In January we went to Big Head Todd's annual show at the Pageant. (well, it's been four or five years in a row now, anyhoo.)
In February I went to the Obama announcement here in town.
J's band's cd release party was at the Hoogland at the end of March and it was awesome.
Our first wedding anniversary was April 19. However, come May we'd been cohabitating for 16 years all told.
We went to Son Volt at the Pageant in April. I stood next to Beatle Bob.
J and I spent a couple of great days hiking and relaxing at Starved Rock State Park around May 21-22
J's oldest nephew graduated from high school on June 1, making us quite ancient indeed.
In July we saw the Police in St. Louis. Bottle Rockets and later the Avett Brothers here in town. We went to Toad the Wet Sprocket in Chicago and hung out with friends, then to Eric Clapton's Crossroads festival the next day, which was ... incomparable. I thought nothing could top Pink Floyd, but if anything could, that did.
In August, Joe Walsh at the state fair, and the Braves series in St. Louis. I'm seriously missing baseball right now.
In October, Dylan and Elvis Costello in Bloomington, then the Drive By Truckers in Chicago the next day.
In November, Jason Isbell, then the Smokies, and then Neil Young.
That's probably about it for us this year, but I see that Big Head Todd, Jay Farrar, and R.E.M. are announcing dates.
Showing posts with label baseball. Show all posts
Showing posts with label baseball. Show all posts
Thursday, December 06, 2007
Monday, August 27, 2007
Take me out to the ball game
We had a great weekend in St. Louis, except for our team losing two out of three.
J and I went to three games: Friday night we'd gotten our usual not-so-great seats a long time ago, then Saturday we splurged on Really Good Seats (padded seats! waitresses!), and fairly good ones Sunday as well.
Friday there was a long rain delay, but eventually the rain stopped and the game commenced. That's the night that 'our' team, the Atlanta Braves, actually won! Go team.
View from upper deck Friday night
Saturday we drove to a neighborhood we like (the Loop) and ate at a restaurant we like (Fitz's) and did a bit of shopping before hitting Starbucks (caffeine yay!) and heading back to the ballpark in time for batting practice. I hadn't been to BP before. It was neat.
Here are some guys hanging around the outfield during BP. Second from left is former catcher and currend Braves coach Eddie Perez, and far right is pitcher John Smoltz.
You could get WAY DOWN close to the field!
So people stood at the wall (which is padded so the players don't hurt themselves too much) and watched the players hit and field.
We almost met John Smoltz. Which was very awesome, if not quite as awesome as almost meeting The Edge. Smoltz is one of our favorite players and their number one pitcher. He's really great.
But pitcher Lance Cormier - who only got his first win of the season tonight, he's our five-spot guy with like a nine-something ERA - was the only Brave to come sign autographs, and he did so for like half an hour and joked and teased with the kids, talked to people, etc. He was super nice, signed our tickets, teased people who hadn't brought a Sharpie ("What ya doin' coming to the ballpark without a Sharpie, dude?"), etc. First time I've met a ball player. Here's J with him.
Then we were able to peek into the dugout as the game was starting. You can see Matt Diaz and Reyes on the left, then center fielder Andruw Jones with his foot up, manager Bobby Cox, trainer Jeff Porter, coach Glen Hubbard talking to (hidden) famed third baseman Chipper Jones on the bench, and, closer, right fielder Jeff Francouer.
It was a beeeyoootiful night for baseball, though.
Starting pitcher Tim Hudson and catcher Brian McCann coming back from the bullpen to start the game.
Unfortunately, though it was a beautiful night for baseball, soon enough it was time for J to put on the rally cap.
We lost Saturday and lost again Sunday. ugh. Sunday it was blistering hot. I slathered on the sunscreed and lucked out on the sunburn front. Poor J won't use my spf 55 because he wants some color, and if normal people used my sunscreen they'd probably actually get whiter. *is albino* I always say my people evolved in an overcast climate. So he got burned, but I only got burned in the part in my hair. I actually went inside and looked at baseball hats, it was so hot, but the caps were all like $25-30, so no. It was too hot for beer, even. I never thought I'd hear myself say that. But we stayed hydrated with water, cokes, and (later) lifesaving frozen lemonades.
The boy in front of us cooled down with a refreshing iced drink.
I find Fredbird kind of demonic.
One more note: Busch Stadium has the best veggie burgers I've ever had. They're so good J orders 'em, and he's not a vegetarian. They're meaty style in the fashion of Boca, but thicker and actually more beefy and realistic. And you can even get 'em with lettuce, pickle, onion, and stuff. omg. I told J on Friday night that I was going to have one of 'em every day, although I didn't. PLUS they're only like $4.50, which is less than beer, closer to the cost of nachos or a mere pretzel, but healthy and yummy! I wish I could buy this brand at the grocery store. umm.
J and I went to three games: Friday night we'd gotten our usual not-so-great seats a long time ago, then Saturday we splurged on Really Good Seats (padded seats! waitresses!), and fairly good ones Sunday as well.
Friday there was a long rain delay, but eventually the rain stopped and the game commenced. That's the night that 'our' team, the Atlanta Braves, actually won! Go team.
View from upper deck Friday night
Saturday we drove to a neighborhood we like (the Loop) and ate at a restaurant we like (Fitz's) and did a bit of shopping before hitting Starbucks (caffeine yay!) and heading back to the ballpark in time for batting practice. I hadn't been to BP before. It was neat.
Here are some guys hanging around the outfield during BP. Second from left is former catcher and currend Braves coach Eddie Perez, and far right is pitcher John Smoltz.
You could get WAY DOWN close to the field!
So people stood at the wall (which is padded so the players don't hurt themselves too much) and watched the players hit and field.
We almost met John Smoltz. Which was very awesome, if not quite as awesome as almost meeting The Edge. Smoltz is one of our favorite players and their number one pitcher. He's really great.
But pitcher Lance Cormier - who only got his first win of the season tonight, he's our five-spot guy with like a nine-something ERA - was the only Brave to come sign autographs, and he did so for like half an hour and joked and teased with the kids, talked to people, etc. He was super nice, signed our tickets, teased people who hadn't brought a Sharpie ("What ya doin' coming to the ballpark without a Sharpie, dude?"), etc. First time I've met a ball player. Here's J with him.
Then we were able to peek into the dugout as the game was starting. You can see Matt Diaz and Reyes on the left, then center fielder Andruw Jones with his foot up, manager Bobby Cox, trainer Jeff Porter, coach Glen Hubbard talking to (hidden) famed third baseman Chipper Jones on the bench, and, closer, right fielder Jeff Francouer.
It was a beeeyoootiful night for baseball, though.
Starting pitcher Tim Hudson and catcher Brian McCann coming back from the bullpen to start the game.
Unfortunately, though it was a beautiful night for baseball, soon enough it was time for J to put on the rally cap.
We lost Saturday and lost again Sunday. ugh. Sunday it was blistering hot. I slathered on the sunscreed and lucked out on the sunburn front. Poor J won't use my spf 55 because he wants some color, and if normal people used my sunscreen they'd probably actually get whiter. *is albino* I always say my people evolved in an overcast climate. So he got burned, but I only got burned in the part in my hair. I actually went inside and looked at baseball hats, it was so hot, but the caps were all like $25-30, so no. It was too hot for beer, even. I never thought I'd hear myself say that. But we stayed hydrated with water, cokes, and (later) lifesaving frozen lemonades.
The boy in front of us cooled down with a refreshing iced drink.
I find Fredbird kind of demonic.
One more note: Busch Stadium has the best veggie burgers I've ever had. They're so good J orders 'em, and he's not a vegetarian. They're meaty style in the fashion of Boca, but thicker and actually more beefy and realistic. And you can even get 'em with lettuce, pickle, onion, and stuff. omg. I told J on Friday night that I was going to have one of 'em every day, although I didn't. PLUS they're only like $4.50, which is less than beer, closer to the cost of nachos or a mere pretzel, but healthy and yummy! I wish I could buy this brand at the grocery store. umm.
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
This; That
It's flattering when someone clicks through just to set me straight.
Just to be clear, though, allowing comments, moderating comments, replying to comments, and deleting comments are all at the discretion of the blogger. You're free to say what you wish, and I'm free to do with comments as I wish. Make of that what you will; I promise not to poison your sushi with a chemical element I never heard of before a couple of weeks ago.
Actually, it's kind of like giving someone a present they don't want. You go to a lot of trouble to pick out a knick-knack, but if Aunt Sophie doesn't like it, well, she's just not obligated to put it on the mantle.
I guess five-packs of Cardinals tickets go on sale this weekend, but I think we're going to pass this year. Used to be four-packs, and we always bought them, but it's harder and harder to go to Cardinals games. It's tough to love baseball and hate the regional team, although there's no logical reason to like a team because of geographical coincidence, either. Anyway, even hating the Cardinals, at least the ugly old stadium felt like home. Now we're seeing a team we hate in an unfamiliar stadium, so that's even less fun. I miss being able to walk all the way around the perimeter at the old place - although it was nice having a large sheltered area to cower in during The Big Huge Wind Storm last summer.
Anyway, I think this time we'll focus our effort on spending more for better tickets to fewer games that we really want to attend instead of buying a pack that includes a couple of teams we really want to see and a couple we don't really care for either way.
Gov't Mule Friday! I know I should stay in town and attend a high school band performance instead, but I'm not.
Just to be clear, though, allowing comments, moderating comments, replying to comments, and deleting comments are all at the discretion of the blogger. You're free to say what you wish, and I'm free to do with comments as I wish. Make of that what you will; I promise not to poison your sushi with a chemical element I never heard of before a couple of weeks ago.
Actually, it's kind of like giving someone a present they don't want. You go to a lot of trouble to pick out a knick-knack, but if Aunt Sophie doesn't like it, well, she's just not obligated to put it on the mantle.
I guess five-packs of Cardinals tickets go on sale this weekend, but I think we're going to pass this year. Used to be four-packs, and we always bought them, but it's harder and harder to go to Cardinals games. It's tough to love baseball and hate the regional team, although there's no logical reason to like a team because of geographical coincidence, either. Anyway, even hating the Cardinals, at least the ugly old stadium felt like home. Now we're seeing a team we hate in an unfamiliar stadium, so that's even less fun. I miss being able to walk all the way around the perimeter at the old place - although it was nice having a large sheltered area to cower in during The Big Huge Wind Storm last summer.
Anyway, I think this time we'll focus our effort on spending more for better tickets to fewer games that we really want to attend instead of buying a pack that includes a couple of teams we really want to see and a couple we don't really care for either way.
Gov't Mule Friday! I know I should stay in town and attend a high school band performance instead, but I'm not.
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