2 Things @ Once

Saturday 3 p.m.: Cubs Lose and It's Frickin' Hot Out

Yesterday Was a Good Day

Here's a little wrap-up on my whirlwind day yesterday. If you follow me on Twitter, I apologize in advance because this will be old news for you. I'll include some of my Tweets and elaborate beyond the 140 characters.

A roller coast day today: acupuncture (calm), Cubs game (frustration) and sailing (relaxing.)

Started the day with a visit to the acupuncturist. She worked on my upper back and pectoral muscles which haven't gotten a whole lot of use since the surgery. She loosened me up, working out some of the tightness. I'm going to start a little yoga on my own to stretch, strengthen and increase my range of motion. I'll start easy with some sun salutes.

After a general, restorative acupuncture treatment, Karen and I stopped at the Julius Meinl in Lincoln Square for coffee and an early lunch. (I had the melange: frothy milk, espresso and a dusting of dark chocolate. Delicious.) And, because it was Bacon Thursday, I had to try the bacon sweet roll, which had a generous slice of bacon baked right into the cinnamonny dough, with a light creme cheese frosting on top. I also had the red pepper, bacon and blue cheese quiche. Amazing. The blue cheese really made it.

Then, it was over to Wrigley Field for my first Cubs game of the season. The day was sunny and warm with little humidity and a breeze in the stands to keep it cool. Absolutely perfect weather to sit and enjoy a game. 

I didn't mind the new controversial Toyota sign over the left field bleachers. The "see-through" design is much preferable to a standard billboard and frankly, I prefer it over the ugly Horse Shoe Casino ad on the roof behind it. (Though I don't like the beer, I liked the bright Budweiser roof that had graced that house for years.) I do hope this is it for signage in left field but I'm not holding my breath for the next changes to hit Wrigley, whatever they may be. Time will tell as to whether the Ricketts family is starting down a slippery slope. 

The other big change (besides the spiffy upgraded restrooms--with their strangely low toilets) was the addition of prerecorded "walk on" music for each of the Cubs. (Gone is the organ music that accompanied players as they walk up to take their turn at bat.) Now, like other big league parks, Wrigley has begun playing snippets of prerecorded music. Half the time we couldn't really make out what the song was and they didn't blare it nearly as loudly as at other parks. Whether the music was helping to fire-up the players seemed doubtful, since the Cubs continued with lackluster hitting. That was, until the ninth inning when the bats got hot and they beat Oakland in walk off, 3-2. 

"Ouch. Throwing my arms up in the air when the Cubs win in the bottom of the 9th hurt but it was spontaneous and worth it."

So far, one change the Ricketts haven't made is the one I'd be 100% behind: changing the stupid song that's sung after every home game win. "...the Cubs are gonna win today..." No, idiot, the Cubs WON today. Ugh.

We had a few hours to kill before our 7 o'clock sail date at Montrose Harbor, so Karen, Anne and I headed over to Hopleaf for a craft brew and dinner. I tried a saisonniere, this one by Urthel. It was very tasty, the perfect crisp beer for a summer day. Had the Tilapia sandwich with, of course, some of their delicious pomme frittes. The beer paired nicely with the food.

Then, down to Montrose Harbor. It was a beautiful evening. Calm winds, clear skies, with a few clouds that promised a great sunset. Got on board, prepped the boat, headed out and as soon as we cleared the harbor entrance, we entered a non-stop washing machine, bobbing this way and that way, up, down, back and forth. The lake, coming from different directions and bouncing off the shore and the breakwater was just a sloppy mess. This combined with a minor sail problem that we were unable to fix on such bouncy seas. We tried to sail with the jib only, but there wasn't enough wind, and by then, a mere 30 minutes on the water, I was starting to feel a little green. I wasn't the only one and so we headed in to get out of the mix and fix the sail.

After we'd buttoned up the boat and were sitting on deck enjoying the evening and watching the sun set, the Captain recommended a little whiskey on ice to settle our stomachs. Have to say it worked and we ended the day on a sweet note.

Closing Out the Summer in Yet Another Way

Sunny Day at the Friendly Confines

Must Sleep Now

I'm absolutely dead tired and should be asleep now, but must post to the blog before the midnight hour to get this day's post in. Just a quick blast of randomness before I got to sleep:

• We new it was a risk when we bought Cubs' tickets back in May for games in late August and September. At least, I said to myself, even if they're out of contention (which they very much are right now) it's pleasant to be outside enjoying a game on a lovely summer night at Wrigley Field. That was before the Ice Age summer struck. This evening it was long sleeves and layers as I watched a losing game in 50-degree temps. I expect that in April, not August.
• Got a good news/bad news scenario from the vet today. The good news: my cat Maisy's thyroid condition is treatable with a one-time treatment, which has a high rate of success. The bad news: $$$.
• Kirsty, frequent commenter to this blog, will be in Trafalgar square in a few hours to cheer her husband on as he takes to the 4th Plinth. You can catch his hour on the plinth live (3-4p.m. London time, 9a.m. central time) or catch it in rerun at the One & Other site. Break a leg Mark!

A Final Story From My Trip to Cleveland, Involving Indians and Seagulls

Apparently, the Cleveland Indians have been having a problem this year with seagulls at Progressive Field. There's been a marked increase in the numbers of birds roosting on the buildings along the river and they've discovered that the pickings at Progressive Field are pretty darn good after a game. However, being seagulls, they don't wait until the game is over to stake their claim and lately they've been hovering around the field during game time and occasionally land en masse on the outfield.

The day we arrived in Cleveland, the Indians won a close game against Kansas City in the tenth inning when a ball hit up the middle bounced and then struck a gull before the outfielder could snatch it up. Not a very auspicious way to win, but a win's a win.

Recognizing something had to be done, park personnel came up with the idea of shooting off fireworks in between each half inning. A single loud pop of a firework (above) designed to scare off the circling birds before they'd have much of a chance to alight on the field.

We saw the firework trick work only once and wondered how much longer before the seagulls figured out where there's smoke there's no fire. According to the local paper, the team is contemplating also using a live eagle as a deterrent; an idea that seems to add many more problems than solutions.

After the game, the seagull buffet was open in the bleachers.

More From Progressive Field

JumboTron!

Bullpen with a view.

St. Lou is not in "the tribe."

Progressive diamond.

Around the ballpark.

Empty seats.

Indians Baseball

Progressive Field became my seventh Major League Baseball park -- 23 to go.

The ballpark: Overall, I enjoyed my trip to Progressive Field, watching a team nearly as poor as the Cubs lose one game and win another against Cubs' arch-rivals the St. Louis Cardinals. The park is "new," one of the modern concrete sports venues with wide open passageways for vending food and drink, socializing, and providing alternate activities for kids and folks bored with the game. Unlike many modern stadiums, it doesn't feel too big, which makes sense when you realize it seats around 43,000 (only a few thousand more than Wrigley Field.)

I saw two games, the first sitting down near the field along the first base line, the second in the upper deck on the left field side, giving us a good feel for the park. The first was an afternoon game and we were sitting directly in the sun. After the wet, mild spring we've had, I didn't complain one bit about the heat or sun shining in my eyes.

I like the urban ballparks that provide an interesting city view as backdrop to the game. Pittsburgh's park is a great example of this, Cincinnati not so much. Cleveland won high marks with it's cityscape behind the scoreboard especially as the sun went down and the lights came up.

It wouldn't be a baseball game without a theme or gimmick of some kind. We happened to be there during Eighties Weekend. Like other parks I've been to with a Jumbotron, these games had an MC blabbering away at the audience during any break in the action that was long enough to host a silly game or giveaway. The MC, dressed in mullet wig and jeans jacket was the only person I saw sporting any sort of '80s wear. The audience was decidedly not into it, costume-wise.

Because there always has to be some high-end way of raking in the bucks, Progressive Field has a tiered restaurant that allows diners to see and be seen. I always wonder about these. Do you dine for the entire game or do you have to leave halfway through the fourth inning to free up your table for another party? And what a disconnected way to watch a game.

JumboTron: Yep, they've got one. It's big and largely covered with advertising but as far as widescreen TVs in the park go, this one was toned down. There wasn't as much flash (mostly static ads), annoying videos were kept to a minimum, and I don't recall seeing a single movie trailer or commercial.

Sound level: Not bad at all. The speakers weren't cranked up to 11 to compensate for the open air. There were even times when the canned noise stopped altogether and you could actually focus on what was going on down on the field.

Home run gimmick: Unfortunately, in the two games I saw, the only homers were hit by the opposing team, so we never got to see how the home team celebrates when a ball is hit out of the park. We did, however, see a fan escorted out of the park after he thew a Cardinal-hit home run ball back on the field--something you'd never see at Wrigley!

Food: This was easily the biggest disappointment. The food was lousy. The hot dog I had is definitely in contention for worst in all of Major League Baseball. Condiments offered (or lack thereof) were the first clue that this was not going to be a memorable dog: no pickle relish, no onions. They did offer two types of mustard, including the famous Bertman Ball Park Mustard (some of which we bought to take home with us.) The terrific local mustard wasn't enough to mask the terrible flavor of the dog. Salt was the primary ingredient in both the hot dog and the waffle fries, a not-so-subtle ploy to get you to drink more beer.

I use hot dogs and nachos, two ballpark staples, to judge a park's culinary worthiness. The nachos here tasted great in comparison. The "cheese" was good and they came with  salsa and plenty of peppers on top.

Local fans: The local crowd was friendly and enthusiastic, though they still needed the JumboTron to tell them when to "make some noise." Lots of empty seats. Unlike masochistic Cubs fans, members of "the tribe" don't flock to the park to see their team lose again and again and again.

Peanuts!

Sorry, I'm copping out with a photo from my recent trip to Cleveland's Progressive Park. I finished processing the Cleveland pics and will post the rest tomorrow but I'm tired and want to read a couple of chapters of The Count of Monte Cristo before bed. I'm in the home stretch, just 200 pages to go and it's getting quite good.

Indians Game #2