Happy fourth everyone!
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.
DenverIt 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.
MinneapolisMy 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.
Milwaukee is the beer capitol of the US I felt it time to re-open Joe's Traveling Tailgate Bar and for after a slow beginning, business picked up and I cleared about $100 while meeting some very friendly people including a couple who were having their bachelor/bachelorette party at the game. Also, even though it was one of two clean shirts that I had, I felt it right to wear a Coors Light shirt to Miller Park even though I hate Coors.
Milwaukee is the beer capitol of the US I felt it time to re-open Joe's Traveling Tailgate Bar and for after a slow beginning, business picked up and I cleared about $100 while meeting some very friendly people including a couple who were having their bachelor/bachelorette party at the game. Also, even though it was one of two clean shirts that I had, I felt it right to wear a Coors Light shirt to Miller Park even though I hate Coors.
Inside the park was more impressive. I sat up the first base line about 15 rows up. The outfield had limited seats, mostly of small specialized sections like the Toyota Tundra Territory, Harley Davidson Deck and Airtran Landing Zone. Yet, all seats had great views. Also the Bernie's Dugout in left field features a slide that their mascot goes down every time the Brewers hit a home run. Unfortunately, Bernie never got to slide. The Brewers held a 1-0 lead into the 6th, but then gave up 6 runs over the next three innings in a 6-1 loss. On a positive note for the Brewers All Star OF Corey Hart extended his hitting streak to 20 games.
