Take me out to the ballpark

Through Spring's [1] church (Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Boca Raton) [2], we obtained tickets to a minor-league baseball game at Roger Dean Stadium [3], which is located at the north campus [4] of FAU (Florida Atlantic University) [5]. I wasn't all that thrilled, since this is baseball we're talking about here; I find watching paint dry to be more stimulating than watching a bunch of tabaco chewing groin scratching men stand around a dirt field for a few hours. I find football [6] to be more watchable than baseball (football also has the advantage of having cute cheerleaders).

But I said I would go, if only for the opportunity to take pictures.

Which I did (and I ran out of storage space, having taken 115 pictures—luckily I'm not subjecting you to every last one of them).

I must admit that the minor-league game was a bit more enjoyable to watch the a major-league game. The first half of the game went by quickly; the first four innings screamed by in a little over an hour. It was the last five innings that took the remaining two hours.

[He's got a ticket to ride] [7] [8] [Oger Dean Stad] [9] [10] [The better to make money with consessions] [11] [12] [Diamond in the rough] [13] [14] [Now that that pesky national athem is over, PLAY BALL!] [15] [16] [Batter's up] [17] [18] [Hey batter batter batter batter batter batter SWA-WING!] [19] [20] [Here comes the pitch] [21] [22] [SWING] [23] [24] [Here's the windup …] [25] [26] [… and the pitch!] [27] [28] [Keeping score] [29] [30]

Sure, there was the seven inning stretch, where we listened to Kate Smith's (Kate Smith's Biography) [31] rendition of “God Bless America (God Bless America, Land that I Love) [32]” but there were also a bunch of silly events for kids, like a race from 1^st to 2^nd base with the Palm Beach Cardinals [33] mascot, or the remote controlled car race from 1^st to 3^rd that took time between innings.

But I suspect that the teams started playing harder in the last half, and for a while in the 8^th it looked like the Palm Beach Cardinals might pull out ahead, but no, in the end, the Jupiter Hammerheads [34] won 4 to 2.

There was a fireworks show after the game—an impressive display with patriotic songs blaring away through the speakers, like Bruce Springsteen's [35] “Born in the U.S.A. [36],” Neil Diamond's [37] “America [38],” a John Philip Sousa [39] march and John Cougar Peter Paul Mary Tiger Mellencamp Jingleheimerschmit's [40] “R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A [41]” among others. This was a Good Thing™ since Spring has to work tomorrow and it would be very unlikely we would be able to make any fireworks show (and amazingly enough, this year The Kids (especially The Younger) haven't had fireworks fever—man, was it bad last year).

[1] http://www.springdew.com/

[2] http://www.uufbr.org/

[3] http://www.rogerdeanstadium.com/

[4] http://www.fau.edu/jupiter/

[5] http://www.fau.edu/

[6] /boston/2001/10/27.2

[7] /boston/2004/07/03/thumb-p1010002.jpg

[8] /boston/2004/07/03/p1010002.jpg

[9] /boston/2004/07/03/thumb-p1010004.jpg

[10] /boston/2004/07/03/p1010004.jpg

[11] /boston/2004/07/03/thumb-p1010005.jpg

[12] /boston/2004/07/03/p1010005.jpg