#FanCave30, Living on a Prayer
Day two of the MLB Fan Cave top 30 experience was just as surreal as day one. Everyone in the competition brought their “A” game to Arizona and it showed in every aspect. Here’s what went down.
We were all split up into three spring training locales, Salt River Fields, Surprise, and Goodyear. I was on Team Goodyear and headed over to the spring training home of the Cincinnati Reds and Cleveland Indians. On that squad also were Indians fan Alex Justice and Reds fan Ben Wietmarschen, needless to say the excitement was there.
We arrived and ended up getting to interview Reds all-star Jay Bruce. Bruce couldn’t have been a nicer person. We filmed a piece where the nine of us went “once through the lineup” asking the slugger rapid-fire questions and switching out quickly. There’s a special surprise, that you’ll have to see to find out!
Our next task was the MLB.com/Tickets commercial challenge. We were broken up into teams of five and given one hour to film a 30-second commercial for a random team we drew (Twins) and a 15-second solo commercial for our own team (Braves). It took a few minutes for me, Ben, Lindsay Beaver, Marcus Hall, and Christine Lorigo to come up with our concept, but it came out great. I mean honestly, who doesn’t love anything involving Joe Mauer’s hair? Look for the commercial to be on MLBFanCave.com soon!
We headed back to the hotel is crazy Arizona weather. I don’t think I’ve ever seen rain, sunny, rain, sunny, hail, rainbow, sunny, thunderstorm, then clear in a span of six hours. That’s what happened in Phoenix on Wednesday. After changing it was time to head over for the grand finale of the trip!
The last part is the time to unwind and let loose with some bowling at Lucky Strike in Phoenix. The facility is just phenomenal and a perfect place for a function like this. We bowled and danced the night away and I even finally found a lucky winner for the Troy Tulowitzki game-used memorabilia card!
Before I forget! The “Les MLB Miserables” parody is up on the MLB Fan Cave website, click here to check it out! I think the video came out fantastic! Don’t worry, we don’t actually have voices like that.
My time in Arizona is something that I’m going to take with me the rest of my life. There isn’t one person in the top 30 that didn’t give it their all and everyone has a great case to make it to New York City. I did everything I set out to do. I nailed my elevator pitch, dominated in trivia, danced and sang, worked hard, stayed true to myself, and of course had fun. I can only hope that the dream continues all the way to New York City. Thanks again for your support, it’s been so completely overwhelming and humbling.
-Bryan Mapes (@IAmMapes)
Three Up, Three Down 