Bless the billet families

[johnt]

Just finished dinner at the Mongolian BBQ up here in Traverse City. About 10 minutes after we arrived, about half the Tampa Bay team and several coaches came in.

You cannot believe how much food these kids eat!!! Don't know how much the billets get for housing a Spirit player, but it can't possibly be enough. Talked to several of the kids in the food line - all very nice and hospitable. No idea what their names were, though.

I'll "file a report" on how Daniels, Zaborsky and Mursak do tomorrow. Hope to be able to talk to Ryan's parents and get the scoop on what his plans are.

[ohlfan06]

I've been in Traverse all weekend/week and we've met all of the teams except the wild at some restaurant..it's amazing how much they can pack away and stay in shape.

Haven't seen Daniels parents at all, however he had a lot of fans there it looked like. Zaborsky had a cheering crowd as well..

[Sparky]

When you work as hard as they do, you burn those calories fast. Olympic champion Phelps eats like 12,000 calories a day starting with a 5 egg omlet, french toast and bacon. WOW! When I was playing hockey as a youth (until I was 22) I ate like that, I still do, and hence the large calorie storage device I have above my belt

[biggdaddy]

To answer the question of Billet compensation, $10 per day. plus a set of season tickets. They also get a discount on Spirit merchandise. A lot of sacrafice from the billets financially, ten bucks can hardly cover their food I would imagine.