May 2010 Blogs 05/01/2010
Friday, May 28, 2010 Bobby D's Blog - The "Where's Bob?" Team So I do not know who is happier these days – the smarter than Bob 4th graders being one week away from summer break, their teacher who also is one week away from summer break or me who just wakes up happy and energized each day. Since we have many new readers I would like to take a blog and welcome all the newbies who have joined our cause and introduce the main players of the “Where’s Bob?” team: First there are my mom and dad (Denny and Pat Hubbard) down in Lakeland, FL – they are more the behind the scenes players of the team. I look forward to my morning email from my mom, it always makes me smile and has brought back the mother – son bond. My dad is new to texting so it is funny getting texts from him – they are typed like a letter with spaces and everything. It is very endearing… …on the flip side to those texts are the ones from my niece Harley or the Hammer as she is referred to in my blogs. Harley has mastered texting and it took me awhile to break the cryptic code of her texts. The first one I had issues with was HRU. I wanted to be a cool uncle so I texted back – HRU to you to buddy. For those struggling with the code – HRU is How are you. Next up are my goddaughter (and niece) Alex (the A-Bomb) and nephew Aaron (Bubby). I am proud of both of them for what they have accomplished in their lives so far – I am not in contact with them as much as I would like to be but they both lead very busy lives and I know in a pinch we would be there for each other. My sister Kim has done a wonderful job being a single mom. Even though Kim is a NASCAR freak (what’s up with that?) and will not let Harley watch hockey if the race is on (again, what’s up with that?) I am still very proud of her and how wonderful Bubby, A-Bomb and the Hammer have turned out. Mikey and Jo are known in the blogs as Mr. and Mrs. Commish. I met Mike way back in 2004 when he interviewed for a job at Uncle Normie. We used to have this crazy interview process where a bunch of us would interview the person as a group. We were looking for an IT Geek at the time and the Commish interviewed. The process came down to 2 people and I have never told the Commish this but I voted for the other guy – thank God I was wrong - Mike turned out to be the total geek we needed, but more importantly he has become a lifelong friend – a best one at that! Next up on the brown nose blog are the wonderful people from the SADS Foundation. I met Laura Wall back in August 2009 after I had been on news in Boston for doing the Quest, not in handcuffs and a jacket over my head. Laura assisted greatly in my recovery from Shawn’s passing and has been the driving force to this year’s Quest. Laura is a very dynamic person who brings a tremendous energy and passion to what she does for a living – which is to spread awareness about SADS. I have spoken to Laura twice and both times after speaking I was so energized I was ready to go run a marathon which is cool since I am more into marathons than sprints now a day’s ;) The other main person from the SADS Foundation is Heidi or as Laura said yesterday, is the manager of the “Where’s Bob?” effort. Heidi is a self described baseball geek and a lifelong Twins fan. Every time I get an email from Heidi I can’t wait to open it up as I know it will be another great idea for our Quest. Our goal is to get one national story run about our Quest and spreading the word on SADS awareness. Recently Heidi designed a “Where’s Bob?” SADS t-shirt that we will start selling in mid June. And then there is you – our loyal supporters that send emails and messages of encouragement that have given me the strength and energy to keep this mission alive. So far you have helped raise awareness of these deadly SADS conditions as well as $3,000 for Shawn Marie’s Memorial Fund. I wish I could mention each of you on here individually but for now – Thank You!!! I think that’s about it – don’t think I forgot anyone or did I? Haha – sorry Charlie, just kidding. Last but certainly not least is Charlie our CFO (Chief Facebook Officer). Charlie has gone by many nicknames in here – the Teach, Charlie from the Blogs, Ms. Blogs and Senorita Blogs just to name a few. I always say that the more I like someone the more nicknames I seem to come up for them (wow, that cat is way gone by now). Charlie and I attended junior high and high school together back in Libertyville, IL. We have tried to remember a time when we spoke way back when but have not been able to. See, I was a big ole dork back then (pssst Bob, still are) and was afraid of cool, pretty girls like Charlie. Thanks to facebook we have reconnected. Total credit goes to Charlie for setting up our fan page on facebook (link attached to the blog below) and to date we have 175 fans on our way to 1,000 (with your help, of course). The name of the page is All 30 ballparks & a dream. I have been asked what the dream part means – it can mean anything you want it to! And then there is me – Bobby D or the face of the “Where’s Bob?” team. All you need to know about me is contained in the paragraphs above outlining all the wonderful people I am blessed to have in my life. This weekend will be the Lake Erie Memorial Day Weekend Crawl. Tomorrow I will be joined at Comerica in Detroit by very good friends Owen, Melinda & Matthew and Jeff and Sarah. On Sunday I leave the country for a bit and head to Toronto to take in the Orioles – Blue Jays game. Afterwards a drive from Toronto to Pittsburgh (with a stop at the Falls) to join Jim and Jimmy Cowan at PNC for Monday’s Cubs – Pirates game. Last weekend started the run of 18 ballparks between May 20 and July 4, all the while working a full time job and honing my marathon skills. The task looked a bit daunting to me and then the Teach popped in to save the day (like she has numerous times during the Quest). She told me to break it out in chunks and don’t look at the entirety of it - great advice as always from the Teach. Last weekend was the Hoedown Weekend, this weekend is the Lake Erie Memorial Day Weekend Crawl, next weekend will be the battle of the Beltway Ballparks and the following will be the M & M weekend. See, all chunked out. Well that about does it for today’s blog. Check back early next week for what will be part 1 of the Crawl Report. So for now this is so long and good bye where I am having a bit of a problem getting all the brown off my nose after typing up this blog. All that was missing was an apple for the teacher. And Finally – GO HAWKS!!!!! I have decided to end each and every blog from here on out with the following – “if you know of anyone who faints or has constant dizziness this could be a sign of a deadly heart condition. Please visit stopSADS.org for more information and consult your physician. The Shawn M DeVries Memorial Fund stands at $2,920 which is 29.2% of our goal. Please visit the link at the top of the page for more info and the donation link. $50 could go a long way to saving a life!”More... Posted by , 11:45 AM, Permalink Comment (1) Wednesday, May 26, 2010 Bobby D's Blog - 2010 Day 52 There is nothing that puts a damper on the day then when it starts out with a flat tire. Add to that it was 90 degrees out and a million percent humidity. That is how my Sunday in Dallas started and after driving the ½ mile on a completely flat tire to the gas station to fill it up (heck it’s a rental, drive it like you rented it) it was all uphill from there including a totally cool moment that happened at 2:39:49 central time. I had attended the Cub – Ranger game on Friday night at the Ballpark in Arlington (TBIA) which made it ballpark #8. I did not have the best of times on Friday so I am going to yada, yada, yada to Sunday at 11:30 am and was back at TBIA for ballpark 8A. My ticket for the game on Sunday allowed me access to the Cuervo Lounge in the ballpark. The only way to describe the club is take the coolest sports lounge you have ever been in, times it by 10 and that is the Cuervo Lounge. I grab a seat at the bar and order a Blue Moon. The bartender says she can’t serve me any alcohol until noon unless I have food in front of me. So I say put some bar fruit in front of me and get me a beer, please. (Insert buzzer sound) Wrong O Susie Q – bar fruit does not count as food in front of you says the ever increasingly annoyed bartender. So I grab the menu and see fruit salad is on the menu and for a second that was what I was going to order, you know, just out of spite. I order BBQ pulled pork (no Kevin, not anywhere close as good as yours) and the food finally arrives at 11:55 with my beer!!! Time to digress with a politically religious rant here and if you have been a regular reader of my blogs you know I never broach the 3 things you never should talk about – politics, religion and that other thing we can’t remember. Why is it that Sunday liquor laws in America are basically still around? Does that not violate the separation of Church and State? And it’s just not Texas which is noon, West Virginia is 1 pm unless the NASCAR race starts earlier, Georgia is 1 pm as well and no hard liquor can be sold. I don’t get it but you know who does? Those live free or die New Hampshireites, Hampshireinians, Hampshirerererers (teach, fire up them smarter than Bob 4th graders). There is no restriction on the purchasing of alcohol in the good ole Live Free or Die state, heck they have state liquor stores right on the interstate. And people wonder why I loved living in New Hampshire so much, well that and the hot tub in the back yard. End of digression. Sorry about that but as you can tell I am very passionate about my beer drinking. I met a bunch of wonderful people at the bar and was now game time. My seat was in the club section directly behind home plate – so much so that the umpire was in my way from seeing home plate. The section only has 4 rows, the most leg room I have ever had in a ballpark (I could stretch my legs out all the way and being 6’5” that is quite a ways) and also had waitress service. I have died and gone to ballpark heaven. I was having a great time; the people sitting around me were great and the only thing I would have changed is that I was directly in the sun and was getting baked. Of course I forgot sunscreen and must have got a bit toasted as a few people in the airport later that day pointed out. My section was right in front of the broadcaster’s booth and when walking to the rest room you walk right under the broadcasters. Now me being 6’5” I was no more than 3 to 4 feet away from Bob Brenly who is the color man for the Cubs broadcast on WGN. After finishing up in the rest room I was heading back to my seat and had an idea. Why not shout something out as I walked under Brenly. I sent Charlie a text and said turn on the Cub game and turn up the volume. As I walked under Brenly I shouted out “hey Charlie from the Blogs”. About a minute or so later Charlie sent a text saying she heard it and has the game recorded. This was in the top of the 6th right after Brenly was talking about how hot it was and felt like a sauna then a pause and then “hey Charlie from the Blogs”. Maybe it’s just me – but that was way cool. Being all the way down in the heart of Texas and sending a shout out to a friend up in Northern Illinois is way cool in my book and it all happened at 2:39:43 pm. I wasn’t able to stay for the full game – I had a flight to catch back to Columbus. The Cubs won the game as well as the series taking 2 out of 3 in Texas. Hopefully this is a sign of good things to come for the Cubs. I was in the terminal waiting for my flight and at 4:50 I get a text from Charlie that said SCORE!!!!! The Blackhawks had taken the lead in game 4 of the Western Conference Finals with about 5 minutes to go. I scramble to find a bar with a TV to watch the end of the game and crowning of the NEW WESTERN CONFERENCE CHAMPION – Your Chicago Blackhawks. I have been a Hawk fan since 1973 when I went to my first game. My hero’s were (and still are) Stan Mikita, Bobby Hull, Keith Magneson and Tony O. I have followed the Hawks thru the lean years and to watch them celebrate the conference championship in the Madhouse on Madison 2 was great. For fear of a jinx I will leave it at that. Good luck to the Hawks in the finals and no matter what happens – this has been a great year to be a Hawk fan!!!! That about wraps up the epic weekend from Texas – I would like to thank all the new friends I made this past weekend and I look forward to continuing the friendship we have started. I also want to thank the people who were not so nice – you have helped me greatly appreciate all the wonderful people who I am fortunate to call friend. Next up is the Lake Erie Memorial Day Weekend Crawl – Detroit (Comerica) on Saturday, Toronto (Rogers Centre) on Sunday and Pittsburgh (PNC) on Monday. So for now this is so long and good bye and watch out hockey fans because - Here Come the Hawks, the Mighty Mighty Blackhawks!!!! I have decided to end each and every blog from here on out with the following – “if you know of anyone who faints or has constant dizziness this could be a sign of a deadly heart condition. Please visit stopSADS.org for more information and consult your physician. The Shawn M DeVries Memorial Fund stands at $2,780 which is 27.8% of our goal. Please visit the link at the top of the page for more info and the donation link. $50 could go a long way to saving a life!” Posted by , 12:58 PM, Permalink Comment (0) Monday, May 24, 2010 Bobby D's Blog - 2010 Day 50 In the short history of my blogs I have never said I am sorry for anything I have written but there is a first for everything – I apologize to the city of Dallas and state of Texas for my negative blog the other day. I ended up having an epic weekend that all started with Charlie smacking some sense into me around 1 am on Saturday morning – then she fell asleep while on the phone. Yes my monotone, boring, story telling voice can do that to people. Yes I know – my blogs have that effect as well. I was able to catch 3 ballgames at 2 parks over the weekend in Texas and I will start in Houston (ballpark #9) or the day that launched the epic weekend. The drive from Dallas to Houston is 262 miles thru the very beautiful and scenic Texas landscape (really taking this positive thing a bit too far there Bob). The drive was fun and at one point I decide why not get the Camry up to 100 mph and figured if I got pulled over I could say to the cop – hey it’s a Toyota, stuck something or other. Plus Charlie had regained consciousness and gave me a call – I know, it’s not safe to talk on the phone and drive 100 mph, but have you ever been driving in south Texas? There is a whole lot of nothing down there. As for the ballpark and game I can’t tell you much but I can tell you all about Patrick Gannon – a new lifelong friend I met at Minute Maid Park. I had gotten to Minute Maid 2 hours prior to game time – did the Bob thing walking around the ballpark and taking in all there is to see. I was in one the many team stores in the park when I heard – at the wrong ballpark aren’t you? I knew this was going to come up because the Cubs were playing in Dallas and I was in Houston wearing Cubs stuff. Turns out it was Patrick – we talked for a minute or 2 and off I went but not the end of the story – this story is being told in a very non-monotone voice BTW. My seat for the game was about 18 rows behind the Rays on deck circle. After watching batting practice from my seat I was parched and needed to do that deparching thing with a beer. As I was walking up the aisle there was Patrick sitting about 6 rows behind me. We talked about what my “Every Park” shirt meant and after talking for about 5 minutes Patrick mentioned that the 3 seats next to him were empty – his friends who were supposed to be with him decided not to go to the game. He asked if I would join him for the game and I happily obliged. It turns out Patrick is a lifelong Chicagoan who recently moved to Houston for work. His wife and 4 kids are still back in Chicago awaiting the sale of their home so they can join him here in Texas. During the night as Patrick spoke of his family you could see the look of a proud husband and father on his face. Patrick is also on the right side of a Chicago fan – yes a Cub fan. We both are from the north burbs of Chicago so we had much in common. I was having such a great time I didn’t want the game to end and was rooting for extra innings – like the 15 inning marathon I saw last summer at Yankee Stadium. But the Rays won 4 to 2 in a little under 3 hours. I had the 262 mile drive back to Dallas so we said our good-byes and promised to keep in touch. And Patrick kept the promise and sent me an email when he got home from the game. A lifelong friendship has been born. As with most folks from the Chicago area – Patrick’s family is Irish Catholic and are die hard Notre Dame fans as are us Dutch/Polish Presbyterians (wow I spelled that correctly, the smarter than Bob 4th graders would be so proud). Patrick is one of 9 kids and his father, who loved Notre Dame, would say to his kids “I will not tell you what college to go to, that is your decision, but I will tell you what time the train leaves for South Bend”. I think I got that right – Patrick feel free to set me straight in the comment section of the blog. As for Minute Maid Park – or the Juice Box as it is called – I had a great time. Last season I referred to the ballpark as a giant Whiffle ball field and I still feel that way. But you know what – I loved playing Whiffle ball as a kid. The people in Houston are uber-friendly and I thank them for making Saturday part 1 of the epic weekend. On the ride home something strange happened. Charlie from the Blogs was at the REO Speedbuggy concert in Illinois. My favorite song of theirs is ‘Roll with the Changes’. When Ms Blogs was smacking sense into me before falling asleep on the phone – she told me to roll with the changes. I had my iPad ;) plugged into the car radio and had it on shuffle. I have well over 1,000 songs on it. Roll with the Changes started playing on my iPad ;) and I was getting ready to text Senorita Blogs to see if by chance REO was playing that song at the concert. Before I could type anything a text came from her saying they were playing Roll with the Changes. Hmmmmmm……… I guess that about does it for part of the epic weekend in Texas. Check back in a few days for part 2 of all the fun happenings from the Ballpark in Arlington and yes, there were fun times and that was not typed thumb in pocket – you know, like tongue in cheek only since I am typing it can’t be tongue in cheek. I guess if you need to explain it, it ain’t that funny. I usually end the blogs with an attempt at a witty line but today after hearing the news of the passing of former MLB pitcher Jose Lima at the age of 37 of cardiac arrest, I just do not have it in me. After the news was released my email was flooded with people asking if this was SADS related. We will not know for weeks if it was. But the thing that struck me is that the people who wrote me all did not know what SADS was until meeting me and hearing my story. I too, thought the same thing when I read the story about Mr. Lima. I guess that awareness thing is starting to work, at least a little bit. I have decided to end each and every blog from here on out with the following – “if you know of anyone who faints or has constant dizziness this could be a sign of a deadly heart condition. Please visit stopSADS.org for more information and consult your physician. The Shawn M DeVries Memorial Fund stands at $2,760 which is 27.6% of our goal. Please visit the link at the top of the page for more info and the donation link. $50 could go a long way to saving a life!” Posted by , 2:49 PM, Permalink Comment (2) New Facebook Fan Page!!! Thanks to Charlie from the Blogs for setting up our fan page on Facebook. To join the club just click the more button at the bottom of the blog and the link will pop up or click the facebook banner at the top center of this page and it will take you to our fan page. Our goal is 1,000 fans so join up and pass it along!!!More... Posted by , 8:22 AM, Permalink Comment (0) Saturday, May 22, 2010 Bobby D's Blog - 2010 Day 48 The following are the nice things I have to say about my visit on May 21, 2010 to Ballpark #8 – Rangers Ballpark: A 24 ounce beer was only $8.75 and was very cold The End Hehe – just kidding (sort of). I will be typing up a 2 part blog (this does not count as part 1 – well it might if I don’t get 2 blogs worth of cool stuff from Texas) from the hoedown weekend here in Texas. Last night I did get to Rangers Ballpark and saw the Rangers beat the hitless wonders (the Cubs) 2 to 1. I will be on the road soon for a 262 mile drive to Houston – see the Rays play the Astros and then after the game another 262 mile drive back to Dallas. And don’t ask why because the story will put you to sleep – right Charlie from the Blogs ;) This will be one of the shorter blogs for me and one that is my 88th blog on my way to the celebrity packed 100th blog coming to a computer screen near you sometime in June. So for now this is so long and good bye from Irving, TX where here in Texas it is good baseball to have your cleanup hitter (Josh Hamilton) lay down a bunt with nobody out, bottom of the 4th, runner on second and your team is only behind 1 – 0. No that’s great baseball – if you are a Cub Fan - says me to the old fart sitting next to me last night (no not Nolan Ryan – though he sure has aged). Ugh!!!!!! Don’t get me started. Calgon – take me awaaaaayyyyyyy. Charlie…Charlie…Charlie….WAKE UP!!!!!!! I have decided to end each and every blog from here on out with the following – “if you know of anyone who faints or has constant dizziness this could be a sign of a deadly heart condition. Please visit stopSADS.org for more information and consult your physician. The Shawn M DeVries Memorial Fund stands at $2,650 which is 26.5% of our goal. Please visit the link at the top of the page for more info and the donation link. $50 could go a long way to saving a life!” Posted by , 9:53 AM, Permalink Comment (0) Wednesday, May 19, 2010 Bobby D's Blog - 2010 Day 45 I do not know if I love Yankee Stadium or hate it. This past Saturday was my Yankee Stadium game (ballpark #7) and even after being there for the 5th time since it opened last season – I still do not know if I love it or hate it. So the following will be like plucking a daisy petal – I love it, I love it not. • I Love it – it is Yankee Stadium. There is energy like no other ballpark including Wrigley. The vendors are louder, the fans more intelligent, the life around the park infectious that it makes going to Yankee Stadium a treat. • I Love it Not – It is Yankee Stadium – a huge monolith of a ballpark that has the charm of a tick turd. Everything is over the top from the huge scoreboard, to the overly obnoxious fans who keep throwing the 27 World Championships in your face, to the overpriced food, beer and tickets that makes going to Yankee Stadium a bankrupting ordeal. • I Love it – it’s in the Bronx. The ballpark is still part of the city – not out in a meadow somewhere. There are great bars around the ballpark, street vendors selling everything and anything and ticket hawks that you can get into a nice debate over the ticket you are trying to “obtain” from them. And there is Vinny Bagadonuts and the wanna be next cast of Jersey Shore – just listening to them tawk with the New Yawk accent is so much fun. “Yo Ant-knee, get me a dawg with Guldens – hold the kraut”. • I Love it Not – it’s in the Bronx. Getting there is not fun. From the Jersey side you have to take the GWB (George Washington Bridge) which is 8 bucks and usually a 45 minute wait to get over it. You can take the subway which is never fun being on a crowded subway car with Vinny Bagadonuts and the rest of the wanna be’s. Parking is $23 minimum and the traffic leaving is either getting on the Deegan and an hour wait to get over the GWB or cut thru Harlem onto the Harlem River Drive and then over the GWB. Please note – HARLEM. • I Love it – The Yankees play there. How can it not be exciting to see Derek Jeter, A-Rod, Hip Hip Jorge, Tex and Mariano Rivera! To be able to see the top players on an every game basis makes each trip special • I Love it Not – The Yankees play there. Their payroll is over $200 million which is $50 million more than the closest team. The Yankees need a pitcher – they go out and pay for the best one or two available in the free agent market. To be able to pay for whatever gap you need to fill on your roster makes watching the Yankees nauseating. • I Love it – There is so much to see and do at Yankee Stadium. There is the Yankee Museum on the club level, Monument Park out in center field which is a must see, the Grand Hall with signage of the more meaningful players in Yankee history. All cool stuff that you need to get to the ballpark 2 hours before game time to take it all in. • I Love it Not – There is so much to see and do that you have to get there 2 hours before game time and still can’t see it all. Mainly because the line for Monument Park is so long that it takes 45 minutes just to get into it. The Yankee Museum is on the club level and unless you have club level tickets you are not getting into the Yankee Museum. • I Love it – The traditions of the ballpark are all very cool. It starts in the first inning with the Yankee Roll call. The bleacher creatures in right field chant each Yankee player until he acknowledges the fans. Then in the 6th inning the grounds crew as they are dragging the field lead the crowd in doing the YMCA dance. The 7th inning has each and every game the playing of “God Bless America” and if you are lucky you may just get to see and hear Ronan Tynan sing it live. If the Yankees are leading in the 9th in comes the greatest closer in the history of baseball, Mariano Rivera. He enters the game to Metallica's Enter Sandman – just hearing the opening cord of the song sends Yankee Stadium into a Wild Thing frenzy only seen in the movies. • I Love it Not – I have nothing here, all out of petals – the traditions are all very cool which might just tip the scales for me to loving Yankee Stadium – not hating it. Like I said – just might. This was a special day for me at Yankee Stadium that had a bit more meaning than just another ballgame at a ballpark. Along the way I want to honor my past while embracing my future and in a cool way – this past Saturday I was able to do both. Because of the significance of this day to me I didn’t do the normal “Bob” thing at the park. The “Bob” thing is going out of my way to meet people – share stories and make friends. On this day I let the people come to me and share in their stories. I met Rick at the Tommy Bahama Bar who told me that not too long ago he suffered a heart attack but was fortunate to still be alive. His take on life “I am blessed for being on this side of the dirt each and every day” said perfectly as only a New Yorker could say. I met David from the North side of Chicago proudly wearing his Chicago Blackhawk hat. We did the secret Chicago handshake, toasted the Hawks and Cubs and promised to stay in touch. Yesterday on facebook I got a friend request from David – seems we will do more than just stay in touch. I have put together a video of photos I took at Yankee Stadium. The link is attached to the blog – just click on the “more” button just below the blog and up pops the link. Hope you enjoy it. I will wrap it up here by thanking all the wonderful people who went out of their way yesterday to wish me a happy birthday. It turned out to be a wonderful day that started perfectly at 12:00 am and ended perfectly at 11:59 pm and everything else in between totally enhanced the day. Next up will be ballparks #8 and #9 this weekend in Texas for the Hoedown weekend. Friday and Sunday at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington where I will see my beloved Chicago Cubs take on the Rangers and Saturday in Houston at Minute Maid to see the Rays against the Astros. So for now this is so long and good bye where after 9 hours of sleep over the past 2 days I am surprisingly energized – funny how a 41 word email can do just that. I have decided to end each and every blog from here on out with the following – “if you know of anyone who faints or has constant dizziness this could be a sign of a deadly heart condition. Please visit stopSADS.org for more information and consult your physician. The Shawn M DeVries Memorial Fund stands at $2,650 which is 26.5% of our goal. Please visit the link at the top of the page for more info and the donation link. $50 could go a long way to saving a life!”More... Posted by , 11:42 AM, Permalink Comment (0) Monday, May 17, 2010 Bobby D's Blog - 2010 Day 43 Since I do not want to break the promise I made about a week ago to have 3 blogs from Cincy – here is part 3. In part 1, I had some good German food and more importantly German beer and met a wonderful new friend JT. Part 2 saw the Cubs lose big time, found someone to protect me in a street fight and chose great beer over amazing “wings”. If you missed either of these blogs just scroll down and there they are for your reading or insomnia curing pleasure. Day 3 of the Cincy experiment –the last 2 weekends were kind of an experiment for me to see which I liked better – Cincy or Cleveland since I now basically live 2 hours from each. Since both have football and baseball teams that tickets are easily obtained I wanted to know which I enjoyed better and would visit more frequently. I will give the results of the experiment at the end of the blog – you know, to build up suspense (if there really is any at this point). For the games on Friday and Saturday I got to the ballpark just before game time after meeting new friends and having a beer or 3. For Sunday’s game I wanted to be at the ballpark early – take some pictures and get Dusty’s autograph. What I didn’t count on was meeting a wonderful family from Decatur, IL who took the term “lifelong Cub fans” to a whole new level and who I had so much more in common with than being diehard Cub fans. The main entrance of the Great American Ballpark is one that you have to see. They have statues of famous Reds players, the Reds Museum and a 2 story Reds merchandise store. It is a cool place to hang out before the gates open as people congregate and you are sure to meet a friend or 2 if you keep your head up and take in your surroundings. I was taking photos of the statues by the main entrance when I noticed a little boy holding a sign that said “My First Cubs Game”. I asked the father if I could get a picture and he said that it wasn’t the little boys first game but their daughter whose name is Addison Anne Clark. Now for you Cubs fans I will pause here to see if you get how cool that name is…theme from Jeopardy…. time up. We will now to go 26 time returning Jeopardy champion Bobby D for his answer. Thank you Alex – I have “What is the corner that Wrigley Field is located?” You are correct Bobby D – Wrigley Field is located on the corner of Addison and Clark. Sorry for the digression but that last paragraph did make me giggle ;). Addison is 3 years old and was making her first trip to a ballgame. I talked with the Clark family for over 20 minutes. During the course of our conversation the topic of the SADS Foundation came up – there was silence for a bit and then they told me that Cardiomyopathy was hereditary in their family and 3 of the family members who were at the game had been diagnosed. Cardiomyopathy is a heart muscle disease that can lead to arrhythmia or sudden cardiac death or both. I was blown away by this. Here I am working with the SADS Foundation and I meet a family who are living with a condition that mirrors that of a SADS condition. The Clark family was wonderful, fun to talk to and have a great outlook on life and a great sense of purpose. The picture attached to the blog is father and daughter and is the most adorable photo I have ever taken. Just click on the photo for a larger view. I was on a tremendous high after meeting the Clark family which only increased a few moments later. The night before Reds’ manager Dusty Baker and I had a nice chat before the game. My seat for the Sunday game was the same as the night before – first row behind the Reds’ dugout. I had bought an official MLB baseball in hopes Dusty would sign it for me. The Reds were taking batting practice and as they finished up Dusty was heading to the dugout. He looked up and saw me and said “my only fan in Chicago is back”. I giggled and asked if he would autograph a ball for me which he did as well as signed another 10 balls for other fans that were standing near me. While he was signing the autographs he apologized for the Reds pounding on the Cubs the night before and promised they would take it easier on us this time. He giggled and then off he went. A few cool things happened during the game – the first were that a few ushers came down to introduce themselves and said they heard what I was doing and thought it was very cool. They wanted to make sure I had a wonderful time at the ballpark – which I did. The 2nd cool thing was that I got to do one of those scoreboard interviews with the stadium host. I talked about the Quest and working with the wonderful folks from the SADS Foundation. What a cool way to get the message out and I thank the Reds for allowing me the few minutes to not look like a dork (too much) on the scoreboard. The Reds did take it a bit easier on the Cubs – only beating us 5 to 3. I stayed for the end of the game and as the Reds were coming off the field Dusty looked up and smiled and said “hope you had fun and see you back here soon”. Classy guy that Dusty Baker and after the 3 games in Cincy I am now rooting for them to win the division – well only if the Cubs don’t win it. As for the results of the experiment – Cincy has won. I thought going into this that Cleveland would win – can’t say why, just thought it would. But Cincy with its cool location on the river, great entertainment choices and my newest best friend, Dusty Baker – Cincy has won. I guess that about wraps up 3 blogs from Cincy. I am now 1 ballpark blog behind telling of my exploits at Yankee Stadium this past weekend. I also made it to Game 6 of the Celtic – Cavs series (or as it could be called – the night basketball died in Cleveland) at the TD Garden, so I probably have a blogged started in my head on that game somewhere up there. Seven ballparks have now been Quested and this upcoming weekend 2 more will fall in the Texas Hoedown Weekend – Friday and Sunday at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington and Saturday Minute Maid Park in Houston. So for now this is so long and good bye and I hope this blog made you giggle a bit – I know it did me. How about you teach? GOL’ing are ya? One last thing – May 18th is my birthday and my only birthday wish this year has to do with the following… I have decided to end each and every blog from here on out with the following – “if you know of anyone who faints or has constant dizziness this could be a sign of a deadly heart condition. Please visit stopSADS.org for more information and consult your physician. The Shawn M DeVries Memorial Fund stands at $2,375 which is 23.75% of our goal. Please visit the link at the top of the page for more info and donation information. Remember $50 could go a long way to saving a life!” Posted by , 2:31 PM, Permalink Comment (2) Friday, May 14, 2010 Bobby D's Blog - 2010 Day 40 The last we spoke – well really I typed and you read – I had just seen the Cubs smack around the Reds, saw history and met a ballpark chaser who I now consider a lifelong friend which is all documented in the blog just below this one. Day 2 of the 3 day Cincy weekend started with a decision – a decision to go left or right. Across the river from Cincy is Newport, KY and is home to some really good bars and restaurants. The day before while hanging out with JT he told me of this place called the Beer Sellar. It is on the river – literally on a dock on the river – and is right next to Hooters. JT mentioned that they have a riverboat that takes you from the bar right to the base of the ballpark. Sounds like a plan now only do I go left (Beer Sellar) for really great beer or right (Hooters) for really great…ummm….wings. So which way did I go? Contrary to the belief of my friends Andy and Kathy – I went left. The Beer Sellar is a really cool place with 60 beers on tap and another 120 in bottles. They have Bud and Miller Light for the wimps but for us hard core beer drinkers they have so many wonderful selections. There was only 1 seat available at the bar so I grabbed it and that’s where I met JP who had come down from Chicago for the weekend to see the Cubs. The funny thing is that JP lives about 2 blocks from Wrigley Field. We had a good time talking about stuff – JP told me he had spent a year in Japan as an English tutor and is now an elementary school teacher and basketball coach on the north side of Chicago. JP is a very engaging person who I can tell does an amazing job shaping the young minds of Chicago like so many of the wonderful underappreciated and under paid teachers in America ;). We took the water taxi to the ballpark and then agreed that this summer when I am at Wrigley we will meet up again and down some more really good beers but we agreed that our first beer inside Wrigley has to be an Old Style – if not, the Cubs will lose. My seats for the Saturday game as well as the Sunday game were first row behind the Reds dugout. Last season at Great American Ballpark I had a similar seat only I was right next to the Cub dugout. I love the bullet format so here are my impressions from sitting that close to the action: • Dusty Baker is a class act. He signed autographs for any and all fans who wanted one. He even signed a few during the game. I know the naysayers out there say he should focus on managing and not signing autographs but here is my take – the baseball season is 162 games with each game averaging 3 hours. Add to that time before and after the game – so if signing an autograph or 2 makes this a bit more enjoyable for Dusty, then sign away. • Dusty made a comment to me on how a Cub fan got such a good seat behind the Reds dugout. I said because I am still a Dusty Baker fan and wish the Cubs never got rid of you as their manager. He laughed and said – “you are the only one”. • The Reds have chemistry and the Cubs do not. Hard to explain but you can see the Reds truly enjoy playing as a team. They support each other and have the “it” factor that separates a team from the others during a long season. • Not sure if the Reds can keep up their current pace – might not have the pitching staff to go a full season but they can hit and field. I would not be surprised at all if they are in contention come September. • If I am ever in a street fight – I want the Reds Johnny Gomes on my side. He looks like he rides his Harley to the ballpark. • In the 7th when Dusty took Aaron Harang out of the game I stood and applauded him as he came off the field. Even though I am a Cubs fan I do appreciate a well pitched game and Harang had done just that. Since I was 1st row behind the dugout there I was on TV cheering the Reds pitcher. My phone went crazy with text messages call me a traitor amongst other things. • The Reds won big 14-2. I stayed to the end of the game because with seats this good you stay until they kick you out of the ballpark. I guess that about does it with part 2 of the 3 parter from Cincy. Check back in a day or so for stories of a little girl with the coolest name ever, Dusty autographing a ball for me and the coolest gift I have received to date along the Quest – well 2nd coolest, Sara and Jeff’s hockey stick will always be the coolest. So for now this is so long and good bye where this weekend will be Yankee Stadium, ballpark #7 and a day to remember a truly special anniversary. I have decided to end each and every blog from here on out with the following – “if you know of anyone who faints or has constant dizziness this could be a sign of a deadly heart condition. Please visit stopSADS.org for more information and consult your physician. The Shawn M DeVries Memorial Fund stands at $2,250 which is 22.5% of our goal. Please visit the link at the top of the page for more info and donation information. Remember $50 could go a long way to saving a life!” Posted by , 11:27 AM, Permalink Comment (0) Monday, May 10, 2010 Bobby D's Blog - 2010 Day 36 So last week I finally spoke with Laura from the SADS Foundation. We have emailed each other and facebooked for months – TEACH (I have my hand raised really high) what is the term for corresponding on facebook? For now I will go with facebooked until the smarter than Bob 4th graders set me straight. Laura is a dynamic person who has so many wonderful ideas on how to get the word out about SADS awareness. One of those wonderful ideas is to set me up with a new website linked to stopSADS.org that has the working title of “Where’s Bob?” All very cool and then Laura threw out this little nugget – “so Bob, are you going to do this again next year?” We are only now 6 games into this year’s Quest and I am already thinking of next season. I will think about it…and to build suspense I won’t tell of my decision as I am looking for ESPN to cover the announcement live on SportsCenter. So this past weekend was the big Quest weekend in Cincinnati and ballpark #6. I didn’t have Cincy planned on the original schedule (was just going to play it by ear) but now since I am a proud Ohioan I had the opportunity to catch all 3 games of the Cubs – Reds series at the Great American Ballpark. So this blog will serve as part 1 of 3. Yes 3 whole blogs about Cincy. I had such a great time and met so many wonderful people that it will take 3 blogs to cover it all. Back in February I had gotten an email from JT Horsfall who is a ballpark chaser like me. He had told me he has been dreaming of doing all 30 in one season and someday will fulfill the dream. JT is also a Cubs fan so we decided that this summer we would do a Cub – Reds game. Well that day was this past Friday night. JT being from the area knew of all the good bars to do pregame “warm-ups” and the place he chose of us was the Hofbrauhaus in Newport, KY right across the river from the ballpark. German food and more importantly German beer were the perfect way to start the night. JT is a wonderful guy – heck he is a Cub fan would we expect anything less – and had great stories of games he had been to in his life. We talked sports, life, family, church – you name it we talked it over a few really good German beers and awesome food. JT also told me about how he met his wife Beth and he said the first time he saw her he thought to himself all I want to do is hold that girl’s hand. He also said “sounds corny, right”. No JT – not corny at all but all too sweet. JT told me that he has put together a map of the US with driving distance between the ballparks. He also for fun has put together a schedule of how to get to all 6 northeast ballparks in 6 days – as JT said, 3 different times during this season you can do that. JT also works in a profession that has him working 7 days then off 7 days. I would say JT has moved from the dreamer stage to the planner stage of getting to all 30 ballparks in one season. After our German food and beer we decided to walk the mile to the ballpark. It was kind of warm and very humid so luckily our section was not too crowded and I could sit just a bit away from people. Our seats were in the upper deck just to the 3rd base side of home. What a great view from up there. I actually like sitting in the upper deck to get the view. The Cubs trounced the Reds 14 to 7 and JT and I were lucky to witness history on this night. The Cubs had called up 20 year old rookie sensation Starlin Castro to take over at shortstop. In Castro’s first MLB at bat he hit a shot to right for a 3 run home run. A few pitches before he hit the HR, I said to JT how cool would it be if Castro hit a home run. Now I am thinking how cool would it be if I hit the lottery! Castro’s 2nd at bat he lined a shot to center that was caught on a sliding catch. Castro’s third at bat he came up with the bases loaded and all of us Cub Fans were thinking one thing – “grand salami baby”. Well Castro hit a gapper into left center that cleared the bases and he ended up with a triple. The first thing that popped into my head was that Castro would have at least 2 more at bats to go for the cycle since the 2 hardest parts were accomplished and then the next was 6 RBI’s – I wonder what the record for RBI’s in a MLB debut were? We ended up leaving the game in the 8th as we had the walk back to Kentucky to get our cars. That sounds much cooler than saying the 1 mile walk to our cars. As we were crossing the bridge to Kentucky JT told me that on the other side is a great view of the ballpark all lit up with the city in the background – I have attached that picture to the blog, just click on the picture for a larger view. As we were saying our good-byes I knew this will not be the last time I get to a ballgame with JT, I have a feeling there are many more games and beers to be had. Saturday morning I am watching SportsCenter and lo and behold the answer to my RBI question was answered. Seems the old record was 5 RBI’s but it is now 6 and JT and I were there to see it. The record itself is pretty meaningless unless Castro becomes a superstar which us Cub fans are all counting on, but we saw history. When you go to a sporting event you want to see history and you hardly ever do. But on Friday May 7, 2010 – JT and I saw the most RBI’s by a player in his MLB debut. Just for the record – that is most ever in the history of the game since RBI’s became an official stat in the 1920’s. For this stat loving geek – that is way cool. Too bad I don’t do the book anymore ;). I am going to finish with a most touching story. JT was telling me all about his best friend JZ. They grew up together, were the bestest of friends and had promised each other that no matter where they live in their lives their kids will be best friends. JZ was killed in an auto accident 6 months before JT and Beth’s wedding. For the wedding there were 7 bridesmaids and 6 groomsmen with one spot being left “open” for all the pictures. JT keeps in touch with JZ’s widow as only the bestest of friend would do. I know all too well of a friend like this and luckily I have a few of them. I guess that about wraps up part 1 of the 3 parter from Cincy. So for now this is so long and good bye where after meeting JT and all the wonderful people of Cincy you will hear about in the next 2 blogs I am ready to make the announcement regarding next season. I have decided to…….to be continued. I have decided to end each and every blog from here on out with the following – “if you know of anyone who faints or has constant dizziness this could be a sign of a deadly heart condition. Please visit stopSADS.org for more information and consult your physician. The Shawn M DeVries Memorial Fund stands at $2,150 which is 21.5% of our goal. Please visit the link at the top of the page for more info and donation information. Remember $25 could go a long way to saving a life!” Posted by , 2:16 PM, Permalink Comment (1) Wednesday, May 5, 2010 Bobby D's Blog - 2010 Day 31 Welcome back to part 2 of the Cleveland story. If you missed part 1 just scroll down the page and presto chango there it is. The last we chatted I had just saw the Cavs beat up on the Celtics, talked LeBron James into coming back to the Cavs next season and teased you about me being flipped the bird. So where shall we start…I guess at the beginning of the day would be about right or is it the end of the previous day when you stay up to 3 am? Does the day start at midnight if you are still awake from the day before or does the day begin when you awaken? Hmmmm….. So I awaken at 9:20 and it is a Quest day but one that calls for rain – torrential rain at that. I look out the window and it is partly sunny so that is good. Check the radar and no rain in sight. We might get this one in. I had an 11 meeting with some folks who work for the Indians – I am going to hold off talking about the meeting because it is really cool but hasn’t been firmed up yet and I don’t want to jinx it or by just mentioning it did I jinx it. After the meeting I was quite parched and noticed a bar right next to Progressive Field called the Thirsty Parrot. When I lived in Newburyport, MA I used to visit a bar there called the Thirsty Whale. I wonder if there is a bar out there somewhere called the Thirsty Pirate and if so, I need to visit to complete the Thirsty trifecta. The Thirsty Parrot is a cool bar right next to the ballpark. Drinks are very inexpensive and the food is typical bar food – not many choices but they have a ½ pound Angus burger for $6.00, add a buck for fries. While I was working on the deparching process I met Patrick who works at the Parrot. The first thing he said to me was – “huge White Sox fan, huh” in reference to my Cub shirt. Patrick is a really cool guy, had told me he was in the honor guard the night before at the Cavs game and is in the ROTC at James Carroll College in Cleveland and will join the Army upon his graduation from college next year. I enjoyed my chat with Patrick and wish him the best of luck in the future and commend him on his career choice! It was now time to stroll over to the P (Progressive Field, not the potty) and check it out. The previous night as I was walking to the Q, which is next to the P, I noticed something inside the P called Heritage Park. I had not seen this last year when I was at the P and had to check it out. Well Heritage Park is similar to Monument Park at Yankee Stadium only better. It is in the outfield concourse area and is open all game unlike Monument Park that is only open up to 1 hour prior to the game. The Indians have plaques for their Hall of Famers and on the lower level of Heritage Park is the 100 All Time Best Indians wall. This is a great, great way for the Indians to honor their Heritage and I am glad I was able to visit it this time around. The Indians have a half price special on April and May tickets so I was able to get a seat 3 rows off the field just past 1st base for $35. What a bargin – what a bargin for me (a little Eddie Murphy for you). The seats were great as the Twins were all warming up right in front of me. I couldn’t wait to get some pictures of Joe Mauer and as it turns out I will still be waiting as he was injured and didn’t play. One thing I do want to mention – after loosening up Jim Thome came over and signed autographs for all the fans that were standing near him. He posed for pictures and had a nice word for each person he met. Not only is Jim Thome a future hall of Fame player – he is a hall of fame person as well. In the 2nd inning a gentleman across the aisle asked if I was going to all the ballparks this year and this one simple question all because of my “Every Parks” Cub jersey has added another in the long line of great friends I have made during the Quest last year and now this year. John and I talked for most of the game and he is a true sports nut. As I was referencing some of the games from last season that I attended he knew each of them. The other cool thing is John is an attorney that specializes in Mergers and Acquisitions – which is what I kind of do for a living just not from the attorney side. It was nice meeting someone who I did not have to explain what I do for a living. As I was leaving we promised to keep in touch and the day after the game John kept his promise with a nice message and the story behind Moondog – the Cavaliers mascot. Here is part of John’s email: I came home last night and read your blog and website...very cool. With regards to your question about who is Moondog, it's a great name, because it's a Cleveland historical reference. Moondog is named for the Moondog Coronation Ball, otherwise recognized as the first rock and roll concert in history. It's also the basis for why we have the Hall of Fame. Alan Freed was a local DJ who coined the term "Rock and Roll" and publicized the first concert at the Cleveland Arena in the early 50's. Hope this helps. John thanks again for the nice email and straightening my out on Moondog. After reading what John had written I now have an appreciation for the name Moondog – though I am still not a mascot type of guy. Long story that if I am ever in need of a subject for a blog I will go into my bottom 10 mascot moments – sure you all can’t wait for that one. When I had met with the Indians earlier in the day they had told me to pay attention to the scoreboard after the top of the 4th. The picture attached is what was on the scoreboard – click on the photo for a larger view. This was a very cool and classy thing by the Indians and adding the stop SADS.org Foundation to the photo was as Andy F. McRae said on my facebook page regarding the photo “most excellent”. In the 6th inning that parched feeling overcame me again and off I went. As I was walking up the aisle I was stopped a few times with questions regarding my shirt and what it all meant. I handed out my Quest business card and answered their questions. All in all during the 2 days in Cleveland I handed out over 50 cards – in the first four games, maybe 40 total. I watched the 7th inning from the Bud Light Pavilion out in the right field corner of the outfield concourse. There I met Pat who works for the Indians Scoreboard crew. Pat had told me he has been with the Indians for 6 seasons and does whatever needs doing as part of the scoreboard crew. The scoreboard crew does a great job at the P – getting the fans involved with a variety of entertainment between innings. The game ended around 4 with the Twins winning the game. As I was about 10 miles outside of Cleveland driving home to Columbus I hit the torrential rain that was predicted. Seems I have someone watching over me in the weather department. In closing I really loved Progressive Field and between the beautiful ballpark and the wonderful fans it is one park that I am very happy to call my “home” ballpark since I am now living in Ohio and after this weekend meeting so many wonderful people – a proud Ohioan at that!!! I think that about wraps up Cleveland and yes Cleveland you do ROCK. The Quest moves on to Cincinnati this weekend where I will get so see my beloved Cubs take on the other “home” team for me – the Reds. So for now this is so long and good bye from Columbus, OH and I think I will keep that flipping the bird story between me and the “flipper” because it is now a better story since she has just earned a new nickname. I have decided to end each and every blog from here on out with the following – “if you know of anyone who faints or has dizziness this could be a sign of a deadly heart condition. Please visit stopSADS.org for more information and consult your physician. The Shawn M DeVries Memorial Fund stands at $2,000 which is 20% of our goal. Please visit the link at the top of the page for more info and donation information. Remember $10 could go a long way to saving a life!” Thank You!!!! Posted by , 9:23 AM, Permalink Comment (0) Monday, May 3, 2010 Bobby D's Blog - 2010 Day 29 Thank you Cleveland! So why does thanking Cleveland get its own paragraph? Because it breathed life back into the Quest similar to what Arizona did last season. Like last season – I had fun at the first 4 games but didn’t have that moment or moments that told me everything I was doing had a purpose. I could have had just as much fun playing golf or bar crawling with friends. But last season FAWTSY saved the season and this season it is O H I O. Cleveland deserves 2 blogs – so hang on Sloopy, here we go… Earlier in the week I had obtained tickets to game one of the Celtics – Cavs series in Cleveland. The game was set for Saturday which was perfect because I had been planning on going to the Twins – Indians game on Saturday. In my mind there was no way that both games would be played at the same time – no way, right? Wrong O Susie Q – the Indian game started at 7 and the Cavs game at 8 and I had tickets to both. Now I had a quandary or conundrum, both are great words and need to be used more often though conundrum is more fun to say. What do I do? Choosing the Cavs was easy – whenever you have a choice between seeing LeBron play and doing anything else (and I do mean anything) pick LeBron. I then used my Pricelining skills to get a hotel in downtown Cleveland for $40 and gave my tickets to the Indians game to a father – son who were waiting in line to buy tickets to the Indian game. The first “Pay it Forward” moment of this year’s Quest and what Bill and his son Josh (who were both dressed in full Twins apparel) did not know at the time was that the seats were 2 rows behind the Twins dugout. I hadn’t been to an NBA game since April of 1998 when I saw the Bulls (the real Bulls of Jordan, Pippen et al) play the New Jersey Swamp Dragons in game 3 of the 1st round of the NBA playoffs. Digress for a moment; wouldn’t the Swamp Dragons sell so much more stuff then the Nets? Cool name – cool logo making fun of the fact they play in an arena in the middle of a swamp. End of digression and we now move to further action in the blog (that was done in my best Lindsey Nelson). The Bulls won the game and went on to win their 6th NBA championship in 8 years and then promptly broke up the team and effectively killed my desire to go to an NBA game. Actually attending an NBA game is last in my list of sporting events to attend live. Here is my list in order of preference: 1. NHL Hockey Game 2. MLB Baseball Game 3. College Football Game on a real college campus –none of those fake campuses like Rutgers 4. NFL Football game (only if you can tailgate in the shadows of the stadium or have a suite at Gillette – hint hint) 5. College basketball game in a real college arena 6. Horse Racing 7. Golf Tournament with the a backstage pass to the hospitality tent (another big HINT HINT) 8. NASCAR – I have never been to a NASCAR race live but the allure of 200,000 drunk "spectators" seems to appeal to me 9. Minor League baseball game – or any baseball game for that matter at any level even tee ball between a bunch of kids you have no idea who they are 10. Ski Jumping – always waiting for another “agony of defeat” moment 11. Any other other sport or activity including watching those crazy McHenry, IL County bowlers 12. NBA Basketball game So after 12 years of lukecold NBA interest I decided to give the NBA a shot again and who better to persuade me to turn lukecold to lukewarm than LeBron James. Is lukecold the same as lukewarm? Kind of like glass half full/empty. My impressions of game 1 – Celtics vs. Cavs • The name Quicken Loans Arena does not have a ring to it – but its nickname the Q is very cool. • All fans entering the Q have to walk thru a metal detector – my thought, this is not your dad’s NBA anymore • The Q seats 20,562 and during the game we were constantly reminded that all 20,562 fans in attendance can and will make the difference in the outcome of the game • I have to blame the 1990’s Bulls for the over the top starting lineup intros and the Cavs have taken it to another level complete with a fire breathing scoreboard • LeBron’s pregame talcum powder thing he does is very cool and would never get old. Click on the attached picture for a larger view • EVERY time the Celtics had the ball the piped in “De-fense” chant was played over and over and over trying to get all 20,562 to chant de-fense. Back in the day – we didn’t pipe in chants and only chanted defense when we truly needed defense, not 3rd possession in a 2 – 2 game. • An NBA game live is the same as watching on TV – it doesn’t get interesting until the last 5 minutes. • The scoreboard has all the regular information with one thing I have never ever seen on a scoreboard – between the Celtics score and the Cavs score is a little box called “The Diff” and it tells you the difference in the score of the game. No need for simple subtraction here in Cleveland – either this plays to the laziness of us fans to actually do the math or we can’t • The Cavs don’t just have cheerleaders – they have a DJ, a Crump group (I have watched So You Think You Can Dance so I know what a crump group is), a dance troop, cheerleaders and a roving stadium host that is constantly telling all 20,562 of us to get loud and a mascot… • … named Moon Dog. Why Moon Dog? What is a Moon Dog? I know of a Moon Pie. Does a Moon Dog have anything to do with the Cavaliers? Was the swash buckling adventures of Cavaliers back in the day accompanied by a legendary Moon Dog? Anywho – this Moon Dog is worthless as a mascot as are most mascots. By the end of the night I was calling him Vinny – 10 points to the person who can figure out why. Click on comments below and type in your answer • LeBron James is fun to watch play – fun to watch when he is on the bench – fun to watch during warmups. You know when he enters the arena – the buzz around his entrance is amazing. Michael had this and now so does LeBron • I did not know 1 song played over the sound system and there were many songs played – seems the demographic for an NBA game is not 46 year old white guy from the burbs • But I had fun – lots of fun. Maybe it was all the stuff going on, it could have been it was a great game and all 20,562 of us really did make a difference in the game or could have been that it was a meaningful game – but bottom line, I had fun. But was it enough to halt another 12 year hiatus for me attending an NBA basketball game? The jury remains out on that one. LeBron James is a free agent after this season and since he is a regular reader of my blogs here is a note to you LeBron James – sign with the Cavaliers. The town is in uber-love with you. If you stay with the Cavs and bring them a championship or 3 you will be forever a demigod to this city. If you go to New York you will have to compete with legends past and present and right now New York is Derek Jeter’s town. If you go to Chicago we would be super duper happy, but you will never be Michael or Walter or Ernie. If you go to LA – that’s the flavor of the month city. Sure you would be flavor of the month a lot but LA is about what have you done for us lately. Stay in Cleveland – become this generations Jim Brown and have numerous schools named after you. Because I need to know every dumb fact there is to know – I have not found a link to a Moon Dog to the Cavs. There was a composer whose nickname was Moon Dog. There is an astronomical (I love spell check) event called a Moon Dog that has to do with a thin cloud cover and a full moon. Yes I cheated and oatmealed Moon Dog. Oatmealed is Bobby D speak for Google. Well that about does it for part 1 of the Cleveland story – check back in a few days for part 2 with a story of being flipped the bird 3 times driving to Cleveland and a long distance flippage via text from the cow lands of Illinois. So for now this is so long and good bye from Columbus, OH where the 20,562 in attendance made the difference in the Cavs victory on Saturday but the real difference is being made by my friends at stopSADS.org and if you are reading this then you too can make a difference in something much more important than a silly basketball game – just take a second and visit stopSADS.org for more information CommentsLeave a Reply |
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