Josh W
07-28-2003, 12:59 AM
Lemme explain...
I like baseball. Neat game. And I honestly (almost) feel that employers should allow (encourage) their employees to take afternoons off to watch baseball games (live, not on TV). I think it would boost morale. And more people would become baseball fans, so there would be more water cooler fodder, which is always priceless.
Again, I feel the need to digress.
On July 5th, my brother came back from Iraq, and he and I went up to Seattle together to visit my folks.
We are all diehard Mariners fans, so we decided to go watch Lou Piniella at Safeco. Awesome time. Then, my bro and I flew back down to LA (I just bought a new car, thanks poker, and decided to give him my old one as a welcome home gift), went to Dodgers stadium to see the Rockies beat up on the hapless dodgers. We aren't enormous dodger fans, but my gramma was until the day she died, so we cheer them on for her.
My bro then had to return to Ft. Hood, and I was left here in LA.
Oh, by the way, I hate LA. Hate it. So, this weekend, I flew out to St. Louis with a buddy from San Diego and a buddy from Philly to meet up with a buddy in "the loo". Flew in on Friday, went to Busch Stadium friday night, and saturday during the day. Saturday, we also threw together the mother of all tailgate parties (okay, not really the mother of all....but a mighty fine one).
Now, I'm back in LA. But not for long....in three weeks, I'm headed to Baltimore or Boston. At the end of August, I'm flying into Dulles, getting picked up by a buddy of mine, and we are driving cross country. We have games to attend in Pittsburgh on Saturday, Cincy on Sunday, and Minnesota on Monday. We may try to throw in a KC or Milwaukee instead/also.
If I didn't hate LA so much, I wouldn't have this opportunity. And this is coming from a guy who just left St. Louis.
See, I was looking forward to going to St. Louis as much as I'm looking forward to my first prostate exam. I mean, I knew it would be nice to see my buddies, but c'mon...St. Louis? I'm from Seattle, I live on the beach now, and I'm gonna go spend a weekend in a humid dog's mouth in a very unpretty city? I shall now drown myself.
But wow.
What a city. I noticed alot at the ballpark. For one, out here in the west, half the vendors at a ballgame are pedalling food, half are pedalling drink. In the Loo, all are pedalling Bud. Bud light. Busch. michelob. That's about it.
Now, I like my libations as much as the next guy, but I'm a bit of a liquor snob. I drink only top shelf mixed drinks (crown and coke, sapphire and tonic, belvedre (or grey goose) and anything). Cheap beer is not for me.
But it tasted alright. I mean, I gave myself the pep talk on the flight..."C'mon Josh, when in Rome, do as those domestic-swill-drinkin' honkies do". But I managed to keep pounding down one 24 oz. glass after another. And it never bothered me.
And I noticed other things as well. For instance, there seem to be more female baseball fans in the midwest. I'm not talking the overweight bud-drinking 47 year-olds with Rollie Fingers facial hair. I'm talking the 22 year old high school reuniting cheerleading squad. Seriously. They sat down in front of us on Friday. I got a couple names...Brie and Jennifer...don't remember the other two (unless they were "bud light" and "bud"). I remember not seeing a nice catch my Jim Edmonds because, well, they started to admire the catch before I could, and they were sitting in front of me. See, they stood up to watch, and that 'blocked' my view. Sure, I'm 6'6", so I coulda stood up as well, but sometimes you just realize that the view is good right here, right now, and if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
The most amazing (or not) thing of all, though, was women in the midwest are a lot more approachable than in LA. They don't all have the "Sorry, you aren't Brad Pitt, so I won't talk to you" chip on their shoulder that many Angelino's have.
Then you get the stadium itself. I love Safeco Field. Beautiful park. I'm not gonna say it's the best, cuz I haven't been to Pac Bell or Camden Yards (the two that I think may be able to dethrone Safeco). Safeco is new, clean, great food, great open-air concourse so you can see the game from anywhere, not a bad seat, and reasonably comfortable (for a 6'6" guy).
I was expecting a rancid environment at Busch, but was pleasantly disappointed. It's a pretty awesome stadium for it's era. hell, it's a pretty awesome stadium period. Clean, knowledgeable fans, very enthusiastic fans. Lotta beer. Lotta lot. I'll definitely go back at some point.
But I can't wait to see more. I mean, Dodger's Stadium, Qualcomm (or whatever San diego's is now), Edison...blah blah blah. Lousy stadiums, worst fans in America (as far as being fans...not as far as politeness....then Philly or Cleveland gets the worst fans award).
But it's gonna be a blast to see a few more in the next month+.
And it's gonna be nice going to a stadium where there's beer other than Bud.
Of course, I may be delusional. Maybe I just feel like this was an awesome trip cuz my date last wednesday went over like a fart in church.
Now, I just gotta convince my boss that any work day spent in a baseball stadium is akin to a sickday. He should go for that.....
Josh
I like baseball. Neat game. And I honestly (almost) feel that employers should allow (encourage) their employees to take afternoons off to watch baseball games (live, not on TV). I think it would boost morale. And more people would become baseball fans, so there would be more water cooler fodder, which is always priceless.
Again, I feel the need to digress.
On July 5th, my brother came back from Iraq, and he and I went up to Seattle together to visit my folks.
We are all diehard Mariners fans, so we decided to go watch Lou Piniella at Safeco. Awesome time. Then, my bro and I flew back down to LA (I just bought a new car, thanks poker, and decided to give him my old one as a welcome home gift), went to Dodgers stadium to see the Rockies beat up on the hapless dodgers. We aren't enormous dodger fans, but my gramma was until the day she died, so we cheer them on for her.
My bro then had to return to Ft. Hood, and I was left here in LA.
Oh, by the way, I hate LA. Hate it. So, this weekend, I flew out to St. Louis with a buddy from San Diego and a buddy from Philly to meet up with a buddy in "the loo". Flew in on Friday, went to Busch Stadium friday night, and saturday during the day. Saturday, we also threw together the mother of all tailgate parties (okay, not really the mother of all....but a mighty fine one).
Now, I'm back in LA. But not for long....in three weeks, I'm headed to Baltimore or Boston. At the end of August, I'm flying into Dulles, getting picked up by a buddy of mine, and we are driving cross country. We have games to attend in Pittsburgh on Saturday, Cincy on Sunday, and Minnesota on Monday. We may try to throw in a KC or Milwaukee instead/also.
If I didn't hate LA so much, I wouldn't have this opportunity. And this is coming from a guy who just left St. Louis.
See, I was looking forward to going to St. Louis as much as I'm looking forward to my first prostate exam. I mean, I knew it would be nice to see my buddies, but c'mon...St. Louis? I'm from Seattle, I live on the beach now, and I'm gonna go spend a weekend in a humid dog's mouth in a very unpretty city? I shall now drown myself.
But wow.
What a city. I noticed alot at the ballpark. For one, out here in the west, half the vendors at a ballgame are pedalling food, half are pedalling drink. In the Loo, all are pedalling Bud. Bud light. Busch. michelob. That's about it.
Now, I like my libations as much as the next guy, but I'm a bit of a liquor snob. I drink only top shelf mixed drinks (crown and coke, sapphire and tonic, belvedre (or grey goose) and anything). Cheap beer is not for me.
But it tasted alright. I mean, I gave myself the pep talk on the flight..."C'mon Josh, when in Rome, do as those domestic-swill-drinkin' honkies do". But I managed to keep pounding down one 24 oz. glass after another. And it never bothered me.
And I noticed other things as well. For instance, there seem to be more female baseball fans in the midwest. I'm not talking the overweight bud-drinking 47 year-olds with Rollie Fingers facial hair. I'm talking the 22 year old high school reuniting cheerleading squad. Seriously. They sat down in front of us on Friday. I got a couple names...Brie and Jennifer...don't remember the other two (unless they were "bud light" and "bud"). I remember not seeing a nice catch my Jim Edmonds because, well, they started to admire the catch before I could, and they were sitting in front of me. See, they stood up to watch, and that 'blocked' my view. Sure, I'm 6'6", so I coulda stood up as well, but sometimes you just realize that the view is good right here, right now, and if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
The most amazing (or not) thing of all, though, was women in the midwest are a lot more approachable than in LA. They don't all have the "Sorry, you aren't Brad Pitt, so I won't talk to you" chip on their shoulder that many Angelino's have.
Then you get the stadium itself. I love Safeco Field. Beautiful park. I'm not gonna say it's the best, cuz I haven't been to Pac Bell or Camden Yards (the two that I think may be able to dethrone Safeco). Safeco is new, clean, great food, great open-air concourse so you can see the game from anywhere, not a bad seat, and reasonably comfortable (for a 6'6" guy).
I was expecting a rancid environment at Busch, but was pleasantly disappointed. It's a pretty awesome stadium for it's era. hell, it's a pretty awesome stadium period. Clean, knowledgeable fans, very enthusiastic fans. Lotta beer. Lotta lot. I'll definitely go back at some point.
But I can't wait to see more. I mean, Dodger's Stadium, Qualcomm (or whatever San diego's is now), Edison...blah blah blah. Lousy stadiums, worst fans in America (as far as being fans...not as far as politeness....then Philly or Cleveland gets the worst fans award).
But it's gonna be a blast to see a few more in the next month+.
And it's gonna be nice going to a stadium where there's beer other than Bud.
Of course, I may be delusional. Maybe I just feel like this was an awesome trip cuz my date last wednesday went over like a fart in church.
Now, I just gotta convince my boss that any work day spent in a baseball stadium is akin to a sickday. He should go for that.....
Josh