Life outside of the diamond

Thursday, Nov. 10, 2005 | 9:36 a.m.

D-I BOUND

Community College of Southern Nevada baseball players who coach Tim Chambers expects will sign Division-I scholarship offers today, the first day of the early-signing period

Pos Player (hometown) College

P/IF Aaron Brady (Lindon, Utah) San Diego State

RHP Craig Heyer (Scottsdale, Ariz.) UNLV

RHP Steven Hirschfeld (Moab, Utah) San Diego State

OF Cameron Johnson (Las Vegas) San Diego State

IF/P Bryce Massanari (Las Vegas) Georgia

LHP Josh Scofield (Bellevue, Wash.) Texas Tech

Three hours into his first real vacation in seven years as the Community College of Southern Nevada's baseball coach and athletic director, Tim Chambers started sweating.

His dislike of flying makes Chambers dread getting on an airplane.

Still, when invited to a former player's wedding at the Vatican, Chambers took his small photographs to the post office to acquire his first passport. Then he and his wife, Kim, and their daughter, McKenzie, flew to Rome via London.

"I'd never been out of the U.S.," said Chambers, who led the Coyotes to the NJCAA World Series championship in 2003. "Seeing Rome and Florence, and buildings that were 1,000 years old ... I couldn't believe the Vatican and St. Peter's Basilica."

Chambers, 40, stared at the Basilica, finished nearly 400 years ago after 120 years of construction, in awe. Its dome, designed by Michelangelo, rises more than 350 feet from the floor.

"The Colosseum has a lot of history, but it's falling apart," he said. "The (Basilica) cathedral must have been 600 yards long and 200 yards wide, and it was immaculate ... all the marble.

"Really, I'm not big into historical stuff. But when you see that. Wow. It's like, 'Wake up, big guy!' There's more to life than baseball. We never would have gone if not for that wedding."

Jimmy Meyer, who played for Chambers at Bishop Gorman High in 1993 and now works for the Secret Service, married Brandi Fertitta, and Meyer's father pushed Chambers into accepting the invitation to Italy.

Fertitta updated Chambers on the World Series, in which the Chicago White Sox swept the Houston Astros, with hand-written messages under his hotel door every morning.

"She's a baseball fan," he said. "It was the first Series that I've missed in 30 years."

The trip included a private audience with Pope Benedict XVI in Vatican City for the wedding party. Chambers, not a religious person, passed. He spent that time, and many other hours, walking around Rome.

"I never saw any houses in Rome," Chambers said. "It was like New York, little shops downstairs and apartments upstairs. And 9 million mopeds. And they park anywhere they want, on curbs, sideways, in medians. I'd never seen anything like it.

"And seeing all those structures. No matter how many pictures and books and TV shows you see, it's different in person."

En route to Florence, they sampled red wine at vineyards. Back in London, Chambers and his family watched the Changing of the Guards at Buckingham Palace. McKenzie returned with half a dozen soccer jerseys, including two of England star David Beckham.

She also saw a production of "The Lion King" in a theater.

"How many 11-year-olds get to Rome and Florence," Chambers said, "and get to see a play in London?"

And how many junior college baseball coaches get embarrassed in a Florence palazzo?

After dining with Kim, Chambers walked past a throng of about 500 who had gathered to watch a performance by a mime dressed like Charlie Chaplin.

"Top hat and all," Chambers said. "Next thing I know, he comes over and grabs me. He blows his whistle to tell you what to do. My wife is filming it and all these people are watching. He blows his whistle and I put my hands out. He blows again, and my hands are in the air.

"In one second, he took my shirt off completely and it was off for 20 minutes. I saw the video and thought, 'Get your fat (bleep) in the gym when you get home.' "

He has cut fast food and soda from his diet and he has used a treadmill every morning since he returned. Chambers chewed on an apple during an interview.

Call it The Florence Diet.

"I'm rejuvenated," Chambers said. "On an average day, I get about 30 phone calls. And I really hate to talk on the phone, so it was heaven not to have that. No one could get a hold of me.

"We liked it so much, we'll try taking a real vacation once a year."

Rob Miech can be reached at 259-4087 or at miech@lasvegassun.com