Weekend Update - weddings and barnstorming

This weekend Meredith and I had the pleasure of attending the wedding of Brad and Justina, good friends from our time at EMU. It was great to reunite with friends that I hadn't seen for some time and get updates on how everyone's lives were progressing, however it was also sad that it takes a wedding for things like this to happen.

On Sunday we ended up at a Lancaster Barnstormer's game with some friends who are living in Lancaster City. The day was great. Perfect weather, a big win by the home team, and a beautiful little ballpark right in the middle of the city.


After a few innings of the game, we began to get curious about three things in particular...

1. What's the deal with their name?


2. What's the deal with the name of their mascot?


3. Is this team affiliated with any other major league team?

A quick trip to the fan help center confirmed nothing other than the people working there don't really have any idea of what is happening :)

The first question was answered with this -- "well, you know, barns... it's Lancaster heritage". Fortunately there was another employee near by to confirm that "barnstorming" was the practice of moving from small farming town to small farming town, the term used to describe the first travelling ballclubs.

The second question was handled something like this...

Ben - why is your mascot named Cylo?
Helpful old lady - well, a silo is part of the lancaster landscape
B - riiiiiiiiiiight, I know, so why is it "CY"lo?
H - it's a pun
B - why is it a pun?
H - silo is spelled S-I-L-O
B - so why is it spelled C-Y-L-O?
H - that's a good question

The third question was fortunately handled by the same man who knew why they were called the barnstormers... he said that the team was totally unaffiliated after our helpful fan help center employee asked me what it meant to be affiliated.

She really was a sweet old lady, I shouldn't have given her such hard questions.

All for now,

Ben