NEWS » onto the Etihad Stadium pitch.Im not going to u

Nicole McFadyen knew she wanted to work outside, far from a desk and the fluorescent lights of an office. So, she studied agriculture at Delaware Technical College and the University of Delaware. I was fascinated by the science of plants and how to care for them, she says. She had no idea it would lead her to a career in baseball.While taking a class in irrigation, she and her classmates visited Camden Yards in Baltimore and spoke with the head groundskeeper. At about the same time, she was working part-time at a golf course, mowing greens, fairways and tee boxes while learning to care for turf. Once she saw a Phillies-Braves game on TV and noticed the grass in Atlanta was cut the same way she was cutting fairways, she dug out the business card the Orioles head groundskeeper had given her, called and asked if he had any internships.He asked me a few questions about where I went to school and whatnot, and then he said, Can you make it here within two weeks? We have a spot actually opening up. That was in 2001. From there she became an assistant groundskeeper for the Orioles. In 2004, she moved to Trenton, New Jersey, to become head groundskeeper of the Trenton Thunder, the New York Yankees Double-A affiliate. In November 2006, the Orioles brought her back as head groundskeeper.Today, McFadyen, 38, a member of the Sports Turf Managers Association, is one of only two women in the majors to be a head groundskeeper. (Heather Nabozny in Detroit is the other.) She and her crew take care of the playing surface at Camden Yards, a year-round job in which the weeks and days can be long during the season. A baseball fan and former softball player, originally from New Castle, Delaware, lives in Eldersburg, Maryland, about 25 miles from work, with her husband and 3-year-old son.A baseball career?I wanted to work in some sort of agricultural field, and I just kind of fell into this. Oh, you can do this and work in baseball? I love baseball, so the two things kind of lined up. But going into school, it was just about agricultural and horticultural studies, things like that.Down to the minorsAfter some time in Baltimore I went to Trenton and people thought I was crazy. Youre already in the major leagues, why would you leave? But it was something I wanted to prove to myself that I could do this kind of job. I wanted to see if I wanted to stay in sports turf or if I wanted to get back into more of the agricultural side of my degree.Taking a chanceI knew that going to work for somebody like the Trenton Thunder, a Yankees affiliate, they would have high standards. ... That was my thought process. Theyre rebuilding their system, they have all these greats on their team, back in 2004, so if anybody needed to rehab, I wanted to make sure our field in Trenton was good enough for those rehabs to come down, like a Derek Jeter, a Mariano Rivera, you name it. Plus the guys that were there when I was there -- Robinson Cano, Philip Hughes -- those guys were their top prospects. I was like, this needs to be maintained like a major league park for them. I didnt go into it with the notion I would ever come back to Camden Yards, though I thought it would be awesome to. I was just thinking if a position opens with the Yankees or Philadelphia or the Orioles, I would have two great ballparks on my resume. I was 23, 24. I was young and taking a chance.High standardsTrenton was a beautiful ballpark, I think a little bit neglected when I arrived. It was a little less attentive to detail than what I came from. At Camden Yards, were hand-picking sunflower seeds or any little itty-bitty trash on the field. So taking that to Trenton was one of the things I had to work on, to change the mindset.Back to BaltimoreI got this call from the Orioles and the assistant that called me said, Weve been following your career and we want you to come back and interview for the head groundskeeper position. Just that alone meant so much to me, just to be considered by this organization. And when I was offered the position I remember driving home from Baltimore and I had to pull over, and I cried. I was excited, ecstatic, never thought it would happen, but you take that little leap of faith and you can get a lot out of following your dreams.Being head groundskeeperThe main job is to provide a safe and playable surface for the athletes. Its very hard to do. You have grass, which takes up 90 percent of the field, and 10 percent of it is dirt and clay. You have to maintain that totally different than the grass. So working on that, plus Mother Nature, can be difficult at times. Were trying to make the field as perfect, as near perfect, as possible. And the aesthetics of everything, making sure our ballpark is represented the way that ownership would want, how it looks on TV, how it looks to fans.The Camden CrewI have two full-time assistants, year-round, and variable employees here from March 1 to Dec. 1 that consists of a crew of five. Then I have a game-day staff, and thats an 18-person tarp crew.Home-field advantageIts a little bit different than what home-field advantage was like in the past, where people would tilt base paths or raise the mound real high or have half the infield cut at a different length than the other half. We cant really do those things anymore, mandated by Major League Baseball as a whole. But as far as playability of the field, if (shortstop) J.J. Hardy likes his position soaked, then were going to soak it for him. If Ubaldo Jimenez likes the mound dry when he pitches, were not going to wet it.At the end of the day, you want to know you provided your team a really special place. ... I mean, the Orioles have one of the best home records in baseball. So yeah, youre not out there turning those double plays and making amazing catches in the outfield, but I know myself and my crew put a lot of hours on that field to be able to make that happen for the team.Pinching herself dailyBefore a game, Im out there, working on the field, and theres like 48,000 empty seats and youre alone on this two-acre turf, and its pretty incredible. Im very fortunate to have this position, no doubt. I dont even know how to put it into words that yeah, I still get that butterflied feeling in my stomach when I walk out there. Its my favorite part of the job, before the game, before the guys come out and take batting practice. Just prepping the field as perfect as you can. Its never perfect, so youre striving every day.Its all about the grassAll the grass here is 100 percent Kentucky bluegrass. Its ridiculously difficult, with the weather scenarios were faced with on a daily basis. ... We were just off a stint where for a whole month it was upper 90s and bluegrass likes 85 degrees or under. So the field stresses. Youre doing everything you can to cool that plant off by watering or getting some air circulation (with big fans).But you have baseball for eight months, so in March sometimes its a high of 55. So youre going to get different patterns of weather. If youre going to use a Bermuda or warm-season turf, youre really only getting the benefit of that turf from June through August. It would be dormant, or brown, in cool weather. ... It just benefits to manage the bluegrass for three months of heat.During the gameIm very fortunate to have an office that has a view of the field. Im in right field, right next to our giant roll-up door that goes into our shop. Theres a little window so I can watch the game. It was built that way so the groundskeeper could have a good sight on the infield and how thats playing as well as the rain situation. My main job is to watch the game and the playability of the game, but also to watch the radar for weather.Here comes my sonOn days I can bring him to the ballpark, I take advantage of that, because with my hours ... Ive cut back and done more delegating, but Im always here. On my days off, I really take time off and trust that my crew can handle anything. But yeah, when he can come to the ballpark, its a blast. He loves sliding on the warning track and he gets his little bat out with the balls and he runs around and likes to throw and catch. I take him for tractor rides and he likes sitting on the equipment. I cant wait until hes a little bit older.PrivilegedI remember when my dad first took me to the Vet (Philadelphias Veterans Stadium) and I walked through (the tunnel) and I was like, Wow, this is so awesome. The greatest athletes play here. I still feel like that to this day, when I look around as Im cutting the grass or working on the infield clay. Only now its at this beautiful ballpark, Oriole Park at Camden Yards. I am so privileged. Cheap Jerseys . Pedro scored from a pass by Lionel Messi in the 33rd minute and added two more goals in the 47th and 72nd after Valdes saved his second penalty in four days following his stop in Wednesdays 4-0 over Ajax in the Champions League. MLB Jerseys From China . McCarthy, a player who played some games in the second tier for Wigan at the start of this season, would go on to shine inside Evertons midfield, outplaying the man he was brought in to replace, on one of the grandest stages in English football. On Saturday, it was fitting that Manchester Uniteds most recent dagger into the chest was delivered by Frenchman Yohan Cabaye, a wonderfully gifted central midfielder who put on an outstanding effort for Newcastle at Old Trafford. http://www.cheapmlbjerseysgood.com/ . From filmmaker Nanette Burstein (On the Ropes), The Price of Gold revisits the saga that rocked the figure skating world ahead of the 1994 Lillehammer Olympic Winter Games: the assault on Nancy Kerrigan, and the plot that led its way back to her rival Tonya Harding. MLB T-shirts From China . The 29-year-old Baines has established himself as one of the top attacking full backs in the country and was the subject of two bids from United during the last off-season. Everton manager Roberto Martinez says that keeping Baines at the club is a "massive boost and exciting for the future" because he brings "maturity and football knowledge in a very specialized position on the pitch" and an "infectious and positive influence to the rest of the squad. Stitched MLB Jerseys . Duchene scored two goals and had an assist, helping the Colorado Avalanche beat the Carolina Hurricanes 4-2 on Friday night to match the best 10-game start in team history. What do Melbournes A-League clubs think about each other?Is it hatred, like Sydney FC captain Alex Brosque so memorably expressed towards his Western Sydney rivals in the build-up to last weeks Sydney derby?Contempt? Disdain? Or perhaps even a begrudging respect?In years past, Victory dismissed the threat from Melbourne Heart, who might have won their fair share of derbies under their previous guise but couldnt match Victory in any other area.Heart was a dirty word at the club, with management preferring to refer to their upstart rivals as the other Melbourne club or something more colourful.Now its City surging in membership - albeit coming from a long way behind their established rivals - and interest in the build-up to the first Melbourne derby of the season.Put two players - Victorys James Donachie and Citys Anthony Caceres - in front of a microphone and theres no attempt to trash talk the other.But Donachie is clearly buying into the rivalry ahead of his first derby, and expects to transform on Saturday night once he walks onto the Etihad Stadium pitch.Im not going to use words like hate (but), when you cross the white line, Id go so far as thats the emotion youre feeling, he said.Right now, before the game, you stay caalm.dddddddddddd Obviously, you can see fans and everyone watching the game - things change when the whistle blows.The 23-year-old said he expected Saturdays game to match anything he experienced at former club Brisbane.I played in a grand final and that was pretty big but this will probably be the same if not better, he said.A crowd of more than 40,000 is expected for the match, with plenty of light blue in the crowd for the expected A-League debut of City signing Tim Cahill.Like City executive Simon Pearce, who said last week he now knew rather than believed the club would find success, the clubs fans are growing in ambition.Caceres said he was feeding off it.I get the feeling they believe that theres going to be one team in this city, he said.As players, we want to do all we can to prove that on the field.Caceres vowed not to repeat his last derby performance, when he was sent off in a raucous 2-2 draw at AAMI Park.That was the first and last of that, he said.Its something I wouldnt want to repeat but derbies are derbies. Theyre always energetic and full on. Sometimes, things like that happen. ' ' '