The IAL draft weekend starts tomorrow… what am I bringing?

In less than 12 hours, I’ll be heading up to the Chicago area for the 2013 Illowa APBA League World Series and Draft weekend.  As usual, I’ll be traveling up with my cross-town buddy John Brandeberry.  Brando will most likely be in more of hurry than I as he has postseason games to play (no jealousy here!) 

But what to bring!?  I’ve got a mental list in my head of what to bring to a league draft weekend where by the way, we also play 30 games. 

Here’s my incomplete list. 

My dice

I have a good assortment of reds, whites and even some other colors.

Dice cups

I use a couple standard ones plus one or two that friend John Brandeberry made for me.  This weekend, I’m bringing the ceramic one and my personal favorite, the wooden one with a lip on the top.  

My Yankee Stadium

I’m not a New York fan at all but John Brandeberry got this container in the shape of Yankee Stadium for me when he went out East.  It’s become invaluable to me at APBA get-togethers as it holds all my dice, my team, a few pens and a few lucky mementos.

The metallic container even has a light sensor so it plays “Take me out to the Ballgame” whenever it’s opened.  Without fail though, at least one person in the room reaching for their cell phone when that happens. 

My lucky mementos 

Did I mention these yet?  I’ve collected a few small bats and gloves (the kind you would see at a craft store) and have them around good luck.  I also have a metallic keychain pendant I call my “pennant pendant” which I rub with my thumb when I need some extra luck. 

And the pennant pendant will come through this year, I promise. 

My Coaches

Every manager needs a coaching staff. Along with my team, I include some baseball cards put out by the Illini baseball team.  They include some of the coaches of the team.  The one of head coach shows him tapping his left arm so it’s especially appropriate if I’m making a call to the pen.

APBA Boards, of course. 

I guess that goes without saying.

Stat sheets

I of course, have my stat limits stored on my hard drive on my laptop but for the drive up it will be nice to refer to.  Also handy for those times when another manager calls you out to the hotel hallway for trade talk.  Call the APBA Police! 

Scoresheets

I use these that you can download and modify if you want.

Chuck the Chicken

And finally, if packing space allows, I bring the Twin City Thunderchickens’ mascot.  Chuck the Chicken will squawk the “Chicken Dance” song if you squeeze him.  That prompted a fellow manager to give him a swift kick early in his mascot career.  He’s gotten over that little incident and still happily cheers the Thunderchickens to victory.

In the past, I have bought a fantasy baseball magazine to help during the draft.  I just never got around to it this year. 

Some of you may be wondering, “what about your team cards?”  The IAL buys a separate set of cards for use for the league (paid for with league dues).  On occasion, managers have brought their own cards but it just turned into a confusing mess determining whose cards were whose.