Express & Star

Day 4-5 of Adam's West Brom US tour diary

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Why did the chicken cross the road? Writes our West Brom reporter in the United States Adam Grinsell.

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I'm not sure, but I did have to wait for five minutes in my car today to wait for a turkey to get out of the way.

Just another day in Sacramento. Meanwhile, the morning started for the team with training at Consumnes River College after a day off yesterday.
It was our first glimpse of Andre Wisdom, who was flown over yesterday to link up with his new teammates for the first time.
It looks as though the loanee's first session went well, he was sharing the odd laugh and joke with his new teammates, and we watched for around 10 minutes as he played a bit of football tennis with Jonas Olsson.
In fact, the atmosphere around the whole camp is a good one - if any bad feeling is left over from last season's disaster, then it isn't showing. Perhaps their holidays and the World Cup have done them some good.
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Or perhaps it's the influence of the new coaching team - Rob Kelly was barking orders today while Alan Irvine prowled the touch lines, adding the odd comment of his own if he was pleased with a player or he felt something was going awry.
Either way, the atmosphere is good. The lads are all laughing and joking with each other, and those players that I've spoken to so far have all said the same thing - they are enjoying themselves again.
At the beginning of the summer I was dreading next season, but now, being close to the inside workings of this tour, I'm feeling more optimistic by the minute. Everyone is enthused with their new coaches, Keith Downing and Dean Keily are still having as big an input as ever, and all seem to be excited by the new signings.
Craig Gardner has been in especially high spirits. It could be that he is enjoying being back at home. Or it could be the fact that he smashed Ben Foster and Boaz Myhill on the golf course.
Along with the team's kit man, the trio played Pebble Beach on Tuesday - arguably the most famous course in the world. Gardner, who plays off an impressive handicap of six, finished on four over par.
From one kind of driving to another: here are a few tips for the roads out here.
The blind spot over here is HUGE. Things in the rear view mirror really are closer than they appear. The key does not come out of the ignition if you are not in 'park', now matter how much you pull or wiggle it.
And another thing - don't try to go anywhere in convoy.
Today, while following Chris Brunt and James Morrison to the children's hospital for a visit, we got onto the freeway. As I was behind, a couple of cars got in between mine and theirs, and I was moments away from becoming completely lost.
Americans do everything 10 times bigger over here, including their cars.
With the size of the vehicles that had pulled in front of me, plus the fact they all have blacked out windows, the players' car completely disappeared.
Thanks to a bit of nifty manoeuvring I managed to catch up again. Let's just hope the rental company doesn't notice that dent.
Day Four in Sacramento was a quiet one, with the Albion lads being given time off to recuperate after their first match.
I don't know what they've all been up to, but I know Ben Foster has been celebrating his new four-year contract with a round of golf at the famous Pebble Beach course a couple of hours south of the city.
He and a few of the other lads including Craig Gardner, recovering from an awful excision to send him off, and Boaz Myhill, recovering from a game-saving performance, got up early for tee off.
The rumour is that some of the others headed into San Francisco to see the infamous Alcatraz prison - there's a joke about the great escape in there somewhere.
Meanwhile, after getting the majority of my work done this morning, I have been at a bit of a loose end, a rare moment of calm in the whirlwind of the tour so far.
I've been struggling to find any Baggies fans that have made the expensive trip all the way out here - I didn't get a chance to go seeking them out at the stadium - so I thought I'd see if I could unearth any today.
I headed straight to Sacramento's Irish pub.
Just a stone's throw from the team hotel, surely the pull of stout and the possibility of seeing some Albion stars would be too much to resist?
I arranged to meet another American-based Albion fan, Walsall-born Stuart Mann, for a beer (by the way, you can get Newcastle Brown Ale everywhere out here). Coincidentally, Stuart lives in the southern Californian town of Irvine.
He told me what I thought was a pretty sad story. As he moved out here in 1987, and as there was nothing to help him keep in touch with the team, he missed the Bob Taylor era.
"People used to talk to me about these great players such as Darren Moore, and I didn't have a clue who they were talking about," he said. I'm sure it helped when I told him he had missed out.
Anyway, after around an hour of chatting about the current side and our favourite moments from Albion's past, sure enough, in walk two die-hard fans. If the Baggies cap one of them was wearing wasn't a giveaway, then their accents as they ordered a Guinness each certainly were.
The four of us sat chatting about everything Albion, from Brian Robson to 'Bobby' Brown Ideye, for what must have been around four hours.
It doesn't matter where in the world you are, you can always find an Albion fan - if you know where to look.
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