This past Friday was the annual NCBL Banquet at the Hellenic Meeting & Reception Centre, with a record 13 SweatSox & Friends in attendance to witness the official banner raising and trophy presentation for winning the Tier II Championship. On the undercard was the possibility of winning some individual hardware including: Most Valuable Player (Eric White), Batter of the Year (Eric White), Sportsmanship & Ability (Cory Bond), and Playoff Finals MVP (Marc Lett).
Before heading inside to mingle with the rest of the league, the SweatSox first had to meet a few of the Hellenic’s finest employees, who made us honorary “Parking Lot Monitors” for the night. Our job was to basically make sure no kids were hanging around out back drinking, smoking, or generally disturbing the peace. If we did catch any of these hooligans in the act, we were ordered to attempt to confiscate their smokes & beer, and if they refused, do absolutely nothing, because what can you really do.
When we did walk through the doors, we were greeted the way champions should be greeted, the entire room put down their drinks and gave us a standing ovation; the 1st of 3 we’d see throughout the night.
After cocktails and dinner, it was time to get down to business. The first award the SweatSox were up for was Batter of the Year. Eric was up against Drew McCormick of the Cardinals, and Ty Munro of the Mudd; and unfortunately for Eric, the award went to McCormick.
The next award the SweatSox were up for was the Rodney Walsh Sportsmanship & Ability Award. Cory was up against Daren Keating of the Braves, Angus MacDonald of the Athletics, and Jeff Ruggerio of the Expos. And the award goes to, for the 2nd time in 3 years:
Next up it was time for the Tier II Championship trophy presentation. We all assumed that as general manager, manager, coach, captain, veteran, and all around great guy, Cory would go up and accept the trophy on our behalf. Our fearless leader had other plans though, and instead opted to send the SuperFans up on stage as one final thank you for all their support throughout the year. Standing ovation #2. We’re not sure why Commissioner Bill didn’t want to be in this photo:
The night was supposed to close with the presentations of the MVP and Playoff Final MVP trophies for Tier’s 1, 2, 3, and 4 (in that order), but the banquet MC made a last second audible and skipped Tier 2, in what we quickly suspected was to “save the best for last”.
The Tier 2 MVP award was the penultimate one of the night, with Eric up against Charlie Crabb of the Athletics, and Jordan Kritsch of the Cardinals. And the award goes to:
Finally, to close the night was the award for Tier 2 Finals MVP. The nominees weren’t made public, but we’re guessing Marc was up against either Aaron Seguin (offence) or Ryan Daigle (pitching) of the Cornwall River Rats. While both River Rats had a great series, a Championship winning walk-off Grand Slam just edges them out. Standing ovation #3.
Honourable mention to Craig Cornell and Mark Bond, who both took home door prizes; and dishonourable mention to Armando Navarro, who didn’t take control of the 50/50 draw so we weren’t able to win our 3rd draw in 4 years.
The SweatSox would like to congratulate all pennant, championship, and individual award winners not just in the NCBL, but throughout amateur sports all around the world.
Finally, we’d like to thank everyone involved in organizing this year’s banquet. Kudos on a job well done.
FYI: If anyone is looking to see/download a copy of the slideshow that was being shown during the banquet, we’ll have it posted soon.
#WONTHEBANQUET