Sun, 20 May 2012 19:07:33 -0800WeeblyThu, 01 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0800http://30ballparks-in-1season.com/36/post/2010/07/first-post.html Thursday, July 29, 2010

 

Bobby D's Blog - 2010 Day 116

 



I was asked the other day if I love living in Columbus. After thinking about it for a few seconds my response was I have been here so infrequent that I am not even having an affair with Columbus. Since I have moved into my apartment in the middle of April I have spent a whooping 3 Friday or Saturday nights in my apartment but not that I am complaining which leads me to…

…where has July gone? It seems like it was just yesterday that it was July 1st and now here we are at the end of July and the only ballpark I have been to is Wrigley Field, but I am surely not going to complain about that. In July I was able to take in 3 games at Wrigley while resting up for the final 10 ballparks of the season. So what have I done in July with all my free time – well work, travel to Tampa to visit family and spend some time making sure that my new lifelong Quest gets off to a great start with a strong foundation all the way to 92ish…

…which has made July an awesome month for me. I have taken in 3 Cub games at Wrigley which in itself makes for a great month. I reconnected with a great childhood friend, Mark Clement for one of those games. My parents flew up for the 4th of July weekend which we took in 2 Cub games and had a great time hanging out in Libertyville. Charlie came along with me to Tampa to meet my family. We had an amazing weekend while also learning the value of hydration. And then there was the past weekend taking in the Cub – Cards game with Charlie, her son Brent and Charlie’s great friend Kristin. But I have only been to 1 ballpark this month. And that actually makes me happy…

…because it shows that the Quest to get to all the parks this season is not the be all end all to my life, just a small part of it. So with all of that said it’s shout out time…

…first shout out is to Facebook. For those who say online social networking is a bunch of hooey all you need to do is look at me not because I am full of hooey but because I have reconnected with many great friends from high school and college this summer all because of Facebook which leads me to…

…the second shout out to my good friend Mark and his daughter Aubrey who joined me at Wrigley for the game on July 4th. Mark and I used to work as counselors at a summer day camp, coached Little League together and attended too many Cub games at Wrigley to count. To have Mark join me with his 15 year old daughter Aubrey made that game so very special. It’s funny how you can pick up a friendship after 30 years like a day hasn’t passed and that was how it was with Mark and me. We thoroughly enjoyed the day that all started at…

…the third shout out which goes to the nameless family that gave us their table (the best table with a great view of Wrigley) at Harry Caray’s Pub before the game on July 4th. We arrived at Wrigley 2.5 hours before the game but Harry’s was already packed. There were no tables to be found anyway. Over the years I have become very good at table stalking (yes Cousin Jim, toll booth attendant stalking as well) and saw a family sitting at an outside table getting ready to pay their check. Before anyone could steal the table from us, I plopped my camera bag down on a chair at the table and the laws of table stalking state “that a camera bag is enough personal items to hold a table when said tables are first come first serve.” This rule also holds true for holding on to street parking in New Jersey after a snowstorm and you dig yourself out. All that is required to hold that spot is a folding chair. For those who live in NJ, you are now shaking your head in a Vinny Bagadonuts way…

…and the 4th shout out to Yum Yum Donuts that is no longer there at Wrigley but will always hold a soft spot in our heart (and waist band) for all the great donuts you provided Mark and I during our numerous trips to Wrigley. A visit to Wrigley was not complete without 3 Boston Crème Yum Yums…

…but now that we are of legal drinking age the 5th shout out to the Cubby Bear Lounge across from Wrigley. I think the Cubby Bear has replaced Yum Yum Donuts as our new pregame stop at Wrigley…

…and speaking of Wrigley we have to give a shout out to Wrigley itself. Sure it is an old ballpark with none of the modern amenities of new parks. There is no replay scoreboard, no luxury suites, no urinals to pee in (yes, still peeing in a horse trough) and the aisle ways are very narrow. But what Wrigley has is charm, the ivy, the bleachers, the roof top seats, the real 7th inning stretch and most importantly is it has Cub fans. Yes we are losers, bums and according to Lee Elia 93% of people in Chicago work and the other 7% come out to Wrigley Field. So why do we come out to Wrigley after 102 years of no World Series titles, because we love the narrow aisle ways, we don’t need no stickin replay scoreboard because we are too bombed to care and the luxury suites – well we are unemployed so we can’t afford them anyways. As for peeing in a horse trough – it’s what bonds us Cub fans, real men can pee anywhere...

…this brings me to Charlie’s son Brent, who I would like to give a shout out for driving up from Central Illinois to join us for the Cub – Cards game on July 24th. Brent is a great kid who has a really bright future (hence the sunglasses in the picture), for a Cards fan that is. Sorry Brent, I had to throw a little jab in there about the Cards. This past weekend Brent taught me how to play Risk just good enough to play but not enough to win. Just wait Brent, revenge will be sweet…

…but not as sweet as Charlie’s good friend Kristin who joined us for the Cub-Cards game. Charlie has told me that Kristin is the definition of a true friend. She is there for the good times but will drop everything to be there when you truly need her. I have hung out with Kristin twice now and both times she left me laughing and smiling and how can you not – just check out her smile in the picture above with Brent and Charlie…

…which leads me to my final shout out to Facebook. Ummm, Bobby D – you already shouted out to Facebook. Yes I know, but because of Facebook I have “met” Charlie. I promised Charlie I wouldn’t embarrass her by saying how beautiful, intelligent, charming, sweet and super cute wearing a Cub cap she is…but I don’t have too, the picture attached captures all of that and more. So thank you Facebook, because of you I wake up each morning with a smile and go to sleep with a smile which I plan on doing all the way to 92ish and beyond ;)

Ok enough shouting out (which is Bob speak for kissing butt) and back to this little thing called the Quest. 10 ballparks to go and it all kicks off this weekend in Queens on Saturday for Citifield and Sunday in DC at Nationals Park. Click on the 2010 Quest schedule to the left to see the remaining 10. So for now this is so long and good bye from my mistress in waiting, Columbus, OH where I am hoping the President will join me at Nationals Park on Sunday – heck anything can happen, I did pee next to Dan Quayle at LAX last month, funny how I didn’t shout out about that!!!

 



 

Thursday, July 15, 2010

 

Bobby D's Blog - 2010 Day 102

 



Charlie would like me to start the Wrigley Weekend 2 part blog with a big Thank You to the Ohio State Police Department. Why you ask? Well it all has to do with a burnt orange Camaro and a 400 mile drive from Columbus to Chicago and Mr. Lead Foot here trying to prove that “yes, you can drive 400 miles in 5.5 hours.”

Since airfare from Columbus to Chicago was sky high for 4th of July weekend I decided to rent a car in Columbus for $20 a day and drive the 400 miles to Chicago. Since I am a 5 Star Gold #1 Member of Hertz (yes, I am name dropping here) they upgraded me from a full size car to a rocket otherwise named a 2010 Camaro. This car had major cojones (Spanish for big…ummm…engine) and when you hit the accelerator you got whiplash. So I am cruising down I-70 (well west actually but wasn’t sure how you cruise west) at a break neck pace of 71 mph in a 65 zone. Charlie had sent me a text earlier that said the mantra for the day was to drive 68 mph – I begged her to go one mph faster but she said nope, not while driving in Ohio. Woo-hoo, I couldn’t wait until Indiana!!! So why was I driving 71 when the mantra for the day was 68? Well I was stuck in traffic and finally got a break to pass a truck and to do so I had to go above 68 mph – the cop got me doing 71 (if he would have waited a nano-second longer he would have gotten me doing about 80.) When he pulled me over I think he was surprised to find…well…me driving the Camaro. He did an extensive background check of my driving record and found that other few driving while naked summons (not really, just checking if you are awake) he let me off with a warning. This made Charlie’s year – I now had to drive the speed limit.

I ended up doing the 400 miles in 6 hours and 20 minutes – not bad considering I had the Ohio, Indiana and Illinois Highway Patrol watching out for me. I think Charlie called in an APB on a burnt orange Camaro with Ohio tags (license plates for all you non-easterners). But in all seriousness, thanks Charlie – 1437 2!!!!

My mom and dad flew up from Tampa to share in the Wrigley weekend with me. I had not seen them since early April so we made Friday night a belated Mother/Father’s Day and celebrated at Fleming’s Steakhouse in Lincolnshire. If you ever want a nice night out and can afford a few extra bucks on dinner – hit up a Fleming’s – they are great.

I had trouble sleeping on Friday night with the excitement of Wrigley Field on my mind. See for me Wrigley Field is the greatest place on Earth. To make things almost perfect I would be sharing the day with my mom, dad, my dad’s brother in law Mike and my dad’s nephew Jeremy. We would park with the nuns off of Clark Street, have our first beer at the Cubby Bear and then enter Wrigley from just behind home plate – the only way to walk into Wrigley.

I had bought the tickets for this game all the way back on February 16 and was fortunate to get 6 tickets together in the upper deck infield boxes – 3rd row no less. These are great seats that afford an amazing view of Wrigley Field. But what these seats also have are very steep steps to get to the 3rd row. My mom has a knee problem and getting down to the 3rd row would be next to impossible. We talked to an usher about our issue and he suggested I visit the fan assistance office on the main level of Wrigley.

Now as you know I am a loyal, lifelong Cub fan and I will admit that I am very biased when it comes to the Cubs – but the Cubs’ fan assistance staff was 1st class when I told them of our issue. They had a fan assistance rep accompany me to the upper deck and escort my mom and dad to new seats on the first level. Later in the game I had to pick up my Father’s Day gift for my dad (that is my dad modeling his gift in the picture) and wanted to check on them so I headed down to the main level and found them – 15 rows off the field just past 3rd base!!! Very, very nice of the Cubs to do that for my mom and dad and for me – I got to sit in the upper deck with what was now not as nice of a view as I could have had.

I did have a blast though hanging out with Mike and Jeremy. They are both loyal Cub fans like me. Jeremy is a huge Tyler Colvin and Starlin Castro fan. Mike and I shared an Old Style which is a Wrigley tradition that your first beer in Wrigley has to be an Old Style or the Cubs will lose. Seems for the past 102 years people have NOT been following the tradition. The tradition paid off as the Cubs won 3 to 1.

After the game we met up with a bunch of my mom and dad’s friends and family at Bill’s Pub in Mundelein. Growing up on Saturday night’s we would always go to Bill’s. They have the best pizza in the area and offer peanuts that you can throw the shells on the ground. If you have a peanut allergy you better stay away. The pizza was great as is always has been, but the company was so much better.

Since it was still somewhat early we headed over to Libertyville to have a beer or 3 at Morgan’s. As I was walking past the bar I heard my name – I turned around and it was my sister’s best friend while growing up Beth. We had become facebook friends many moons ago and she has been following the Quest via facebook. Beth has been married for over 20 years now to a high school classmate of mine Jeff. As I mentioned in the previous blog this has been the summer of reunions and here at Morgan’s in Libertyville, I was adding to the list of reconnecting with great friends from my childhood. This was the perfect ending to a perfect day.

Well that about does it for part 1 of the Wrigley Weekend. Check back in a few days for part 2 and another day in the park, I think it was the 4th of July. That sounds like a great line for a song; I think we are on to something here. So for now this is so long and good bye from Columbus, OH where I am thinking of moving 99 miles to the west to Indiana ;)



 

Monday, July 12, 2010

 

Bobby D's Blog - 2010 Day 99

 



Sleepless in Seattle sure, but sun burnt in Seattle – more on that in a bit after a word from our sponsors….OK, so we don’t have sponsors but if we did here’s the list of who I would choose:

Official family restaurant that really isn’t a family restaurant of the Quest: The nominees are Hooter’s and Tilted Kilt. Hooter’s is the easy choice because who doesn’t love Hooters, here a Hooter, there a Hooter, everywhere a Hooter, Hooter. But I am not into easy choices so I would have the Tilted Kilt be my sponsor. Great food and beer choices and you gotta luv the….ummmm…..Kilts!!!

Official bar if your wife or girlfriend won’t allow you to go to Hooter’s or the Kilt (or simply known as the Commish’s category): Bailey’s in Crystal City, VA wins hands down. Bailey’s is also known as the Fox and Hound Tavern throughout the US. Bailey’s is the Tilted Kilt without the “scenery.”

Official Beer of the Quest: Actually it hasn’t been brewed yet – the Commish and I have a name for our brewery called the Ass Crack Brewery, we would brew it at the old PBR brewery in Allentown, PA. We also have a brew master ready to sign up. All we need is the capital to open our brewery. So if you would like to invest and help us brew Plumber’s Crack Stout, Carpenter’s Crack Pale Ale and for the ladies - Butt Lite (we are equal opportunity offenders here at the Ass Crack Brewery) please contact us!!! How did we come up with the name you ask? Well a few years ago I was hanging at the Bostonville Grille in Lynnfield, MA and the bartender bent over to get a beer and bammo – ass crack. I sent a text to the Commish with the idea and a legend was born.

Official TV Show of the Quest: Now that 24 and Lost are off the air we need a new official TV show. I love Rescue Me and who can not (hehe) love Jennifer Love Hewitt (official spokesperson of the Ass Crack Brewery, BTW) in Ghost Whispererer. After careful consideration the official TV show of the Quest is Dexter. If you watch Dexter you are now shaking your head, if you haven’t – go back to season 1 and you will be hooked.

Ok enough of the tomfoolery – what is tomfoolery anway? Was Tom Foolery some famous class clown? Hmmmm – I might need to oatmeal that one, never know when that might be a NTN question. Just like the way that river in middle of the US got its name. It was discovered by William Sippy and he named it after his wife – Mrs. Sippy.

Where was I??? That’s right – sun burnt in Seattle, June 24 at Safeco in Seattle. I am having a hard time concentrating of late – seems my mind is constantly on a certain someone in a certain suburb of Libertyville, IL.

I was prepared for Seattle to be cold, rainy, cloudy and basically crappy because my high school buddy Joe “Mr. Cool” Kuhlman told me that they refer to June in Seattle as Junuary. Well not on June 24th – the weather was actually hot – high 80’s without a cloud in the sky. Plus our seats were in the left field bleachers without any shade what so ever and who thinks of sun block in Seattle, not I. I am not even sure that they sell it in Seattle.

Turns out I have many friends in the Pacific Northwest so meeting me for the game was a high school friend, Joe “Mr. Cool” Kuhlman and his 2 sons. Also joining me was World Famous Ballpark Chaser Ken Lee (more on Ken in a bit) and his friend and fellow Ballpark Chaser Doug Miller.

When I set up the west coast swing the only flight, and I do mean only flight, that had to be on time was my morning flight on June 24th from Denver to Seattle. My flight was scheduled to land at 10:00 am which would leave me 2.5 hours to get from the airport to Safeco (only 12 miles) for the 12:35 pm start of the Cubs – Mariners game. Well just by typing this paragraph you know by now that the flight was delayed and we didn’t land until 11:10 am. I quickly got my luggage and rental car (yes Commish, I used Hertz and my name was in lights for a quicker getaway) and headed off towards the ballpark. Because of heavy traffic into Seattle and the lack of available parking at Safeco for an afternoon game I was fortunate to find a $40 parking spot a few blocks from the ballpark and met Ken and Doug at the Pyramid Brewpub at 12:25. That my friends was 1 hour and 15 minutes to get off a plane, get my luggage and car, drive 12 miles, find parking and get to a bar across from the ballpark. Since I really like Seattle I will give the city a pass on this.

This season during the Quest is like a reunion tour of sorts all because of Facebook. I have reconnected with many really great friends from high school and college and have attended games or will attend games with them this season. In Seattle I was able to reconnect with high school friend Joe Kuhlman. It was great reconnecting with Joe and meeting his sons. Joe had great stories to share of the past 30 years and also told me of being the executive chef for 2 US President’s while they were visiting Seattle. I was thrilled being able to shake Dan Quayle’s hand at LAX and here Joe actually cooked for 2 POTUSeseses.

There is this great website called ballparkchasers.com. It is free to join and currently has 508 members. The website is for people like me who love to see games at various ballparks. Some members have been to only a few but have a lifelong dream to get to them all and there are members who have seen them all, which brings me to Ken Lee. I met Ken thru ballpark chasers last season and we quickly became good friends. Ken is a great guy who has a tremendous knowledge and passion for baseball which dwarfs me by comparison. I guess that makes me the 8th dwarf - wonder what my name would be? Last season Ken completed the lifelong goal of “seeing them all”. Like all of us who have been to all 30 MLB ballparks, when a new ballpark opens we are not complete and have to get to the new ballpark to feel whole again. Ken will be at Target Field in Minnesota Sunday to see the Twins and feel complete again. Have a great time Ken and congrats on being back in the “club”. Ken brought along Doug Miller who himself has been to a game at 22 ballparks. Doug too is a great guy and a very proud father. During the game Doug pointed out that Ken, me and himself have each been in excess of 40 ballparks - that my friends are a lot of beer and hot dogs.

We ended up seeing a great game. The Cubs won in 12 innings and was my first extra inning game of the season. It was great sitting in the bleachers as it afforded us 5 men and Joe the luxury of hanging out at a ballgame and shooting the poop (gotta try to stay PG-13 here). I want to thank each for taking the time to join me at the game – I had a wonderful time and will always remember getting sun burnt in Seattle with you guys not to mention all the sights that we saw after the game having a window seat across from Safeco at Jimmy’s on First.

That finally wraps up the West Coast Swing – next to blog about is the wonderful weekend I had at Wrigley over the 4th of July weekend with my family and friends so check back in a few days for part 1 of the Wrigley Weekend – well hopefully in a few days, still having this concentration issue – not that there is anything wrong with it ;). So for now this is so long and good bye from Columbus, OH where for an afternoon snack I have been nibbling on a apple and in a bit I will peel an avocado for my salad tonight. See I told you I am having a concentration issue – that last sentence didn’t make sense….or did it ;).More...

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Thursday, July 8, 2010

 

Bobby D's Blog - 2010 Day 95

 



What – no Quest games for 24 whole days!!! Yep, time to take a bit of a break from the Quest for a few weeks and focus on family, work and finding a more efficient way to get from Midway or O’Hare to McHenry, IL. The hiatus from the Quest will allow me to also start the media campaign since 20 ballparks are in the books and time for us to use the next 3 months of the baseball season as a vehicle to spread awareness of SADS. It is no longer will I get to all 30, but when and where will the 30th ballpark be which right now appears to be September 18 in Miami.

It’s now time to jump into the hot tub time machine and travel back to June 23 and my Quest game at Coors Field in Denver. Wouldn’t traveling in time be cool – I would go back to 1908 and watch the Cubs win the World Series so I could say I saw that in my lifetime. Flying would be cool – that sure would take care of the drive from Midway or O’Hare to McHenry. Invisibility would be way cool because well…the whole girl’s locker room scenario. I have a joke about invisibility – if you are easily offended then jump to the next paragraph. Superman is flying around the city and he sees Wonder Woman sunning herself on top of a building – without bathing suit I should mention. Superman figures he is faster than a speeding bullet so he would fly down – shoot a “bullet” and then fly away. Well he does and flies away. Wonder Woman then says – “what was that?” and the Invisible Man says – “I don’t know but my behind sure is sore!” Ahhh – Marvel Comic humor, gotta luv it. Or is it DC Comic humor. I don’t know – I wasn’t that much of a dork in high school. Teach – which is it? And no – I am not calling the Teach a dork (I know better), it’s that she teaches 4th grade and may know if Superman was DC or Marvel. The fact I know DC and Marvel kind of does make me a dork. Oh well – on to Denver…again.

I love Denver – the people are wonderful, the weather is great, the scenery is beautiful and being a mile high sure adds to the beer drinking fun. So here are the “bullet” points to my Quest game in Denver. I am sorry I am not as quick as Superman with the “bullets” – though I tend to think that is a good thing ;)

• I just had to try the Rocky Mountain Oysters at Coors Field. I had gotten myself all worked up about eating “Bull Boys” that I was actually nervous about it. I figured they would be these huge fried balls but they were not. They slice them thin and then deep fry them. Kind of looked like a fried pickle. As for the taste – it tasted like salty veal and they came with cocktail sauce (I can’t make this stuff up). Overall the Rocky Mountain Oysters were not that bad – make sure you eat them hot though because once they get cold they get a bit “chewy.”

• Have you ever been somewhere and you ran into someone you know totally unexpected? Well I did at Coors. A fraternity brother of mine from ISU – Troy Peden was at the game with his family. My seat for the game was in the upper deck down the left field line. As I was going to my seat I heard my name and turned around. I did not recognize Troy at first as it has been 25 years since we last saw each other. Troy introduced me to his family as we caught up on the last 25 years. Troy has a lovely family and has done well for himself. It is now 3 weeks later and I am still amazed at running into Troy. Funny how stuff like happens.

• I decided not to sit in my seat for the game – last year at Coors I walked around for the games and met many great people so I figured might as well do it again and again I met many great people. The problem is I lost my notes from the game so to the people I met – hi, nice to have met you and so sorry I forgot your names. I guess I could do a Romper Room thing here and call out random names – who would know. The Romper Room gal was hot by the way and I loved when she called out my name. She would wink too – well maybe she didn’t wink but that’s how I remember it.

• As I was doing the Bob thing walking around the park I noticed the sun setting over the Rockies. Wouldn’t it be setting under the Rockies? I guess it goes over and then under the Rockies– Teach???? I headed to the upper deck to get a better vantage point to the sunset and ended up taking over 80 photos. Funny thing is there were about 100 people standing around me doing the same thing as a ballgame was going on behind us. The photo attached to the blog was taken from the upper deck at Coors Field.

• The game ended awesomely as Jonathon Papelbon blew a save for the Red Sox by giving up a game tying homer and then a 2 run walk off shot to Jason Giambi. My first walk off game of the season. Last season I was at 6 walk offs and this year only 1 so far.

• After the game I was tempted to take the toll way back to my hotel even though it would have been 20 miles out of my way but then I remembered that the restraining order the hot toll taker took out on me last season was still in effect. You all do remember the hot toll taker from last season don’t you? I know cousin Jim does!!!

Overall I really enjoyed myself in Denver and will surely go back again and again even if it is just for the “Bull Boys” served with cocktail sauce (you can’t make this stuff up.)

Check back in a few days for when we hop into the hot tub time machine again and blog about the Quest game from Seattle on June 24th. So for now this is so long and good bye from Columbus, OH where my thoughts and prayers go out to the Invisible Man – poor chap

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Tuesday, July 6, 2010

 

The Quest in the News!!!

 



Only have a few minutes to get this entry in, if you click on the more button a link to a news article from the Deseret News of Salt Lake City about our Quest and the SADS Foundation will appear.

Thanks to Laura and Heidi from the SADS Foundation for spearheading the article and Amy Donaldson of the Deseret News for the great article!!!

In the photo are the Letino girls of get this - Libertyville, IL who met me thru the SADS website. They had no idea that I grew up in Libertyville until we met on Sunday at Wrigley. Sharon and her daughters are living and thriving with Long QT which is a SADS condition. I love what they did with the "Where's Bob" t-shirts. It was great meeting you guys and I look forward to seeing you again soon - in Libertyville of course!!!

Quick entry today - so for now this is so long and good bye and please check back in a few days for another fun filled blog of our adventures of saving the world - one ballpark at a time.More...

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Saturday, July 3, 2010

 

Bobby D's Blog - 2010 Day 90

 



Is Hertz crazy or what? The other day I decided to drive from Columbus to Chicago for this weekend’s Wrigley Field bonanza. Since my car has 141,000 miles on it, I figured why not rent a car for the weekend – put the 1,000 miles on someone else’s car. Well when I went to pick up the car, Hertz gave me a brand spanking (lightly of course) new Camaro SS – burnt orange no less. Hey Mr. Officer, here I come and catch me if you can. I feel like I am in a remake of Smokey and the Bandit, only problem is I look more like Smokey but feel oh so like the Bandit.

So when we last spoke I was teetering on the balance beam of life and had blogged about the games in San Diego and Arizona. So without further ado – what is ado anyway? It looks strange – look at the word ado. Stare at “ado” while I slowly put you to sleep – think gentle thoughts, you are getting sleepy, your eyes are getting heavy, ado…ado…ado…ok so I am no Cris Angel, but I did see him on Mindfreak once hypnotize a whole restaurant by just having them read the menu. I figure why not try it on one of my blogs. Yes Andy, I know – don’t give up the day job and I sure don’t look like Cris Angel – more like Jackie Gleason.

So on Tuesday of last week I attended the Dodger – Angel game at Angels Stadium in Anaheim. Last season I loved my experience at Angel Stadium and this season not so much. The highlight of the day was having sushi in the pub on the club level of the ballpark. You know that the day isn’t that good when the highlight is ballpark sushi. I did the Bob thing which is walk around the park – I did meet a few nice people but none that left an impact as I am sure I did not leave an impact on them. What did leave an impact on me was indeed an impact. In the 6th inning I was walking around the outfield area and these 2 guys got into a scuffle (which is Cali for fight I later learned) and I was a bit too close to the scuffle and one guy fell back into my right knee and hyper extended it. So I am on the ground writhing in pain (well not really but this is LA and I was hoping to land an acting job, for a role as Jackie Gleason of course) and out of nowhere comes these 2 guys who cart me off (literally on a golf cart) to the nurse’s station. Now in the movie version of the Quest the nurse would be played by Megan Fox but in the real version she was played by Tyne Daly. Nurse Daly gives me a clean bill of health, has me sign some forms so I do not sue the Angels (not owned by Disney anymore so why bother suing them) and off I go. I limp to my car and yada,yada, yada it’s Wednesday and I am in Denver.

I will save Denver and Seattle for some blogs for next week because each is deserving of their own blog. I know I have fallen a bit behind on the blogging but my evenings lately have been spent actually working – I know the horror. One of these days I will get caught up. Today though is Wrigley Field and ballpark 20. I will actually be going to games today and tomorrow because Wrigley demands a 2 day event. Today is my family day at Wrigley and tomorrow will feel like old times going to Wrigley with my childhood friend Mark Clement. I also have some SADS families that I will be meeting up with at Wrigley over the next 2 days. I truly look forward to meeting them. Even though the Cubs are not playing well there is no feeling in baseball as going to a game at Wrigley and this month I will be going to 3 – today, tomorrow and July 24th when Charlie, her son Brent (a huge Cards fan) and KPS (Charlie’s friend Kristin but the nickname KPS sounds so much cooler, mainly because I came up with it) will see the Cards – Cubs game. Too bad the Cubs aren’t playing better but maybe it is fitting, as a kid we went to Wrigley to go to Wrigley – we didn’t care that the Cubs stunk. So I don’t care now that the Cubs stink all because the Blackhawks are the Stanley Cup Champions – the Cubs get a pass this year!!!

It’s now time to suit up because this weekend at Wrigley will be legend..wait…wait…wait… ary. That was done in my best Barney Stinson of course – still hard to believe Doogie Howser bats from the other side of the plate (not that there is anything wrong with that.) It must have been that music as he typed onto the blue screen. Wow great final paragraph - typed modestly of course ;) – a How I Met Your Mother, Seinfeld and Doogie Howser reference – what a trifecta!!! Wonder what that paid at the track? So for now this is so long and good bye from Lincolnshire, IL where I am so glad I am typing onto a white screen and have Aerosmith blaring in the background (but not Dude looks like a Lady, that’s for sure.)

PS – as a side note to the opening paragraph, the officer did catch me and I was only 40 miles outside of Columbus to boot – but more on that in the next blog.

PPS (or is it PSS, teach we need a ruling here) – I’M GOING TO WRIGLEY FIELD TODAY!!!!!

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Thursday, July 1, 2010

 

Bobby D's Blog - 2010 Day 88 (Kaner!!!!)

 



Life is a balance I have been constantly reminding myself lately. Last summer I had such an amazing experience visiting all 30 ballparks that I could not wait to do it again this summer. So in December I came up with the schedule, booked all my flights in February, bought most of the tickets in March and started this year’s Quest in April. Funny things happened between December and now. Additional responsibilities at work lead to me moving to Columbus, OH (not planned at all), reconnecting with my family in Tampa has me wanting to spend more time with them and last but certainly not least – I have re-met an amazing person that has us looking to a wonderful future together. And then there is this year’s Quest which until last night felt like a burden with all the other stuff that has become major priorities in my life. So what happened last night to unburden me – well I will save that for the all important closing of this blog, but first, let us revisit some of my west coast swing.

The west coast swing was originally scheduled to be 8 ballparks in 8 days but some stuff back east led me to cut the trip a bit short and do the first 5 ballparks of the swing and save LA, Oak and SF for a little later in the season – I so love flying so why not make two more long ass round trip flights to the left coast.

The swing started in San Diego on Sunday. This too was a change to the original plan but one that needed to be made due to work responsibilities. I love San Diego and wish I could have stayed for longer than an afternoon. The weather is wonderful, the people are great and the vibe is one that is healthy and fun. After spending a few hours driving around San Diego it was time to do some pregame warm-ups at the Tilted Kilt. I was enjoying my beer and some beer steamed clams when a gentleman sat next to me. We started talking and quickly became friends. Dr. Ron is from San Diego and attends many games at Petco each year. Ron is also a huge Red Sox fan and he told me that he will be at the Sox – Yanks game on Oct. 3, fate is such that I have tickets for that same game. Seems Ron and I will be sharing a beer at Fenway on Oct. 3.

I love Petco Park and have it ranked very high on my list. The ballpark is extremely family friendly, priced so that a family of four can go to a game and not have to take out a loan and offers stuff to do other than watching the game which on this day wasn’t much to speak about as the Orioles (you know you can’t spell poop without the O’s) were in town. I can’t tell you much about the game other than the Padres won the game, seems the climax to the game came right after the National Anthem when in honor of Father’s Day and the Padre tradition of honoring the military on Sunday games, a member of the military was introduced and with their kids lined up at a position on the field. Very cool moment and props to the Padres for keeping this tradition alive complete with them wearing their camouflage uniforms. I know there are many people that do not like the camouflage uniforms and to you folks – go to a Sunday game at Petco and I bet after feeling the emotion of the day you will quickly change that opinion.

Monday was met with an early morning flight to Phoenix for that evening’s Yankee – D’back game. I was especially looking forward to this game as I was meeting up with my buddy Van who lives in Tucson. The temp in Phoenix was 109 on Monday and even though they kept the roof closed at Chase Field the air conditioning couldn’t keep up with the 45,000 people in attendance. It didn’t help that 30,000 of them were New Yorkers who of course are full of hot air, amongst other "stuff." Now if you remember the last time the Yankees played in Chase Field it was game 7 of the 2001 World Series in which they lost in the bottom of the 9th and in case you didn’t remember, the D’backs helped you out by having Matt Williams, Mark Grace and Luis Gonzalez (all key members of the 2001 D’backs) throw out the first pitch.

A moment of digression here while I pick some nits – there have been 37 former Cubs to win a World Series after escaping the grips of the Billy Goat curse but only a few who I was a fan of. There was Bill Madlock, Bruce Sutter, Manny Trillo, Joe Carter and Greg Maddux to name a few but none as important to me as Mark Grace. Gracie loved being a Cub and loved everything about being a Chicagoan. I actually met and talked to Gracie a few hockey seasons ago at the Blackhawk – Coyote game in Phoenix. I asked him why he was at the game and he said “it’s the Chicago Blackhawks, man.” Seems he and JR have a thing or 2 in common – I wonder if Gracie broke down like all of us Hawk fans did after WE won the Cup! So when Luis Gonzalez’s broken bat, Seeing Eye dog single won the 2001 World Series for the D’backs one of my all-time favorite Cubs was a Champion. It was a bittersweet moment though as Shawn was crushed her beloved Yanks lost the series. It was after all 2 months after 9/11 and we Jersey New Yorkers were still stunned and shocked that “that” happened in our city. We needed something, even for a moment, to feel good about. Then there was Gracie on the stage holding the World Series trophy and for a moment I felt good – one of my all time favorite Cubs was holding the World Series trophy. Fast forward 10 years and here is Mark Grace throwing out the first pitch at Chase Field and who were in the visitor’s dugout but the New York Yankees. You know Gracie had to love it, I know I did.

Well the game was kind of a dud. A J Burnett gave up 3 home runs in the first inning on the way to a 7 to 3 D’back victory. During the game I hit the wall. All the travel, early morning flights, late night chats with that special person back in Illinois caught up with me and I crashed. Jet lag kicked in and kicked my butt big time. We left the game early to beat the traffic. We did have a great time though. We had lunch at Houston’s, hung out at the bar in the club section of Chase Field, saw the Yanks get beat up and most importantly I got to hang out with a very good friend – one that because of his friendship and guidance during some of the darkest hours of my life I am here today thoroughly enjoying and totally open to the bright hours of my future (all the way to 92ish.)

I will save the games in Anaheim, Denver and Seattle for a blog that I will post Saturday morning from Chicago because this weekend is Wrigley Field – yahoo!!!! But I did promise as a teaser as to why the burdened feeling is gone. It’s all because of an almost 16 year old and her mom from Port St. Lucie, FL.

Last week I got a friend request from Kelsey in Florida on facebook. We chatted for a bit that night and I learned of the struggles she had to get diagnosed with Long QT Syndrome which is a SADS condition. She told me how she saw 8 different doctors until, with the help of the SADS Foundation, she was finally diagnosed. Kelsey now is living with Long QT, a syndrome that has no cure but has treatments that will allow her to live a mostly normal life. Kelsey maintains an amazing positive attitude and has started her own facebook page entitled “The one heart one hope talk for Long QT”. Kelsey and her mom Lisa have designed a t-shirt for their cause. I have attached the link to Kelsey’s facebook page to this blog. Once reading her story you will come to discover why she is a hero to so many, including me!!!

Last night I was messaging Lisa and Kelsey about the game in Miami on September 18th, a game that will be my final one of the 30. Lisa, Kelsey, their family and friends will be joining me at the game. Then Kelsey, whose birthday is in a few weeks, told me that one of her wishes was to meet me – to say the least I was very touched by this. My goal for this summer was to make a difference in a few people’s lives and last night it hit me – I am achieving this goal. Thru the nice emails, guestbook entries and now making a wish come true for a truly inspirational hero – I don’t feel burdened anymore, I feel enlightened.

I guess I have rambled on for a bit but hey – it’s my website - so ramble away Bobby D. Check back on Saturday for the remainder of the west coast swing blog and a preview of Wrigley Field. So for now this is so long and good bye from Columbus, OH where living life on the balance beam will sometimes lead to a flight out west but your mind and desire is for it to land on the landing strip at O'Hare. It’s all great though – especially when you plan on being on the beam until you are 92ish!

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