Meet Me In The Parking Lot

As I have told you time and again on this blog, the Canespace rules are: (1) You have to show up; (2) You have to stay to the end; (3) You can't by shy.  If you follow these rule good things and good luck are bound to find you sooner or later.  Saturday was once again one of those times.

After the Spring game had ended and the fans tried to make their way out of the Stadium the traffic was absolutely horrendous.  So rather than trying to fight it, I decided to spend some time talking some Canes and some trash with Canespacer Cat5 (Ron) in the parking lot.  Little did I know at the time that this would turn out to be one of the best decisions I had ever made. 

As Ron and I stood in the parking lot discussing his latest ideas on how and why I should improve and expand the blog we were soon joined by two other fans who arrived at their car that was parked next to ours. 

One of the guys, seeing Ron with his trademark Budweiser in hand, asked if he could borrow some ice.  As we gave him some ice and a Canespace card and told him about the site we talked and became friends. 

Then he introduced himself.  Turns out our new friend just happened to be Sam Shields' father [who is seen above with Canespacers Cat5 (L) and 86Cane (R)].  We shared a beverage, chatted a while and the questions came naturally as did the candid responses.  Here is our conversation...

Cat5: So how does Sam feel about moving from wide receiver to defensive back?

Mr. Shields: He says he feels like a kid in a playground!  He really likes it.  Sam has played offense all his life so moving to DB was a big change.  But now he says he can read and react; there is less thinking involved. 

Sam (seen here with Ryan Hill signing the now famous Canespace limited edition ST#26 T-shirt) told me that he feels that it allows him up to use his athletic ability and make plays.  And if he gets the ball on defense, he's gone, trust me, he's gone (for a pick six)!

86Cane: How did you feel about the position change?

Mr. Shields: Coach Shannon called me after he talked to Sam about it (the position change).  He asked me what I thought about it and I told him: "If Sam thinks it's OK, if he wants to do it, then it's OK by me." I told Coach Shannon that Sam would probably play Center if you asked him to (laughter all around).  He just wants to play and be on the field and contribute to the team.

86Cane: Sam and Shannon have not always seen eye to eye.  How is their relationship now?

Mr. Shields: Shannon is a serious guy.  Coach Coker was much nore relaxed in the way he treated players and ran the team.  I used to joke with Susan at The Miami Herald to ask Shannon if there was a door to get out his dog house.  Because once Sam got in there he could never seem to get out.  Shannon doesn't forget or let things go easily.  That's not a criticism, he's just that way.

86Cane: Sam came in with such high expectations.  Do you feel he got a fair shot or that maybe Shannon may have been to hard on Sam?

Mr. Shields: No, that's not it at all.  Listen, don't get me wrong, I respect Coach Shannon and understand what he is trying to get done at Miami.  I am a fan of the Hurricanes, partly because of Sam, but I have always liked the Canes and I want to see them win and do well.  But I don't think the image that some people got of Sam was accurate.  Shannon is a good coach but Sam is also good kid and I want people to know that.   I won't deny that there were some issues between Sam and Coach Shannon during his first two years at UM but we feel that's in the past.  We're moving forward. 

86Cane: So does Sam think he has a chance to play or possibly even start at CB this season?

Mr. Shields: Sam told me he is confident that he will get a fair shot at CB and he plans to make the most of his opportunity.  I'll tell you this, he's excited again about playing football.  The position change may actually help him later on because the more versatile you are the more chances you have to make an impression (on NFL coaches).  Coaches want to know that you can do more than one thing and contribute on special teams too (to increase the chance of getting drafted).

Cat5: We all know that Sam has the speed and talent, but tell us what we don't know about Sam?

Mr. Shields: I never played football, but I was a pretty good basketball player.  I wanted Sam to play basketball but he wasn't really good at it.  He would steal the ball and then miss the easy layup.  He was so fast he'd run up on the basket too fast and the ball would bounce off the backboard.  So he switched to football and that was his sport. He was always good at football from the first day he stepped on the field.  On the football filed, his speed was always his advantage.

As our conversation ended we said goodbye we provided our new friends some Canespace T-shirts and watched them drive away.  Cat5 and I looked at each other with some sense of disbelief that we had such and rare and unique opportunity to get a candid, exclusive interview with a player's father. 

But that only lasted for a few minutes until our next visitor walked up.  Then we immediately started our next interview with WQAM radio personality and UM color comentator Don Bailey. 

Yeah, I know what you are thinking, but no, I am not making this up!  We talked with Bailey for about twenty minutes and even got him to make a 2009 season prediction, talk about national championships and select his Legends of the Fall for Canespace. 

But that was only until the cheerleaders arrived.  And yeah, we have the pictures to prove it... 

Comments

[Cane Since 1982]

Bottom 3rd

NATHAN MELENDRES: Strike out
DAVE DiNATALE: Bunt out
SCOTT LAWSON: Fly out to left

5-2 Barry going to top 4

[Cane Since 1982]

Jason Santana is on the mound. I got my ST#26 on.

[SOUP]

Here U go, University of "Barry":

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:BarryManilow.jpg

[SOUP]

I got my ST#26 on.

Posted by: Cane Since 1982 | April 01, 2009 at 06:51 PM

Ahh, the "classic". NICE!

[DZ8]

This Bary dude is kicking our as#??

Oh Mandy...

[Sarasota 'cane]

bg1906, nice post! The "unknown" factors this year, are more easily digested than the "unknown" factors of the last several years.

People who work hard get lucky, and I think we will see a lot of "luck" come our way this year!

Our much maligned defense from last year, had us in the game well into the 4th quarter against UF. The offense was too young and inexperiened to capitalize on the opportunity.

Towards the end of the year things just unraveled. The kid's we have now are not going to go down without a fight.

Go 'canes!

[Cane Since 1982]

Top 4

1st batter: Ground out to 1st on a strong throw from Jackson
2nd batter: STRIKE OUT #3
3rd batter: Walk
4th batter: STRIKE OUT #4

5-2 going to Bottom 4th

[DZ8]

They named a school after him?

I thought he was just a character played by Martin Short.

http://www.greatgolfevents.com/images/MARTIN_SHORT_HIGHRES.jpg

[Cane Since 1982]

Bottom 4th

JASON HAGERTY: HOME RUN

Solo HOME RUN

5-3 Barry

[Six]

Barry is ranked #7 in the nation right now in Division II.

Think they're 21-3 on the year.

Like I've always said, there's really not much difference between Division I and Division II baseball, except the depth of front line pitching.

Aluminum bats are aluminum bats, proper leg drive/recoil are the same or can be honed, etc.

This is embarrassing though, for the #7 team in the nation to be getting beaten like they are .. and esp. a Senior pitcher like Santana?

This should be a tune up game for the series with Free Scores University, basically like batting practice.

[DZ8]

Plenty of time left.

[Cane Since 1982]

Still Bottom 4th (0 out, 0 runners)

CHRIS HERRMANN: Stand up double off the centerfield wall
YASMANI GRANDAL: 4 pitch Walk
HAROLD MARTINEZ: Hit By Pitch, Bases Loaded

Barry's 3rd pitching change of the game

[Six]

Santana - 4 innings pitched, 4 hits, 5 runs, 1 earned run, 4 Ks ... 2 HRs

Bases juiced, no outs for the Canes.

C-A-P-I-T-A-L-I-Z-E

[Cane Since 1982]

Still Bottom 4th (0 out, Bases Loaded)

-Wild Pitch, Run scores, Runners to 2nd & 3rd

5-4 Barry

[Cane Since 1982]

Still Bottom 4th (0 out, Runners at 2nd & 3rd)

JONATHAN WEISLOW: Walk, Bases Loaded
RYAN JACKSON: Single to left center, 2 runs SCORE, Runners at the corners

6-5 Canes

[Cane Since 1982]

Still Bottom 4th (0 out, Runners on the corners)

NATHAN MELENDRES: Strike out
DAVE DiNATALE: RBI Ground out, Jackson to 3rd

7-5 Canes

[Cane Since 1982]

Still Bottom 4th (2 out, Runner on 3rd

SCOTT LAWSON: Walk
JASON HAGERTY: Ground out

7-5 Canes going to top 5

[SOUP]

RYAN JACKSON: Single to left center, 2 runs SCORE, Runners at the corners

6-5 Canes

Posted by: Cane Since 1982 | April 01, 2009 at 07:14 PM

Ryan "Action" Jackson!

GO CANES!!!

[SlingBlade]

is this the same barry that played for san fransisco...i thought he retired...if he wins they should check him for hgh...
theres a small rumor going around about him..have you heard?

[Cane Since 1982]

Top 4

1st batter: Ground out to pitcher
2nd batter: Fly out to right
3rd batter: Ground ball single to left
4th batter: Chop out to short

7-5 Canes going to Bottom 5th

[Cane Since 1982]

Bottom 5th

CHRIS HERRMANN: Chop out
YASMANI GRANDAL: HOME RUN

Solo HOME RUN

8-5 Canes

[Cane Since 1982]

Still Bottom 5th (1 out, 0 runners)

HAROLD MARTINEZ: Strike out
JONATHAN WEISLOW: HOME RUN

Solo HOME RUN

9-5 Canes

[Cane Since 1982]

Still Bottom 5th (2 out, 0 runners)

RYAN JACKSON: Out

9-5 Canes going to top 6

[Cane Since 1982]

Top 6
(Canes pitching change to Travis Miller)

1st batter: Walk
2nd batter: Line out to left
3rd batter: Ground rule double ball bounced over the right field wall, runner to 3rd
4th batter: Sac Fly

9-6 Canes

[Cane Since 1982]

Still top 6 (2 out, Runner on 2nd)

5th batter: Ground out to 1st

9-6 Canes going to Bottom 5th

[Cane Since 1982]

Bottom 6th

NATHAN MELENDRES: Ground out to short
DAVE DiNATALE: Double to center
SCOTT LAWSON: Walk
-Thrown out stealing 2nd

9-6 going to Top 7

[Cane Since 1982]

Woops that was only the 2nd out

Still Bottom 6th (2 out, Runner on 3rd)

JASON HAGERTY: RBI single
YASMANI GRANDAL: Infield pop out

10-6 Canes now goign to top 7

[Cane Since 1982]

Top 7

1st batter: Home run

10-7 Canes

[MWD]

New blob...

[Cane Since 1982]

Still top 7 (0 out, 0 runners)

2nd batter: Line drive single to left
3rd batter: STRIKE OUT #1 (Canes #5)
4th batter: Single up the middle, runner to 2nd
5th batter: Home Run

10-10

[NativeCane]

Chi-Pun,don't apologize for that double,it needed to be told twice.
That Kaa gives me chill bumps!

[Chinese Punisher aka Cavaleer]

???

[diesel9]

.......

[JLF]

h

[B-West]

I just want to thank all the positive feedback and support my uncle and cousin have/has and will recieve....thank you! Unc's right, Sam really just loves to play football.. Shouldn't have ever gotten this far between him and Shannon...with that said, as an ex athlete, I'll see if I can get Lil Sam to come to GA for the summer and we'll work on some tackling/defensive drills. Again, great article.......Go Canes!

B-West