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Ring a Ding Ding Dong
What does Art Valdez have to do with Missouri Mavericks away game victory celebrations? Who is Art Valdez? Art has worked with me at Kauffman Stadium for the last ten years or so. I have torn/scanned tickets for the Royals since 1982. Art holds the same position at the “K”.
Last winter after snapping my cell phone into halves Art came through and gave me his extra phone….what a nice gesture.
Not being the most technical person in the world and not having an interest in changing my ring tone I continued to use a long, loud, obnoxious Ring a ding ding dong, ring a ding ding dong that blared from my phone whenever I received a call.
Last season it seemed to annoy the Mavericks coaching staff and Scott Hillman asked me to turn my phone off when riding the team bus. This season is a different story.
Mavericks equipment Andrew Dvorak is amused by the ring tone and has placed several calls to me at what were once unexpected times. These calls used to carry an out-of-state area code. I returned a call and got the voice mail of someone named Kenton. Andrew, can’t you make a call without the assistance of a rookie player? Now my phone reads “name withheld” quite often.
Following victories away from the IEC this season Andrew has begun to ask to handle my phone in which I oblidge. He then asks Matt Lewellen, our bus driver, to crank up the PA microphone on the bus. Andrew then calls my phone and holds the mike to it so everyone on the bus can hear ring a ding ding dong.
Recently players have begun singing this not-so-catchy tune. If you attended the Hope House Bingo Night with the Mavericks you know nobody on this team has a music career in their future. However, the awful sound of Mavericks players singing combined with the extremely nauseas ring a ding ding dong has become a wonderful sound as it (along with two loud blasts from the big boy horn on Matt’s bus) signifies another Mavericks victory.
Art Valdez thanks for the cell phone that led to the Mavericks away victory anthem.
Bob Rennison does live game coverage of the Missouri Mavericks and the William Chrisman Bears in Independence, MO.
