Ah, the weekend! Yes, sadly, our second weekend without baseball is here but with every day that passes, we’re one step closer to the 2014 season. You are no doubt keeping up with the major news of the Cardinals, so you’re already well aware of awards received and finalists named and every single rumor being floated around out there. So, instead, a look at some things you perhaps haven’t yet read about the Cardinals yet.

Fall weekends are great for parades, right? And that’s exactly what’s happening in Matt Adams’ hometown this morning — a parade just for him, in his hometown of Philipsburg, Pa.

Matt is the first Philipsburg native and first Philipsburg-Osceola graduate to play in the World Series, according to the Altoona Mirror, which also said:

The talk of the town and the subject of many Facebook statuses and tweets on Twitter, Adams will be celebrated and honored on Saturday with a parade. It’s being called P-O Proud Day Featuring Matt Adams, and will include his parents, Jamie and Lisa. The community is encouraged to hang red and white ribbons in support of Adams, and people can line the parade route.

Hopefully Matt has improved his parade wave since that curtain call in the picture above. Anyway, pretty cool honor — especially in the middle of Pirates country.

On the opposite side of the country, if you’re wondering what the college paper at Allen Craig’s alma mater of Cal had to say about him in the wake of the World Series, wonder no more. One of the many praises was that he “had possibly the greatest season of any former Cal baseball player since Jeff Kent was named the 2000 National League MVP for the San Francisco Giants.”

You probably read that Carlos Beltran is looking for a three- or four-year deal, which means we’ve seen his last game in Cardinal red. His contributions during his two years as a Cardinal were many and great — both on and off the field. Here’s a nice look at some of the work that led to his receiving the Roberto Clemente Award this year from the St. Louis Review.

While election day was earlier this week in many cities and states, the voting is just getting started for the United Cardinal Blogger Awards. We are part of the UCB, and you’ll see Tara and my choices for winners of the awards in a couple of weeks. In the meantime, you can vote too, for top Cardinals players of the year — plus you can vote for us in the blogger awards! For more info on the awards, plus links to some of the nominated games and blog posts, click here. Just want to go straight to the ballot? Here you go! We’d definitely appreciate your support!

Finally, you probably received a link to this video from the Cardinals earlier in the week, but it bears watching again for sure. The days until baseball’s arrival need to hurry along …

Christine Coleman is the lead writer for Aaron Miles’ Fastball. Follow her on Twitter, @CColeman802, or email aaronmilesfastball@gmail.com. Also follow @AMilesFastball for the latest updates.