Wednesday, April 29, 2009

 

Bobby D's Blog - Quest Day 24

 



Welcome to part 2 of the blog from Denver (scroll down for part 1). Sorry it is a bit delayed – had other stuff to do - like work. I would like to start by saying that the mile high altitude did not inpede my beer drinking ability which I know you were all worried about.

As for Denver – awesome people, awesome ballpark, awesome airport. The place is just awesome. I can now see why Mork stayed – plus Mindy was kind of hot. I was able to take in 2 games in Denver.
On Friday my flight got in early and was able to get to Coors Field by 6:45 because of the extremely efficient Denver airport. Please send these guys to Pittsburgh’s airport and fix that place. I bought a $4 ticket to seats called the Rock Pile. These are bleacher seats in dead center about another mile up. Not really – but if you look at the picture I attached to the blog – near the top of the upper deck is a row of blue seats – those seats are exactly 1 mile above sea level. I didn’t go check them out because being .995 miles above sea level was good enough for me. I watched a few innings from .995 miles above sea level then walked around the park. Great park – open concourse to the field. I found a spot to stand in the infield behind the Dodgers dugout. Met these 2 really nice guys, John and Matt, and spent the rest of the game talking sports and other things guys talk about. Friday night’s game lasted a whopping 4 hours and was won by the Dodgers.

I decided on Saturday to get to Coors early and check out the local bars and pubs around the ballpark. I only made it to one pub – Breckenridge. They have 16 micros on tap – I was in beer heaven and being a mile above sea level was close to it. I worked my thru their 3 stouts and had a porter while enjoying a bison burger and watching the NFL draft and Yanks/Sox game on TV. Mikey and Jo were at Fenway and not feeling so good when the Sox were down 6 – 0. I sent Mike a text and predicted the Sox would win 10 to 8. I got the Sox victory correct – just not the score. When I go to games I always hope that the game will be a classic and Mike and Jo were at a classic!!! The Dodgers/Rockies game was not a classic. The Dodgers won again by the same score from the previous night of 6 – 5.

I really loved Coors Field and am ranking it number 2 (for now). Coors is basically Camden Yards without the warehouse but with an open concourse and that my friends is why Coors gets ranked above Camden Yards. The open concourse came into play on Saturday night – it was a cold night my friends and to make matters worse it started to rain in the 7th inning. I was able to find a spot to stand on the main concourse and still watch the game – out of the rain!!! That is why Coors wins. And here is a fun fact from Coors Field – you would think that the only beer they sell would be Coors, but NOOOOO – they sell Bud and you have to hunt for a Coors. Not that I wanted either one – just thought that was strange.

I can tell Denver is a great sports town and supports their 4 teams well. I also love that the team nicknames match the region. You’ve got the Nuggets because there is gold in them there mountains. The Broncos because of John Elway’s teeth. The Rockies well duh – wasn’t Balboa from here? And the Avalanche – cool name, won 2 Cups and have great unis. I generally don’t care for teams that their nicknames don’t end in an “S”. Some are downright dumb. The Miami Heat comes to mind. What the hell is a Heat? The owners of the Florida Panthers missed the boat when they named their team. They should have called them the Humidity. That way on ESPN - Kenny Mayne could start Sportscenter by saying “Last night in Miami, the Heat was bad but the Humidity really sucked”. I know – long way to get to a mediocre joke. Not all of these jokes can live up the Betty Jo Davis standard you know.

One thing that I pay attention to while at the games is the music ballplayers chose for themselves when coming up to bat or coming in to pitch. The coolest entrance music is Mariano Rivera of the Yankees who jogs onto the field to “Enter Sandman” by Metallica. Which is cool since Rivera is probably the greatest closer of all time when not pitching against the Red Sox or Diamondbacks. So that got me thinking – wouldn’t it be cool if we could have entrance music play when we got to work. We could get Bob Sheppard the voice of God from the old Yankee Stadium to announce our arrival. So the question is – what would your entrance song be? If you are someone who makes a mistake every now and then – Mealoaf’s “Two out of three ain’t bad” would be a good fit. I know there is an Elton John song that would befit a woman or 2 that I have previously worked with – to the current people I work with, notice I said previously. I have set up a comment thread in the “Questions and Comments” link for your answer. I have put my answer to the question to start the thread.

I will leave you now with something I witnessed the other day while taking a walk around Denver – as I was walking I noticed 3 older ladies sitting on a park bench, just then a young man walked by wearing a trench coat and flashed the older ladies causing 2 of them to have a stroke while the 3rd lady couldn’t reach.

Hope that makes up for the Heat and Humidity joke.

Well that’s it for part two from Denver – come back next week for the blog from Seattle - same Quest website, same Quest time.

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Saturday, April 25, 2009

 

Bobby D's Blog - Quest Day 20

 



Welcome from Denver, CO. Let me start by saying that Denver is an awesome city with awesome people. Since last week’s 2 part blog from Pittsburgh was a big hit – I will do the same this week from Denver. But this weekend is special as my life long quest to “visit” all 50 states meets the Quest to see a game in all 30 ballparks in 1 season. For today’s part one of the blog I will give a running log of the drive to Wyoming and Nebraska and then back to Denver. Here goes:

6:48 AM (please note these times are in Mountain time) – leave the hotel feeling like I forgot something. I double check and have my wallet and my cell phones. Car keys – check. Oh well, must not be important. I get onto the road and proceed about a mile and realize I missed my exit. So I go up to a 7-11, get some coffee and head back to the highway and miss the exit again. I know what I left in the room – the force. No biggie – my iphone has a GPS (more on that later)

7:12 AM – finally exit correctly and start heading on route 287 which is called a Tollway. Well it should be called a highway robbery – I paid $5.00 on this road to go 20 miles. The Mass Pike is seeming like a good deal.

7:30 AM – get onto I-25 north. At this point I am only 22 miles from downtown Denver and it could have been 100 miles. I am in the middle of nowhere - which I can see because it is so flat here that you can see forever and there is nothing. I know the Rockies are out there somewhere – but where?

7:55 AM – I am losing the radio station which means time to play Radio Press Your Luck. Remember that game show with the Wammies – well this is the radio version. I hit seek and the dial starts cruising and stops on 99.3 FM. Here goes – what did I win. I hear this “Good Morning Brothers and Sisters – this is THE Rev. Jimmy Jim Billy Bob of the Give us all your money and you will go to heaven Ministry”. Crap – I hit a Wammy. The self proscribed Good Rev. is going to tell us about the evils of materialistic things. Well Good Rev. – I am from Boston, by way of Bergen County, NJ by way of Lake County, IL and those three areas lead the league in materialistic things so brother you are barking up the wrong tree here.

8:15 AM – 10 miles to the Wyoming border and the Good Rev. and I have been debating for the last 20 minutes and he seems to be winning. He is a master debater – that’s for sure. I decide that losing a debate to someone who doesn’t even know he is in a debate is a bad thing for my ego – I play Radio Press Your Luck again. Hit seek and here goes. It stops and I hear “Good Morning Brothers and Sisters” HAHA – just kidding. The radio stops on a country station, I hit seek again and country – 4 more spins and more country then the 5th spin I am back to the master debater. Ladies and Gentlemen – Cheyenne, Wyoming the home of 6 country stations and a holy roller.

8:22 AM – Welcome to Wyoming. The scenery is the same as it has been for the past 85 miles like I thought that crossing the border and boom there would be stuff to see. Picture the final scene of Castaway when Tom Hanks delivers that package to the lady in the middle of nowhere who he is going to hook up with. I know that it is not as obvious as the final scene of North by Northwest where Cary Grant and Eve St. Marie are in the train car and Hitchcock pans to a train going into a tunnel as the final shot. Sorry to those of you who I just ruined the final scene – but that movie is like 45 years old and if you haven’t seen it yet – doubt you will. So after years of Volleyball love with Wilson – Tom is ready for something a little more.

8:26 AM – get onto I-80 east towards Pine Bluff, CO. I have finally decided that country is better than continually losing the debate to the Good Rev. This country though is not that popcorn stuff we have in Boston – you know Brad Paisley and Taylor Swift – this is country on steroids sung by people who – well I have no idea who there are.

8:56 AM – Welcome to Nebraska and I can’t wait to get back to Colorado and an upgrade on the scenery. I take the obligatory picture of the welcome to Nebraska sign – proceed .8 of a mile to exit 1 and turnaround and get back to Wyoming. Congrats Nebraska – you are now a drive by shooting state in my list of states I have been to.

9:13 AM – time to christen Wyoming as the first DNA state. That would be a state where I took a pee and left some DNA behind. I stop at the TnA truck center – you know the Travel in America truck stop – get your minds out of the gutter. I leave behind my DNA – buy the 2 coffee mugs (more on that later) and get on my appointed rounds.

9:32 AM – awww – back to Colorado and only 20 more minutes of Cowboy Country which is Wyoming for country on steroids.

9:50 AM – there is this dude singing a song about milking a cow. I am thinking 3 things about this; 1 – dude this is 2009 and they have invented machines to milk cows. 2 – how cool would it be if they could make this into a Meatloaf song similar to Paradise by the Dashboard Light – only here we would have the Cowboy debating with the Cow (insert Rosie O’Donnell as the voice of the cow). 3 – maybe milking the cow is Wyoming code for something else.

9:53 AM – 100.3 FM is back and I have never ever thought I would be so happy hearing the Jonas Brothers singing about loving a Volkswagen Beetle and then George Michel (insert milking the cow joke here) saying you have to have faith.

9:55 AM – decide to check the iphone GPS for a better way back to the hotel without being robbed by the Colorado Highway Commission. Well the phone looks strange – it has negative bars. There is no service here – none, nada. I check the rear view mirror and that geeky guy from the Verizon ad and his posse are nowhere. Yo Verizon – there is a truth in advertising law and you better do an ad from here – Nowhere, CO.

10:36 AM – decide to prove PT Barnum’s theory of a fool and his money and get on the Tollway again for another 20 mile - $5.00 cruise. Here is my theory on tollways – there should be no speed limit on them. As someone who pays to use the road – aren’t I an owner of the tollway and shouldn’t I then as owner be able to set my own speed limit. Take that mister occifer. I OWN this road which means you work for me. Yeah I don’t see that working – but it would be fun to try, with someone else’s ticket.

10:50 AM – encounter the HOTTEST toll taker in the history of toll takers and damn why do I have to have correct change?!?!?! She is wearing a B B shirt. You know those BeBe shirts that some girls hide the “e’s”. Well her “e’s” were nowhere to be found – I know, I checked over and over.

11:11 AM – after making a few u-turns to go back and pay the toll again – I finally reach the hotel. At this point I wish Phil from the Amazing Race was in the lobby. He would say “after 280 miles, 3 states and 1 toll taker stalking charge – Bobby D you have now been in 43 states in your life”.

Ok – now to the mugs. Back in 1999 when Shawn Marie and I were dating we took our first road trip from NJ to NH. As we got into each state on the trip we would buy a coffee mug as a souvenir to mark us visiting that state. Over the years when we would travel – Shawn would always ask “What mugs are we getting this time?” We would go out of our way to get another mug. It was our little game and made road trips memorable. The best one was when we parked on the Nevada side of the Hoover Dam and walked to the Arizona side to say we walked to Arizona. I even have a picture somewhere of Shawn straddling the border between AZ and NV and laughing that half her body was 1 hour behind the other. Well only 7 more mugs and WE will have all 50.

I hope you enjoyed the little journey today. Tomorrow I will blog about the 2 games here in Denver and tell you all about the wonderful people of Denver. So for now – have a great day and see you tomorrow.

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Monday, April 20, 2009

 

Bobby D's Blog - Quest Day 15

 



Welcome to part 2 of the blog from Pittsburgh. If you missed part one just scroll down a bit and boom – there it is. That was done in my best Frank Calliendo doing his best John Madden.

Let me start by saying that PNC Park in Pittsburgh is the ballpark standard that all ballparks should strive to be. From the neighborhood and its great pubs to the views from the ballpark to the smaller size ballpark that truly has no bad seat – PNC Park is amazing. There is nothing and I repeat nothing wrong with this ballpark – except that the Pirates play there. I have nothing against the Pirates since they are in the Cubs division and are good for 10 Cub victories a year. It’s just that a ballpark this amazing deserves a team that befits the park. And it is not solely the Pirates fault – it’s the bigger issue of small market vs. large market teams in MLB and revenue sharing to allow the smaller market teams to compete. I am sure at some point this summer I will blog about what I will do to fix MLB when I become commissioner of MLB but I left my soapbox back in Tucson so I will spare you – for now.

Before I get the day’s timeline of events – I would like to thank Jim, Nicole and Jimmy Jr. Cowan for making the 2.5 hour drive from Youngsville, PA to join me for the game and a big thanks to Jim’s cousin Joe who hooked us up with great tickets for the game. Joe is the stadium host at PNC – the stadium host is the person who goes around the stadium before and during games and is on the Jumbotron making announcements or getting the crowd involved in various games between innings. Joe does a great job with this and I am not just saying that because he hooked us up with tickets. On the picture for this blog Joe is the guy on the left. So now I have added another pickup line to my repertoire – “I know the stadium host at PNC”. This ranks right up there with “I have my own website” and the one I used as a freshman in college “Would you like to watch me feed my pet piranhas?” Yes in college we had a fish tank with a piranha and it was kind of cool and yes that line did work – only issue is I had no game back then and didn’t know what to do once we were in the dorm room.

So the day starts with me waking up at 4 am and couldn’t get back to sleep – hence part 1 of this blog. That answers the question of what to do in Pittsburgh at 4 am – blog on your website of course. Then I get an email from my friend Margaret which says “Rise and shine – it’s a Quest day”. At that point it hit me – a Quest day has a different feel to it. I wake up feeling like a kid on Christmas morning – that excitement which luckily I will feel 30 times this season. After doing the obligatory morning stuff I suit up not unlike Barney in ‘How I Met Your Mother’ – “come on Ted, suit up today is going to be legend..wait…wait…wait… ary”. My suit though is, depending on the weather, a Cubs long sleeve or short sleeve tee shirt with my blue Ralph Lauren polo shorts, my new New Balance 749 sneaks – which are the most comfortable sneakers I have ever owned – with matching New Balance ankle socks. The matching logo socks here are very important. You never want to wear competing logos because that is a violation of cool rule #29. The cool rules started when I was in high school. My friends Pat Tobin, Kenny Ford and I were walking home one day and a Trans Am went by with the tee tops off but the windows up. That became cool rule #1 – whenever the tee tops are off or the convertible down - the windows must be down. At some point I will get around to listing the cool rules to make sure all my readers stay cool of course (all 3 of you). The final piece of the suit is my official Cub jersey with the All 30 Parks on the back. This is the most important part of the assemble as it has sparked numerous conversations (except in Missouri) with people as I visit the ballparks.

Now I am all suited up, check out of the hotel and start heading to the ballpark. Since I don’t use a GPS and let the force guide me when I am in unfamiliar areas – I get on route 28 going the wrong way. I figure no biggie – I can turn around up ahead. Well guess how far that was to turn around – go ahead and guess – if you guessed 75% of the way back to Tucson you won.

I am now up to 830 words so yada, yada, yada the Braves won the game. Wow my 1st Seinfeld reference – who would have thought it would have taken this long.

Ok – back to this very wordy blog of the day. I get to the ballpark early – walk along the Larry River next to the ballpark. I call it the Larry because – A. I don’t know the name of the 3 rivers that the ballpark is on and B. I couldn’t spell it if I did and C. who really cares!!! So for the purpose of Pittsburgh – the 3 rivers are the Larry, Curly and Moe. I then spend some time talking to some really nice people by the stadium and notice it is 11 am – time for a beer. Mullen’s Bar and Grill is now the official bar of the Quest when in Pittsburgh. Great beers on tap and some really hot bartenders. I have my 2 beers, toast the Quest Gods and time to meet the Cowan’s and head into the park. As mentioned before – the park is amazing, you have to go to really appreciate it. We get our Primanti’s sandwich – which is awesome. Everything on freshly baked bread from roast beef to cheese to french fries to cole slaw – all on freshly baked bread.

The game itself was a dud – the Braves won 11 to 1. The high points to the game were giving Jimmy Jr. the camcorder and letting him film whatever a 10 year old wants to film. Once downloaded and edited for content I will post on the movie section of the website. We also met a father and son named DeVries, always cool to meet someone with your last name when your last name is not Jones or Smith. The people of Pittsburgh did not fail – they were very nice. The staff at PNC is world class - make you feel at home and want to return over and over to the park. All in all a great day.

Next up this weekend is Denver to see the Rockies play the LA Manny’s. This weekend actually sees 2 Quests intersect. The Quest for all 30 ballparks in one season meets the Quest to physically visit all 50 states in my lifetime. Please go to the (Almost) Weekly poll link in the website to read more about this quest and submit your answer to how many states have you been in? For now this is good bye, so long from Pittsburgh, PA where the only Stooges in this town are the rivers.

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Sunday, April 19, 2009

 

Bobby D's Blog - Quest Day 15

 



Good morning from Pittsburgh, PA . A lot has happened since we last spoke earlier this week. So much in fact that I will be having my first ever 2 part blog. Why you ask? Well because it’s my website and I can.

The first and best thing that happened this past week is that my good friends Jenny and Tracey Leach from Ranson, WV (try saying Ranson without a southern twang to it) welcomed to the world Quentin F. Leach who was born on April 13. Both mom and baby are doing fine though I think Tray is freaking out a bit now that he is a dad. Like true Red Sox fans they honored Bucky F. Dent, Aaron F. Boone and my personal favorite Andy F. McRae - though in this case the “F” stands for Fenway. Yes folks – Quentin Fenway Leach. I think that Quentin Wrigley Leach has a much better ring to it – but it’s not my kid and I do not have naming rights. I know that Quentin is going to be one cool kid because not only does he have really cool parents – but he will most likely be called Q. Have you ever noticed that kids with initials for names were always the coolest kids in school? Everyone wanted to be friends with DJ or LJ and I know for a fact that Betty Jo Davis in my high school was very popular with the boys. But now a kid with just one initial for a name – Q – that has to be epitome of a cool kid. Kids will be lining up to be Q’s friend. Think of all the famous people that go by one name – Madonna, Mariah, Pele and of course Bob – that Q is now destined for greatness. So to Jenny and Tracey, congrats and best wishes for a healthy happy life for Q. I know the angel watching out for Q will make sure of it – that’s just her way!!!

So here are the trials and tribulations of my travel yesterday from Tucson, AZ to Pittsburgh, PA. First off I have to be up at 4 am to make my 7 am connection to Phoenix. No problem since I am still on east coast time and every morning I tend to wake up at 4 am. The Tucson to Phoenix connection goes off without a hitch – which is not usually the case. The Tucson to Phoenix or vice versa has become the bain of my travel existence. Upon landing in Phoenix we arrive at gate B30 and my connection is at gate A30 – for those of you who have never been to the Phoenix airport – it would have been quicker to walk from Tucson to gate A30 than to walk from B30 to A30. I finally get to gate A30 and I hear my name being paged. That is never a good thing in an airport – being paged. Well in this case it was a good thing – US Airway upgraded me to 1st class for the flight from Phoenix to Pittsburgh. Wow – things are really going well….at this point I should have known it was all downhill from here.

And it was. The flight arrives 10 minutes early into Pitts at 3:30 pm. Make note – 3:30 pm. I get off the plane and head to the potty as I need to take a tinkle. Then I walk for quite a bit to get to the tram that connects the gates to the terminal. Wait 5 minutes for the tram. Take the tram ride. Find the Thrifty counter and get my car. Then head to the baggage claim area. Read War and Peace. Meet a girl. Court, date, marry and have a baby with said girl. The kid grows up and graduates from Notre Dame and THE LUGGAGE STILL HAS NOT COME DOWN THE CHUTE. Ok – so I exaggerated a bit – the kid is only a freshman at Notre Dame before I get my luggage. Now me being me I need to say something to the nice people at the US Air luggage claim area about the slowness of the luggage. They say – oh yeah, it does take some time to get luggage here. Welcome to Pittsburgh International Airport – where mediocrity is king.

Now for the car ride to Pittsburgh. It is only 10 miles from the Airport to downtown Pitts where my hotel is. I figure 20 minutes tops. There is only one highway out of the airport that connects to downtown Pittsburgh and for some reason the really “intelligent” people of Pittsburgh decided to close that highway for construction. CLOSED. No warning – no sign saying “up ahead you are screwed”. It takes 30 minutes to go 1 mile and get to the point of exit. The only thing that saved me during those 30 minutes was my Joe Pesci impersonation of the Lethal Weapon scene of being “effed” at the drive in. I finally exit the road to nowhere and figure I will have to follow the detour signs – only problem – THERE WERE NONE. The savoir to the day – my iphone has GPS. There is this road on the map that parallels highway 60. I follow that road for 4 miles and am able to get back on the highway to nowhere that is now leading me somewhere. I finally reach the Marriott at 6:10 pm. 2 hours and 40 minutes from the time the plane got to the gate. All I had to do was get my luggage and drive 10 miles. At this point the flashbacks to last weekend in Missouri were firing in my head. But the really nice check in person at the Marriott (I love Marriott’s btw – first class all the way) gets me a room with a view of downtown Pitts and the Mellon Arena – named of course after Rodney Dangerfield’s character in Back to School. The arena is nicknamed the Igloo because not only is it where the Pittsburgh Penguins play – but it looks like an igloo.

I had my heart set on going to Fat Head’s Saloon in Pittsburgh’s south side where they serve headwiches that take 4 meals to eat and have 42 beers on tap. Check out their website fatheads.com. But I am too tired to head out of the hotel. So the hotel lounge it will be and this was one of those fate decisions that is just too cool. At the bar I meet this wonderful younger couple that had driven down from Scranton, PA to see the Penguins game the night before. We start talking about my Quest and the she says that her goal is to see a hockey game in every arena. Her boyfriend is shaking his head like “I hit the lottery here”. One thing about hockey fans – they are the best fans of any sport. I am usually really good with remembering names – I believe their names were JK or LK (see a guy with initials who is really cool) and Lori. If I am wrong please forgive me – I still had the 2 hr and 40 min ordeal in my head. I gave them my website address so if you guys are reading this, please send me a message. I would love to keep in touch and next year hook you guys up with tickets at the TD Banknorth Garden to see the B’s and the Pens to assist you with your Quest!!!

And that is it for part one of my first ever two part blog. Today it’s PNC to see the Braves and the Pirates. Jim, Nicole and Jimmy Jr. Cowan are heading down from Warren, PA to join me for the game. Looks like the rain will hold off until after the game. At some point in the next day or 2 I will post part 2 of the blog. So for now it’s…..to be continued…..

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Wednesday, April 15, 2009

 

Bobby D's Blog - Quest Day 10

 



FAWTSY. That is the motto of the workers at Chase Field in Phoenix, AZ. FAWTSY stands for Find A Way To Say Yes. What a great policy. Every worker in Chase Field wears a button with FAWTSY. I wasn’t happy with my seat; the nice folks at Chase found me a new seat to my liking. I didn’t like my beer – they drank it for me. What nice people – now only if some girls I dated in college wore a button with FAWTSY my college days would have much more…well…fun.

On Monday I decided on a whim to make the 117 mile drive from Tucson to Phoenix to catch the Cardinals – Dbacks game. I figured why not knock another stadium off the list – 3 stadiums in 3 days. I kind of felt like I was stalking the Cards after seeing them on Sunday in St. Louis. I promise Mr. Pujols (pronounced Poo-Holes) I only wanted your picture. The 117 mile drive only took 1 hour and 45 minutes as the “posted” speed limit on I-10 is 75. Give the guy who passed that law a beer. Better yet give him a girl with a FAWTSY button.

So I get to Chase (the ballpark formerly known as the BOB) in world record time – Jeff Gordon has nothing on my driving skills. It’s only $5 to park 2 blocks from the stadium. I head over to the stadium and come across one of the coolest stadium bars in America – Sliders. What makes it cool is that it is right next to the stadium and I have found where all the hot Hooters girls have moved on to – Sliders. I have my obligatory 2 pregame beers – toast the Quest Gods and head into the stadium. Entering the ballpark formerly as the BOB the first thing I see is the field. The concourse is open to the field. I really love this feature in stadiums. The people are extremely friendly and after my experience this past weekend in Missouri, the people of Phoenix have reassured my faith in human kind. My All 30 Parks Cubs shirt is getting attention and I am stopped at least 20 times by people inquiring about it. In Missouri I was stopped by 2 people in 2 different stadiums. That’s it – 2. Missouri sucks.

When I got into the stadium I was bummed that the roof was closed. For those of you who are not familiar with the ballpark formerly known as the BOB – it has a retractable roof. Then 15 minutes before game time this cool music starts to play and the roof slowly starts to open. It takes 6 minutes for the roof and side panels to open. Now I need to say I love the ballpark formerly known as the BOB. From the nice people, to the cool design to the roof opening ceremony – I love it all. And the weather – after freezing my dupa off in the Show Me Nada state this past weekend – 85 degrees was so very welcomed.

I would like to give a shout out to Sheila the fan attendant in Section 209 – she assisted me with a new seat assignment when I was not happy with my original seat, was super nice and also from Chicago and a die hard Cub fan. Sheila will be in Boston in June and hopefully I will be able to return the favor and take her to her first ever game at Fenway. I also would like to say hello to Tom who I met while walking around the stadium. Tom is one of the truly good guys in the world and I appreciated his heartfelt well wishes on the Quest.

As for the game – the Cards won 2 to 1. The game was a well pitched 2 hour and 22 minute game with home runs by Albert Pujols (pronounced Poo-Holes) and some other dude I never heard of. The crowd was kind of dead – but it was a Monday and I think Phoenix fans are still not over the loss by their beloved Cardinals in the Super Bowl or the fact that game was kind of boring.

Next up is PNC Park in Pittsburgh this Sunday. This is a game I am truly looking forward to as the Cowan family will be making the drive from Warren, PA to join me for the game. So for now this is good bye, so long from Terrific Tucson, AZ where the weather is warm and the people are wonderful and the memories of Missouri are fading fast.

FAWTSY everyone!!!!

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Monday, April 13, 2009

 

Bobby D's Blog - Quest Day 8

 



Hello from 38,000 feet over the southwest. I am taking advantage of the flight from St. Louis to Phoenix to blog about today's Astros - Cardinals game from the new Busch Stadium. I had been to the old Busch Stadium many years ago and now to the new Busch since the Cards traded the old Busch for the new Busch in 2006 (sounds like something husbands do). Ok - that was bad, but funny.

When coming up with the schedule, today was one of those "danger" days - not because I was wearing my Cub stuff in enemy territory (more on that later) but because of the schedule. See I had a 9:30 am flight from KC to St. Louis that gets in at 10:30 am, then have to get the rental car and make the 16 mile trek to the new Busch for a 1:15 game. Then I see the game and have to catch a 5:45 flight to Phoenix. So this day relied on Southwest Airlines, the speed or lack there of, the rental car counter at Hertz, potential traffic in and out of St. Louis and of course, Tony LaRussa.

Here goes...my Southwest flight to St. Louis arrives 15 minutes early which in turn I lost at the Hertz counter as the counter "person" took 25 minutes to get me my car. There was no traffic into the city and I get to the main gate of the new Busch 5 minutes before the gates open. This gives me 2 whole hours to explore the new Busch. I am sure there is a joke here somewhere but I will leave that up to you. The game starts at 1:15 and the first 5 innings take 1 hour. We are on pace for a 2 hour game - the only thing that will screw this up is Tony LaRussa. See Mr. LaRussa loves to change pitchers late in the game - sometimes even to the same batter. But not on this day - Cards pitcher Kyle Lohse is on fire. At one point getting 24 Astros out in a row. In the 5th inning he only threw 6 pitches to get 3 outs. LaRussa decides to give the bullpen the day off and Lohse pitches a 3 hit shutout and the time of the game is 2 hours and 10 minutes. I stay for the last out - get in the car and am at my gate at 4:30 - 75 whole minutes early for my flight. Holy crap on a cracker Batman - today was the perfect storm, only in reverse. The Quest Gods were shining on me today.

Now to my wearing Cub stuff in the new Busch. For those of you who do not realize this - the Cubs/Cards rivalry dates back further than the Yanks/Red Sox. We hate the Cards and they hate us. So wearing Cub stuff to the new Busch when the Cubs are not even playing there is asking for a bit of trouble. To make matters worse - it is Ryan Ludwig bat day. So now they have weapons to boot. I am not sure if it was the cold weather, that it was Easter or the Cards fans have lost their zeal - but other than a few "Cubs Suck" comments, I was safe. Again - holy crap on a cracker Batman.

As for the stadium - it is real nice but I am starting to see a trend in these brick, throwback stadiums that started with Camden Yards. They are all starting to look alike which is going to make ranking the stadiums difficult. The big mistake they made with the new Busch is that the concourses are not open to the field. I love that feature with Citizen's Bank and PNC. The great thing about the new Busch is the view (again insert joke here). With the city skyline and the Gateway Arch all in view - very, very nice.

A couple of follow up points to yesterday's blog from KC:

- since I mentioned the President and David Koresh in the same blog, I am sure this website is now being monitored by the FBI. So welcome agents - tell Mulder and Scully I say hi. I love the show Criminal Minds and maybe when I am in DC in July we can meet at Cap City Brewing for a beer or 3.

- a few folks have said I might have been wrong about the people of Kansas City. You are right - it's not just the people of KC but the people of Missouri. They are downright rude, not friendly at all. If you are ever driving across I-70 make sure you stop in Illinois or Kansas before getting to Missouri. You will thank me - trust me!!!

Sorry for the longer blog today - it is a 3 hour flight from St. Louie to Phoenix so I had some time to kill. I will try to get photos uploaded in the next day or 2 - the only bad thing of the web hosting site I am using is that it takes forever to upload pictures.

I have made a small change to the schedule and will be attending the Cards - Dbacks game in Phoenix tonight. Since the Dbacks are home I might as well get the game in. The old saying the bird in the hand leaves poop in your palm or something like that applies here. I thought it would be cool many years from now and relive the fact I attended a game in KC, St. Louis and Phoenix on 3 straight days.

Captain Kirk or who ever is flying this plane just came on and said it is time to shut off our electronics prior to landing. Lucky you - no more time to blog. So this is good bye, so long from high over the Arizona desert or is it dessert - I always get those mixed up.

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Sunday, April 12, 2009

 

Bobby D's Blog - Quest Day 7

 



Did you know that Kansas City isn't in Kansas? It's in Missouri - that would be like New York City being in New Jersey. I probably learned that in 5th grade but millions of beers later that part of my mind is gone.

So here I am in Kansas City and today it hit me at the game that I am really doing the Quest. I sent a text to Mikey at 5:43 pm CST that said "I can't believe I am here". Last weekend going to games at Yankee Stadium and Camden Yards are normal things I would do in a summer as I have been to both places over 100 times (well not the new Yankee, but you get the drift). Going to a game in Philly was a bit different but not something out of the norm. Flying to KC to see a game - well that is not the norm.

Here are a few observations of KC. First off they brag about their BBQ even going so far as saying it's better than Memphis BBQ - well sir I know Memphis BBQ and you sir are no Memphis BBQ. That was done in my best Lloyd Benson voice BTW. For you non texting people - BTW stands for by the way. Secondly going to a Wal-mart at 2:30 pm on a Saturday sucks anywhere from Charles Town, WV to Kansas City, MO to Tupelo, MS. Now I have never been to Tupelo but I imagine Wal-mart would suck there as well and it is fun to say Tupelo. Tupelo. Tupelo. How many of you today as some point will have Tupelo pop into your head? This is the start of my brain washing - I will start a cult of baseball park Questers and well...I will be the David Koresh of Questers. Thirdly it is nice to see Barack's (I am on first name basis with the Prez since we are both from Chicago) economic stimulus package working in KC. Every friggin road is under construction. And lastly the people in KC are not that friendly. Get this - people in Philly were nicer. I guess the Herm Edwards era sucked the life and fun out of the city.

As for Andy Kaufman Stadium - it is very nice and homey. They said they did a makeover in the offseason so I don't know what the old one was like - but this one is very nice. I had the best ever seat for game that I didn't have to worry about an usher chasing me from my seat - 3rd row behind the Royals on deck circle and it was only $50 - same seat at Yankee $2600. The Royals keep the game fun with stuff between innings. Crowd was dead - but as mentioned before I blame that on Herm.

As for the game - Yanks won 6 to 1. CC (without the dots) pitched like the C.C. with the dots. The Royals were never in it. Again all blamed on Herm.

Well that's it for now - I am off to catch a flight to St. Louis for Quest game 4. So for now this is good bye, so long from Kansas City, MO where the men are men and so are the women. Haha - just kidding....about the men.

One last thing - I can't say for sure but I think that was Herm Edwards dressed as the Royals mascot.

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Thursday, April 9, 2009

 

Bobby D's Blog - Quest Day 5

 



The epic weekend of 4 games in 4 days in 3 cities has now come and gone and I finally have some time to reflect and rest from it all. Since I had some time over the weekend I was able to blog about the games at Yankee Stadium and Citizen’s Bank Park – now the blog from Oriole Park at Camden Yards.

It was a cold rainy day my friend but that did not deter Jack and me from our appointed rounds at Camden Yards. Like your postal worker – we will get to a game come rain, wind, snow or dark of night (or whatever it is they say they do). The day starts with a 94 mile drive from Philly to Baltimore in a driving rain storm and we do what every cold blooded American male should do when getting to Baltimore – head to the Hooters in the Inner Harbor (Larry Flint’s place doesn’t open until 2 – so Hooters it was). We down the obligatory 2 beers and 25 wings each and flirt with our waitress – well it was flirting for us – for her it was earning a good tip. After the wings we now head to the only place to go to before an Oriole game – Pickles Pub. To our dismay Pickles was packed 3.5 hours before the game and to add insult to injury it is pouring and no place to get out from the rain. Now in my younger days – I would have braved the rain and said bring it on Mom Nature, but now that I am getting older I was like – where is cover, I don’t want to get the sniffles? We find a bar in the new Hilton across from the Park and hang out with Mikey and his dog Jeb who drove down from VA for a few hours.

Now it is game time or so we think. The back end of the front wants us to wait a little longer for the game – so it rains so more and then decides it wants us to freeze. As Mikey said in his text to me during the game “that’s why they call it a cold front”. Thanks for the insight Topper Shut!!! The Orioles host a very subdued opening ceremony, well it was probably really good for O’s fans – but Jack and I had seen the World Series banner raised the night before in Philly, so I shouldn’t really compare. A couple of notes from ceremony, VP Joe Biden threw out the 1st pitch; Mark Teixeira of the Yanks got booed louder than any cheer for an Oriole. And while they were introducing the O’s – I turned to Jack and said in my best “Major League” “who are these bleeping guys”? Well those bleeping guys hit CC (without the dots) Sabatha all over the park. The O’s opened up a 6 to 1 lead. The Yanks cut it to 6 to 5 and even had the tying run on base a few times. The O’s got some insurance runs in the 7th and 8th and won 10 to 5.

Many times in life the anticipation of the event far outweighs the event itself – not this past weekend. From being the first person ever to fart in my seat in section 418 row 9 seat 18 in the new Yankee Stadium, to the parachutist who missed the entire stadium in Philly for the pre-game ceremonies, to the “that’s why they call it a cold front” text from Mikey – this past weekend outweighed the anticipation by a mile.

So now this weekend it’s off to the Midwest to see the Yankees vs. the Royals at Kaufman Stadium on Saturday and the Astros at the Cardinals on Sunday. I even get to see CC (without the dots) pitch again. Hopefully those bleeping guys from the Royals don’t hit him all over the park.

I have uploaded some pics from the weekend and will be loading a new weekly poll later today. Also after months of waiting, I finally got my Cubs jersey that I had specially made for this summer – hence the picture attached to this blog. So for now it’s good-bye, so long from the Homeless Hotel in down right dandy Danvers, MA.

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Monday, April 6, 2009

 

Bobby D's Blog - Quest Day 2

 



Well game one is in the books and what a night it was. Jack and I got into Philly around 4 and made it to the ballpark right as the gates were opening. We spent 2 hours just walking around Citizen's Bank Park enjoying the event. Along the way these games will be classified as seeing the game, seeing the stadium or attending an event. Tonight was attending an event. The past 2 days at the New Yankee Stadium were classified as seeing the stadium and tomorrow in Baltimore for the O's home opener will be classified as seeing the game.

I have to give the Phillies credit for putting on a first class pre-game celebration. From the team's entrance from the center field bleachers to the Philadelphia boy's choir singing America the Beautiful to the 82nd Airborne parachuting onto the field - well 3 out of 4 guys made it on the field, one guy pulled a Scott Norwood and was wide right and landed in the parking lot. The Phillies did it right. The only thing that was missing was the World Series Trophy never made an appearance.

Jack and I met some really nice people during the pre-game walk around the stadium and I even have a picture of me and George the Security Guy in the pictures section of this site. One thing that we have noticed is that if you wear the stuff from your team and they are not playing - you get attention. I was wearing my Cubs stuff and Jack his Yankee stuff. We saw only one other person wearing stuff that was not Phillies and guess what team he was wearing - wait - come on guess. Yes you Boston fans he was wearing Red Sox stuff.

The game itself was ok - the Braves jumped out to a 4 run lead after 2 innings. Derek Lowe was his old self throwing a bunch of ground balls and only allowing 2 hits thru 8. The Phillies made it interesting in the 9th scoring one run and having the tieing run at the plate. But Ryan Howard and Raul Ibanez struck out to the end the game as the Braves won 4 to 1.

Well I think that's it for now. Time to get some sleep for our big day tomorrow. The O's home opener. In my life I have only been to 1 home opener prior to today and now in 2 days we get to see 2 home openers - very cool in my book. So this is good bye - so long from room 302 at the Aloft Hotel here in beautiful (LOL) Phildelphia where the defending champs are 0 and 1 - hehe.

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Sunday, April 5, 2009

 

Bobby D's Blog - Quest Date ONE!!!!!

 



After months of planning, discussion, chatting, buying tickets, booking flights and hotels - the day has arrived. The Quest starts in just a few moments when Jack and I hop in the car for the drive to Philadelphia for tonight's MLB season opener on ESPN. I will be the guy wearing my Cub stuff and taking a bunch of crap from those really nice Philadelphia fans. Really they are nice in a Philadelphia kind of way.

Now for a recap of the last 2 days at the New Yankee Stadium - it is AMAZING!!. Even though my Cubs got trounced in both games to the Yankees - it doesn't matter, the games don't count and the Stadium is everything and then some including the Jumboist of Jumbotrons in center field. Even if you hate the Yankees (my friends from Boston) you have to see this stadium. The owners of the Red Sox and Cubs should visit Yankee Stadium and see how they were able to build a new stadium and still have the feel of the old park. There were many times during the games I thought I was at the old park. The field and dimensions are the same and even sits the exact same way as the old park. The thing I love about the park is that the concourses are open to the field. So at all times you can watch the game. I also love that you can walk around the entire field from bleachers to those $2,600 box seats that come with their own Geisha girl. Well not really but that would be a cool touch. Plus you can buy a bleacher ticket and stand at field level behind home and be only 30 rows from the field.

A few nice touches from the past 2 days - Reggie threw out the first pitch on Friday and Sully (the official pilot of the Quest) threw out the first pitch on Saturday. Ronin Tinen sang the long version of God Bless America on Friday during the 7th inning stretch. And they had a bald eagle fly from center field to the pitcher's mound at the end of the National Anthem yesterday.

Now with all openings the stadium had some issues. The credit card machines were not working at the concession stands (which you need to use a credit card to buy that $6 slice of pizza or $7 hot dog). They only serve Budweiser and Peroni which is Italian for Budweiser. So for beer snobs like Kelly (CK) that poses an issue. But at $10 a beer maybe that is the Yankee way of helping you save your money. And the sound system stopped working sometime in the 5th inning yesterday. But all in all a great experience.

I will have a full write up of the games in the Stadium Schedule part of the website. That is when I get the chance to write one up.

As for now the Quest is about to start. I still don't have a ending for the blog so it's goodbye - so long from I-95 somewhere in New Joisey.

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Friday, April 3, 2009

 

The "Jetes"

 



I am going to take a break from my normal off the wall type of blog and mark a special day. I would like to start that I am not typing this to get any type of sympathy but rather share some stories of my really cool dog – Jeter or as I always called him, the “Jetes”.

We got Jeter in May of 2004. Shawn needed some things at Wal-Mart and being a Sunday afternoon at 2 pm – there was no way I was doing that. So off she went and two hours later she came home with the stuff she needed and a puppy. Seems there was this cute kid holding up a sign for free puppies and Shawn being Shawn just had to stop and look. Well when a cute 8 year old hands you a puppy that is really cute and free – I think you know the rest. So 10 minutes of we are not keeping that dog (we already had 2 Goldens) the tears started. Women are so good at invoking the tears at just the right moment – well it was “decided” that we are keeping the “free” puppy. There is nothing free about a puppy – from vet bills to food to the stuff he just playfully tore apart (Oakley sunglasses, new Adidas sneakers…).

The Jetes was now family and was the younger brother to Payton and Jordan. He would get in trouble and there was Payton taking one for the team as a big brother should do or Jordan would do something funny to take our mind off the fact that the Jetes had just used my $300 Oakley sunglasses as a chew toy (btw - that was my fault for not putting them in a safer place or so I was led to believe). The Jetes was the definition of an alpha dog. I think Wikipedia has a picture of him on its site when you search “Alpha Dog” and if they don’t we will make sure they do. If there was an inch of room on the sofa the Jetes would wiggle his way in – the Jetes was a 100 pound dog and needed feet not inches of room on the sofa. The Jetes loved playing fetch and was better at it then were the 2 Golden Retrievers – go figure.

Payton was our dog, Jordan was my dog and the Jetes was Shawn’s dog. He was always by her side on the sofa or if she was on the computer he would be laying at her feet. As for sleeping – well let’s just say I “spooned” with Jetes more than I did with Shawn. And because of the “free” puppy we had to upgrade to a king size bed.

Jeter passed away 5 weeks after Shawn did. They told me it was from Bloat – but I know it was from a broken heart. He was not the same dog after Shawn passed. He stopped eating, wouldn’t play fetch and had no energy. I took him to the vet who said he was fine. Then a week later he passed. This morning I buried the Jetes’ ashes in the only place they belong – with Shawn. The Jetes is now at rest and lying right next to his best friend.

I am going to borrow an idea from the Sports Guy Bill Simmons who writes a weekly article on ESPN.com. He had an idea for the Mount Rushmore of stuff. Well for me the Jetes would be front and center on the Mount Rushmore of really cool dogs. The Jetes was a mixed breed. When people asked what he was – I would say boxer and other stuff that made him a really cool dog. Every dog I get in the future will have the unlucky task of being compared to the Jetes and trust me, there is no comparison.

The picture I attached to this blog is Shawn and the Jetes when he was still a growing puppy of 8 months. In the picture they are looking down on me – just as they are today looking down on all of us. Rest easy Jetey – take care of mommy and hopefully when I see you again you will have learned how to sit and if so, I have a pair of Oakley’s for you left in an unsafe place or so I will be led to believe.

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