10 March 2012

San Diego Padres...sure, why not.



So I'm going to blog about the San Diego Padres tonight. And it's going to be quick - I'm going to bust this out in 5 minutes or less....okay, GO:

San Diego Padres
http://mlb.mlb.com/team/

Funny story about that - My husband and I are watching the entire first season of Homeland this week, and we're in the middle of the finale. I said, I have to blog for the baseball challenge tonight, so give me a few minutes...what team do I not care about or know anything about, at all? My husband said, the Padres.

Good call.

Here it is: I have never been to San Diego, but everyone I know who has, loves it. Apparently, there is a hotel in San Diego (or near it, I'm in too much of a hurry to fully fact-check) called the Hotel del Coronado. It's beautiful. Here it is:


https://encrypted-tbn2.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTcXgzOqmy-0eOPgKOvDFCg-2aHeCEE_SlZhTC8zFf2qQ5RZ-ey


We took our daughter to Disney World this past May. I call her Cinderella, because deep in her heart of hearts, I think that's who she truly believes she is. She wore her Cinderella wedding dress around the park in 95 degree heat (the thing is polyester and tulle and long-sleeved and covered in glitter, that kid really COMMITS), she wore it for Halloween, and she wears it around the house at least three times a week - she wore it today, in fact. It's getting a bit shabby, but it's still pretty fancy. She comes home from school and changes into it more often than not.

Anyway, we decided to really "do up" Disney because I was almost 5 months pregnant at the time, and we knew this would be the last visit for at least a few years, because I am a big fan of self-preservation and not putting myself in situations that lead to bad parenting or heavy drinking, or both. Taking a baby to Disney World qualifies. We stayed in the fanciest hotel at the park, the Grand Floridian.

It looks like this:

https://encrypted-tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQJwvFauRl_cTAvyqQs9JlbBs-eCTPJhxClUmZ_jZ4pVsBLcMH_


No points for originality, Walt.

So, um, yeah. That's it. That's my blog post about San Diego. Now I have to go watch Claire Danes and Mandy Patinkin (I'm so impressed he didn't manage to work in a ballad or two, that shows real restraint on his part) in one of best new shows I've seen in a while. Not "Wire"-level amazing or anything, but I'm saving those musings for my post about the Orioles.

09 March 2012

Rocky Mountain High -- a Travelogue

Who DOESN'T like to start their day off with a little John Denver? (Don't answer that.)

My team of the day is the Colorado Rockies. As such:

Colorado Rockies
http://mlb.mlb.com/team/



I'm not an expert on this team, but I do wonder: Does it date me that I still consider them an expansion team? (Again, don't answer that.)

It's becoming apparent that my knowledge of major league baseball is frozen somewhere around 1993 or thereabouts. 

ANYWAY....the Rockies. Colorado. Been there once, loved it to pieces.

The summer before I started law school, my best friend from college and I decided to take a road trip. We had four goals -- 

  1. Be in Denver to see Blues Traveler at Red Rocks on July 3rd 
  2. Be at the Grand Canyon by July 11th (or thereabouts) for our campsite reservation at the North Rim
  3. Find me an apartment in Minneapolis 
  4. Get me on my plane back to Pittsburgh on July 21. 
I moved out of my apartment in DC, and flew to Madison (with ungodly amounts of stuff, including one giant hardsided suitcase, a giant duffle bag [hockey-sized], two carry-ons, a backpack, a purse, and a guitar. The guitar is pink.) These were the days when airline staff could take pity on a traveler, and they did -- they only charged me $50 total for extra luggage. Considering each bag weighed at least 60 lbs., that was pretty nice of them. I may have cried a little.

So I arrived in Madison, and we loaded up her Ford Explorer and, after a stop for provisions at the Kraft Foods Company Store (her dad worked for Oscar Mayer) we took off. That truck was FULL of our luggage, and we added to that a tent, sleeping bags, ground cover, beef jerky, Lunchables (TM), packs of bologna and cheese slices, cases of beer and Diet Coke, grapes, cans of Pringles (TM) and other "convenience foods", and -- I'm ashamed to admit this but about 6 cartons of Marlboro Ultra Lights (Did you know that Phillip Morris owns Kraft? Purchased on-site with the employee discount, those were the cheapest smokes EVER.)

We drove through Illinois, stopping at Ronald Reagan's birthplace to take pictures (I think I was a Republican then), and on through Iowa on Interstate 80. Dodged a tornado somewhere near Ames and made it to Omaha in time to hit the Cracker Barrel for some chicken-fried steak. We drove on to Denver the next day, where we were told that John Popper had some sort of health problem (not really a surprise, right?) and that, as a result, the concert was cancelled. So we enjoyed the many delights of the city of Denver (about which there are stories that I really should NOT put on the Internet, even if very few people read this) and drove on to Pike's Peak. We drove up to the top, I was white-knuckled the whole time, and at the summit we each had a cigarette and threw up. Sarah also almost passed out -- altitude...who knew? Not us, apparently.

We made our way across Colorado for the next week or so, going white-water rafting in the Arkansas River through the Royal Gorge, riding horses in the San Juan mountains, stopping at every single Dairy Queen we saw (I can spot them from miles away - it's a gift), gambling at the Ute casino (I won $150 on quarter slots!) and alternating between camping and staying in cheap hotel rooms. It. Was. Awesome. Driving through the mountains, narrow and twisty and climby, became second nature, and it was some of the most amazing natural beauty I had ever experienced. Jagged peaks, tall pine forests that stretched on forever, the smell of super clean air, and charming little towns like Silverton and Ouray made me want to stop the car and never leave. And did I mention I purchased some fabulous cowboy boots?

After successfully avoiding contracting hanta virus at Four Corners, we finally arrived at the Grand Canyon and our campsite, where I got to sit in front of a campfire and play Indigo Girls songs on my pink guitar in my brand-new hat and boots (c'mon, don't you want to be my friend? I sound super-fun, right?), and we hiked down into the canyon the next day. On our way back up, an 80 year man passed us by at a good clip, so in our non-athletic despair we ate a can of Cheez Balls (TM) and then started the trek back. We made it back to Cortez that night, and then from there to Ogalalla and arrived in Burnsville, MN. At that point, driving for 7 hours without stopping, and then trading places and going for another 7, was nothing. We also stopped speaking to each other in Ogalalla, so that was kinda awkward...

But we found me an apartment and started speaking again, and I made it back home -- in time to wash my clothes and dust off my guitar and put it all in a moving truck and drive it on out to my new apartment in Uptown.

So when I think of the Rockies, THAT'S what I think of -- the piney mountains, a loaded-down car, lots of cans of Cheez Balls, and a time in my life when all I really had to do for three weeks was get to a concert on time and enjoy the rest of the (very long) ride.



08 March 2012

Poor Sacramento.


So my team of the day is the Oakland Athletics.

Oakland Athletics
http://mlb.mlb.com/team/



I picked them because I don't really have time today to write the kind of bloggy ode to teams like the Twins, Brewers, or Pirates, for whom I have strong happy feelings and want to wax profound about for lines and lines.

It turns out I know surprisingly little about this team, and everything I do know I learned from watching Moneyball a few weekends ago. Given that, I won't say much about them, and will focus more on the fact that they are one of five baseball teams in the great state of California.

Five?! That's a lot.

Granted, California is huge. It would have the 8th largest GDP in the world if it were its own country (but would probably slide to #15 if George Lucas, Ron Howard, Steven Spielberg, and Jerry Bruckheimer all moved to Atlanta to live in Tyler Perry's neighborhood). The size of its population is comparable to Poland. As of 2006, it has the largest minority population in the country. I get it -- it's gigantic and diverse and important by most measures.

But that's still a lot of baseball teams. And I question their choices; Frankly, I think it's rude that Sacramento, the state capital, does NOT have a major league baseball franchise but Oakland, 12.3 miles from San Francisco and the Giants, does.

If I were Sacramento, I'd be kind of pi$$ed about that.

07 March 2012

Cleveland Rocks

Does it? Well, if Drew Carey says so...it must be true.
Cleveland Indians
http://mlb.mlb.com/team/
I don't actually know that much about Cleveland - I've driven past it more times than I can count, especially on my way to the best amusement park in the world, Cedar Point. The "amazement park by the lake," if I recall their commercials correctly.

I do have some love for Cleveland in the sibling rivalry sort of way. You see, when you're from Pittsburgh, you hate Cleveland because you hate the Browns. But, if anyone else trashes the Browns -- well now, step off, that's MY job.

Wikipedia describes it thus:

The rivalry took a brief hiatus from 1996-1998 due to the Cleveland Browns relocation controversy. When the league was voting on the Browns relocation, Steelers owner Dan Rooney was one of only two owners to vote against the move. In tribute of Cleveland losing the Browns, Steeler fans wore orange arm bands to the final game at Three Rivers Stadium as a sign of mutual respect and sorrow for losing a great rivalry. While Browns fans still consider the Steelers as their main archrival, a small number of Steeler fans consider their rivalry with the Baltimore Ravens the spiritual successor to this rivalry due to Art Modell moving the his franchise to Baltimore and establish the expansion Ravens, even though the recent one-sidedness of this rivalry in favor of the Steelers has influenced this thinking as well. Nevertheless, it is still heated between both teams and one of the most heated rivalries in the NFL.

Ok, I know...that's FOOTBALL, this is a BASEBALL blogging challenge. But considering the source -- that the author of this blog would not by any measure be considered a sports fan although she does love certain football and baseball teams -- the fact that I have some independent knowledge of any sports-type information is really impressive.  And only some of it comes from reading Bill Simmons.

But enough about that -- Cedar Point is fabulous. You should absolutely go there.

Their roller coasters are RIDICULOUS. They are super-high, super-fast, super-twisty, and they're always building new ones that are higher, faster, and twistier than the rest. I used to go there every summer when I was a kid. Bless my father's heart, he used to drive me and my neighbor friend the four hours to the park, ride all day, and then drive home late that night. Amy and I would play War in the backseat until I felt carsick, and then we'd sleep. I went in high school, too, and that was fun, although I spent too much time putting on lip gloss and rolling my jean shorts to really have as much fun as I did when I was little.

I went in college, too, with one of my best friends, and we went on the Raptor, a roller coaster that's connected at the top (your legs dangle down). Right before it was ready to launch, I realized that my super-cute outfit that I had spent at least 20 minutes picking out (white baby doll t, white cotton miniskirt with lemons on it, and white no-back slip-on tennis shoes with a chunky lug heel -- it was 1996) was not the best choice for this ride, as those super fabulous shoes were about to dangle right off my feet and onto the ground 60 feet below. So Beth grabbed them off my feet and shoved them in her pockets.

She was such a good friend. And those shoes were totally hot, in that 1996 kind of way.

Cedar Point amusement park in Sandusky, Ohio
http://www.harbors-edge.com/attractions.aspx

06 March 2012

Geaux Tigers

So today's blog post focuses on the Detroit Tigers. Yes, I know that spelling refers to LSU, so you don't need to correct me, but a) I like to type fancy words on my fancy new iPad keyboard that attaches to my case and b) Detroit (de-TWA) sounds Franche, too...

 Anyway, the only things I really have to say about the Detroit Tigers are:


File:Detroit Tigers logo.svg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Detroit_Tigers_logo.svg


  1. I've been to Detroit. I dated a guy in high school, VERY BRIEFLY, who lived outside of Detroit in one of the nicer suburbs (something like Farmington? Farmington Hills? Is that a place?). I went there to visit him, then I quickly turned around and went back to Pittsburgh and decided that was enough of that. (Huh. In remembering that story, it suddenly occurs to me that my parents were kind of weirdly permissive about certain things.)
  2. That's a cool logo. It's old school. None of this au courant crap with team names like the Diamond Rays and logos with neon colors and glitter bombs. It looks like someone typed it on the front page of the New York Times, and that's all right by me.
  3. Whenever I see a Detroit Tigers hat I think of Magnum, P.I. He really wore it well. And that might be the only mustache that I've ever thought looked right on a man.
http://thatcostumegirl.com/2010/06/04/magnum-pi-force



I'm sure you agree.

05 March 2012

The Mets...and other NY stuff

Well, it's just under the wire, so I'd better make this quick. Day one of the #springtrainingblogchallenge. I'm in New York, so let's make it about the Mets, shall we? 



File:New York Mets.svg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:New_York_Mets.svg
It's my first trip back to New York post-baby. I am kid-free for two and half days and two nights, going to work during the day and spending the evenings with my best friend from law school in her fabulous UWS apartment. There have been some hiccups - such as the fact that my i.d. badge was turned off and I couldn't get into the building, someone stole my mouse and powercord for my docking station, and my passwords were so f*$%ed up and my computer was so behind on updates that I wasn't able to actually log in until 4 pm. 


BUT...there have been a lot of positives. Such as, being with my dear friend in a kid- and spouse-free way for the first time in many years... satisfying my cravings for Indian and Thai food...seeing the Chrysler building up close and personal again...wine(s) with dinner...seeing another dear friend's week old baby girl and holding her for a good long time...using my Duane Reade loyalty card again to spend $45 on $30 worth of merchandise...having $5 on an old Metrocard that would have expired at the end of March and using it to get to and from work...and not feeling guilty about being away, knowing that the girls are in the ever-capable hands of both the nanny and my husband.


And I did see Citifield on the Amtrak train on Sunday, so I guess there's my real connection to MLB. Sadly, in our 4+ years of living here, I never made it to an actual game. Or a Yankees game, which I probably would have preferred. I still hate the Mets for stealing away Barry Bonds and Bobby Bonilla. Yeah, I can really hold a grudge.

Blogging Challenge

Ok, ProntoPup, I'm in. I get extra credit for having to blog from my laggy phone while traveling for work.

30 days of blogging, on subjects that have even the most tenuous connection to major league baseball. This will be Day One, post to follow.