Any Team, Any Time

A promise has been satisfied. After 30 plus years I took my wife to Cubs game at Wrigley Field in Chicago. I must admit I am not the biggest baseball fan. To that point, a few years ago I was standing by the counter at the Fixed Base Operator in Tampa FL when my first officer across the way pointed to my right and made some lip talk. I looked to my right and there were a couple of people standing there, so I looked back at my guy and with my arms out, liped back to him with What? I walked over to him and asked him what the big deal was, He said "Dude! You were stnading right next to Derek Jeter!", to which I responded "Who's Derek Jeter?"

With that story (which is true by the way) told, I have established the fact that I may not be the biggest follower of the game that hits the small stiched ball. After having gone to the park, I must say Wrigley Field is magical. Riding the bus from the parking lot at DeVry University through bustling streets of a residential city to come upon the ball park is a visual transition that was so natural. Very old but well kept, tightly spaced homes, transitions to a more but very old commercial district and finally there is the ball park in the midst. Very old but unassuming and very natural in its surroundings. Then you see the marquee. That massive red, and unmistakable Wrigley Field.

Entering the stadium is like going back in time. If it were not for all the people dressed in todays garb, you feel as if you are back in the early 20th centyury. It was a wonderful experience. We obviously had to stop and shop at the Cubs Store but after that it was up the ramps to our seats.

I must say there are a muber of experiences in life where your first view is breath taking. That first view of the Grand Canyon, or waking up in Denver to see the Rocky Mountains, or something many have experienced, going up in a tall building and finally getting to a view point that over looks the city. That is the feeling you get when you finally get your first glimps of the ball diamond, lush green grass, and that wonderful and historic ivory coverd wall of Wrigley Field.

Other than the old architecture, structure, and ivy covered perimeter wall, there was one more very old school item to the park. The score board! for the longest time I could night see what the score of the game was until I realized I was looking at the running scores of all the games being played in the National and American leagues.

Below is a portion of the scoreboard as you can see the dismal performance of the Cubs in the bottom of the 8th inning. The really old school functionality of this board is the little squares where the numbers are shown a panels that are manually placed throughout the game. After realizing this I started looking around for a semaphore flagman at the bullpen.

It wasn't until after I got the images downloaded and was able to take a closer look did I realize the open panels were not simply missing. As evidenced by the man sitting back with his arms behind his head in the image below, they were peep holes for the occupants of the scoreboard to watch the game. Very cool!

The Cubby's were up against the Washington Nationals and it was too bad the entire team didn't show up for the game. It is true, baseball is as much a team sport as football or basketball.

The star pitcher for the Cubs started the game after being off fur a number of weeks. The crowd had high hopes but soon faded. Not even his home run in the third was enough to bring fan loyalty and more-so, coach patience. A relief pitcher was brought in during the fifth inning with two on base, the next batter was intentionally walked as he was a good hitter. I can't remember the count but it was the next batter that sent one over the ivy for a grand slam. BAM! 6 to 1, that'll take the wind out of your sails for sure.

They never did recover as you can see the 15 to 6 score on the board. So the question still remains... Is Doug now a baseball fan?

To that I will continue not to be but I do enjoy going to the park and watching a bunch of guys hitting a ball and running around the bases. As far a Wrigley Field, I am most certainly a fan and hope they are able to maintain the emotion that facility brings out in people. As far as the Cubs? Well there is always another game, and another year to go for the championship. I guess that makes me a Cubs fan!

Cya later... Doug