Friday, November 13, 2009

 

Bobby D's Blog - Memories Part 2

 



So it’s Saturday again and I am watching the Irish get totally outplayed by Navy. My frustration is building so it is time to work on the pins from this past summer and blog about the first memory of the game and ballpark. Part one of the memories are just below this blog. So here goes:

May 15th – Comerica Park, Detroit – A’s vs. Tigers. I was prepared to be totally underwhelmed in Detroit because well, it is Detroit. My initial memory of Comerica is to never assume. I met so many wonderful people prior to the game who have become friends that I keep in contact with. The ballpark is amazing and one that I have ranked #2 just a smidge behind AT&T in San Fran. I had such a great time at Comerica that I have decided that I will make an annual trip there each summer to visit the many friends I made and enjoy going to such a wonderful ballpark.

May 16th – Joe Louis Arena, Detroit – Blackhawks vs. Red Wings. I know, not a ballpark but a hockey arena. This was fate day, so many things aligned perfect for me to be in Detroit to see the Hawks play the Wings in game 1 of the Western Conference Final. I don’t remember too much about the game since the Hawks lost, but my memory is meeting Jeff and Sarah who have become very close friends. I will be heading to Detroit to hang with Jeff and Sarah around New Year’s – for Jeff’s birthday I had gotten tickets for us to see the Bears play the Lions on January 3rd at Ford Field, it so happens that the Bulls are playing the Pistons in Detroit on December 31st so Jeff got us tickets to that game. This will be a great Chicago sports weekend hanging out with wonderful friends all because fate kept me in Detroit to see the Hawks.

May 20th – Mellon Arena, Pittsburgh – Hurricanes vs. Penguins. Another hockey game I know. I happened to be in Pittsburgh on business and I had a flight early on the 21st. Since game 2 of the Eastern Conference Final was being on the 20th – I figured why not see another hockey game. The memory of this game is the passion of the Penguin fans for their team. From the 17,000 people all wearing white t-shirts in the arena to the 6,000 people sitting outside of the arena watching the game on a Jumbotron. Now if only the Pirates were halfway decent some of this passion might just jump over to PNC for their games.

May 21st – Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles – Angels vs. Dodgers. This was the start of 6 games, 5 ballparks all in 6 straight days. My memory of Dodger Stadium was the forest fires that were going on in the distance. There is a helipad just past the parking lot in left field and for the whole game helicopters were landing, getting refilled with water to fight the fires and then off they went. As for the game and ballpark – not much to report. I really didn’t like Dodger Stadium mostly for the fact that depending on which level your ticket is for, that is the only place you can visit in the park - for me that meant way up in the upper deck. Being this was a rivalry game; the attendance was 56,000 making this the highest attendance of any game I attended all summer.

May 22nd & 23rd – Petco Park, San Diego – Cubs vs. Padres. I love, love, love San Diego as well as the ballpark. This ballpark along with Detroit brings back a flood of memories – from the great staff, to the Gaslamp Quarter, to the family friendly aspect to the ballpark, to meeting Andrew, Jason and Michael who I remain in contact with and you can’t complain about perfect weather. But the 2 things that I remember most was hanging at the Tilted Kilt before the game on Saturday and then Michael saying on Sunday – “that place really tilted my kilt”.

May 24th – Angel Stadium, Anaheim – White Sox vs. Angels. Memorial Day at Angel Stadium and who do I meet but a WWII veteran at the game with his family. I spent 5 innings talking with Tony, his lifelong best friend Andy, Andy’s son Joshua and their grandfather Oscar. The pride that the boys had being at the game with Oscar, especially on Memorial Day, is my number one memory of the summer. I am still in contact with the boys look forward to seeing them next summer when I am in LA on June 26th and 27th for the 2010 Quest.

May 25th – AT&T Park, San Francisco – Braves vs. Giants. I knew going into San Fran I would love this ballpark. The location right on the bay with all the cool features they added to the ballpark make it a must see. What I wanted to find out is where I would rank it and that was quickly answered as I walked around the park – Number 1. So many cool features to the ballpark but for me the coolest is the official address to the ballpark – 24 Willie Mays Drive. So much planning had to go into making that the official address and shows the thoughtfulness of the designers of the park to honor the greatest player in franchise history.

May 26th – McAfee Coliseum, Oakland – Mariners vs. A’s. This was the end to the West Coast Swing. I knew going in this was part 2 of the “Do I really have to go there?” ballparks. The game was a noon start time for a Wednesday game – the reason you ask as did I?” Well the A’s were honoring local school kids who read a certain number of books during the school year which is kind of cool and also led to 32,000 in attendance. My seat for the game was first row right next to the A’s bullpen. Since I had seen the Mariners play 3 times so far I made sure to give the A’s starting pitcher a great scouting report on the Mariners hitters. It didn’t work as Russell Branyan hit a ball that landed in Japan.

May 30th – Rangers Ballpark, Arlington – A’s vs. Rangers. There are 3 main things about this day and ballpark. The first was for the 2nd time during the Quest I was at team photo day (Comerica being the other) and was able to get on the field prior to the game to take pictures with the players. The Rangers Josh Hamilton was the best player during photo day stopping and talking to every fan. The 2nd thing is they should outlaw day games after April in Texas. It was 97 and my seat was directly in the sun – no relief at all from the heat. The 3rd and most important thing was when this game was complete I knew I would complete the Quest. This ballpark marked the 19th ballpark but more importantly I had gotten to all the ballparks west of the Mississippi all before the 2nd month of the season was complete.

June 5th – Great American Ballpark, Cincinnati – Cubs vs. Reds. This is known as the doofus game. My seat for this game was first row right next to the Cub dugout. All game long I could just stand up and peer into the Cub dugout. For me this was the coolest seat I had all season and maybe ever. The camera for the WGN feed for the game was right in front of me and in the 11th inning the camera man swung the camera towards the crowd and right on me. When WGN came out of the commercial break the camera man told us to wave at the camera. The next morning I got a text from Jeff that said “we saw you on TV” and I sent one back that said “was I waving like a doofus?” and he replied “Ummm yep”.

Ok now I am really bummed – the Irish made a nice comeback late in the game only to lose to Navy for the 2nd time in 3 years. What is up with that? I like Charlie Weis but I think it’s time to turn this ship over to a real college coach – Brian Kelly from Cincinnati come on up, you are the next contestant on “Please Make the Irish a Winner Again”.

And since I was delayed in posting this – the Bears have now been blown out by the Cardinals and lost to the Niners because Jay “Don’t Call Me Rex” Cutler threw 5, count them 5, interceptions. At least at this rate we will have a good draft position – oh wait, we traded this years and next years as well for Rex Part 2. Ok - searching for silver lining, still searching………………with the extra cap money not spent on first round picks in the next 2 years we can get some free agents to shore up the defense and O line. There – silver lining.

Well that’s it for this week’s walk down memory lane. The Irish are playing Pitt this Saturday night which I am sure will underwhelm me and give me ample time to work on my pins and another memory lane blog. So for now this is so long and good bye where I am trying to figure out was Josh Hamilton really looking into the camera for this picture.

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Tuesday, November 3, 2009

 

Bobby D's Blog - Quest Memories Part 1

 



Well it is Halloween afternoon and to be honest I am a bit down today since Halloween was always a day that Shawn and I loved. We always came up with a couples’ costume and found a great place to party. Since I am a bit down I decided to relive the past summer and arrange for display in a shadow box all the pins I bought from the ballparks. Here are the initial memories of each park as I place the pin into the display:

April 3 – 4 Yankee Stadium, Cubs vs. Yankees exhibition games My initial memory is that I knew the Cubs were going to have a bad season by the way they played in these 2 games but I told myself it’s only exhibition. They seemed out of sync and didn’t have any energy which as the season went on is exactly how it played out.

April 5th Citizen’s Bank Park, Philadelphia – Braves vs. Phillies Opening night of the baseball season, my first official game of the Quest and all that surrounds that and my initial memory is buying 2 girls a $5.00 program. This was the start of the “pay it forward” things I did at various ballparks when the opportunity struck. After I bought the program for the girls all I asked was that they think positively towards Cubs fans. A few hours later while I was going up the escalator I heard in the distance “We love Cubs fans” and it was the 2 girls.

April 6th Oriole Park at Camden Yards, Baltimore – Yankees vs. Orioles During the opening ceremonies the Orioles had a video remembrance of all of the Oriole family that had passed away during the previous season. It was a very emotional moment for Jack and me but also very fitting in what the whole Quest was about. This game will always be known as the cold front game. Prior to the game a cold front had gone thru Baltimore and the temp went from 70 to 50 in about 5 minutes. I sent the Commish a text saying how cold it got and he sent one back that said “Hence the term Cold Front”.

April 11th Kaufmann Stadium, Kansas City – Yankees vs. Royals The officially start of the Quest in my mind. I was sitting in front of the ballpark waiting for the gates to open and I sent a text to the Commish that said “I can’t believe I am here”. It hit me sitting there that I am really going to do all 30 ballparks or at least give it all I got. This was the first of many awesome seats games as my seat was 2nd row behind the Royal on deck circle. I bought this seat on royals.com for $50.

April 12th Busch Stadium, St. Louis – Astros vs. Cardinals This is the day I almost quit the Quest. I didn’t have fun in Kansas City and I knew going into St. Louis wearing Cub stuff would get me some grief. My first memory was some kid no older than 12 with his family screaming at me to leave as I was not welcome at Busch Stadium. It took every ounce of patience to just smile and walk away. The rest of day was ok, but again I was not having fun.

April 13th Chase Field, Phoenix – Cardinals vs. Diamondbacks The day that saved the Quest. Everyone at Chase Field that I met that day was so nice and friendly. The staff at Chase is 1st rate and greets you with a genuine smile. I met so many nice fans as I walked around the ballpark who took an interest in the Quest. I can honestly say that if I had a bad experience at Chase I wouldn’t have gone on. So thanks to the D’backs and their wonderful staff and fans.

April 19th PNC Park, Pittsburgh – Braves vs. Pirates One of my best friends Cousin Jim Cowan was able to get us tickets from his real cousin Joe who is the stadium host at PNC. Two memories stand out - as Jim and I were walking around the ballpark I met a father and son whose last name is DeVries (my last name for those who don’t know) we talked to them for a bit and got the obligatory photos. Then a few minutes later some guy stopped us after seeing my “All 30 Parks” shirt and asked how many I have been to so far. I was proud of the fact that in the first 14 days of the baseball season I had been to 6 ballparks – his response was “just getting started – huh”. Jim and I looked at each other and just burst out laughing. For the rest of the game we did our best doofus voice saying “just getting started – huh”. Well to be honest every time I see Jim we do our doofus impersonation but for Jim it’s easier since he lives in Doofusville, PA. As a side note – Joe you are by far the best stadium host in the “Bigs” and I’m not just saying that to get free tickets for next year’s PNC Quest game.

April 24th & 25th Coors Field, Denver – Dodgers vs. Rockies Coors field was the first ballpark that I created a posse by standing in the open concourse near the infield box seats. Actually I had bought a $4.00 Rock Pile seat for the game but decided to walk around and take in the park. I stood for an inning near the infield boxes and because my “All 30 Parks” shirt drew attention within minutes I had a group of 5 people standing and talking baseball. During the course of the game I met over 20 people and had a wonderful time hanging out. Two side notes for Denver – the first is they don’t sell Coors beer at Coors field or if they do I couldn’t find it, only Bud. The 2nd is Denver has wonderful fans – the 2 nights that I was at Coors they had over 30,000 fans that stayed for the entire game in 40 degree rainy weather.

May 1st – Safeco Field, Seattle – A’s vs. Mariners Of all the wonderful things there are to do in Seattle, from the nice people, to the Space Needle and the views, to the great brew pubs, to the amazing seafood – my first memory of Seattle is the Putz. The Circus Boy and I were sitting in the Club section and we had a few beers prior to the game. A few rows in front of us was a kid wearing a JJ Putz jersey. He was sitting next to his girlfriend and the Circus Boy and I were doing play by play of the Putz making the moves on his girl. Finally the Putz got a kiss and people sitting around us all started laughing from our commentary. This game will forever be known as the Putz game.

May 7th – Minute Maid Field, Houston – Cubs vs. Astros I have 2 and only 2 memories of Houston. The first is humidity – it is everywhere and you can’t escape it. Now granted I had flown in from Tucson where the humidity level was 15% so getting off the plane in Houston and it being 100% is a huge difference. But it was so humid in Houston that my sweat beads were sweating. The main memory though is this is the game I met Travis, Pedro and Joey who were the guys who did all 30 ballparks in 30 days. I spent 3 innings talking with Travis out in the left center area of Minute Maid with the Little Pumas. A few days later I would meet up with them on May 11th in Phoenix for their Chase Field game. Being apart of their journey was one of the top moments for me this summer.

May 8th – Metrodome, Minneapolis – Mariners vs. Twins This was the first of the “because I have to ballparks”. My initial memory is of what it would feel like walking into prison. The Metrodome has a fence around the outside and then you walk thru a revolving door to get in. It is all gray – just bland old gray. As I was at the game all I was thinking was I hope I have a relative who will get the blueprints of the Metrodome and tattoo them all over their body so they can break me out of this place. I look forward to next season and attending a game at the Twins new ballpark – Target Field.

May 9th – Comisky no wait US Cellular Field – oh hell – Cellisky Field, Chicago – Rangers vs. White Sox This is the only ballpark that I did not wear my Cubs jersey to. I wanted to have fun and being alone on the south side there was no way I would have fun wearing Cubs stuff. I went Chicago neutral and wore a Blackhawk jersey. This was fitting as the Hawks were playing the Canucks later that night in a game that they won and advanced to the Western Conference Final. I hadn’t been to Cellisky for many years and was ready to be totally underwhelmed but it – but to my surprise I actually liked the ballpark and had fun. If I ever live back in Chicago and the White Sox were home and I got bored of watching the grass grow or the paint dry I might just go back.

May 10th – Miller Park (Wrigley Field North), Milwaukee – Cubs vs. Brewers This was the finish to 4 games in 4 days and will forever be known as the Elevator game. The Brewers had won the first 2 games of the series and were going for the sweep of the series. I was in the upper deck taking pictures of the ballpark prior to the game and decided to take the elevator down to the field level. When the elevator stopped at the next level a husband and wife got on and the first thing the husband said to me was “how is it going to feel getting swept today?” and my reply that came out all too quick was “probably very similar to that of living in Wisconsin”. Wow – I nailed it. The perfect comeback, the 10 people in the elevator were quiet the rest of the ride down. Total silence – this was my “Jerk Store” Seinfeld episode only I didn’t need to have Firestone Tire day at Yankee Stadium to get my line out. BTW – the Cubs won and avoided the sweep so I still have no idea what it feels like to live in Wisconsin.

I have to admit typing and reliving the memories from those 12 ballparks was great therapy today to get me out of my funk. This is a great night for sports, Notre Dame is on against Washington State, Game 3 of the World Series is on as well as USC playing Oregon. Luckily I figured out the picture in picture on my TV so I will be flipping channels all night.

I guess since I started this little walk down memory lane I need to finish it up. I now know what I will be doing next Saturday or Sunday when I relive and blog about 12 more ballparks. So for now this so long and good bye and now that I look at the picture I think the Putz got more than a kiss.

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