Happy Wednesday Gnats fans!

I hope all is going well in your world.  Today’s been a busy day in the trailer.  Mike and I, and Mike’s media assistant Matt(you’ll learn more about him soon) were coming up with some plans for our new pregame show.  Which means fans, you’ll need to come to the games early so you can see it!!  We’ll have game recaps, funny videos, player interviews all sorts of cool stuff! 

Benton, Tasha, Brad, and Pat have been in and out at meetings, Justin’s been planning the Wedding Expo for April 27th.  There’s a lot going on around here!!

I can’t believe how fast this off season has rolled around.  It’s almost time… as for now, i’ll enjoy this great 70 degree February weather and go for a run around Forsyth Park while I still can!

Hasta manana! (i’m attempting to learn Spanish)

LP

So yesterday Gnate, the Hammer and I made some appearences around the Savannah area helping people surprise their loved ones with Valentines Gifts!  We first had the idea of just dressing me up in a cupid outfit, but decided it would scare people. It was an exciting day and fun to see the surprised looks on people’s faces!

On a more personal note, my Carolina Panthers are currently in process of making offseason moves for the 2008 NFL season.  They have cut Dan Morgan, Mike Wahle and will probably cut Dave Carr, DeShaun Foster, Keary Colbert and Mike Rucker.  In my opinion, they need to make some bold moves this offseason…last year they sat on their hands.  They need to draft an offensive linemen in the first round.  Then they need to sign at LEAST two of the following free agents: Michael Turner, Marion Barber, Derrick Ward, DJ Hackett, Bernard Berrian, Ken Hamlin and Corey Williams.  They definately need a WR and a RB first.  John Fox and Marty Hurney both know their jobs are on the line this year, so they will be making some big moves.  We’ll see how things turn out. 

Hello all you fans of the biting bug!  As you can see from the last entry, the Mets announced that Donovan Mitchell will be our manager for the 2008 season.  Mitchell came into to town today (Wednesday) and did some interviews with the local newspaper as well as some local television stations so be on the lookout for those.  Donovan will also appear on Ray Steele’s morning show tomorrow morning (Thursday, Valentine’s Day) at 7:40 a.m.

Around the office nothing too new to report.  My intern Matt will be arriving in Savannah this Friday and start on Monday so I’m sure you will see him posting on this blog in the near future.  Matt is also from California so I will have another West Coast native in the office to back me up. 

The Southern Women’s Show went well.  We met lots of people and Gnate even got his picture taken with the Sleep Train Mattress Center Sheep while he was there.  There are no appearances scheduled for this weekend but keep an eye out for Gnate and the Gnats staff in the near future. 

The Mets pitchers and catchers report to Port St. Lucie, Fla. tomorrow and I know I’m excited.  I’ll be making a trip down on March 7-9 to check out the Mets as well as a few other teams. 

In non-Sand Gnats news, I rented 3:10 to Yuma the other day with Russell Crowe and Christian Bale.  It wasn’t a bad movie for a western.  It kept me entertained for 2 hours and the ending wasn’t half bad.  Rent it if you get a chance. 

That’s it, I’m out for now. 

Peace

SAVANNAH, Ga. ? Donovan Mitchell has been tabbed to manage the Savannah Sand Gnats for the 2008 season, the New York Mets announced today.  Mitchell will lead a staff that features two returning members from the 2007 staff led by Tim Teufel. 

Mitchell, 38, managed the Mets Rookie League team in Kingsport, Tenn. the past two seasons.  In two years with the K-Mets, Mitchell compiled a 69-66 record and guided them to a second place finish in the Appalachian League?s Western Division in 2007.  Prior to his managerial work with Kingsport, he served as the hitting coach with the Brooklyn Cyclones in 2004 and 2005. 

George Greer will join Mitchell in Savannah in 2008 and serve as the team?s hitting coach.  Greer, who spent 17 seasons as the manager of the Wake Forest Demon Deacons, also spent 2007 with the Kingsport Mets.  Greer owns a 714-504-8 record as a Division I Head Coach in 23 seasons.  Last year in Kingsport, the K-Mets hit .257 as a team, which was good enough for fourth in the league. 

Jonathan Hurst, who served as Savannah?s pitching coach in 2007, returns to the Coastal Empire in 2008 to continue his duties as pitching coach and Pedro Lopez will serve as a coach on Mitchell?s 2008 staff.  Trainer Matt Thayer returns to Savannah for his second season as team trainer while Nick Wright begins his first season as the Gnats? strength coach. 

Savannah opens the home portion of the 2008 season Friday, April 11 at 7 p.m. versus the Columbus Catfish.  Season tickets and flex plans are currently available.  For more information and a complete schedule, visit http://www.sandgnats.com or call 912-351-9150. 

Well I said I’d have a quick little video of what our starting lineups might look like on our video board this season and I delivered!  It’s only 28 seconds long but let me know what you think by leaving comments on this blog after you’ve watched it.  I’ll take pros/cons/money/sweet tarts or anything else you’d like to give me!

*Note no actual players were used during this filming process although they think they are…

Download O8Lineups.wmv

My name is Pat Shaw. I work in Group Sales and grew up 5 blocks from Grayson Stadium.  Come see me and all the Gnats at the Women’s Show this weekend.   We would love the opportunity to discuss all the plans we have for your 2008 Sand Gnats.   

                                     Your Home Team,

                                         Slawdog

Ladies! This is for you!  The Southern Women’s Show has started and will go on all weekend!  Use this $1 off coupon to check out the show! 

We’re running a 2 for 1 special on FLEX PLANS which are being sold exclusively at the show.  (2 for 1 Flex Plan means you get 20 tickets to use at any game in any quality for ONLY $60!)

I was there yesterday to set up our booth and had a chance to walk around… it looks like there’s some pretty good stuff this year.  Vanilla Day Spa has a booth, there’s lots of sparkly jewelry, and bunch of booths with those great dips and preztels!(those are my favorites, they have sooo many different kinds of dips and i get really hungry from walking around!) There’s also a celebrity cooking stage and once again the Southside Firefighters will take the stage for their annual fashion show!

This just in… Aiden Turner, from "All My Children" will be cooking on the celebrity cooking stage… HE IS HOT!! Check out the show’s website at www.southernshows.com for more info! 

I’ll be there tonight along with everyone’s favorite local Pat Shaw!  Make sure you visit us, we love talking about all things Sand Gnats so come on down to our booth and hang out!   

Sand Gnats fans love is in the air! Valentine’s Day is right around the corner.  Tired of the normal V-Day delivery methods?  Are you looking to surprise that special someone in a unqiue way??? If you live in the Savannah area, you can have our mascot Gnate deliver those flowers for you!  For $80 you will recieve 1 dozen red roses, a personalized message and 2 tickets to a Savannah Sand Gnats game delivered by Gnate himself! Fax (912) 352-9722 or email (bentonr@sandgnats.com) the following form today!!!

Download ValentinesDay.pdf   

This past weekend the Sand Gnats appeared at the Taste of Savannah.  We served hot dogs and peanuts! I know many of you were waiting in suspense to see if I accomplished my mission of sampling a food item from all 30 booths. I am sorry to say I did not accomplish my goal.  Not to make excuses, but there were some rather large size portions! I did sample food from 17 of the 30 booths on hand.  Some of my favorites were Sticky Finger’s pulled pork sandwich, Moon River’s mini slider turkey burger and of course our Sand Gnats’ ballpark hotdogs! 

Come see us this weekend at the Southern Women’s Show at the Internaional Trade and Convention Center from February 8-10th.  I will be attempting to speak to all the females at every booth….JUST KIDDING! Go Gnats BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.

-Benton

So I haven’t posted in a while and I figured it was time for me to check in.  Nothing too new to report from the Media Relations/Video Department.  I’ve been working on the designs for this year’s pocket schedule and magnet schedules so that has been keeping me busy the past couple of days.  I went down to River St. and took some pictures and some video so we’ll see what turns up in this year’s video board graphics and the like. 

If you’ve been to sandgnats.com since last Friday you’ll notice that our splash page has changed.  I hope everyone likes the new design and the actual website itself will be undergoing a redesign here over the next couple of weeks.  I’m working with our web host on some design aspects and things we’d like to see added to our site so come March you should be seeing a whole new sandgnats.com

On a personal note, I was very disappointed with this year’s Super Bowl commercials.  I only laughed maybe once or twice and on the whole found myself getting up to refill snacks during commercials more so than usual. 

Well that’s all I got for now, maybe later in the week I’ll post a video of you might see for our Starting Lineups in 2008 when you come to Historic Grayson Stadium

Later

Mike

P.S. – It is my friend Jeff Shum’s birthday today, so Happy Quarter Century to You Buddy..I’ll join you in September…