Wrigley Home Opener

A half hour later it was beautiful and sunny!

What a fun day!  Yes, the Cubs lost 7 to 4 to the mighty Brew Crew, but they made it exciting in the 9th.  Starling Castro was up in the bottom of the ninth with the bases loaded and launched a deep fly ball to right, which the wind knocked down, and Norichika Aoki caught on the warning track.   The kicker of it all?  The wind had been blowing out to right at about 25 to 20 mph the entire game, and then it shifted about 4 batters before Castro came to the plate.  Something tells me that the Big Guy upstairs is affirming what I have known all along: I'll be waiting 'til next year. 

Go figure.


Dale Sveum's response to the wind shift that spoiled a possible game winning walk-off grand slam?
"Well, that's Wrigley for ya."  Oh, Dale, you're the man.

Here's a picture of me waiting in the season ticket holder entrance line on Waveland with the iconic firehouse and a rooftop building in the background.

It was my first Home Opener and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  My buddy, Jeff, is a newly anointed season ticket holder and he was just as excited as me.  The view from the seats is great!  We're in the shade and out of the elements, which is great for a guy who isn't a fan of being rained on and who doesn't enjoy applying and reapplying gobs of sun block in the hotter months.

Here's the view from our seats.  We're on the aisle and about 8 rows from the nearest stand that serves adult-type beverages.  

The Opening day ceremonies were great.  First, all of the players for both teams were introduced. Then an elementary school class recited "The Pledge of Allegiance" and Wayne Messmer belted out "God Bless America" and our national anthem.  Billy Williams and Fergie Jenkins doubled up on the first pitches and Ernie Banks sang the "7th Inning Stretch".   There's nothing like 40,000+ people all screaming the words to a classic baseball song!



I had my second Wrigley Field nacho helmet experience.  I told Jeff about it earlier and he was more than willing to split one with me.  The picture may not show it, but the helmet is actually large enough to wear on an adult's head. The nachos are also two-tiered!  That's right, chips on the bottom, then toppings, then another layer of chips topped off by more nacho goodness!  Heck yeah!

Jeff and I also tested out the "Barbecue Shake".  Nope, not nearly as entertaining.  It was a smallish order of tater tots with a couple shakes of BBQ seasoning sprinkled on.  Yeah, that's $6.50 I wish I had back.  Oh well.

Wrigley was rockin' and I was happy I could experience it first hand.  I'm scheduled to go four more times this season, which is a pleasant change since I hadn't been to Wrigley since 2009 before yesterday.

It should be a fun summer!

Avoiding the Rookie Hazing

This is my entry for Nachos Grande's contest, Round 1. [Edit: this piece is completely fictional.]

Looking out for the veterans of the ball club.

In his mind it wasn't a matter of if he would be called up to The Show, but when.  Jaret Wright, drafted in the first round in 1994 by the Indians, already had plans for his signing bonus money.  After being named Orange County's high school football player of the year by the Los Angeles Times he had a reputation to protect.  No way in the world was he going out like the many rookie classes before, or after him.

Exhibit A: Joba Chamberlain and Ian Kennedy of the New York Yankees as rookies.


Rookie Hazing was not in his plans and he would stop at no cost to escape embarrassment.  The Flintstones movie was in theaters and the Wonderbra was just invented.  He shuddered at the thought of going back to his 10-year high school reunion with pictures of him dressed as Betty Rubble floating around on the newly created World Wide Web.

Jaret picked a few brains, made a few connections, and he ultimately decided his best way to avoid certain humiliation was to invest in a golf cart.

You see, Jaret knew that each team in The Show had their own team golf cart . . . the perfect escape vehicle!

He planned to keep his ears and eyes open and learn when the veterans of the ball club were ready to move forward with the rookie hazing process.  Jaret would then find the team's golf cart and make his escape.


Jaret had a lot of work to do before this fateful day was to come.  He first joined the National Golf Kart Racing Association while pitching his way through the minors.   He sunk a good portion of his bonus money into a couple of golf carts, had a mechanic on retainer, and found a body shop back in Orange County to help him out.

Traditionally, golf carts don't top out at more than 15 miles per hour.  Jaret, being no dummy, knew that 15 mph wasn't going to get the job done.   He took his two newly purchased golf carts back to OC and had them souped up.

Why two?  One to practice in and one to anonymously give to the Indians to replace the run-down excuse for a golf cart they had been using for the past couple of decades.  The second cart would naturally be painted to fit within the team's color scheme and be at the ballpark at all times.

During the 1997 season Jaret Wright spent a good portion of his time in between starts at the local race track in Buffalo perfecting his golf cart driving techniques.  His major league debut was so close he could smell it!  Jaret knew that to avoid being made to wear a cheer leading outfit he had to perfect the driving skills of his get-a-way vehicle.

Exhibit B: Robinson Cano as a rookie.



Jaret Wright was called up in 1997 and his plan was put to test.  He successfully was able to avoid the veterans dressing up the rookies as characters from The Lion King.

Yet, Jaret's actions led to some consequences that he had not originally anticipated.

The MLB Players Association usually doesn't turn on one of its own, but in this case the union mad an exception.  Jaret Wright would not be allowed to join the MLBPA until he had succumbed to the hazing rituals that EVERY player went through as rookie.

Jaret Wright didn't want to be a part of the silly MLBPA anyway.  As a result, Jaret spent the next ten years in the majors fearing the rookie hazing right of passage and surrounding himself with ludicrously fast golf carts.

Here's a quick a small sampling of what can be found in Jaret's 12 stall garage, which features one golf cart for each year he was in the big leagues and a Nissan golf cart he had made just in case he was traded to the Nippon Ham-Fighters in the Japaneses Baseball League.


Stall #4: Garia Edition Soleil de Minuit Golf Cart made by Porsche -- Jaret's golf cart of choice after he signed his first million dollar contract in 2000.















Stall #7:  Hummer H2 Golf Cart -- Jaret thought he had three rookies on the 2007 Padres to join him. 














Exhibit C: The Padres' rookies as Hooters Girls.

Stall #9: Inspired by the 2007 movie, Batman Begins
















Stall #12: The Japanese made Nissan Electric Golf Cart















Jaret had seen some of those wacky game shows from Japan and he didn't want any part of the crazy Japanese Baseball League hazing that could possibly take place.

Nachos Grande Contest: Round 0

Mmmm... Nachos...

 So, I bumped into a new blog the other day and it's entitled Nachos Grande.  Nachos Grande isn't a new blog, but if I haven't seen it yet, so it's new to me.  The author apparently likes nachos, and until he stops enjoying nachos I'll probably keep following.  I, too, have been known to partake in a plate or large plastic souvenir helmet of nachos.  Exhibit A: My sister and I at a Peoria Chiefs game in Wrigley Field in 2010.  Look at that nacho helmet!

 Obviously, the Cubs aren't going anywhere this year and I'm already waiting on next year.  So while I wait, I'm going to hijack my own blog in an attempt to win a contest sponsored by the aforementioned guy who loves nachos.

 So, there's not a ton of rules in the contest.  I must play nice with my fellow bloggers and I must craft a post about a 3.5" by 2.5" piece of cardboard.  Generally, I would call them "baseball cards," but in this case my preselected muse really doesn't have much to with the beloved national pastime.

Here's my target: Joey Furts.  Allen & Ginter's is one of the more widely collected Topps "baseball" products and it features cards of baseball players, Kate Upton, the world's tallest buildings, people of the Bible, man's best friend, and Rocky Mountain Oysters.   Yeah, it's a pretty wide spectrum.

 
Allen & Ginter's also features a puzzle/code/mystery to solve each year.  From what I can piece together, if you follow Joey and the other murder suspects on Twitter, then you'll probably be the recipient of a few code solving hints through tweets.  Yeah, I like puzzles and I enjoy Twitter, but I just want to collect cards.

Joey Furts totally reminds me of this guy:

Well, not that guy exactly, but you know the type.  The guy I'm thinking of was working ten years ago in Myrtle Beach.  I was out there to stand up with my good friend Jon at his wedding.  {Whoa. Ten years?  Congrats, Jon & Becky!}

Myrtle Beach is a pretty sweet place to vacation for a mid-western guy like myself.  Yet, most places that attract tourists and vacationers contain at least two of the following three things:
1. Strip malls that advertise 5 t-shirts for $10.
2. Double-decker tour buses.
3. Guys, like Joey Furts, trying to make an easy buck.  

I did NOT buy five t-shirts, although there were plenty of opportunities.
I don't specifically remember the tour buses, but that doesn't mean they weren't there. 
I saw Joey Furts.

I suppose it would have been more fitting if he was actually playing three-card monte in Willow Cove as the cardboard suggests.  But instead, he was playing three-seashell monte near the ocean in Myrtle Beach.  The dude moved his hands as though he had been through those same motions a thousand times before, and by the looks of him, he probably had.

Did I try to best the Myrtle Beach Joey Furts in three-seashell monte?  No.  No, I did not.
Did I save what cash I did have for libations and one heck of a wedding weekend.  Yes.  Yes, I did.