…or maybe I should say it began earlier today, say, around 1:13 p.m.

But before I tell you what happened at the special time of 1:13, I just want to say, welcome, to the first of many, many entries at A Bird’s Eye View.  As one of three members of Hawks Advanced Media (HAM), I’ll be bringing you “slices” of Hawks info and insight throughout the season.  Unlike my collegues’ blogs (On the Mike with Mike Safford and Sharp Visions), I will be bringing an interesting perspective from the front office and the behind the scenes stories that come with it. 

But, enough about me (if you wanted to know more about that, you would’ve been reading my bio), let’s get to the stuff that’s really important: the Hawks.

So what happened at 1:13?  The 2009 Hawks landed in their new nest.  Host families (more to come on them later) and members of the front office (your’s truly included) met the 27 players and three coaches right when they stepped off the plane. 

While I was waiting with other members of the staff, the media and the host familes, I wondered: do these guys realize how cool this is?  To be greeted by fans and media just for short-season ball? 

For most of them, it is their first taste of pro ball…a tiny glimpse of their futures.  And because of that, I think most of them were terrified walking through those doors. 

I would have loved to be inside their brains, listening to their thoughts as they walked through the glass doors of the airport and saw a throng of people–fans holding signs, tv crews with cameras ready for action and, of course, all of the Hawks staff in electric orange polos–if nothing else, our shirts probably startled them a bit.  Just imagine…

And then think…what if you’ve never heard of Boise before?  Which, we learned later, only a handful of the 27 guys had heard of Boise.  It isn’t as bad as it sounds–the Hawks consist of 15 foreign players–three from Venezuela, three from Korea and eight from Dominican Republic–so they get a free pass on U.S. geography.  And even for the guys who had heard of Boise, they still didn’t know what to expect of their new home.

Recent 15th Round Draft Pick, Cody Shields immediately noticed the mountains surrounding the Treasure Valley. 

“I’ve never seen mountains before,” Shields, a Florida-native said.  “They’re awesome!  I just can’t believe them.  I’ve never been farther west than New Orleans.”

For most of these guys, Boise is just the first stop on the road to their big league dreams…they’ll get to know a lot of different cities they’ve never even thought about before.  But–for the time being, I’m really glad  they’re here.