Golden Eaglez

NHL Team
team_name = Golden Eaglez
bg_color = #fdb415
text_color = #FFFFFF
logo_

conference = GWBL
founded = 2007
history = Golden Eaglez
2007–present
arena = Dundee School
city = Greenwich, CT
team_colors = Orange/Yellow, White, Dark Blue
captain = flagicon|Sweden Chris Paartflagicon|USA Steve PufferThe Golden Eaglez are a wiffleball team based in Greenwich, Connecticut. They are members of the Greenwich Wiffle Ball League (GWBL) while also participating in wiffle ball tournaments across New England and the Upper Mid-Atlantic on the east coast of the United States. The team was founded in late April 2007 in Greenwich and participated in its first tournament on June 23rd, 2007 in Worcester, MA hosted by the New England Wiffle Ball Association (http://newazone.com/). In their second year of existence, they then accepted an invitation to join the GWBL on May 14th, 2008. It was also at this point in the team's franchise history that the nicknames "GEAGLEZ" and "GEAGZ" started being used in association with the Golden Eaglez.

The Eaglez play their home games at Dundee School located in the Riverside section of Greenwich. Their field has an all grassy surface and can be found on the school's backside. The field's dimensions are as follows; 87 feet down the line to left field, 111 feet to straight-away center field, 65 feet down the line in right field.

They have one major rival in the GWBL, the Reservoir Dogs. The Eaglez have an all-time record of 5-4 against the Reservoir Dogs while bashing out a 14-1 all-time record versus the rest of the GWBL. The Golden Eaglez all-time record is 24-8.

Franchise history

2007 Season

The Golden Eaglez had their first ever practice on May 10th, 2007 at Dundee School. At this time, the roster consisted of #17 Chris Paart, #10 Steve Puffer, #16 Joey Lodato, and #3 Ryan Carr. The Eaglez continued to practice throughout the month of May and the first portion of June. Some pick-up games versus other local teams from around town were also played with the Eaglez coming out victorious in all of these pre-season games. The Eaglez had one final full team practice on June 22nd, 2007 at Dundee in preparation for the NEWA Worcester tournament the following day. Early the next morning the Eaglez departed on the team bus heading for Worcester, MA.. With only a 3 man roster and the offseason upon them, the Eaglez went out to look for possible candidates to fill the hole that the departure of Carr had created.

2008 Season

A new year had come but there was still no news of any transactions or acquisitions by the Eaglez. No one knew if the team was going to be back for another season after their disappointing inaugural season. Finally, at about 10:00PM on April 27th, 2008 the official team website was updated with a large text banner on the home page with the following words; "EAGLEZ ARE BACK". Along with that, the Golden Eaglez also gave news to their fans that they have been scouting players over the recent months and are ready to announce the signing of an un-named player within the next week. That announcement came a little after 1:00PM on May 4th with the signing of a Riverside native, Charlie Donahue. In a private previously un-released statement, Donahue said to the team:

"Thanks boys...It's quite the honor, I promise you guys to represent this team with pride"

. Donahue started off his Eaglez career with a lead-off home run in his first at-bat. He would tack on 3 more home runs and 6 more RBIs along with his first inning big fly finishing 8 for 11 in the game. All of this was part of the Golden Eaglez 17-0 routing (http://goldeneaglez.bravehost.com/51708.html) of the Flying Chihuahuas (who later became The Mountaineers) in the first game in GWBL history.

The GEAGLEZ then had their first practice of the 2008 season on May 23rd (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUXjMDytyds). Only Joey Lodato was unable to attend this event. The next day (May 24th) the GEAGLEZ would face their future rivals, the Reservoir Dogs, for the first time. The GEAGLEZ were once again away for the four game set versus the Reservoir Dogs. The Eaglez and Dogs split the four games with the Dogs taking the first two and the Eaglez coming back to take the latter two. The Eaglez outscored the Dogs 30-18 over the course of the four games (http://goldeneaglez.bravehost.com/52408.html).

At the annual GWBL Memorial Day Tournament (held at Eastern Middle School in Riverside), the Golden Eaglez lost 5-2 to the Reservoir Dogs in the championship game and finished with a record of 2-2 on the day. They had wins of 2-1 and 6-4 over the Reservoir Dogs and The Mountaineers respectively.

tandings

*² Denotes inactive/former player

Did You Know?

*Each member of the Golden Eaglez has a nickname which they have on the back on their jersey (and on 8/23/08 some alternate nicknames were also approved)
# Steve Puffer is Did Da Kid (Alternate = Dachamp)
# Chris Paart is Parfolomew (Alternate = Stoff)
# Joey Lodato is $DADDY$ (Alternate = Jweezy)
# Charlie Donahue is 5d
*Every GEAGLE but one attends Greenwich High School
*Every GEAGLE but one is scheduled to graduate high school in 2010
*Every GEAGLE also plays hockey
*By the end of 2008 all but one GEAGLE will have their driver's license

Media

On August 10th, 2008 the Golden Eaglez were featured on the talk show Hannity's America which aired on the Fox News Channel in a segment entitled [http://www.foxnews.com/video2/video08.html?maven_referralObject=3016609&maven_referralPlaylistId=&sRevUrl=http://www.foxnews.com/hannitysamerica/| Field of Nightmares] . The story was on the shutting down of the wiffle ball field on Riverside Lane in Greenwich which had made national headlines for its controversial aspects [http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/10/nyregion/10towns.html] . From 2:57-3:00 Donahue can be seen robbing a home run by falling over the fence while at about 1:34 of the video, the GEAGZ can be seen throwing up the "1" in the top left area of the group signifying their dominate force in the game of Wiffle Ball.

External links

* [http://www.goldeneaglez.bravehost.com/ Golden Eaglez Official Site]
* [http://www.gwbl.bravehost.com/ Greenwich Wiffle Ball League]
* [http://greenwichwiffle.com/ Greenwich Wiffle Ball Tournament]

References

# Applebome, Peter (10 July 2008). " [http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/10/nyregion/10towns.html| Build a Wiffle Ball Field and Lawyers Will Come] ", The New York Times.