Saturday, August 27, 2005

Freedom isn't Free

... but Washington Nationals' games are. Well, only if you are fortunate enough to be born into my family. Let me clarify. My cousin Kellie hails from Cal State Fullerton. Her boyfriend plays baseball there. His old teammate is Chad Cordero, who is currently leading Major League Baseball in saves. Kellie is the greatest cousin in the world because she hooked it up with Chad Cordero (I guess that can't be the only reason, but it is the front runner). And Chad Cordero is the man because he got us two tickets. Furthermore, I cannot tell you how cool I felt going to the will call window and being surrounded by Nationals fans and saying in a more than audible tone, 'I'm a guest of Chad Cordero'. Needless to say, some heads turned. And to make things even cooler, he came into the game in the top of the ninth, struck out both batters he faced, and converted the save. It was glorious.

The Nationals are Washington D.C.'s new team. They are not exactly a new team. They are actually the old Montreal Expos. Both Geoff and I are just tickled that we didn't have to go to Montreal and instead we got to go to our nation's capitol. What a treat. I wasn't exactly looking forward to seeing the game, per say, because they play in RFK Stadium, which is a multi-purpose stadium and not terribly impressive. It was, to my surprise, not that bad at all. It is hardly a gem, but it was still cool, as well as they had fireworks. Which is nice. Apart from seeing Cordero come into the game I must say the highlight was the two women sitting in front of us. They were both probably in their 70s and they were both keeping score and they were both drinking beer. Geoff and I kind of wanted to take them out on a double date that night. But Gladis, the one on the left, had a rock on her left hand - she is probably spoken for, bummer.

That night we walked around the momuments. I've seen them several times before yet I still am in awe when I walk around DC. Especially at night. It is said that baseball is America's sport, and I love baseball and America more than anybody, but I am never more proud to be an American than when I'm in Washington D.C. I'm so glad this city has a baseball team again.

We spent the night outside of the city because we had an off day on Thursday and we wanted to spend more time there. So we did. Saw the Smithsonians, walked the streets, went to the White House, went into the Supreme Court building, toured the Capitol. I don't even want to cheapen the experience by telling some witty tale like when we were getting our tickets for the Capitol tour, which are free, of course, the Korean couple in front of us just kept offering the clerk $20. I guess in their minds all tickets cost $10, regardless of if prices are posted or not, so if someone, anyone gives them 2 tickets they have to pay $20. But that is part of the magic of this place, the accessiblity of it all. Anybody can walk up and be part of it all. I love it.

That night we went back to Geoff's aunts place. This was our third night there in four days. What a treat. Aunt Sue made us the tastiest of dinners which included a cold beer. After a long day of walking around our nation's capitol nothing tastes as good as a cold beer. It was as if I was drinking the nector of the gods - and it was only a Coors. But it was great to sit there and talk with her for a couple of hours. We cannot express how thankful we are to her and other hosts for the first half of this trip. We have a chance to do something special here but we can't do it on our own and our hosts are making the magic happen. They are keeping us rocking.

I am currently in Boston, we are seeing the game tomorrow afternoon. As soon as I get the chance I'll catch you all up on the Yankees game, my Uncle Brian's arrival, staying with Tyler Part II, my dad's arrival, and of course the BoSox game. Til then.

Wednesday, August 24, 2005


The view of PNC Park and the Allegheny River from the Roberto Clemente Bridge Posted by Picasa


Aging Warehouse at the Buffalo Trace Distillery. It is too bad you can't smell what it was like in there. Posted by Picasa


Louisville Slugger Museum in, well, Louisville. Posted by Picasa


Barge going down the Ohio River as fireworks go off at Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati. Posted by Picasa

Baltimore

Baltimore is home to more street people than any other town we have visited. If you are the type of a person who carries a lot of change, then don’t visit this town, because they can hear the jingle in your pocket and then track you down and ask for some spare change. They are real clever too, not too greedy, only asking for 6 cents at a time. We spent most of our afternoon dealing with street people while we were hanging out at the inner harbor. We also went to the Babe Ruth Birthplace and Museum. It only costs a few bucks and it is a 3 minute walk from the stadium. Why is this guy amazing? He came up as a left-handed catcher, excelled as a pitcher for the Red Sox, and then became historic as a power hitter for the Yankees, all without the help of steroids. That is why the English language created the word ‘ruthian’ and not ‘bondsian’.

The fans here really take their game day experience seriously. We had lunch in the bar across the street from the stadium. And after a short period of time it was packed. So we began to worry that the game was about to start and we had to go back to our car to get our cameras. We left and on then we realized it was only 4. The game didn’t start for another 3 hours. Wow. As far as I’m concerned there is only flaw with Camden Yards, and that is the statue of Babe Ruth in front of the stadium has him holding a right-handed glove. He was left-handed. Oops. This is the ballpark that inspired all the other new stadiums and after being there for only a few minutes it is obvious why – it is a beautiful place to watch baseball. We have been so lucky that six of our last seven stadiums were in new ballparks. I can’t wait to see the Skydome and Metrodome. What a delight those will be.

We spent the night at Geoff’s aunt’s place again. And now we are in the nation’s capitol for the next two days. God Bless America and Major League Baseball.

The River Stadiums

We got to Cincinnati without a problem; we even stopped at the Best Buy in beautiful Middletown. This was our second day game of the trip thus far, but the first that was outside. As you might remember, our game in Phoenix was in a covered stadium. Let me say just one thing about the experience, there is no better way to spend $5 than to see a day game on the banks of the Ohio River at Great American Ballpark. Their stadium is gorgeous and we sat in shade the whole time and enjoyed watching the Reds hit 6 homeruns. Balls just fly out of this park I guess. Here are a couple of interesting characteristics of this park; 1) all the seats are red 2) the right field is open and the Ohio River runs behind it 3) there is a gap in the upper section of the third base side bleachers which reveals downtown Cincy 4) there is a restaurant/bar in the batter’s eye in centerfield that is completely hidden from the casual observer 5) there are riverboat smokestacks in centerfield and every time a Reds’ pitcher strikes some one out little puffs of smoke come out of the top and every time a Red hits a homerun fireworks come out. A family sat down in front of us during the game. The order, from left to right, was mother-daughter #1-daughter #2-dad-future son-in-law. It took a few innings to figure it all out. The girls on the left were talking about the upcoming wedding of daughter #2. I guess she is registered at Pottery Barn and mom is not too pleased with some of her selections. Dad and future son-in-law were chatting about random stuff the whole game. These seem like the type of guys who go hunting together. Future son-in-law is also one of those I’m 20 yet I know everything kind of guys. I know the type because, well, I was one last year. Here is where the magic happened. Daughter #1, who is probably about 19, is on her 3rd or 4th Bud Light. Don’t worry, she was just keeping pace with the rest of the family. She then tells her mom that her father once told her that it was not love at first sight, he was just interested in her boobs. Mom was not happy to hear this. It seems that 30 years of marriage was based on an attraction to her anatomy. I don’t have any hard data to back this up, but I’m going out on a limb to say this isn’t the first relationship based on physical attraction. I don’t know, I’m not Dr. Phil or anything, but I’m just throwing that out there. Yet Mom was devastated. She began to cry. I’m serious, tears were running down her face. I thought she was going to have to excuse herself. I really felt bad for the dad. He was just sitting there enjoying the game and his 7th Bud Light and now all of a sudden he is in the dog house. It was probably some story he either made up or told Daughter #1 in confidence to help her get over the fact that the quarterback on the football team broke up with her because he didn’t share her love. Poor Dad. However, the story has an upside, at least for us. The Reds scored more than 10 runs that game which means … FREE BUFFALO WINGS AT HOOTERS! Dinner is served. We are new to town, of course, so we have no idea where the nearest Hooters is located. Have no fear, know-it-all-future-son-in-law is here. This guy gave us directions to 4 different Hooters in the greater Cincinnati and North Kentucky areas. Complete with parking tips and which waitress to ask for. Not the kind of information you want to be throwing around when you are sitting next to the father of the girl you plan on spending the rest of your life with in marital bliss.

No surprise at all, Future-son-in-law gave us superb directions and we were on a Hooters on a riverboat on the Kentucky shore of the Ohio, how cool is that. Furthermore, we sat outside and we could hear the Jimmy Buffet concert going on just across the river. Free wings, Buffet, scantily clad women – welcome to Kentucky. It was a delight.

Since it was a day game we still had a lot of day to kill. So after dinner we decided to drink a little in Kentucky and then call it a night. So we went to the liquor store to pick up a 6-pack and some ice and guess what, the liquor store is drive thru. Yeah, you didn’t read that wrong, you drive, in your car, to purchase booze. I suppose that this state is all about efficiency, no point in getting out of your car if you are just going to be drinking in it anyway, ‘Oh, I’d be drinkin’ in here anyway. Just bring it straight to me boy I ain’t get my whiskey fix in a few hours now.’ Anyhow, we didn’t drink in the car, because, well, safety doesn’t take a holiday. We drink instead at the levy. I felt so American; we were sipping on beers on Sunday afternoon leaning up on the banks of the Ohio River. There was no place in the world I would have rather been.

We slept there that night and got up early to drive to Louisville. We had only one thing to do in Louisville and that was to see the Louisville Slugger Bat Museum. The name is deceiving because it is not just a museum but it is also the actual factory. On our guided tour they took us around and we watched guys making bat right in front of us. It was actually kind of ridiculous, a whole bunch of tourists walking around in sandals and Mickey Mouse t-shirts while these men are cutting wood that is spinning faster than 3000 rpm. I don’t think I pair of safety goggles would have been out of line. Yet the tour was definitely worth it and the museum was even better. Did you know that over 80% of MLB players use Louisville Slugger bats and that each player under contract receives 120 free bats a year? That is almost one bat per game. I could go on, but I’ll spare you.

We left there with one thing on our minds, bourbon. Kentucky, as you should all know, is the only place in the entire world where bourbon whiskey is made. Bourbon whiskey, as you should all know, is the official spirit of America. Needless to say, this was a mandatory stop. We found the Buffalo Trace Distillery which resides on the banks of the Kentucky River in Frankfort. Buffalo Trace is the oldest active distillery in the world – they were making bourbon before we signed the Constitution. Geoff and I were the youngest people there by about 50 years – and that is considering our combined age. Our tour consisted of 6 people; our guide Bob, Earl, Earl’s wife, Earl’s sister-in-law, Geoff, and I. Somewhere in between the video narrated by Alec Baldwin and the tasting room Earl decided that he was going to give a tour of a paper mill while we were on a tour of a bourbon distillery. I am not joking now, I could not come up with this, I’m not that clever. Earl would interrupt Bob the tour guide and begin telling us why the gauges in a paper mill are round (it is so that you can get better accuracy of the density). And did you know that when paper is made it is 99% water? Also, Earl’s old company up in Vicksburg (remember, we are in Frankfort Kentucky right now, Vicksburg is in Mississippi and to the best of my knowledge has not really been populated since the Civil War) was the first to use hard wood in paper and if you see black specs on the back side, that is what it is. Bob the tour guide, bless his heart, didn’t shut him up. He also did some great random name dropping. For example, “My neighbor, Jim Crowder, he had one of those stills and when the cops took it he broke into the police station and stole it back”. Are you kidding me? If you are going to blatantly fabricate stories at least come up with something that is going to impress us like, ‘Back in WW1 me and 3 buddies drank an entire barrel of bourbon in 3 days’. At least that is applicable. Furthermore, his wife was so concerned with how many trees were cut down to make the white oak barrels. You would have thought that they had to sacrifice children and kittens to make them, she was that concerned. And the sister-in-law, who was from Arizona, where the weather is just murder (yeah right, go to Miami) was a regular booze-hound. She kept trying to steal open bottles in the bottling room. About as often as Earl was telling us about the paper mill she was asking when the free tasting was. Hell of a family. Earl also let us know that the only reason why he lives in Alabama is because it is home to the finest bass fishing in the world. So if education, taxes, climate, culture are of no concern to you, and the quality of bass fishing is your number one priority, then you should move to Alabama.

They did take us into one of the warehouses where they age the bourbon. It smelled like my apartment did the day after graduation – it was glorious. Interesting fact about the white oak barrels they age the bourbon in; it is rather porous and more than half of the whiskey is lost to evaporation, this is called the ‘Angel’s share’. That is why angels are so happy.

We did finally get to taste the bourbon and it was a good thing because Earl’s sister-in-law was getting the shakes. This bourbon was won more awards in the past 5 years than any other whiskey in the world, and I could see why, it was delicious.

But back to baseball. We drove from Frankfort to Pittsburgh that afternoon. The Pirates now play at PNC park which is similar to Great American Ballpark in the sense that it is also on the banks of a river, the Allegheny River. It is an incredible field, a great place to see a ballgame. Also, if you park in downtown Pittsburgh, like we did, you have to walk across Roberto Clemente bridge to get the game. My words can’t do the setting any justice – it is a truly amazing place. They are so concerned with fan intimacy at this stadium that they put the press box above all of the seats – the media has the worst seats in the house, how cool is that. My favorite part of the park is that the right field wall is 21 feet high. This is an extremely subtle memorial to Roberto Clemente the Pirates’ rightfielder who wore number 21. Clemente was baseball’s first Latin superstar. He was a superb ballplayer and an even finer human being. He died in a plane crash while bringing supplies to earthquake victims in Nicaragua. He is not someone baseball fans will ever forget.

We left the game and drove towards Harrisburg near where Geoff’s aunt lives. On the way we made a quick stop at Denny’s. It was a delight. Not quite as delightful as 10 hours of a sleep in a bed though. That was a special gift from the joyful angels above.


Fireworks on the field of Comerica Park after the Tigers won the game in extra innings. Posted by Picasa


Jacobs Field in Cleveland Posted by Picasa


See if you can find the crumb in her hair (read 'The Great Lake Stadiums' post) Posted by Picasa


Geoff in Williamsport, PA. Notice the Little League sleeveless t-shirt. Posted by Picasa

The Great Lake Stadiums

Let it be known that Cleveland is home to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, how could this town not rock? Well, we don’t know. We only spent about 3 hours and 7 minutes inside city limits, and all but about 20 minutes of that was inside beautiful Jacobs Field, cleverly nicknamed ‘The Jake’.

Similar to the Arizona Diamondbacks game we received the two cheapest seats in the whole place. We were actually placed above the foul pole – shattering all hope of us catching a Coco Crisp homerun and making it pointless for us and the 47 year old man in front of us to have gloves. The man in front of us reminded us that we always have to dream and one day it will all come true. Apparently his dream is to catch a homerun ball in the farthest section of Jacobs Field, bless his heart.

We relocated to much better seats which immediately enhanced our game time experience ten fold. A couple of quick notes about Ohio; one, just like Florida, there is no helmet law for motorcycle riders – you got to love that and two, one out of every three guys has hair at least shoulder length. They are old school rockers here. Helmets? Those are for pansies. Short hair? Not since ‘Nam. One of the long haired fans in attendance was our friend John, little brother of Matt Mackey the guy who hooked us up at the Olive Garden back in Virginia. John and his girlfriend Michelle joined us for the game. Which was two games in two nights with guests, what a delight. Michelle’s friend Nicole was also at the game and when she left early I said, ‘I hope to see you soon’ because I knew we might all be hanging out later. Michelle heard me say, ‘I hope we have sex soon’ and John thought I said, ‘You are a big baboon’. It was like the telephone game you played in elementary school on rain days because you couldn’t go outside and the last kid in the line always ended up saying something ridiculous, usually involving dinosaurs. Or in my case in Cleveland, it involved baboons.

The game itself was terrific. The Indians scored three runs in the bottom of the eighth to tie it up. Both Orioles and Indians failed to score in the ninth and we were headed into the first extra innings game of the road trip. On the first pitch of the bottom of tenth inning Mark Brossard hit a walk-off solo homerun over the right field wall. It was epic. The only problem with the game was the Rafael Palimero did not play and so Geoff didn’t get to use his line, “I don’t know if it’s the Viagra or the steroids but he really got some good wood on that pitch”. Maybe ol’ Raffy will play in Baltimore, we can only hope, because that line is too good to go to waste.

After the game we hung out at the Mackey household with our boy John. It is incredible, in a matter of a few hours Geoff and I have become best of friends with the Mackey brothers. We watched Mortal Kombat on TBS the Superstation and then slept in the basement. It was Friday when we went to sleep, it was Tuesday when we woke up. Man, sleeping in basements is just the best. I have no idea why we don’t have those things on the west coast, because they are the coolest, they remain unbelievably dark the whole day. I did feel rather awkward the next morning when I was talking to Reverend Mackey and I compared his basement to a Vegas hotel room. Not my best analogy. I don’t think it mattered because the Mackey parents were the nicest of hosts. They let us sleep in, made us coffee, watched the Little League World Series with us, and then even took us out to lunch. The Mackey family is the most welcoming family ever. Considering this is the family of my high school friend’s (Alicia) boyfriend (Matt) who we only met 3 days before. We were essentially complete strangers and they treated us like kin.

We left Cleveland to head to the Detroit game. This was supposed to be the shortest driving day of the trip so far. However, that was not the case. So we were headed to the home of Wes and Jenny Miller. Wes is an old friend of Eric Veneble who is someone I know from the Bay Area and we will be staying with him later. Eric set us up with Wes because, well, Detroit is not the town where you want to be sleeping in your van. I talked to Wes that morning and he gave me directions complete with, don’t turn right or you will be in a cornfield. What he failed to mention, is that Michigan Ave. is also called US 12. So we continued on the highway, on our way to Flint, for almost an hour before I realized we had probably gone too far. Nothing like 80 extra miles at $2.60 a gallon. Yet the wait was worth it.

Wes, who Geoff and I were referring to as Wes Mantooth which was Vince Vaghen’s character in Anchorman, was so fired up to see us. This made sense because I was coming off my first shower in a few days. We hopped in his mini van with his beautiful daughter Ali, Jenny, and Jenny’s brother Ryan. This is where something special happened. After searching for about 32 minutes for his sunglasses Wes starts up the car and pops in … NEIL DIAMOND. We were in Motown and we were rocking to Neil. I get goosebumps just thinking about it.

As if Wes Mantooth could do no better, he also managed to secure a parking pass and 4 field level tickets. A parking pass is kind of a must in Detroit. And the seats were incredible, about 10 rows behind the first base dugout. Furthermore, no one was next to us on either side so Ryan got to join us a few innings in. Comerica Park, the Tigers’ new stadium, is a sight to see. Very open and intimate. Extremely cool architecture and tiger sculptures everywhere. And in centerfield they have statues of their hall of famers and they are the greatest statues I have ever seen at a stadium. A perfect stadium in a not-so-perfect city. I will tell you though, Detroit Rock City likes to rock. It bragged several guys with mullets. There was one guy in a tank top rocking out to KISS most of the 7th and 8th inning. For some reason I get the feeling this guy was rocking out to KISS since the 7th and 8th grade. The fan highlight involved little Ali, daughter of Wes Mantooth. She was messing around with her nachos and threw some pieces of chips in the hair of the lady in front of us. That alone isn’t that big of a deal. However, it is believed that the women was the secretary of the CEO of the company that Wes Mantooth works for, the same women who got us these tickets. Probably not the best way to move up the career ladder, but it sure was funny. See if you can see the chip in the picture I posted.

After the game we all went to the Taco Bell. Nothing like authentic Michigan Mexican food. Believe it or not, there is not sense of urgency at the Bell at 1 AM. It took them about 8 minutes to take our order – probably because we ordered somewhere between 4 and 13 Sierra Mists.

We then went back to their home just outside of Ann Arbor and sat around their table and ate our delicious meal – which they bought for us, by the way – and just traded stories for over an hour. I had not laughed that hard in months. Most of what was said was vowed to remain at that table, and then sealed in blood, but I can say there was a segment involving milk and vomit.

I mentioned in some other post how weird it is not to talk to other people. For the most part it is just me and Geoff out here and sometimes we will go an entire day without talking to anyone else besides each other. And that is why it is so great when we have visitors, or hosts, or friendly bartenders. But this was the first time that we truly felt like we were back home. If only they didn’t live in Michigan.

Sadly, we had to leave the Manteeth early on Sunday in order to catch a day game in Cincinnati.

Sunday, August 21, 2005


Our route since Miami - 2300 more miles. Gas prices still rising. Say what you may, I wish the war was for oil, then we wouldn't be eating Pop-Tarts and sleeping in a van just to make budget. Posted by Picasa

Something quick

It is a delight to hear how much you all are enjoying our blog. I'm sorry that there has been a drought of posts lately, but simply we have been too busy rocking. We are currently in Cincinnati and in the next few days I'll work hard on catching you all up. Let me tell you, the past few days will not disappoint. Til then ...


Shea Stadium  Posted by Picasa


Art on State St. in Philly Posted by Picasa


Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. God Bless America. Posted by Picasa


Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia. Notice there are no advertisements - how pure is that? Posted by Picasa

Pub night in NYC

We left Philly with more than enough time to get to NYC. We are from Southern California, we know and understand traffic. It is a good thing too, or we would not have made the Mets game.

Original plan: take the NJ turnpike to the Lincoln tunnel. Search for parking for a while in Midtown. Take a subway out to Queens, watch the game, and then come back to Manhattan to party and spend the night with my college roommate Tyler.

Well, we did take the NJ turnpike to the Lincoln tunnel, and that is about it.

Everything was going great, then we got to the tunnel. Let me first say, whoever thought it was a good idea to put our biggest city on an island deserves a gold star. Top gun thinking Dutch. It took us an hour and twenty minutes to get from the turnpike to the toll booth. For those who aren’t familiar with NYC this means that it took us 80 minutes to go a little more than a mile. Meaning that we were going less than one mile per hour. Or, for those who like analogies, a man traveling on a motorized scooter, like a Rascal, could travel about 12 times faster than us. So we decided it was time to go to plan B, which sounds like the worst plan in the world, but it had to be done. Knowing that the subway ride from Midtown Manhattan to Shea Stadium would take 35 minutes we knew we needed a new mode of transportation. So plan B was to go through the Lincoln Tunnel (we had no other choice at this point) drive across the entire island, go up about 20 blocks, get on the Queensboro bridge, and drive 110 blocks through Queens to get to the game. We had about 40 minutes to accomplish this feat. It was the 6 o’clock hour on a week day. This is where my mom may want to stop reading because this is where, for the first time in human history, safety took a holiday. I popped in a special rocking mix, featuring some rocking tunes from some rocking bands such as AC/DC and Guns and Roses. Nothing pumps me up for the impossible quite like ‘You Shook Me All Night Long’. I came storming out of the tunnel, like those people rushing for the $30 DVD players at Wal-Mart around Christmas time. I immediately made an illegal left turn and ran 2 yellow lights. Bingo. The problem with this town is that a) there are a million pedestrians at 6 PM on a weekday (literally) and b) the landscape is quite distracting. But we don’t make excuses, we play like champions. I took a hard left on 6th. This is where we realized something special was about to happen. An ambulance pulls right in front of me. Suddenly I was Bruce Willis in Die Hard 3: Die Hard with a Vengeance. I’m sure there is some law about the following distance behind an emergency vehicle, but we had to get to Queens, for the next few minutes we were like Rascolinov, we superseded the law. So we found our blocker and we were following him to the end zone, or at least until 50th street where the ambulance turned. It was right about here where we spotted an ATM, because we were going to park at the stadium we had to pay for parking, but we had no cash because the Lincoln tunnel stole it all. So Geoff gets out in the middle of the street, goes to the ATM, I continue up the street. I couldn’t stop, but fear not, I had no intention of violating rule #9. He got the cash and sprinted up the street, he hoped back into the mini-van 4 blocks up from where he got out. Simply, heroic. A few questionable maneuvers later we end up on the bridge. Once we got into Queens it was smooth sailing. We hauled down Northern Blvd. and pulled into the Shea parking lot just in time. If I had to go from the Lincoln Tunnel to Shea Stadium at 6 pm on a week day in 38 minutes and I tried 100 more times, I am confident I would fail 100 times. We should commission someone to make a statue of our mini-van and put it on top of the stairs of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Geoff was masterful in his navigation, the finest wingman I have ever flown with, and I had a Zen-like focus it was almost as is the van and me became one. Something special happened that day.

Shea Stadium was the first stadium we went to that was pretty much just how we expected it. It is a little too big for the size of crowd they have and a little too plain. All the new stadiums are much more open and inviting. There are sights to see around the whole ballpark. Here the only attraction is the ball game – and it was the Mets vs. the Pirates. What a delight. The first half of the game was actually better than the box score will show. The Pirates starting pitcher, Duke, should have had a perfect game well into the late innings except for the two bonehead plays his right fielder made. I guess that is why they call it is a team sport. If I was Duke I would want Barry Bonds back in the Pittsburgh right field, because then you are guaranteed to have a great defensive performance day in and day out. My friend from college MacKenzie met up with us at the game. This was the first game we watched with someone else. We had friends in Anaheim and Houston, but no one got to sit with us. It was rather enjoyable because there is only so many times Geoff and I can debate the aesthetics of left-handed pitchers. Furthermore, MacKenzie was conscious enough to follow rule #2.

Remember at the start of this post where I said the original plan was to stay with my college roommate Tyler. Well that was still that plan. Even after I left my 8th unreturned voicemail in 3 days. Because, well, Geoff and I did not want to sleep in our van in New York City and we couldn’t afford a hotel room, we are on a budget. Let’s get some things clear first. One, Tyler was my roommate for 3 years in college, kind of a long time. Two, Tyler was the first to agree to host us, this was because he was the first person I asked, back in February I think. Three, Tyler has our schedule and has been told in repeated emails and phone calls which days we would be in town. So I am thinking Tyler is in the hospital with something serious, like a missing testicle. We were however graced enough to have MacKenzie still with us, and her apartment at Columbia welcoming us. It was so great we may even stay there with Uncle Brian joins us next week. We went out to a couple of bars and had a splendid time. Right before we left to get on the subway Tyler called me. Talk about a day late and a buck short. Anyhow he was more than enthusiast to meet up with us. The more the merrier – that the attitude of a rockstar. I told him I was wearing coaching shorts, a free t-shirt, sandals, a Dodger hat, and I had not showered in a while; was this going to be a problem? He said I was totally ok, no big deal. We met up with him right outside of the bar. He was wearing black dress pants, dress shoes, a long sleeve button up pink shirt, no undershirt. Thanks Tyler for the fashion tip. But all sarcasm aside it was really fun hanging out with some familiar faces, both Tyler and MacKenzie. Tyler was in vintage Mobley Pub-night mode. And I know there are only a few people out there who understand that reference but take my word for it, it is a funny side of Tyler.

We still crashed at MacKenzie’s place and then got up as early as we could for the long haul out to Cleveland. It is just so weird to think that we woke up this morning in Manhattan and now we are in Ohio. That’s the life of a roadtripper.

Philadelphia - Land of cheesesteaks and comedy

America’s first real city is slowly becoming the first in my heart. Philadelphia was such a pleasant little surprise. First off, they have a great Classic Rock station – 102.9. It is almost as good as my local 107.7 the Bone. It was nonstop rock. We tried turning it down at one point to talk, and the stereo just turned it back up, it rocked that much. We got to the Center City about an hour before game time, parked in a near by residential area, and walked in. Interesting note, we couldn’t find a trash can for over a mile. I guess these people have found a way to generate no waste – just phenomenal. The Phillies play at Citizens Bank Park – the newest of the 30 MLB stadiums, and it shows. It was so cool. It is the classic new style, exposed steel, open outfield, wide concourse. I’m pretty sure this stadium was designed by HOK, the firm that designed such ballparks at Camden Yards in Baltimore and SBC Park in San Francisco. Added bonus: the steel is all painted a rust red color to almost match the team colors. We, of course, paid for the cheapest seats they sell and we sat out in the right field bleachers. Not too shabby. This is where our experience turned from good to great.

I was wearing my Dodger hat, like I usually do, and the usher comes up and asks me about it. I thought he was going to harass me a bit, they take their baseball pretty seriously in Philly, but on the contrary, he too was a Dodger fan. His name was Joe – classic – and he was rocking it with a Dodger watch. How glorious is that, a Phillies usher wearing a Dodger watch. He confided in me that he hates that Phillies. What a rockstar. We chatted for a good 15 minutes, even after the game had started, once he mentioned he met Koufax I was hooked.

The number 2 batter for the Phillies is Kenny Loften. Now, ol’ Kenny has been with about 8 teams and seems like he has been in the Majors forever. He has. The three guys behind us decided to point this out.

“You know when Kenny Loften made his Major League Debut?

Same day Lou Gehring retired.”

“Yeah, he was the there for the speech. The Luckiest Man speech.”

“He cried.”

“True story.”

“Yeah they went out after. Kenny took him to dinner to cheer him up.”

“They went to Bennigan’s”

“Yeah, its Lou’s favorite, he had the Buffalo wings”

“True story. I read it in a book.”

“Ask any waitress at Bennigan’s, they will confirm the story.”

“I read it in a book.”

I have never laughed so hard at a baseball game.

They also a great one-liner. So if you have paid any attention to the sporting world in the past month you would see that Terrell Owens of the Philadelphia Eagles has been having quite a little riff with the team and the quarterback Donovan McNabb. Big story around the entire nation, it is the only story in Philly. So two young black kids come up into the stands right in front of us, probably brothers, and one is wearing an Owens jersey and the other a McNabb jersey. One of the guys behind us yells out, “Glad to see you guys made up”. It doesn’t seem that funny now that I’m retelling the story but at the time it was funnier than a dog farting.

The game was great. The Phillies won 4-3 over the Nationals. Philly has great fans, really attentive and knowledgeable. For example the crowd gave their closer, Wagner, and ovation after he threw a ball. Why? Because it was a 99 mph fastball. The whole stadium was watching the pitch speed. How cool is that?

Also, it is worthy to note, the Phillie Phantic is not nearly as annoying as he seems on TV. He is actually rather amusing. No, I’m serious. Seriously, he is a good mascot. Really, he is.

After the game we went to Geno’s, the historic cheesesteak vendor. It is kind of like the Soup Nazi. Long line, real popular, they only accept cash, you can only order a few items, and there is a special lingo that goes a long. For example, we walked up and said, “Provolone wit”. Which means, “May I please have a cheese steak sandwich with provolone cheese and grilled onions. Thank you”. But I guess all of those niceties are just doublespeak. Sandwiches = delicious.

We then cruised up to some Irish pub. The guys next to us were also comedians, similar to our friends from behind at the game (no, that isn’t a homosexual reference). This guy at the bar did a 15 minute bit on text messaging. Some highlights were, “Don’t send me a message that says, ‘I’m on top of the Green monster drinking a beer’ while I’m at work. Don’t send me a message that says, ‘Your cousin is at this club I’m at’! I don’t fuc$%(@en care.” As well as, “If anyone sends me a message that says ‘What are you doing?’ I’ll tell you what I’m doing. I’m driving over to wherever they are and beating them with their own cell phone. Until they can’t stand up anymore.” We were tempted to buy this guy a round but, hey, we are on a budget and we aren’t gay.

So we left there in search of the bar with the first ever liquor license which is located somewhere in downtown Philly. We gave up after we were offered crack for the 12th time.

The next morning we hit the streets of Philadelphia (Springsteen reference). This town has so much going on; red brick buildings, cobblestone streets, a river running through it, statues everywhere, and random street art. We were walking down the street and all of a sudden we looked to our left and 3 feet away was the grave of Ben Franklin. Ol’ Ben, just laying there, all old and decomposed. How cool is that?

We were pleased to see that you can tour Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell for free, something the Kennedy Space Center needs to figure out: we own this stuff. The Liberty Bell is indoors now, though, which is kind of lame. I guess we don’t want Osama stealing it in the night. Top gun thinking National Parks Services.

We did manage to find the Philadelphia Museum of Art which was made famous when Rocky Balboa ran up them in Rocky 1-26. Random fact: Sly Stallone commissioned a statue of himself to be made and then he placed it at the top of the stairs – which towers of a statue of George Washington! He did this to promote Rocky 3, as if it needed publicity, who was going to miss that gem? It featured Mr. T. The statue was then moved to some park, and then moved back to the museum to promote Rocky 5. Again, did it really need publicity? I think that after the fourth film people just started showing up to the movie theater twice a year expected to see a Rocky movie. Everyone was addicted to Rocky montages, it was like crack in the late 80s. Similar to the crack Geoff and I were offered in the night before.

We decided to video tape Geoff running up the stairs just like Rocky did. Real original idea. I think we were the first people ever to do that. Ever.

On our way out of town we ended up finding the bar with the first ever liquor license. It is called McGillin’s. I think it would be easy to find a fur coat in the home of the PETA president. I felt like Brenda Walsh searching for Balsak’s house. But it was worth it. Real cool joint. Tasty food for cheap. And of course, cold pints. Delicious.

All around it is just a great town. Definitely a city worth visiting.