Schafer says he needs to grow, turns to Nixon for advice

I wasn't able to make it to the Caravan stop in Chattanooga yesterday, but here's a column and a video about it.

The audio interview with the Jordan Schafer (on the column page) is interesting to me because of the praise Schafer heaps on Nixon. He mentioned the two of them meeting at a furniture store and said he was going to meet up with Nixon later this spring to work on the mental side of the game. Schafer admits that he is ready skill wise, but mentally he needs to grow and mature. He said he always looked up to Otis and work on the stuff "between the ears."

It's an interesting pairing to me. Both are speedy centerfielders who have had problems with drugs (though HGH or whatever Schafer was accused of is obviously different than Nixon's cocaine addiction). But Nixon is now working on a master in divinity and started a ministry. Maybe this could be good for Schafer.

As far as the caravan, apparently Otis was the big draw. Video has him, Jojo and Schafer on camera as well as a replay of "The Catch."

The first people in line got there at 2 p.m. for the 5:30 caravan. Doesn't look as packed as some of the Atlanta area events, but still a good crowd. Have the Rome Braves logos been prominent at all of the events or did they do more of that because Rome is only about an hour south of the 'Noog?

It's also got a fairly funny story about a kid who went by the name Otis Nixon at Bible school in the mid 1990s.

Full disclosure: I work for the newspaper