities thatI'm not too familiar with
because they're never here.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
Okay, so they must have done the the Carolina
burger with chili and coleslaw.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
That is big here.
That is big here.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
Yeah, I don't remember, but yeah, no, it was
definitely something along thoselines, I'm sure.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Yeah, what we need to do is we need to get you to
come over here to North Carolina.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
I know You've been saying you've been wanting to
come A lot of good food here.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
Lots of good food, lots of baseball, from Sandlot
to minor league baseball andthen hopefully in the future, a
major league team.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
So I'm just saying no , I do need to get out there for
sure.
I do have all the FOMO,especially not learning about
this, and I don't know if I'mallowed to say this, but man,
that Reapers logo is really cool.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
Yeah, you know what?
One of the fun things aboutsaying a lot is all the gear,
all the the logo designs and allthe creativity that goes into
it.
It seems like every team haslike two or three creative team
members who are either likewell-versed in graphics design
(09:01):
or illustration.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
So you know, you see a lot of really cool stuff that
that you do, that you do um foryour team, though, because I I
want to know, like, where theobviously the the zoo, but like,
is that you guys just decidedto put the z and the u and then
just honestly, I think it has alittle bit of like a wu-tang
influence to it, but love it inour in our group chats like
(09:29):
we're always like addressing theteam as like zoo crew or um zoo
tang, the zoo tang clan I lovethat and so I I mean our, our
buddy joseph.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
he just like surprised us with these hats.
He had them made and everybodywas like, oh my gosh, we got to
have that hat.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
As soon as I saw it, I'm like I got to find a way to
get that hat.
I'm not kidding, I was like.
And then I went to the Revivaland I saw that I'm like, there
it is.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
That's one of the hats that you got right, ed.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
No, as that's one of the hats that you got right at.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
No, no, this one is from the company called Sandlot
goods.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Out of Kansas City.
But this is you talking aboutthis one you got.
You got one of these.
Yeah, okay, cool, look at thatthing.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
I need that in a Curvebrim.
You guys have those in curbrooms.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
No.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
The Reapers they got a lot of snapbacks.
No, no, we don't this is theReapers.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
They got a lot of snapbacks.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
Yeah, a lot of snapbacks.
Listen, it's okay, Get asnapback.
I got me all of them.
I got them in a snapback justbecause I'm like I'm getting it.
There's no way around it.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
I love that zoo.
Yeah, that one was like and Iwear it so many times.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
Now you have the pink corduroy Ramblers hat.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
The Austin Ramblers.
Yeah, yes, I have that one.
That's a good one.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
Why wouldn't he have it?
Speaker 3 (10:55):
That's the one everybody wants.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
That's the one everybody wanted.
And then I got this one thepossums.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
Oh yeah, that's so cute.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
I got that one.
So I got four hats when I wentto the revival.
Those are the ones that I couldfind.
Like, my friend got the lastWombat's hat and I was like, oh,
you can have it.
You know you're going to,you're going back to Georgia,
I'll let you do it.
So I'll come back eventuallyand get that one again, because
that was a new era as well.
Speaker 3 (11:22):
Oh, I have access to those.
I can get you one of those.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Yeah, that one was cool, I'm telling you, val.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
But I love that possum one.
Can you show it again?
Speaker 2 (11:32):
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
I don't know why people don't like possum tails.
I think that detail is so cute.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
So, from what I understand, this one grew out of
the possum.
They of like they needed anextra team because the nines
were getting too big, wasn't it?
Uh, I think it.
Speaker 3 (11:47):
No, the dirtbags the dirtbags, yeah, yeah yeah, yeah,
honestly, durham's open sandlothas seen the same amount of
growth that we have in raleigh.
They, they quickly formed ateam and then all of a sudden
they had all these extra peoplethat wanted to play and so
really, the durham dirtbags whenthey first started they had at
(12:09):
least 20 people and they were,they were splitting squads
during games, you know, havinghalf the team bat the first half
of the game and then the secondhalf going in and batting the
second half of the game.
Um, and it just became, itbecame too much.
You know, people were onlygetting like one or two at bats
a game um, so they you know,spun off another team, and now
(12:32):
they're I mean honestly they'reat a point now where they could
spin off a third team.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
So oh wow wild yeah, yeah it's.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
I mean, I was talking to people in austin.
They were asking me how it wasgoing here and I told them and
they go yeah, before you know it, you're going to have 20 teams,
like we did.
It just it gets out of control.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
Which is great, I mean and this is one, one of the
updates that I did when I wasdoing my videos it's just like,
it's like your inner childhood,just all of a sudden just come
out, you know, and then you'relike this is the greatest thing,
like I.
I got told my wife darla's likebabe, I'm sorry, but this
(13:14):
happened.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
She's like all right, whatever you know, make sure
you do your warm-ups okay I domy warm-ups, I do my stretching.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
the night before the morning the day of, I do a lot
of stretching.
Because of that I learned mylesson.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
Man, now I want to dress up.
I want the avocado costume andI want a possum costume.
We need more mascots.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
You should come out and be a mascot, I am all about
it.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
That's all me.
I love dressing up there you go.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
Now.
That's the next level of justlike you know you got.
You know you got your DJs, yougot your parties, you know
grilling and barbecuing, andthen you got Val dressing up in
as a mascot.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
Yeah, we had.
Last year we had my son dressup as the Kudzu mascot and in
between games we did, and theyhad to race him across the
morning track.
Speaker 1 (14:12):
That's cool.
Speaker 3 (14:16):
And he let the kids win.
He staged a trip and fall, hegot a good lead and then he
tripped and fell over and letall the kids beat him.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
I love that, speaking of that, actually something
cool that you guys did.
That I really appreciate umbecause we have some friends,
mutual friends, that arecollectors of uh, ice cream
helmets yeah and you guys hadice cream helmets there.
You guys had, you know, givingup for kids and all that.
I was able to get one which wasyour white one with your kudzu
(14:49):
logo.
Yeah, they would get one for myfriend, paul, who lives in
colorado.
So, paul, I'm like that'ssomething cool, like those
little details right there, thatthat goes a long way yeah, we
try.
Speaker 3 (14:59):
We try to come up with ways to make it really
special.
And that was those my friends,brian and laney, who who did
that.
They're married and, um, weactually go way back.
I grew up with them and laneyplays for the reapers and brian
plays for the kudzu and they, um, yeah, they bought all these
(15:20):
colorful mini helmets and theyput all the decals on by hand.
So they, like you know, theygot a cricket and they cut out
all the stickers and weeded themand put them on all the helmets
.
I think we did like 150 minihelmets and we filled them up
with ice cream and whipped creamand toppings and, oh yeah, the
kids just lined up, we just gaveit away yeah, I love it.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
Sounds like you guys really do go all out to make it
feel like all the all thedetails of a game.
Speaker 3 (15:49):
You know of what goes yeah, yeah, the freight trains
have a really talented organplayer and he brings his organ
out sometimes.
He brought it to the stadiumfor that.
He was playing the organ like amadman just going off.
I mean he played.
When I found out he playedorgan, I asked him to come out
to a Sandlot game in Raleigh andhe played the entire game and
(16:17):
he had a playlist of like 70songs and he just tore through
those songs for the entire game.
He just sat there behind thebackstop just wailing on the
organ.
It was awesome.
I think he even played the StarStstangled banner to open the
game.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
That's awesome he did .
Yeah, I was like, oh, here wego Hold on a second.
Yeah, that's awesome.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
I don't know if you guys talked about this, but if
you did, I'm sorry, but I'mlooking at the Instagram your
guys' Instagram and then Inoticed that there's a logo
within the baseball with theleaves.
And then I'm noticing it onyour name, mike, there's a
little symbol.
What is that?
Speaker 3 (17:00):
that's the Japanese symbol for kudzu that's so cool
yeah oh, that's so unique yeah,the kudzu plant comes from over
there and Joseph, who came upwith the whole concept of the
kudzu, he's like a big fan ofJapanese art and Japanese
baseball and culture and sothat's kind of like a tribute to
(17:24):
that.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
That's so awesome.
That was cool.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
That's cool to see, cool experience.
I'm telling you, Val, you gotto come and experience it for
yourself I know, oh, I hateliving so far from everything
I'm not aware of, I'm not awareof a sandlot scene in vegas, but
, um, I'm sure it's coming.
Speaker 3 (17:44):
If it's not there already, I'm sure it's coming in
in the means.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
I'm in san diego often because my fiance is from
there.
So San Diego, I can deal withbeing four hours away for now,
but Vegas needs one, especiallywith the hype around baseball in
Vegas.
Like coming here for sure,aviators are already here to
sell out every game.
So like it's perfect, there yougo just need an empty field and
(18:12):
a baseball glove that's all youneed.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
I will warn you, if you start playing Val, I will
warn you, you're going to getaddicted and you're going to go
and get yourself your own gloves, your own bat, your own
everything.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
I can see me do that Because I am pretty competitive,
but once I see someone startdressing up in the mascot, I
know I'm going to compete forthe best mascot.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
Oh no, we're getting a mascot for this team.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
There you go, see, see, what happens.
See, this is the thing thathappens.
Speaker 3 (18:47):
Yeah, I love it.
I see it all the time.
I love it.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
So pretty much as far as, like you know, you guys got
together.
I wanted to touch on this realquick or like, cause you guys
make your own schedule, Like youguys, you know, just sit down
together at the beginning of theseason and we're like, all
right, you know we got thesethese weekends.
You know how.
How do we want to?
You know, break it down and whowants to play who and all of
that.
How does that?
Is that how usually how thatgoes?
Speaker 3 (19:10):
Well, we tried that two years ago and I think it
worked pretty well.
We all agreed on one game permonth per team.
So at that time I think we onlyhad six teams, so it was very
easy to sit down and just kindof chart out where each game
(19:33):
would be.
But this year, with more teamsadded, it was we never were able
to like find the time to allsit down together and do that.
So really it was just teamcaptains reaching out to each
other and being like, hey, I'vegot this on my calendar, you
want to do it?
Yep, okay, and then, likeeverybody just kind of created
their own schedule that way, Igotcha, and who knows what we'll
do next year.
(19:54):
You know there could be 12teams next year and some teams
want to play more than others.
You know, guys on my team weretelling me they wanted more
games than one a month.
So we're playing like two orthree times a month, but other
teams are still just playingonce a month.
Speaker 1 (20:12):
And then a lot of opens.
Speaker 3 (20:16):
Yeah, and like we've kind of expanded our, our um
reach, you know, with socialmedia and all these people that
we've met across the countrythrough our road trips.
So now we have teams coming infrom out of town that want to
play us too.
Um, in two weeks, uh, a teamfrom fort worth Worth is gonna
come here and play us wait, I'mfrom Arlington okay, they're
(20:40):
called the Fort Worth Panthersand they reached out to us and,
like back in the winter theyreached out and said they were
coming up to play differentSandlot teams.
So they're like coming upthrough the East Coast and
they're gonna play.
I think they're.
They might be playing a game incharlotte and then they're
coming.
They're coming here to play usand the reapers, back to back,
(21:01):
and then they're gonna I thinkthey're gonna continue up to
virginia and play somebody else.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
So insane wow, I need to do my research.
I I need to.
Yeah, I'm going through as youguys are talking and I love that
Durham fruits logo.
I love when like food andanything in the food world, so I
guess juice is likeincorporated with baseball logos
, like that little juice.
Speaker 3 (21:25):
They are the newest team and they're really awesome.
They're an all queer LGBTQ teamand they stepped up in a huge
way at the revival this year andthey they provided so much cool
stuff for for the players andfor the kids.
They made coloring books, theywere give, they were making
(21:48):
popcorn and handing out popcornto the kids and, uh, they were
doing like arts and craftsprojects.
They were doing like line ofgraph stamps on t-shirts and, um
, it was just, it was reallycool to see a new team like step
up and participate and likereally, really put a lot of
effort in I'm also obsessed withthat west te wind logo.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
I just love logos.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
Don't we all?
Hey, mike, let me ask you thisand then we'll go into my famous
not so famous questions here.
I did let him know about it,they let him know, okay.
Speaker 3 (22:25):
Still not prepared.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
That's the whole point.
No one has ever prepared forthis.
Speaker 1 (22:29):
Don't blame him.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
Let me ask, because obviously social media is a big
part of a lot of other thingsand all that how have you guys
been able to take full advantageof social media to really
promote Sandlot baseball here inRaleigh Not really Durham,
really.
Speaker 3 (22:49):
I mean, everybody just kind of got on Instagram
and started, you know, sharingphotos and videos from open
sandlots.
And then, you know, the teamstarted forming and they were
sharing pictures of all thedesigns and the logos and the
hats and the uniforms.
And you know, that really likesparks an interest and people
just start reaching out andbeing like what is this thing I
(23:10):
want to get involved, startreaching out and being like what
is this thing I want to getinvolved, you know, um, so like,
the, the sharing and thereposting of everything that
goes on with all that has reallylike reached a lot of people
and and so that's that'sprobably the biggest reason why
you see new faces showing upevery week.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
Um, when I showed up this weekend, uh, there was
three of us, three of us, threeor four of us that were brand
new to sell.
Uh, and yeah, it was.
They said the same thing.
It's like we went to therevival or we found you guys on
social media and we wanted to bepart of this, and uh, and here
we are yeah, I love the power ofsocial media and it's a good.
(23:51):
it's a way of really doingsocial media right.
Like you know, they were takingadvantage of it and you guys
have done an absolutelywonderful job on that.
So very welcoming and that'show I felt.
Speaker 3 (24:02):
so far, that's good, I'm glad to hear that.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (24:07):
Well, now I have FOMO .
Speaker 2 (24:09):
Well, I told you North Carolina is the place to
be.
Yeah, You're in Vegas, you gotyour your AAA championship,
You've got F1 racing and youknow future major league
baseball team and all that stuff.
Speaker 1 (24:21):
But they don't have, they don't play against anyone
with a full possum logo.
They do not, they do not.
Speaker 2 (24:27):
So, um, sorry about that.
Um, mike, is there anythingthat we haven't asked you or
anything that you want tomention about your team, the
Kudzu or the collective, oranything like that?
Speaker 3 (24:42):
at this point, before I go into my famous, not so
famous questions, the only thingI'd want to stress is that you
know we really are open andwelcome to everybody is that we
really are open and welcome toeverybody.
So if you're even consideringit, just come out and show up
and have a good time.
I mean you're not going to getembarrassed.
I've seen people go out thereand do well and have a good time
(25:05):
.
I've seen people go out thereand fall on their face and have
a good time.
It really is an open, welcomingenvironment and baseball is the
one thing that everybody has acommon interest in.
But you know, the people andthe relationships that you make
out there and continue off thefield are like the reason why we
(25:26):
keep doing it.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
I'll tell you this I missed a lot of ground balls
because, uh, ed balls?
Because Ed did not reallystretch that day, but he learned
his lesson about stretching andmaking sure that he is limble
enough so that way his six-footass gets all the way down to the
ground to make sure that hegrabs the ground ball.
It happened.
Speaker 3 (25:51):
I'm coming off some fresh injuries, so I know the
deal um I.
I just had knee surgery lastweek.
I I tore a meniscus and it'sprobably from playing too much
sandlot baseball god bless youman and you're, and, but you're.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
Are you playing right now with it like that, or
you're just taking it easy?
You're just capping it?
Speaker 3 (26:11):
no, I I was playing at the revival with it, knowing
that the surgery was coming upum, but I was limping around
like I couldn't.
I couldn't run the first base.
If I got on base, I had a pinchrunner yeah, let's go, come on
right now um, but I'm, I'm.
I'll be back on the field laterin the summer good, awesome,
love it all.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
Right, are you ready, my friend?
I'm ready.
Okay, here's the thing I'llgive, but I'll be back on the
field later in the summer.
Good, awesome.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
Love it.
All right, are you ready, myfriend?
I'm ready, okay.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
Here's the thing.
I'll give you the easy one,because this is the one that we
ask everybody here.
Okay, you're going.
Let's say you're going to aDurham Bulls game, right?
Which, by the way, one of thebest ballparks in all of the
country.
Just so you guys know You'regoing there.
What is your food and yourdrink of choice?
Speaker 3 (26:54):
At the ball game.
Yep, I'm going to be probablydrinking a hopium IPA and I'll
have a ballpark dog.
Speaker 2 (27:06):
That's the way to go.
All right, cake or pie, pie Keylime pie key lime pie hits
different, doesn't it?
Speaker 3 (27:25):
uh, strangest thing that you've ever eaten.
Um, um it's a.
Speaker 2 (27:32):
You know it's a.
Speaker 3 (27:33):
I don't know, probably frog legs.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
I've had frog legs and I've had alligator.
Speaker 3 (27:40):
Yeah, I've had gator too.
Frog legs are weirder though.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
Yeah, it was.
It was weird, um, and I'mafraid of frogs, the big ones,
the toads.
Um, I gotta think for it.
I uh, I don't know.
Uh, what was your favorite, uh,school subject?
Math good for you guilty yeah,I am not.
Uh, mine was history.
(28:03):
What was yours, val?
Speaker 1 (28:07):
um, probably I looked forward most to music because I
could just sit on the top ofthe bleacher and just like
taking that anything yeah I'mjust gonna say yeah pick one
bungee jumping or skydivingskydiver I gotta do one of at
least.
Speaker 2 (28:25):
Oh my gosh, all right I don't want to do either no,
oh, I do, I really do, uh, okay,so here's a good one.
Have you ever re-gifted a gift?
Speaker 3 (28:40):
uh, yeah, I'm sure I have I have yeah, but it's not
like not a big gift, like it wasprobably like a like a bottle
of wine or whiskey.
That was, like you know,somebody brought over as a
hosting gift you know, I'm likeokay, and then you're getting,
you get invited to a dinner and.
(29:02):
I know what I can bring, yeah,but I don't.
I don't know about likeChristmas gifts or like birthday
gifts.
Speaker 2 (29:09):
I don't know about that yeah, I don't know either,
doing like I've done it doing awhite elephant.
I was like I need this.
I told my friends here that wedo it here in our neighborhood
we did a white elephant andsomeone gave me the.
I got stuck with a checker setfrom a John Deere checker set.
(29:30):
That sucker is going back tothe white elephant.
I'm telling you that right now.
So all right, Favorite TV showgrowing up.
Speaker 3 (29:45):
Favorite TV show Like how old?
What age are we talking here?
Speaker 2 (29:49):
Whatever age you want it to be, that 70s show, that's
a good one.
That's a good one.
Yup, if you could be anyfictional character in any movie
, who would you be?
Speaker 3 (30:08):
well, I mean, I just I just played at the historic
Bulls Stadium, so I guess thatwould be Crash Davis.
Speaker 2 (30:15):
Oh, that's what I was thinking.
Yep, for me it's either CrashDavis or Indiana Jones.
That's cool.
Okay, if you could have onedessert for the rest of your
life, one dessert, what wouldthat dessert be?
Speaker 3 (30:35):
The Reese's Peanut Butter Sundae from Friendly's.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
That's a good one Do you know that one.
Speaker 1 (30:43):
That's on the East Coast only.
Speaker 3 (30:46):
Yeah, Friendly's is like an old-timey diner-type
restaurant.
It's an old chain they havethis peanut butter sundae that
they serve a couple more here.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
What color is your toothbrush?
I think right now it's purple,but that's what the dentist gave
me.
Here you go.
Here's your bag.
Speaker 3 (31:13):
Yeah, you don't see it until you get home.
Speaker 2 (31:15):
I know right, it's like all right.
You guys never ask to trade, Iwould always ask.
I just want to get out of there.
I was just going to say, val,let's be honest.
They gave you the bag andyou're like, you're not looking.
You're, you're like, all right,I'll see you guys.
Speaker 1 (31:31):
Later see you in seclusion.
Obviously dents trips werealways bad, but that usually
would like make her break, ormake break more or kind of make
up for it.
Speaker 3 (31:41):
The toothbrush color okay, she gets excited about it.
Speaker 2 (31:44):
That's cool yeah, no, not me, not even.
Uh.
All right, two more here.
Speaker 3 (31:51):
First celebrity crush oh, it's got to be Saved by the
Bell Tiffany, amber Thiessen,yeah, got to be Absolutely yeah,
still to this day, that womanis a beautiful woman.
Speaker 2 (32:13):
Still to this day.
All right, first, halloweencostume my first, oh, my
favorite halloween costume.
Yep, uh, one year I was ollie goh my god with the whole like
the, the, the goggles and the inthe school, in the scully and
(32:35):
everything.
Speaker 3 (32:35):
Yeah, yeah, like a white football jersey and white
starter pants.
Speaker 2 (32:40):
Oh, that's amazing.
I love it.
Mike, thank you for doing this.
I had a blast.
This is one of those thingsthat I really truly do believe
in in in Sandlot baseball.
Thank you so much for that.
Where can people find you, theteam on social media and things
like that?
Speaker 3 (33:00):
The website is carolinasandlotcollectivecom and
you can find all the teams onInstagram.
My team is the Carolina Kudzuand we play in Raleigh.
We play teams in Durham, ChapelHill.
We got a game coming up thisweekend in Chapel Hill against
the freight trains.
(33:21):
On Saturday and next weekendwe're hosting the Fort Worth
Panthers, which we're reallyexcited about.
Speaker 2 (33:26):
That'll be cool to go see.
Speaker 3 (33:29):
Yeah, you should come out to a game.
Game, ed um, we'll show you agood time oh, I'm coming
definitely for the um.
Speaker 2 (33:36):
Uh, I know that this saturday, uh, it's happening at
the same time as the open, so Ialready, um, I'm going to the
open, uh, this saturday at 10o'clock, but next weekend I'll,
uh, I'll make it for that onefor sure, absolutely all right,
I'll cook you a hot dog, becauseI can't play so you know what?
There we go.
I'll take lots of pictures andvideos to make sure you guys
(33:58):
have it on your social media andstuff like that.
So I'll thank you um, and then,guys, as far as us, you guys
already know we are on all thesocials.
Uh, we are on youtube, tiktok,instagram threads.
That's where we're pretty muchspending most of our time in Um,
if you guys have any uhsuggestions of who should we
interview uh in the next uh DeadHigh Chronicles podcast, do let
(34:20):
us know.
Send us a message.
Otherwise, uh, we will see youguys on the next one.
Thank you.
Well, hello you, beautiful people, and welcome to
the DadHack Chronicles podcast.
My name is Ed, also known asthe DadHack, and this week we
finish my conversation with Mikeof the Carolina Kudzu, a
Sandlot team here in Raleigh,north Carolina.
We talk about how Carolina isreally is becoming a really good
hotbed for Sandlot baseball,which I am a part of.
(00:28):
We also discuss my famous notso famous questions, guys.
So, before you go, guys, do mea huge favor Go ahead and hit
the subscribe button, becauseI'm always putting new content
here for you guys New episodesas far as the DHC podcast and
five questions where I ask fanswhy they fall in love with
baseball.
So, like I said, go ahead andhit the subscribe button and
(00:51):
then now, without further ado,I'll give you the episode so,
like, one of the things thatKudzu has been doing is we've
been bringing our DJ to ourgames.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
we've got we've got a bunch of friends who are really
great DJs, but one inparticular who just loves being
around the team, mike Forno, andhe's become our like rostered
DJ and he brings all of his gearand his turntables to the field
and he spins for three hoursstraight while we play.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
He doesn't take any breaks.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
See, that's what's cool about this, see, yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
Mike and Ed catch me up to speed real quick, so I'm
looking.
You guys are in the same leagueas the Reapers, Like they're
within.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
Yeah, we've got three Raleigh teams the Reapers, the
Kudzu and neuse river.
Nine.
That's so we've got.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
We've got three teams in durham, one team in chapel
hill, one team in wilmingtonokay, so you need is a team down
in this area, but where I'm at,like the holly springs, few
yeah, area.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
Yeah, maybe you're going to start that team.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
I got to start recruiting people.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
Hey, all you got to do is come up with a cool name.
Some people can get behind andthey're like, yeah, I want to
play for that team.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
See, that's the problem, that's the hard part.
People think it's easy to comeup with a cool name.
It isn't easy.
Yeah, and it's got to have astory too.
That's the problem.
So now I'm gonna have to do myresearch here, yeah, but that's
in the future.
Right now, right now, I'mhaving so much fun enjoying it,
(02:37):
um, and that's why I'm doinglike all these, like you know,
social, like you know my updatesof, like you know I just bought
a bed, or like you know how Ifeel about this, just because
it's like I want to bring a.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
I want to do my part to bring as much awareness to
sandlot baseball as possible aspossibly can that's really cool
to share that experience becauseit resonates with thousands of
sandlot players across thecountry, but it will probably
also convince the people thatare on the fence to show up, you
know can I ask um?
Speaker 1 (03:07):
where did the name then kutsu?
How was that?
Inspired?
Speaker 3 (03:11):
yeah, my friend joseph.
Um, he had that idea he wanted.
He has a whole book of likeinvasive species that he wants
to name baseball teams after andthat was like at the top of his
list.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
It's such a cool name .
Speaker 3 (03:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
I got two hats from them, by the way, val, I bought
two hats, that's the one that'smy favorite.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
I like that it's just those simple ones.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
These are from my friends in San Diego.
This is the avocados and thisone they did for the Durabless,
for the revival they put that'scool yeah.
I get.
These are the only.
These are the only dad hats Iown.
I mostly have structured caps.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
The hat that you have on is taking a little bit of
something from the West Coastand something from the East
Coast it made.
That is so cool yeah andsomething from the East Coast.
That is so cool.
I love that.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
Yeah, and we've made so many friends from across the
country with all these otherteams and in particular, the
Avocados have become reallyclose with us and we traveled to
Austin with them last year andwe played on those fields I was
telling you about.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
I saw you that you dressed up for them, didn't you
doing the revival?
Speaker 3 (04:25):
Yeah.
So, like we, when we go on aspecial trip or something, we
invite a few of the avocados tocome play with us, and they do.
They do the same thing.
So when they go on a trip, theyinvite some of us to go play
with them, and you know they'll.
They're really cool.
They'll get you a uniform andput your name on the back of a
jersey and I'll tell you thisthose avocado jerseys were cool.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Yeah, they were cool, and I saw somebody dressed up
in an avocado during the eventthat was awesome.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
Val, I'm telling you this thing.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
I'm telling you it's like one of the coolest events
I've ever been to, just becauseof the camaraderie, everybody
talking to each other and all ofthat.
It was such a cool event.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
How often are y'all in San Diego?
I'm only four hours away.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
We're going to try to actually get to San Diego later
this year.
It's our goal to do one bigroad trip every year.
We play most of our gameslocally right here in the
Triangle in North Carolina.
Do you guys do that drive?
We've flown.
Last year we went to Austin.
The year before that we went toTulsa.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
But nothing in.
Vegas yet.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
Nothing in Vegas, but yeah, we're going to try to get
to San Diego for, hopefully, amulti-team event, kind of like
the Revival, but out in SanDiego.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
Man Ed.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
You want to come to Vegas soon, ed, you still have a
chance to, and then we can alljust drive up.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
I know, I know.
So I'm going to Vegas at theend of September for the AAA
championship.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
Oh cool.
Have you been to that before?
Speaker 2 (06:10):
That would be.
So here's what happened Lastyear was supposed to us to go,
but there was you know that Iremember that time that we had
like a hurricane in that, inthis state.
So they canceled my flight,they canceled everything and I
couldn't make it.
I could not.
And then val for the longesttime, when she was checking her
phone, tracking all of theplanes, it was like ed's coming,
(06:34):
ed's coming, and I'm like, nope, I'm not I was tracking every
flight from from north carolinato vegas and I saw like so many,
and I was texting our otherfriends on the side.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
I was like he's coming See this and I would send
them screenshots.
And then the day came and Ednever showed up.
But it was a fun game.
I do recommend the AAAchampionship game in Vegas.
It's always fun.
Speaker 3 (06:57):
Have you been more than once?
Speaker 1 (06:59):
I have, I've been twice yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
Okay, did you see the Bulls win a championship there?
Speaker 1 (07:04):
Oh, they played them when they played.
Don't Tell Me, don't Tell Me.
Was it Nashville or God?
Who was it Two years ago, Ithink, when they won it right?
Speaker 2 (07:15):
They won two years ago, yeah who was it when they
played.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
I don't remember who they played.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
I think it was Nashville.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
Yep, okay.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
Yeah, yep, okay, yeah , yep, I was there for that and
um, it was really fun.
Um, this past year though, likea few months ago, we got to
watch it up from the club leveland oh my gosh, sorry, thanks,
dude, but um, it's cool becausethe chef for um, the, the
ballpark, the aviators, healways puts like a special
curated burger for the two teamsthat are in town, because the,
you know, the not the PacificCoast, but the- International
(07:50):
yes, international.
Those teams never visit Vegas,and so it's always fun to see a
burger from those cities thatI'm not too familiar with
because they're never here.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
Okay, so they must have done the the Carolina
burger with chili and coleslaw.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
That is big here.
That is big here.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
Yeah, I don't remember, but yeah, no, it was
definitely something along thoselines, I'm sure.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Yeah, what we need to do is we need to get you to
come over here to North Carolina.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
I know You've been saying you've been wanting to
come A lot of good food here.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
Lots of good food, lots of baseball, from Sandlot
to minor league baseball andthen hopefully in the future, a
major league team.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
So I'm just saying no , I do need to get out there for
sure.
I do have all the FOMO,especially not learning about
this, and I don't know if I'mallowed to say this, but man,
that Reapers logo is really cool.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
Yeah, you know what?
One of the fun things aboutsaying a lot is all the gear,
all the the logo designs and allthe creativity that goes into
it.
It seems like every team haslike two or three creative team
members who are either likewell-versed in graphics design
(09:01):
or illustration.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
So you know, you see a lot of really cool stuff that
that you do, that you do um foryour team, though, because I I
want to know, like, where theobviously the the zoo, but like,
is that you guys just decidedto put the z and the u and then
just honestly, I think it has alittle bit of like a wu-tang
influence to it, but love it inour in our group chats like
(09:29):
we're always like addressing theteam as like zoo crew or um zoo
tang, the zoo tang clan I lovethat and so I I mean our, our
buddy joseph.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
he just like surprised us with these hats.
He had them made and everybodywas like, oh my gosh, we got to
have that hat.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
As soon as I saw it, I'm like I got to find a way to
get that hat.
I'm not kidding, I was like.
And then I went to the Revivaland I saw that I'm like, there
it is.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
That's one of the hats that you got right, ed.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
No, as that's one of the hats that you got right at.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
No, no, this one is from the company called Sandlot
goods.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Out of Kansas City.
But this is you talking aboutthis one you got.
You got one of these.
Yeah, okay, cool, look at thatthing.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
I need that in a Curvebrim.
You guys have those in curbrooms.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
No.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
The Reapers they got a lot of snapbacks.
No, no, we don't this is theReapers.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
They got a lot of snapbacks.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
Yeah, a lot of snapbacks.
Listen, it's okay, Get asnapback.
I got me all of them.
I got them in a snapback justbecause I'm like I'm getting it.
There's no way around it.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
I love that zoo.
Yeah, that one was like and Iwear it so many times.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
Now you have the pink corduroy Ramblers hat.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
The Austin Ramblers.
Yeah, yes, I have that one.
That's a good one.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
Why wouldn't he have it?
Speaker 3 (10:55):
That's the one everybody wants.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
That's the one everybody wanted.
And then I got this one thepossums.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
Oh yeah, that's so cute.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
I got that one.
So I got four hats when I wentto the revival.
Those are the ones that I couldfind.
Like, my friend got the lastWombat's hat and I was like, oh,
you can have it.
You know you're going to,you're going back to Georgia,
I'll let you do it.
So I'll come back eventuallyand get that one again, because
that was a new era as well.
Speaker 3 (11:22):
Oh, I have access to those.
I can get you one of those.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Yeah, that one was cool, I'm telling you, val.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
But I love that possum one.
Can you show it again?
Speaker 2 (11:32):
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
I don't know why people don't like possum tails.
I think that detail is so cute.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
So, from what I understand, this one grew out of
the possum.
They of like they needed anextra team because the nines
were getting too big, wasn't it?
Uh, I think it.
Speaker 3 (11:47):
No, the dirtbags the dirtbags, yeah, yeah yeah, yeah,
honestly, durham's open sandlothas seen the same amount of
growth that we have in raleigh.
They, they quickly formed ateam and then all of a sudden
they had all these extra peoplethat wanted to play and so
really, the durham dirtbags whenthey first started they had at
(12:09):
least 20 people and they were,they were splitting squads
during games, you know, havinghalf the team bat the first half
of the game and then the secondhalf going in and batting the
second half of the game.
Um, and it just became, itbecame too much.
You know, people were onlygetting like one or two at bats
a game um, so they you know,spun off another team, and now
(12:32):
they're I mean honestly they'reat a point now where they could
spin off a third team.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
So oh wow wild yeah, yeah it's.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
I mean, I was talking to people in austin.
They were asking me how it wasgoing here and I told them and
they go yeah, before you know it, you're going to have 20 teams,
like we did.
It just it gets out of control.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
Which is great, I mean and this is one, one of the
updates that I did when I wasdoing my videos it's just like,
it's like your inner childhood,just all of a sudden just come
out, you know, and then you'relike this is the greatest thing,
like I.
I got told my wife darla's likebabe, I'm sorry, but this
(13:14):
happened.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
She's like all right, whatever you know, make sure
you do your warm-ups okay I domy warm-ups, I do my stretching.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
the night before the morning the day of, I do a lot
of stretching.
Because of that I learned mylesson.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
Man, now I want to dress up.
I want the avocado costume andI want a possum costume.
We need more mascots.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
You should come out and be a mascot, I am all about
it.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
That's all me.
I love dressing up there you go.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
Now.
That's the next level of justlike you know you got.
You know you got your DJs, yougot your parties, you know
grilling and barbecuing, andthen you got Val dressing up in
as a mascot.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
Yeah, we had.
Last year we had my son dressup as the Kudzu mascot and in
between games we did, and theyhad to race him across the
morning track.
Speaker 1 (14:12):
That's cool.
Speaker 3 (14:16):
And he let the kids win.
He staged a trip and fall, hegot a good lead and then he
tripped and fell over and letall the kids beat him.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
I love that, speaking of that, actually something
cool that you guys did.
That I really appreciate umbecause we have some friends,
mutual friends, that arecollectors of uh, ice cream
helmets yeah and you guys hadice cream helmets there.
You guys had, you know, givingup for kids and all that.
I was able to get one which wasyour white one with your kudzu
(14:49):
logo.
Yeah, they would get one for myfriend, paul, who lives in
colorado.
So, paul, I'm like that'ssomething cool, like those
little details right there, thatthat goes a long way yeah, we
try.
Speaker 3 (14:59):
We try to come up with ways to make it really
special.
And that was those my friends,brian and laney, who who did
that.
They're married and, um, weactually go way back.
I grew up with them and laneyplays for the reapers and brian
plays for the kudzu and they, um, yeah, they bought all these
(15:20):
colorful mini helmets and theyput all the decals on by hand.
So they, like you know, theygot a cricket and they cut out
all the stickers and weeded themand put them on all the helmets
.
I think we did like 150 minihelmets and we filled them up
with ice cream and whipped creamand toppings and, oh yeah, the
kids just lined up, we just gaveit away yeah, I love it.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
Sounds like you guys really do go all out to make it
feel like all the all thedetails of a game.
Speaker 3 (15:49):
You know of what goes yeah, yeah, the freight trains
have a really talented organplayer and he brings his organ
out sometimes.
He brought it to the stadiumfor that.
He was playing the organ like amadman just going off.
I mean he played.
When I found out he playedorgan, I asked him to come out
to a Sandlot game in Raleigh andhe played the entire game and
(16:17):
he had a playlist of like 70songs and he just tore through
those songs for the entire game.
He just sat there behind thebackstop just wailing on the
organ.
It was awesome.
I think he even played the StarStstangled banner to open the
game.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
That's awesome he did .
Yeah, I was like, oh, here wego Hold on a second.
Yeah, that's awesome.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
I don't know if you guys talked about this, but if
you did, I'm sorry, but I'mlooking at the Instagram your
guys' Instagram and then Inoticed that there's a logo
within the baseball with theleaves.
And then I'm noticing it onyour name, mike, there's a
little symbol.
What is that?
Speaker 3 (17:00):
that's the Japanese symbol for kudzu that's so cool
yeah oh, that's so unique yeah,the kudzu plant comes from over
there and Joseph, who came upwith the whole concept of the
kudzu, he's like a big fan ofJapanese art and Japanese
baseball and culture and sothat's kind of like a tribute to
(17:24):
that.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
That's so awesome.
That was cool.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
That's cool to see, cool experience.
I'm telling you, Val, you gotto come and experience it for
yourself I know, oh, I hateliving so far from everything
I'm not aware of, I'm not awareof a sandlot scene in vegas, but
, um, I'm sure it's coming.
Speaker 3 (17:44):
If it's not there already, I'm sure it's coming in
in the means.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
I'm in san diego often because my fiance is from
there.
So San Diego, I can deal withbeing four hours away for now,
but Vegas needs one, especiallywith the hype around baseball in
Vegas.
Like coming here for sure,aviators are already here to
sell out every game.
So like it's perfect, there yougo just need an empty field and
(18:12):
a baseball glove that's all youneed.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
I will warn you, if you start playing Val, I will
warn you, you're going to getaddicted and you're going to go
and get yourself your own gloves, your own bat, your own
everything.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
I can see me do that Because I am pretty competitive,
but once I see someone startdressing up in the mascot, I
know I'm going to compete forthe best mascot.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
Oh no, we're getting a mascot for this team.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
There you go, see, see, what happens.
See, this is the thing thathappens.
Speaker 3 (18:47):
Yeah, I love it.
I see it all the time.
I love it.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
So pretty much as far as, like you know, you guys got
together.
I wanted to touch on this realquick or like, cause you guys
make your own schedule, Like youguys, you know, just sit down
together at the beginning of theseason and we're like, all
right, you know we got thesethese weekends.
You know how.
How do we want to?
You know, break it down and whowants to play who and all of
that.
How does that?
Is that how usually how thatgoes?
Speaker 3 (19:10):
Well, we tried that two years ago and I think it
worked pretty well.
We all agreed on one game permonth per team.
So at that time I think we onlyhad six teams, so it was very
easy to sit down and just kindof chart out where each game
(19:33):
would be.
But this year, with more teamsadded, it was we never were able
to like find the time to allsit down together and do that.
So really it was just teamcaptains reaching out to each
other and being like, hey, I'vegot this on my calendar, you
want to do it?
Yep, okay, and then, likeeverybody just kind of created
their own schedule that way, Igotcha, and who knows what we'll
do next year.
(19:54):
You know there could be 12teams next year and some teams
want to play more than others.
You know, guys on my team weretelling me they wanted more
games than one a month.
So we're playing like two orthree times a month, but other
teams are still just playingonce a month.
Speaker 1 (20:12):
And then a lot of opens.
Speaker 3 (20:16):
Yeah, and like we've kind of expanded our, our um
reach, you know, with socialmedia and all these people that
we've met across the countrythrough our road trips.
So now we have teams coming infrom out of town that want to
play us too.
Um, in two weeks, uh, a teamfrom fort worth Worth is gonna
come here and play us wait, I'mfrom Arlington okay, they're
(20:40):
called the Fort Worth Panthersand they reached out to us and,
like back in the winter theyreached out and said they were
coming up to play differentSandlot teams.
So they're like coming upthrough the East Coast and
they're gonna play.
I think they're.
They might be playing a game incharlotte and then they're
coming.
They're coming here to play usand the reapers, back to back,
(21:01):
and then they're gonna I thinkthey're gonna continue up to
virginia and play somebody else.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
So insane wow, I need to do my research.
I I need to.
Yeah, I'm going through as youguys are talking and I love that
Durham fruits logo.
I love when like food andanything in the food world, so I
guess juice is likeincorporated with baseball logos
, like that little juice.
Speaker 3 (21:25):
They are the newest team and they're really awesome.
They're an all queer LGBTQ teamand they stepped up in a huge
way at the revival this year andthey they provided so much cool
stuff for for the players andfor the kids.
They made coloring books, theywere give, they were making
(21:48):
popcorn and handing out popcornto the kids and, uh, they were
doing like arts and craftsprojects.
They were doing like line ofgraph stamps on t-shirts and, um
, it was just, it was reallycool to see a new team like step
up and participate and likereally, really put a lot of
effort in I'm also obsessed withthat west te wind logo.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
I just love logos.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
Don't we all?
Hey, mike, let me ask you thisand then we'll go into my famous
not so famous questions here.
I did let him know about it,they let him know, okay.
Speaker 3 (22:25):
Still not prepared.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
That's the whole point.
No one has ever prepared forthis.
Speaker 1 (22:29):
Don't blame him.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
Let me ask, because obviously social media is a big
part of a lot of other thingsand all that how have you guys
been able to take full advantageof social media to really
promote Sandlot baseball here inRaleigh Not really Durham,
really.
Speaker 3 (22:49):
I mean, everybody just kind of got on Instagram
and started, you know, sharingphotos and videos from open
sandlots.
And then, you know, the teamstarted forming and they were
sharing pictures of all thedesigns and the logos and the
hats and the uniforms.
And you know, that really likesparks an interest and people
just start reaching out andbeing like what is this thing I
(23:10):
want to get involved, startreaching out and being like what
is this thing I want to getinvolved, you know, um, so like,
the, the sharing and thereposting of everything that
goes on with all that has reallylike reached a lot of people
and and so that's that'sprobably the biggest reason why
you see new faces showing upevery week.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
Um, when I showed up this weekend, uh, there was
three of us, three of us, threeor four of us that were brand
new to sell.
Uh, and yeah, it was.
They said the same thing.
It's like we went to therevival or we found you guys on
social media and we wanted to bepart of this, and uh, and here
we are yeah, I love the power ofsocial media and it's a good.
(23:51):
it's a way of really doingsocial media right.
Like you know, they were takingadvantage of it and you guys
have done an absolutelywonderful job on that.
So very welcoming and that'show I felt.
Speaker 3 (24:02):
so far, that's good, I'm glad to hear that.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (24:07):
Well, now I have FOMO .
Speaker 2 (24:09):
Well, I told you North Carolina is the place to
be.
Yeah, You're in Vegas, you gotyour your AAA championship,
You've got F1 racing and youknow future major league
baseball team and all that stuff.
Speaker 1 (24:21):
But they don't have, they don't play against anyone
with a full possum logo.
They do not, they do not.
Speaker 2 (24:27):
So, um, sorry about that.
Um, mike, is there anythingthat we haven't asked you or
anything that you want tomention about your team, the
Kudzu or the collective, oranything like that?
Speaker 3 (24:42):
at this point, before I go into my famous, not so
famous questions, the only thingI'd want to stress is that you
know we really are open andwelcome to everybody is that we
really are open and welcome toeverybody.
So if you're even consideringit, just come out and show up
and have a good time.
I mean you're not going to getembarrassed.
I've seen people go out thereand do well and have a good time
(25:05):
.
I've seen people go out thereand fall on their face and have
a good time.
It really is an open, welcomingenvironment and baseball is the
one thing that everybody has acommon interest in.
But you know, the people andthe relationships that you make
out there and continue off thefield are like the reason why we
(25:26):
keep doing it.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
I'll tell you this I missed a lot of ground balls
because, uh, ed balls?
Because Ed did not reallystretch that day, but he learned
his lesson about stretching andmaking sure that he is limble
enough so that way his six-footass gets all the way down to the
ground to make sure that hegrabs the ground ball.
It happened.
Speaker 3 (25:51):
I'm coming off some fresh injuries, so I know the
deal um I.
I just had knee surgery lastweek.
I I tore a meniscus and it'sprobably from playing too much
sandlot baseball god bless youman and you're, and, but you're.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
Are you playing right now with it like that, or
you're just taking it easy?
You're just capping it?
Speaker 3 (26:11):
no, I I was playing at the revival with it, knowing
that the surgery was coming upum, but I was limping around
like I couldn't.
I couldn't run the first base.
If I got on base, I had a pinchrunner yeah, let's go, come on
right now um, but I'm, I'm.
I'll be back on the field laterin the summer good, awesome,
love it all.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
Right, are you ready, my friend?
I'm ready.
Okay, here's the thing I'llgive, but I'll be back on the
field later in the summer.
Good, awesome.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
Love it.
All right, are you ready, myfriend?
I'm ready, okay.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
Here's the thing.
I'll give you the easy one,because this is the one that we
ask everybody here.
Okay, you're going.
Let's say you're going to aDurham Bulls game, right?
Which, by the way, one of thebest ballparks in all of the
country.
Just so you guys know You'regoing there.
What is your food and yourdrink of choice?
Speaker 3 (26:54):
At the ball game.
Yep, I'm going to be probablydrinking a hopium IPA and I'll
have a ballpark dog.
Speaker 2 (27:06):
That's the way to go.
All right, cake or pie, pie Keylime pie key lime pie hits
different, doesn't it?
Speaker 3 (27:25):
uh, strangest thing that you've ever eaten.
Um, um it's a.
Speaker 2 (27:32):
You know it's a.
Speaker 3 (27:33):
I don't know, probably frog legs.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
I've had frog legs and I've had alligator.
Speaker 3 (27:40):
Yeah, I've had gator too.
Frog legs are weirder though.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
Yeah, it was.
It was weird, um, and I'mafraid of frogs, the big ones,
the toads.
Um, I gotta think for it.
I uh, I don't know.
Uh, what was your favorite, uh,school subject?
Math good for you guilty yeah,I am not.
Uh, mine was history.
(28:03):
What was yours, val?
Speaker 1 (28:07):
um, probably I looked forward most to music because I
could just sit on the top ofthe bleacher and just like
taking that anything yeah I'mjust gonna say yeah pick one
bungee jumping or skydivingskydiver I gotta do one of at
least.
Speaker 2 (28:25):
Oh my gosh, all right I don't want to do either no,
oh, I do, I really do, uh, okay,so here's a good one.
Have you ever re-gifted a gift?
Speaker 3 (28:40):
uh, yeah, I'm sure I have I have yeah, but it's not
like not a big gift, like it wasprobably like a like a bottle
of wine or whiskey.
That was, like you know,somebody brought over as a
hosting gift you know, I'm likeokay, and then you're getting,
you get invited to a dinner and.
(29:02):
I know what I can bring, yeah,but I don't.
I don't know about likeChristmas gifts or like birthday
gifts.
Speaker 2 (29:09):
I don't know about that yeah, I don't know either,
doing like I've done it doing awhite elephant.
I was like I need this.
I told my friends here that wedo it here in our neighborhood
we did a white elephant andsomeone gave me the.
I got stuck with a checker setfrom a John Deere checker set.
(29:30):
That sucker is going back tothe white elephant.
I'm telling you that right now.
So all right, Favorite TV showgrowing up.
Speaker 3 (29:45):
Favorite TV show Like how old?
What age are we talking here?
Speaker 2 (29:49):
Whatever age you want it to be, that 70s show, that's
a good one.
That's a good one.
Yup, if you could be anyfictional character in any movie
, who would you be?
Speaker 3 (30:08):
well, I mean, I just I just played at the historic
Bulls Stadium, so I guess thatwould be Crash Davis.
Speaker 2 (30:15):
Oh, that's what I was thinking.
Yep, for me it's either CrashDavis or Indiana Jones.
That's cool.
Okay, if you could have onedessert for the rest of your
life, one dessert, what wouldthat dessert be?
Speaker 3 (30:35):
The Reese's Peanut Butter Sundae from Friendly's.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
That's a good one Do you know that one.
Speaker 1 (30:43):
That's on the East Coast only.
Speaker 3 (30:46):
Yeah, Friendly's is like an old-timey diner-type
restaurant.
It's an old chain they havethis peanut butter sundae that
they serve a couple more here.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
What color is your toothbrush?
I think right now it's purple,but that's what the dentist gave
me.
Here you go.
Here's your bag.
Speaker 3 (31:13):
Yeah, you don't see it until you get home.
Speaker 2 (31:15):
I know right, it's like all right.
You guys never ask to trade, Iwould always ask.
I just want to get out of there.
I was just going to say, val,let's be honest.
They gave you the bag andyou're like, you're not looking.
You're, you're like, all right,I'll see you guys.
Speaker 1 (31:31):
Later see you in seclusion.
Obviously dents trips werealways bad, but that usually
would like make her break, ormake break more or kind of make
up for it.
Speaker 3 (31:41):
The toothbrush color okay, she gets excited about it.
Speaker 2 (31:44):
That's cool yeah, no, not me, not even.
Uh.
All right, two more here.
Speaker 3 (31:51):
First celebrity crush oh, it's got to be Saved by the
Bell Tiffany, amber Thiessen,yeah, got to be Absolutely yeah,
still to this day, that womanis a beautiful woman.
Speaker 2 (32:13):
Still to this day.
All right, first, halloweencostume my first, oh, my
favorite halloween costume.
Yep, uh, one year I was ollie goh my god with the whole like
the, the, the goggles and the inthe school, in the scully and
(32:35):
everything.
Speaker 3 (32:35):
Yeah, yeah, like a white football jersey and white
starter pants.
Speaker 2 (32:40):
Oh, that's amazing.
I love it.
Mike, thank you for doing this.
I had a blast.
This is one of those thingsthat I really truly do believe
in in in Sandlot baseball.
Thank you so much for that.
Where can people find you, theteam on social media and things
like that?
Speaker 3 (33:00):
The website is carolinasandlotcollectivecom and
you can find all the teams onInstagram.
My team is the Carolina Kudzuand we play in Raleigh.
We play teams in Durham, ChapelHill.
We got a game coming up thisweekend in Chapel Hill against
the freight trains.
(33:21):
On Saturday and next weekendwe're hosting the Fort Worth
Panthers, which we're reallyexcited about.
Speaker 2 (33:26):
That'll be cool to go see.
Speaker 3 (33:29):
Yeah, you should come out to a game.
Game, ed um, we'll show you agood time oh, I'm coming
definitely for the um.
Speaker 2 (33:36):
Uh, I know that this saturday, uh, it's happening at
the same time as the open, so Ialready, um, I'm going to the
open, uh, this saturday at 10o'clock, but next weekend I'll,
uh, I'll make it for that onefor sure, absolutely all right,
I'll cook you a hot dog, becauseI can't play so you know what?
There we go.
I'll take lots of pictures andvideos to make sure you guys
(33:58):
have it on your social media andstuff like that.
So I'll thank you um, and then,guys, as far as us, you guys
already know we are on all thesocials.
Uh, we are on youtube, tiktok,instagram threads.
That's where we're pretty muchspending most of our time in Um,
if you guys have any uhsuggestions of who should we
interview uh in the next uh DeadHigh Chronicles podcast, do let
(34:20):
us know.
Send us a message.
Otherwise, uh, we will see youguys on the next one.
Thank you.
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