=====================================================================
MLB ROAD TRIP 2003
2003.05.05 <VOL.9> Days 32-35
=====================================================================
Location: Ottawa
Day # 35 - Trip is over
----
NBA Saves the Day
I was in Detroit on Wednesday and scheduled to see a baseball game between the woeful Detroit Tigers and the Baltimore Orioles. But the NBA playoffs were also in Detroit that night, and so I had a choice to make. Obviously, it was not a very difficult choice. Playoff basketball vs. minor-league baseball. Wait - the Tigers are still a major league team, right? Sorry, I was getting confused, since they play like a team of 18-year old rookies. Anyway, since there were tickets left for the basketball game, I chose that. My friend Mike and his wife Michiyo accompanied me to the Palace in Auburn Hills to watch the Pistons and Magic in game 5. Detroit was down 3-1 in the series and was in danger of being only the 3rd #1 seed to lose in the first round, but they won handily (and eventually came back to win the series).
So why did the NBA save the day? Well, the Tigers game that I had originally planned to see was rained out! If the NBA had not scheduled the game on this night, my streak of at least one game per day would have ended. So a big thanks to the NBA for keeping my streak alive. Somebody up there likes me!
----
Club Seats Scam
Andrew and Peter of the Ultimate Sports Road Trip were in Toronto on Thursday to join me for a game between the Blue Jays and the Texas Rangers. I had an extra ticket, but we needed to buy one more so we could all get in. Andrew bought a club seat from a scalper for a reduced rate (tickets in Toronto can be had for very cheap these days). Now the club section is reserved only for those with club seats. Riff-raff such as myself are not permitted into the area. In fact, I had never been in the club section of the Skydome before. So it seemed like we had a problem - one club seat and 3 people. But Andrew had an idea. He entered the club section with the ticket, and then handed his camera case over a railing to Peter. Of course, the camera case had the ticket inside, so Peter used it to enter. Andrew then left the club section on the pretence that he had lost his keys, gave me the ticket, and walked back in showing his keys and saying "I found them". 30 seconds later, I walked in with the same ticket. Problem solved.
So we all enjoyed a great game (Jays won 7-6!) in the club section, which was just as empty as the rest of the stadium. And I learned another valuable method on how to move up in the spectating world.
----
Toronto Boob Jays
On Friday, my friend Boyd joined me for the final MLB game on the trip, as the World Champion Anaheim Angels were in town to face the Blue Jays. The game was fantastic, as Cory Lidle pitched a complete game 3-hitter and the Jays won 3-1. Even better, the game lasted a mere 2:07, which was good because I had a 4-hour drive afterwards. And the guy sitting next to me had brought his 3-year-old son to his first baseball game, and it was a lot of fun to watch his wide-eyed reactions to the game and the hot dog that he enjoyed. The kid even got a baseball from a Jays' player, something the father told me that he had never received in all the games he had attended. But those were not the highlights of the night.
Around the 5th inning, a group of young people moved into the section next to us. We were sitting behind the Jays bullpen in the outfield seats and were in perfect position to heckle them. And shortly thereafter, this group began to do just that. It soon became obvious that this group was rather inebriated. There were 5 of them, 4 males and 1 female, and they were constantly yelling things at the bullpen, and amusing those around them. Eventually, one of the guys yelled "Hey, Jays! Do you want to see her boobs?". He then proceeded to repeat this question to the Jays bullpen for the next 5 minutes. The woman was not offended at all by this question, in fact, she even chipped in with "Yeah, I'll show you my boobs if you want!". Eventually, the Jays pitchers turned around to see what all the fuss was about. When they realized what the woman was offering, they all smiled and said "Sure!".
Well, I didn't expect her to actually respond to their encouragement, but sure enough, she made her way to the front row of the outfield, faced the bullpen, and lifted her shirt to reveal her rather impressive chest. The bullpen was certainly appreciative, as were most of the crowd around us. Applause and cheers were heard, and they were not related to the game at all. I am sure the rest of the Skydome was wondering what was going on in the outfield.
Unfortunately, security took a less enlightened view of the proceedings and made their way down to eject the lady and her 4 friends. The crowd booed the security guys, who were smiling as if to indicate that they enjoyed the show as much as the rest of us, but they had a job to do. The five made their way to the exit, but not before informing all of us that they were being kicked out. As they left the stadium, the gentleman with the 3-year-old said "Baseball and boobs at his first game! I can't believe it - I never had either!" He then admonished the youngster to "Not tell Mommy about this, OK? Or we may not see any more games this year." I don't think the 3-year-old understood all the fuss as he was still working on his hot dog.
As an aside, the Blue Jays have applied to change their name to the Toronto Jays next year. I think this woman was upset at the news (like all Blue Jay fans) and was doing her part to keep the "blue" in Blue Jays.
----
Trip Summary
Here is a quick summary of the trip:
Days: 35
Games:40
Major League Baseball Games: 15
Minor League Baseball Games: 15
NBA Games: 3 (1 playoff)
NHL Games: 2 (2 playoff)
AHL Games: 2
ECHL Games: 2 (2 playoff)
OHL Games: 1 (1 playoff)
Home team record: 18-21-1
Miles Driven: 4793 (7670 km)
States and provinces visited: 18
# of gas fill-ups: 16
# of hotels: 15 (21 nights)
----
Best and Worst
Best Player Picture on the Big Screen
Will Smith, Carolina Mudcats - when batting in Chattanooga, the scoreboard
flashed a picture of famous actor Will Smith (of M.I.B. fame). Needless to say,
they are not the same person.
Best Player Music
Josh Higgins, Lynchburg Hillcats - with the nickname Shaggy due to his passing
resemblance to the Scooby-Doo character Shaggy, it is no surprise that he enters
the game to "Scooby-Doo, Where Are You".
Worst Weather
Buffalo - freezing rain on opening day, game time temp 29F.
Worst Weather Forecast
While driving through Murphy, NC in a rain storm, I listened to a radio station
which said "Chance of rain in Murphy - ALMOST 100%".
Most Interesting At-bat
Nashville's Carlos Rivera swung and missed at a 1-1 pitch and began to walk to
the dugout, thinking he had struck out. The ump called him back, told him he
only had two strikes. Rivera then promptly fouled off 9 pitches before drawing a
walk.
Most Annoying Promotion
Tennessee Glass Company, Nashville. After every third foul ball, the
announcer would say "That foul ball was brought to you by Tennessee Glass
Company - If you need glass, call 296-11oh-oh (get it?). When Rivera fouled off
nine in a row, this became incredibly bothersome.
Worst Simile Used in a Radio Commercial
A grocery store advertised their considerate packers with: "They pack my
groceries with the care of a neo-natal nurse". I don't know about you, but
when purchasing food, I don't need to be reminded of childbirth.
Best Meal Bargain (non-stadium)
Denny's 2.99 Grand Slam - upgraded to a Grand Slam Slugger with AAA coupon. For
$3 you get a full glass of OJ, 2 pancakes, 2 bacon strips, 2 sausages, 2 eggs,
and applesauce. Well worth it.
Worst Hamburger
White Castle - c'mon those aren't hamburgers - they are so small you would need
about 10 of them to get full. And isn't cooked hamburger meat supposed to be
brown? Yuck.
Best Meal Bargain (stadium)
$4 Chicken Strips at KFC in Puerto Rico - quality surprisingly good and enough
to get full on.
Most Police Presence
South Bend, Indiana - I saw so many cops while driving around town, I assume
that there is little crime here.
Best Drive
US 64 from Hendersonville, NC to Tennessee. Beautiful and little traffic. A rain
storm made things pristine.
Worst Drive
Buffalo to Rochester in a snowstorm.
Best Fans
St. Louis - both baseball and hockey, they are always decked out in team
colours.
Worst Fans
Detroit Pistons - for Game 5, it seemed like most fans spent their time going
back and forth to the concession stands. Watch the game and please don't get up
during the action! Basketball has enough stoppages for you to wait to get yet
another beer! Arrgh, these people were so annoying.
Loudest Stadium
Corel Centre, Ottawa - I will need a hearing aid if I see any more games here -
the fans were pumped for Game 5 against Philly and cheered their team on to a
5-2 victory.
Quietest Stadium
Skydome, Toronto - When only 10,000 or so fans are there, the cavernous dome is
like a morgue. Way too quiet.
Best Promotion
$1 Mondays - all seats, hot dogs, beer and soft drinks are $1 in South Bend.
Worst Promotion
Ottawa Lynx- a kid shoots a ball at an empty hockey net from about 5 feet
away (nearly impossible to miss). If he scores, an umpire behind the net makes a
strike call. Stupid. Oh yeah, this was on Umpire Appreciation Day.
Lamest Mascot
Covy in South Bend - they dressed a kid up in a mascot head. But the hat on the
mascot head wasn't attached so the kid had to run around grabbing onto the hat
so it wouldn't fall off. Since he was a kid, he couldn't do anything useful
either, so he just stood on the dugout blocking my view. Hey Covy! Get outta my
way!
Best Day
St. Louis - watching the A's and Cards from the 7th row near the plate and then
heading over to the Savvis Center to watch the Canucks beat the Blues 4-3 in the
NHL playoffs. It really doesn't get much better than that.
----
Final Thoughts
For the first time in 5 weeks, I am not attending a sporting event. It is a strange feeling. What does one do with all this spare time? Of course, I watched the Ottawa Senators advance to the Eastern Conference Finals on TV!
Their victory means that I will be able to attend at least one of their games in the next round. As well, the Ottawa 67's junior hockey team is playing in their championship series, and the neighbouring Hull Olympiques are also in their championship series, so the next week or two will see plenty of hockey, either live or on TV. And the Ottawa Lynx AAA baseball team has some games over the next month that I will attend. As well, I will make my way down to Rochester and Syracuse on the weekend to see the two stadiums that were snowed out at the beginning of the trip. And depending on how the NHL and NBA playoffs work out, I may make one more trip somewhere to see what happens. So I will be keeping myself busy.
A trip like this does funny things to your sense of time. It seems like nearly a year ago that I watched opening day in Toronto, and froze to death in Buffalo. But it was really only a month ago. I saw a lot of great games, caught up with many old friends, and made some new friends as well. I saw new cities, new stadiums, and new leagues, and revisited old ones as well.
I think it would be tough to do this sort of trip for a long time - it becomes difficult to schedule at least 1 sporting event every day, along with travel and keeping the website updated. But for five weeks, it is the most fun you could have. I was very fortunate to have hockey games close by when the baseball games were snowed out and that started me on my goal of one event per day. Doubtless I could have continued this if I wanted, but after a while, it loses its allure. Tonight I could have attended a baseball game in Ottawa, but a rainy forecast coupled with 3 hockey games on the tube encouraged me to stay home and relax. It was certainly a different feeling.
Sports travel is a growing industry. More and more sports fans are out there and there is nothing like the feeling of stepping foot in a new stadium or arena - one that you have seen on TV many times, but are just visiting for the first time. I hope that with my updates, you understand this feeling and are perhaps considering a trip of your own. Whether it be for a minor league game just a few miles away, or a cross-country trip to see ten new stadiums, sports is a great reason to get out on the road and see what the country has to offer. The possibilities are endless and who knows, you might just run into me somewhere!
----
Big Thanks
Although I travelled alone, I saw 22 out of the 40 games with friends. I also stayed with friends in Toronto, New York and Detroit. Without the help of these people, the trip would not have been possible (and it would have been really boring!), so I would like to thank them all here.
Thanks to Helen in Toronto for her SARS advice (wash your hands all the time!) and her hospitality. Thanks to Andrew and Peter for their help in Buffalo as well as seeing a game in Toronto with me. Thanks to Oliver and Kim in New York for allowing me to stay there without complaint. Thanks to Gary and Mike for saving the day when the Yankees were snowed out, and for all their assistance in Puerto Rico. Thanks to Meg for driving to Charlotte to watch a game with me, and then driving to Cincinnati from Indianapolis for a Reds/Cyclones doubleheader. Thanks to Yasu for sharing two games with me - one in Richmond, the other in Memphis. Thanks to Tim, Bob, and Mike for keeping me company in Louisville. Thanks to Mike and Michiyo for their kindness in Detroit - Go Pistons! Thanks to Sharpy for accompanying me on the first 3 games in Toronto and the last 3 games in Ottawa. Thanks to Boyd for coming all the way from Germany to share a game in Toronto.
And finally, thanks to everyone for reading these updates. This trip is over, but 2004 is just around the corner. New parks in Philly and San Diego will necessitate a cross country drive next year - check out the website for details early next year.
Until then, take care everyone!
Sean
www.mlbroadtrip.com/english