Thanks again to everyone that came out to Royals Review Fest this weekend, especially CentralChamps2009, Shooter, Dyefan187, AndrewMiller, Royals Nation, Leobloom and loyal2theroyals. (Hope I'm not forgetting anyone.) I am continually amazed by how nice and cool people are. It was really really nice getting to meet people, grab a free blanket (which actually seems nice as hell) and watch an exciting victory on a cool night. (An added benefit was discovering the nicest Applebee's I have ever seen, the one on Blue Ridge just two exits or so down from the K on I-70.) As loyal2 can attest to, I'm a pretty... awkward person, and for some reason, I didn't do much to make Royals Review fest too rewarding. Next year, I promise, I'll have a) better food and b) a special guest. But mostly better food, even if it's bags of Burger King.

Local boy makes good, designs award-winning poster.

I was pretty nervous the first few times I held up the Gload will Explode poster, especially since there was a very rowdy group of about seven dudes a few rows behind me. They seemed to take to the poster, although not without adding another few lines to the phrase, involving another word that rhymes with "explode". Oh well. Jokes on me and my smug face (God, I hope I don't look like that all the time) since Gload exploded for an epic single that proved key to the win.

I wrapped up the evening with my first ever audio post in the parking lot. It was a very 12 Monkeys experience -- remember how Cole had to call a certain number which the future could somehow get -- but technically at least, it worked. It's about two minutes of silly post-game happiness. Here it is: