Songs that made my ride: The Toadies "Possum Kingdom", The Exit "Still Waiting", O.A.R. "The Wanderer", plus most of Jay Z's entire catalogue.
MLB Stadium Tour 2010
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Southbound
Songs that made my ride: The Toadies "Possum Kingdom", The Exit "Still Waiting", O.A.R. "The Wanderer", plus most of Jay Z's entire catalogue.
Monday, July 5, 2010
Wrapped Up Flying Portion
Well the second series of unfortunate events took place a few days ago in LA, I have come to find out it is not as bad as once seemed.
My last day in LA I was going to meet up with a friend who happened to be in LA as well, before heading to the airport. When I was on my way down Topanga Caynon, he, whom I will choose to remain nameless, called me up and was gonna have to cancel because he was (cough, cough) not feeling well. So I set out to do what I originally planned and took a detour to the La Brea Tar Pits. It is a pretty cool spot to see especially since it is in the heart of the city. But as you would expect it smelled awful, so I took a few pictures before my camera died and had some time so I took to PCH down to the airport.
After returning my rental car and getting my ticket I went through security. My bottle of sunscreen which has been with me for three airport checks already is bigger than 3 oz and that raised a flag. The "wonderful" TSA lady could not find it in my bag so decided to completely empty my bag. After a very thorough search she found my tube a threw it away, repacked my bag and I was on my way to Phoenix.
Phoenix is hell on Earth. I can believe people actually go to retire there. It was 103 when I landed and that was at 8:15pm. Thankfully I scored an awesome hotel that had two pools with waterfalls to cool down in. If you ever for some ungodly reason find yourself in Phoenix and need to stay at a great place minutes from downtown and two blocks from the light rail, which cost me less than $50 a night, check out this Radisson, but I digress. My first priority was to charge my camera and transfer the pictures from Anaheim to my hard drive. However it seemed that my camera, with my memory card, did not make the trip to Phoenix, or had spontaneously combusted by the heat. So, my pictures from now on and going to be rather sparse because I bought a disposable camera to finish my last week.
And after three straight summers of digital camera mishaps, I think I am done with them for life. To fill you in, two summers ago I went to Chile for 2 weeks. One week of snowboarding and another week in Santiago. After the first week the contacts to the batteries lost their spring and the camera could not power on, so I only had digital pics of the snowboard part. Last summer I went to Europe for 6 weeks. My first four days were in Rome and I went everywhere and took pictures of everything. Somehow, on the fourth day my memory card erased itself and became nothing more that an inoperable piece of plastic. Everything that I had done in Rome, disappeared like their Empire.
Now you would assume I would learn from that experience and save my pictures immediately in case a freak accident like that happens again. Nope. Fortunately, I did have all my pictures from this trip saved (except for Anaheim). At the time I did not think I had the first two weeks from the east coast part, but there were other photos that I had not-specifically once in a lifetime opportunities like Super Bowl media day and Pro Bowl practice from this year. The Pro Bowl will never come back to South Florida.
So far my camera has turned up in lost and found.
Now back to Phoenix.
That night I walked the four blocks to the grocery store for some dinner and beer. A cold beer seemed like a great idea when its 102 and you just thought you lost half of your pictures. However, in the four blocks back the beer when from being cold to piss warm. I had to put it on ice for a little.
The next day it was even hotter with a high of 114 degrees. It was explained to me that it was better to be their in July than August because it is just at hot but with humidity from monsoon season. I can't even imagine that because the sun was so intense I felt like the hair was being singed off my body. With that in mind I decided that I would check out the pool. But it was even too hot for that. You had to be completely immerse in the water at all times to stay cool. Even if your head was out it was too hot for me. By this time it was 2 and I was hungry so I drove the four blocks to the grocery store and grabbed a bite. A few hours later I was on the light rail for the ten minute ride that drops you off right in front of Chase Field for a 6:40 start.
The entire ride down there I was dreading the heat and seeing there was not a cloud to be found had the feeling that the retractable roof would be wide open for the evening game against the Dodgers. After scoring an $8 ticket I walked into the park and was hit by a cool blast of AC. They had the roof closed! I was soooo happy because I would not be able to sit through and entire game in that heat. It's so dry that you don't even sweat. It just evaporates before the sweat has a chance to cool you down.
The place is a real homey venue to catch a game. There are a lot of activities for kids around the grounds and several restaurants with views of the field. Every seat had a nice view of the entire field and there a sections with picnic tables. Also, there is a pool in centerfield which I would imagine people fight for that spot during the season.
The game was Kirk Gibson's managerial debut, as the Diamondbacks fired their manager and GM the previous day, and he immediately changed their style of play. The D-Backs were more aggressive at the plate and on the bases (5 SB attempts). They scored 3 runs in each of the first 3 innings and lead 9-3. It was cut to 9-5 in the 6th but then Chris Young blasted a 420' 3 run HR (5 RBI for the game) to ice it and give Gibson, a World Series Champ and NL MVP (both in 88) as a Dodger, a 12-5 win in his debut.
After the game, I gave the Phoenix nightlife a shot and went to bar called Hidden House just a few blocks from the hotel. Bedsides the $4 pitchers and 25 cent pool I was very disappointed and went home relatively early for a much anticipated morning flight to Denver.
Denver
It had been over three years and I was tremendously exciting to be going back to Colorado, even if it was for just 18 hours. My uneventful flight arrived at 12:30pm and I was intending on catching a bus downtown and my college buddy, Kent Dallow, was going to pick me up and take me to his place where I was utilizing his couch for the "night" (I didn't have much time for sleep due to catching the SuperShuttle at 4am for a 6:20 flight). Anywho, after waiting over an hour for the one bus that goes downtown from DIA I was out of patience and took a shuttle to his home. The bus did eventually arrive as I saw it pulling away as I was boarding the shuttle. It was already after 3 when I did get to Kent's place so I put my stuff down and we took off for the light rail to transport us to Coors Field.
I had three priorities in no specific order for the next 3 hours- get food since I hadn't eaten all day, get some drinks before the game, and get tickets. The first two were easy. We grabbed a sandwich and a beer at one place and then ventured down to another bar selling 20 oz Bud Lights for $3. Tickets were more of a challenge. Not only was it a prime matchup against a rival, but Ubaldo Jimenez was pitching for the Rockies and Barry Zito for the Giants. Add on to that, the fireworks show after the game for their July 4th celebration, since Sunday's game was an afternoon one, and tickets were sold out and not going cheap. Before the game started the cheapest I was able to find was $40. So Kent and I got another beer and once the game had started we were able to score Rock Pile tickets (some sell for $1) for $20 apiece. For the matchup and the fireworks show after I thought it was a decent deal. But neither one of us made it to our seats.
By the time we got inside it was already the top of the second and we had to go to the complete other side of the stadium to get to the Rock Pile. On our journey there Kent was approached by a cute girl doing some work for the Rockies. It turns out she does the stadium promotion events during the half innings and asked him if wanted to do one and of course he obliged. I mentioned to the girl that I was on a stadium tour and if there was anything I could do. She flagged down a colleague and they let me do a different event. Kent's was up first during the end of the 3rd. He had to run from left field to second base, put the base in the ground and then continue to the dugout. Dude almost ran over the actual grounds crew. Check out the video I shot-with Kent's camera- below. He did it in the allotted time and won the Rockies jersey he's wearing in the pic (for some reason he looks much larger than I in the picture).
My event was the following inning and I had the trivia question. When the girl found out I was in the Rock Pile seats, she didn't want to walk that far so we just sat in the lower level along the 3rd base line until it was time for my question. Not only was it a joke of a question, she was telling me the answer behind my back and had already informed my that I was going to get the $50 prize regardless. After my promo, she left and I stayed in the lower section and had Kent meet me down there. We watched most of the game from down in the lower level.
It wasn't quite the pitching matchup I expected. Jimenez got rocked for 7 runs in the 3rd including a Grand Slam to Travis Ishikawa. The Rockies did fight back and take a 8-7 lead in the 6th, keeping Jimenez in line for his 15th win, but the bullpen could not hold the lead. The Giants went on to win 11-8 ending a 7 game losing streak.
Since our tickets were in a section where our backs would face the fireworks, they allowed, in a very orderly manner, those sections to watch from the field. So down we went onto the field for an amazing fireworks display. They killed all the lights in the stadium except for the Rockies logo on the scoreboard and went all out for a good 20-25 minutes. There were definitely some fireworks that I hadn't seen before.
I had been to Coors field many times before, but the place is still one of my favorite parks. Every seat is a great one, even the Rock Pile. My favorite part about the stadium is the bullpens behind the right field wall. They have a mini forest surround it and next to the pens is the pond with the water fountain with a rock garden and mini patch of grass that Kent has named the "putting green".
After the game we attempted another beer but were beered out. This was probably a good thing seeing that I had to be awake in less than four hours to catch a flight back to Minneapolis and finally back to my car.
Minneapolis
My third state three days and what would eventually be my third of four in 32 hours. I'm not even going to pretend that I was not exhausted getting of that plane and eventually back to my car. But by 9:30am I was looking for something to do before making my way to Target Field for their inaugural 4th of July game. It was raining when I arrived and it did not look like it was easing up anytime soon. I was really hoping I wouldn't have my first rainout, not in Minneapolis of all places, now that they are finally out of the dome. I passed a sign for the Mall of America and stopped in. It is still the largest in America in terms of retail space but second in total floor area. Since most of the mall doesn't open until 10 it was a quiet time to visit. I didn't care since I just needed to kill some time and wasn't looking to shop. The amusement park in the center is pretty cool. No pictures though, they are all on the disposable.
Then it was off to Target Field. I wanted to get in somewhere early because it was bobblehead day for the first 10,000. The weather had cleared up and it was rather humid. I scalped a $10 standing room ticket expecting a large crowd, and made my way. Unfortunately I was not in time for the the bobble head and had about an hour and a half until game time. So found and empty row in the outfield and tried to take a well needed nap. But people kept waking me up to pass by and it became clear a nap was not going to happen. So I explored the grounds to keep myself awake (six hours total sleep and two flights in two days had taken its toll). They did a really nice job with Target Field. It's really open and the lower level holds a lot of people. The one thing I did not like was the extra level in the outfield. I'm still a firm believer of just one level in the outfield so the entire field can be seen by any seat, as is not the case at Target. As the game started I noticed a few empty rows in the lower level right behind home plate, so I made my move.
I settled into a spot directly behind home plate about 20 rows up. However, as soon as I stopped moving, fatigue took over and I faded in and out of consciousness for the first two innings. I was awake in time to see the Rays take a 2-1 lead in the third inning off of a Sean Rodriguez solo HR. That is how the game would stay until the 7th when the Rays tacked on 5 more runs. The Twins responded in the bottom half of the inning with 3 of their own but the game would end in a 7-4 Rays win.
After the game, as tired as I still was I took off for Madison, WI. It's only an hour from Milwaukee where I will catch a game tomorrow but I wanted to get somewhere before sundown to maybe catch a firework show. Didn't happen, but I did see some from the road.
Just one week left.
Randoms:
The Diamond Backs mascot is a bobcat
In between the 5th inning in Arizona they have the Legends Race which features Luis Gonzalez, Randy Johnson, Matt Williams, and Mark Grace. I know the D Backs are a fairly new franchise and in my opnion do not have a true "legend" of their own but Grace only played for them for 3 seasons, though he does TV work for them now-Johnson 8 in two stints, Williams 6, Gonzalez 8.
Wisconsin must have a huge surplus in their budget, because the have cops posted every 15 miles in speed traps across the entire state.
D Backs 1B Adam LaRoche came out to Phil Collins "In the Air Tonight" which I thought was a little gay.
Not to sound like a chick, but I caught a glimpse of my gut today and I looking really out of shape. Sitting in the car and being immobile for hours isn't really helping.
It seemed that Phoenix has far more women than men even at the baseball game.
That Arizona cops are going to be super busy if that law does actually go into affect soon.
Shoutouts:
Kent Dallow for the hospitality and the photos from the Rockies game. Had a great time bro
Rockies girls for hooking us up with the promos.
Dude at the Rockies game was sporting a Bob Apodaca jersey. Apodaca is the Rockies pitching coach and this is clearly the most random jersey I have seen at a game so far.
Joey Chestnut for his fourth straight hot dog eating championship. . .
And Kobayashi for not competing but still getting on stage and ARRESTED.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Cali (minus Oakland)
San Francisco
I had chosen a great matchup to see my first game at AT&T Park- the Giants hosting the Red Sox. However, because of the draw of the game ,ticket prices more than tripled. A normal bleacher ticket that goes for $17 was now available for a minimum of $58 at the window. Plus parking cost an astronomical $30. But I did bring some beers with me in hopes of at least covering parking, but that did not pan out and I only sold 1. Next task at hand was finding a ticket at a reasonable price. So, as game time approached, I went wandering for scalpers. Since the game had not sold out yet, but did go on to, I knew they would have tickets that they needed to get rid of. However, they would not budge on their prices and I knew I would have to wait until the game started to truly gain the upperhand. In the bottom of the first I found a guy who had a club level seat face value of $72 trying to get $40. I offered $20 and after a little ball busting I got the ticket for $27.
Once inside I went up to the club level which was like a hotel in the concourse area. It had plush couches, carving stations, super clean restrooms among other ritzy perks. My seat, however, was not the greatest for the club section almost all the way down the right field line. They were in the shade but, I would not pay face value for them. Hearing that I must try the garlic fries, the original stadium to serve this treat, I had to get an order and was not disappointed. I was very happy to have a pack of gum on me though.
The views from the stadium are phenomenal. Over the left field fence was a Navy tanker docked at the port and the left field bleachers hosted the iconic giant glove and Coca Cola bottle. Inside the stadium corridors are a host of areas with team memorabilia. They have autographed balls from most of the players throughout their history. Also, gear from historic events such as Barry Bonds' bat from his historic slugging year in 2001.
The game was little less intriguing. The Giants pitcher, Madison Bumgarner, gave up two HRs early and fell behind 4-0 through 2 innings. In the bottom half of the 2nd Red Sox starter, Clay Buchholtz, had to leave the game due to a knee injury. Bumgarner, making his first start in 2010 and only second of his career, settled down and the Giants did get a couple of runs on the board (thanks to baseball's most exciting plays-a fielders choice and a sacrifice fly) but the early damage was too much and the Red Sox hung on 4-2.
Los Angeles
I got into LA at 1:30pm with plenty of time to get to Dodgers Stadium for ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball matchup with the Yankees. Knowing LA traffic can be brutal and the luck I have had with traffic so far, I decided to head to vicinity of the ballpark and then find some food. I did not know that Dodgers Stadium was in a mostly residential area but after I while I found some food. I decided to get Little Caesars where for $6.50 I got a large pepperoni pizza and 8 breadstix. There was a city park down about a third of a mile from the stadium and I parked there and ate my lunch. By the time I finished my delicious lunch it was an hour before game time so I decided to keep my car at this park, grabbed my sign and walked to Dodgers Stadium.
The stadium is located at the top of a hill surrounded by mountains, which made it non-visible from the base of the hill. Never being there before I had no clue how far I was or where it was. But you come over a hill and there it is and built into the side of one of the surrounding mountains is large block letters that state "Think Blue". As I walked through the parking lot I thought about how happy I was to park for free away from the stadium. Seeing that everyone in LA drives there were entirely cars in the lot. Plus, they do not allow tailgating or alcohol on the premises and it is strictly enforced. I wound up buying a ticket off a guy from Hawaii, Will, in a Grateful Dead tee that had an extra because his buddy bailed on him, which was convenient for me since the game was a sellout. Apparently one other thing they do not allow in the stadium is signs and they would not let me bring mine in. Thankfully, they have a locker you can check things into and get as you exit the stadium so I did not have to walk back to the car.
Its a good thing that the Dodgers have been good for a while now, because there isn't much to do inside the stadium besides get drunk and/or watch a game. I chose the latter and it was an excellent game (except the final result) to watch. The Dodgers would lead 5-0 though the first five innings until A-Rod hit a 2 run HR off Clayton Kershaw. The Dodgers would hold a 6-2 lead into the ninth when the brought their closer, Jonathan Broxton in. And dude got rocked. He gave up four runs and for the second time in a week I got to see an extra innings game. In the next inning Robinson Cano hit a 410' shot to give the Evil Empire a 8-6 lead and eventually the win by the same score. After the game it was off to my buddy Lon's place in Topanga Canyon, which was my home base for my time in Southern Cali.
A couple of interesting notes during the game. In true LA style there were four "first pitches" before the game and between one of the innings they played Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" and as they panned through the crowd they came across this dude in his twenties that looked like he was about to fall asleep. Then right as the lyrics to the song were about to start, he snapped out of it and put on this intense dramatic lip sync/air guitar performance. It was absolutely awesome. The camera did not go to anyone else the entire song. I do not know if it was preplanned, nor did anyone else around me, but it was one of the most entertaining things I had ever seen at a baseball game.
San Diego
From the moment I arrived in San Diego I added it to my places that I would just pick up and move to without and plans ( joining Charlotte and Denver). And it wasn't even nice weather. In fact, it was probably the worst weather I have had besides Pittsburgh. It was cold and damp, not raining but threatening all day. I got around PETCO Park around 4pm for a 7pm game and parked at a garage a block away from the park and went to explore the Gaslamp district of downtown. But first I wanted to see if I could score Park Pass tickets for the game. I was made aware of these tickets from Will, the guy I had bought my Dodgers ticket off of the night before. They are $5 tickets that get you general admission to this area behind the centerfield wall. But it is inside the stadium grounds and you are allowed to walk around the rest of the grounds and tickets go fast. Since it was a Monday night game and I was early enough I was able to get a ticket no problem.
I had not eaten all day I was looking for a cheap place to get some grub and drinks before the game. I stumbled across an establishment called "Dick's Last Resort" on fifth, just a few blocks away from the park. If you are ever in San Diego please go to this place because it is an experience and it is hard to put into words. The character of the place is excellent and the employees get paid to give attitude to the customers. It's just a truly unique place that added to my experience .
After pissing away a couple of hours at Dicks it was time to see the Padres host the Rockies and off to the park beyond the outfield fence I went. It was a really area and great for families. There was a beach right behind the outfield fence, a mini baseball field to play wiffleball or kickball, a hill for people to lounge on and see the game live, and a giant big screen to watch the game on TV. It also had vending like the rest of the ballpark. I only lasted one inning back there because I saw the sparse crowd and new I could make my way into the lower level seats. Moments later I was just behind first base with the Western Metal Supply Co. building, that is incorporated in the design of the structure and actually used as suites, in my direct line of site. Every move they made in building this venue was the right one and it couldn't be more spectacular. I was even impressed to find live plants growing from the support beams around the concourse and extremely clean restrooms.
The game wasn't as pleasant for the host Padres. Ubaldo Jimenez had a no-hitter going through into the 6th until he finally gave up his first hit to David Eckstein and then 4 runs in the same inning. But that merely cut the lead in half to 8-4. The Rockies hit four HRs on their way to an 10-6 win (Padres did pull within 2 late in the game).
After the game I was planning on returning to my car, move it to a 24 parking garage, and hit up the Gaslamp district at night. I was ecstatic to find that the gate at the garage was up and everyone was allowed out, so I was able to avoid paying the $10 rate parking (which went to drinks). I given several recommendations on where to go out and the Yard House was a place for a beer and a bite ( have come to find out that there is also 2 in FL including Coral Gables). In fact, they boast the world's largest selection of draft beers. This may sound awesome, especially to a self-described beer snob as myself, but I am also incredibly indecisive. Put 100+ beers in my face and have me choose one is almost torturous. I did settle on the Dechutes Black Butte Porter and Moo Shu Eggrolls-both where delicious. Next I was told I had to go by Whiskey Girl for a great time. Without getting into further details, I slept in my car which was intended before the night began and woke up with a killer hangover the next day, which was not intended.
Anaheim
My time in San Diego was short lived because I had to make my way to Anaheim for a Angels/Rangers game the following day. I decided to drive up the PCH from San Diego to Anaheim because I had the time to kill and wanted to enjoy the scenery. The weather had not gotten much better and it was still overcast and chilly but and enjoyable ride nonetheless. Arriving in Anaheim around noon I had a few hours to kill but did not want to do anything in particular. About mile from Angels Stadium was a hugs mall called the block that had a movie theatre. And like the only other time I had been hungover on this trip, I decided to go catch a couple of movies. Grown Ups was hilarious and Knight and Day was alright. It had plenty of action and Cameron Diaz so it kept my interest. After the movie I grabbed some food, left my car at the mall and took to the stadium.
Angel Stadium is still one of the older remaining stadiums, but they have done so much remolding and work (a Southern Cal theme) that it looks more modern than it is. The entrances are very elaborate with huge batting helmets and bats at the gates. Even Mickey Mouse himself, or at least an inanimate statue, was there to greet you. The watefall in the outfield is there signature and I did not realize until I saw It up close that it has a built in "A" on the top.
The game was one of the best that I have seen so far. It was back and forth and competitive until the last out in a game which including a play at the plate and Vladimir Guerrero's return to LA. Vlad hit a 2 run HR in the 7th to help the Rangers claw back but the Angels held to a one run win 6-5. Speaking of clawing there was an awesome cat fight which evolved into the dude's getting involved in the 9th inning. I have a picture but it didn't come out so well.
Heading back Eastbound tomorrow. Arizona on the 1st and 2nd and Denver on the 3rd.
Shoutouts:
Lon Haber for his wonderful casa in the canyon and the hospitality
Will for the ticket in LA and tip about the Park Pass in SD
The cop whom I asked to point me in the general direction of the mall where my car was parked in Anaheim after I came out a different exit than I entered. He pointed me in the complete opposite direction resulting in and extra 35 minutes of walking. Thanks again boys in blue.
The city of San Diego for being awesome and providing me with a baseball game and parking for a total of $5.
Randoms:
Why do they bother painting boxes designated for the base coaches to stand in when I have not seen one stand anywhere near them yet.
I must be technology deficient because I am using a an ipod auxillary in the rental cars and everytime I turn the car on it always starts at the same song. I learned how to change, but I cannot control what songs it plays.
Twisted how Seattle had clear skies and beautiful weather, while San Diego required a sweatshirt all day and threatened rain.
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Chicago/Seattle/Oakland
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Westward Ho!
First let me fill you in on a dream I had the previous night. I was on my trip and out of nowhere my sister showed up with her daughter, Kylie. My sister was adamant to not let me proceed with the rest of the road trip for some reason that was not remembered. So, she took my car and backed it into a canal. I ran into the canal and drove my flooded car out and was furious. We had a huge fight in which Kylie took my side and so Kylie and I decided to runaway from my sister before she could cause any more problems. The rest of the dream is irrelevant. I told my sister about the dream. End of Part One of the dream.
I met a lot a very nice folks in the lot as you tend to do at these shows. In the row over was a group from New York that set up four square and I dominated. I was having a blast in the parking lot, so still without a ticket, I caught the first set from the lot. In this particular venue you can see and hear just fine from the lot. So after the first set I walked towards the entrance to buy a ticket and was informed by the staff at the venue that they were not letting anyone in anymore. First, I'm glad I had not already purchased a ticket. Second, I was floored by the fact that even if you did have a ticket, they were stopping you from entering the show. So, I watched the rest of the ridiculous set from the lot and I wasn't all that disappointed.
Thursday the 17th
Randoms:
Everything that happened this week oculd fall under this section so I will not elaborate more.1523 miles, 400+ songs
Songs of the week: Social Distortion "Story of My Life", The Redwalls "Build a Bridge", David Bowie "Changes", A Garcia and Saunders tune I do not know the name, John Cougar Mellencamp "Ain't that America", Xavier Rudd "Native Eye", Sister Hazel "Just Remember", Pearl Jam "Wishlist", Jay-Z "Lucifer", Cage the Elephant "In One Ear".
Computers should have a function that you can highlight sentences that you accidentaly capitalized and automatically lowercase them, so you do not have to retype them.
People in St. Louis were not very friendly and looked at me like I had three heads and a monkey growing out of my chest.
Cleveland had a hot dog race-like so many parks do now- with three competitors. Ketchup won by a squirt.
Dude in weinie suit outside Wrigley advertising for a place said "eat me" on the back.