Saturday's White Sox - Cubs Game

I absolutely love going to the ballpark. The smell of the fresh air. The roar of the crowd. The action on the field.

The picture above was taken from my seat at Saturday night's White Sox/Cubs game. This was my first anniversary present from my wife. She got tickets for us, the kid and my mom. It was a nice family outing.

I spent the fifth inning tracking down the one cotton candy vendor, because the kid had her heart set on the sugary treat. The Sox didn't win, but we had a great time and there was a really decent fireworks show afterward. I even got a chuckle when Bobby Thigpen's brother started messaging me to bother his brother in the middle of a bullpen meltdown.

There was only one aspect of the game that kept the evening from being perfect. No, it wasn't the score of the game. It was one family, two rows in front of my family.

I was at a Crosstown series, so I expect there to be ribbing and some playful taunting. That just adds to the atmosphere. When it crosses the line, ruining the enjoyment of those around you, is when it needs to stop.

There was a family of three males and two females. The two females were mostly quiet. Around the seventh inning, one of the females even looked like she wanted to shrink down until she disappeared. I'm not sure of the dynamic of the family, so I'll just speculate here. The grandfather was a Cubs fan. The father was a Sox fan. The son was a Cubs fan. Every one of them seemed to be deaf, because the volume coming out of their mouths could drown out tornado sirens.

It seemed to be a two pronged attack against the "father" and the father had no problem dishing out insults and blowhard bravado right back at them. In the picture, he's the one in the Konerko jersey. Every time anything on the field happened, all I saw was that Konerko jersey blocking everything but the outfield. The "grandfather" would block the outfield portion of my viewing area. To be fair, right before the game started, the "father" did apologize and mentioned he would be standing up every time something happened. I swear, he was telling the complete and utter truth, not that prefacing this behavior with his non-apology excused this behavior. It did not. By the time I returned with cotton candy for the kid, I was done being my mild mannered self and started to loudly proclaim grand wishes of being able to actually watch the game that we paid for and the some inconsiderate people suck the enjoyment out of sporting events.

The males of the family continued to ignore my thinly veiled statements, but the females started to notice and that's about the time one of them wanted to be invisible. The other fans around me in my section felt the same way my family did, but chose not to be as loud about it. Oh, did I mention that alcohol was involved? It was, but my family was the one that only had water and Pepsi.

I did get to see the two Saladino plays, mostly because they both happened too fast for the jumping bean scream family to react. I had no idea that Robin Ventura was ejected from the game until I got back to my parents' house. That was how much this inconsiderate family blocked my view and distracted me during my anniversary present.

An obnoxious family like this is what gives team's fans a bad name. While the majority of fans are there to enjoy the game and have a good time, a slim few are there to knowingly ruin the good time of those around them. Well, loud family, you didn't ruin my good time, even though you tried like hell to do so. All your family did was show the fans sitting in section 117, what foul-mouthed, inconsiderate, loud jerks that you can be. Aren't you proud? You've succeeded. Maybe you'll get some kind of rusty award that will result in lockjaw.

Absolutely, you should have fun at the ballpark, but not at the expense of others around you. Be courteous to the fans around you.

One last thing... if you are aware of your behavior enough to pre-apologize for it, you are aware of it enough to change it.

Enjoy the game.

White Sox Vs. Washington Nationals: 6-24-11

A free game at the old ballpark against a team that uses the Walgreens logo. How could I resist? I couldn't.

Using the U.S. Cellular Field Express, I only had to walk five or six blocks to the bus stop, pay four dollars each way, and I had a nice hassle free ride directly to 35th and Shields.

My friend knows someone who works for the White Sox and he sometimes leaves him free tickets. We found our seats and were staring directly into the White Sox bullpen. I knew I should have brought the camera, but at least I brought my phone.

Here are a few pictures from the crappy camera phone. I'm still kicking myself that I didn't bring the camera.

Edwin Jackson warming up.

Brian Bruney warming up.

Will Ohman warming up.

Matt Thornton warming up.

The White Sox lost by four in fourteen innings, but still put on the post-game fireworks, despite being after midnight.

So Close Yet So Far

Last night, a married couple that Tracey and I are friends with offered two tickets to today's game. They knew someone with a row of season tickets and no one was going because of the heat. They were going, would we like to go with them? Hell yeah!

I've been wanting tickets to Frank Thomas Day all season long. Another friend of mine was going to ask an employee of the park for tickets, but they fell through. I couldn't afford tickets to a game against the Yankees, so that was out of the question.

Somehow, I knew I was going to be at the park and it turned out that my premonition was right.

We started our day at 9AM. We showered, checked e-mail, and waited to be picked up. We were picked up a little before 10:30 and arrived in the parking lot just before 11. The lines outside stretched all the way to the parking lot. People were shoving past others and generally cranky. It's not a sight that usually greets me when I arrive two hours before game time. The four of us all thought better of waiting in long lines because we each had this.
We got to go through the Stadium Club entrance. Shortly after 11AM, just after they started to let people inside, we were informed that this entrance was out of the Frank Thomas bobbleheads. Um... what?! There's no possible way that 10,000 people passed through the gates before us. Not even 5,000 people. But whatever. The tickets were free. The bobblehead would have been a bonus. The real attraction was inside anyway.

Once inside, we see some people with five or six bobblehead boxes in their hands. Interesting. We scope out our seats and sit down for a little bit. Great view, huh?
Not bad for a crappy camera phone. There was a whole slew of activity down by the White Sox dugout and we had a great view. Then I spotted the dark sheet over what will be the newly retired number 35. Even from our seats, we were able to get a good view of it.
We left our seats and headed to the eats. Tracey and I went one way and our friends went the other way. We picked up some food and headed over to Loretta's Lounge. We ate our sandwiches and had a nice chat with an older couple. The gentleman had been a White Sox fan since 1942 (right before the Johnny Dickshot era) and the lady had been a casual fan since 1967.

I could faintly hear Gene Honda's voice in the background, but the crowd was starting to stir. We finished our food and headed back to our seats. Tracey made a beeline for the bathroom as I trudged through the crowd to section 135.

As I start to pull my ticket out to show the usher, I hear my name. It was our friends. I turned and walked over to the garbage can where they were standing next to, wondering why they weren't down at our seats. Just then, our male friend ran towards the mens room. "Didn't his pre-game churro agree with him", I wondered aloud. His wife said that he hadn't been feeling well the past few days.

"Hey, there's Bobby Thigpen!"

He felt better this morning, but now he was really feeling bad.

"Wow, I didn't even recognize Dan Pasqua!"

He returned and looked really pale.

"Damn! James Baldwin!"

He ran to the bathroom again.

"OMG FISK!!!"

Wow, he ran quick to the bathroom. I haven't seen anyone run like that since Juan Pierre stole his fiftieth base.

"Hey, it's JD! Damn right he should still be playing today."

Back from the bathroom and he looks paler than Casper. He can't be here any longer. We have to go.

"Cool! Billy Pierce!"

And then we turn towards the exit. We are well on our way home when Gavin Floyd gives up the first inning home run.

Yeah, I was at the park today, but I missed out on the game and the bobblehead and the pre-game ceremony. Oh well. It was still fun to be inside the park, even though we really didn't get to see anything.

And to the people who were shoving their way past all of us from the parking lot to the entrance: I'm glad you didn't get a bobblehead either. The one snooty girl was wearing a Konerko jersey. I wonder if her rude self could identify him without any help. People who only go to the park for the giveaways are really annoying.

Off To The Sox Game

I'm headed off to the White Sox game. It should be an interesting one. Carlos Quentin is starting in left field, back from his foot injury, and Gavin Floyd is pitching. The Sox get to see David Price pitch for the Rays.

My friend had an extra ticket, so he asked me to use it for free. What a nice guy! We'll be in the upper deck, behind home plate, just to the third base side.