redbirdbrain

Well, it's just about time to go back to New York, and I've been feeling very sorry for myself all day. (When I'm in New York, I like living there better; when I'm in St. Louis, I like my hometown better.)

Just a few things I've learned this week:

1. KTRS is just as obsessed as I am with the Pujols Game 5 home run as I am. They even played the Houston feed the other night.
2. That guy Monty on KTRS? Total idiot.
3. I once proclaimed my loooooove for McGraw Milhaven, but am now convinced he's an idiot, too. KTRS was more or less a waste of my time until I gave up and just jammed to my iPod instead.
4. NOT an idiot: bellyscratcher, who I met for pizza at the Blackthorn (I always loved their pizza until I gave up meat. And cheese. Now it's just sorta pointless) and the Friday night Cards-Cubs game.
5. Also NOT an idiot: bellyscratcher's proxy, (who I've actually known for years – small world!), or their roommate.
6. I want a hip cardinal red St. Louis-related t-shirt, and am totally unable to decide between Rina Wear and Stl-style. Anyone know anything about the shirt quality of these places? Although the fact that Rina Wear even produces an "I heart Cardinals baseball… Because my boyfriend says so" is just about enough to make me boycott the company. I mean, what the hell is that? A girl who wears that shirt deserves a kick in the shin.
7. When Albert Pujols tells fans not to boo, they listen. At the game Saturday, the boos were even harder to find than the Cubs fans. (Where WERE the Cubs fans this weekend? Odd.)
8. My friend and I were tireless in our Busch III Best SRO Spot Hunt, and eventually decided that along the third base line, next to the Bank of America club, can't be beat (see pic below). The Cards also started scoring as soon as we moved there, so it's a lucky spot, FOR SURE.

The big problem with me having a blog is that I have a hard time with the meta aspect of baseball. I can tell you all about my experiences at Busch III (and I'm just about to, in fact), but I have no interest in discussing any of the following:

1. Whether or not Pujols will ever see another pitch
2. Just how far the Cardinals can get with a lousy outfield
3. How many games Marquis and Pujols will win singlehandedly
4. Anything else vaguely intelligent

I bring this up because it struck me particularly on Sunday. As I was watching the game, keeping score and drinking a beer, I realized that I had no way of adding up the whole experience in a meaningful blog post. Stream-of-consciousness, I suppose, is what I'll have to go with for the forseeable future.

What I can talk about, on the other hand, are the moments that strike me as a Cardinals fan. For one thing, on three separate occasions (touring around the stadium beforehand, then twice in our seats), we ran into what you might call "hoosiers". You know, the people Cubs fans make fun of, and Cards fans from St. Louis (namely: me) sometimes dismiss, too. Anyway, on all three occasions the out-of-towners proved to be smart and passionate fans. I hope this doesn't sound condescending, like I was trying to say "Hey! They know their baseball, too! Isn't that shocking?" or something like that. I just meant that one of the great things about being a Cards fan is that I can make friends with people that I wouldn't otherwise cross paths with. And it happens a lot at Cardinal games I've attended, be it in St. Louis, New York, Washington or Kansas City. It was nice. Really points up the fact that sports is, after all, all about community. And we've got a good one.

Which isn't to say there weren't same big idiots around us. People! Stop standing up and leaving for the bathroom or the concession stands during the middle of the inning! Cheez. And don't get me started on the early leavers.

Pujols obviously wanted to celebrate the 28th anniversary of Bob Forsch's first no-hitter (and my birth) with his performance yesterday. Thanks for that, Albert. Brings my birthday Cardinal win streak to four. (Everybody else keeps track of this, too, right?)

In any case, we had fun wandering around the stadium, and I don't mind the new Busch. I quite liked it. Might as well like it; it's not going anywhere. And I'm sure it will only get better as time goes by, too.

I know that sounds less than enthusiastic, but I don't mean it to be. I guess the stadium stopped mattering to me the second Mulder threw the first pitch. What WAS important was that just as the last ballpark was, it's a nice place to watch a ballgame.

One quirk of our section (in the outfield boxes – the view is evident in the photo above) was that it was incredibly quiet (in terms of the sound system). We couldn't hear the at-bat intro songs, and we certainly couldn't hear Ernie Hays play the organ. At first, we thought it was a conscious choice to tone things down and keep Ernie on a leash, and lamented the loss of that organ song for a base hit ("Dah-dah-dah/Dah-dah-dah… "). By the time the seventh-inning stretch ran around, though, we had pieced it together that because the seats above us weren't finished, they hadn't even set up the speakers in our section yet. Ohhhhhhhh.

Still, though. It was certainly a nice change from Shea on Friday. Just fantastic to be home. The only bummer was that Bet and Zanner seem to feed off each other's beer apathy, and we didn't end up getting to check out Shannon's (or meet Fritz or bellyscratcher or Red Hot Mama). On the other hand, delicious birthday pie was waiting for us at home, so there was really no reason to waste time, after all.

Oh, and I look young enough to have gotten one of those t-shirts they were handing out at the entrance. (I have no qualms about getting free stuff for looking so young. Ask me sometime about the 13-and-under ski lift pass I got two years ago.) Unfortunately, it's got a photo of Encarnacion on it (along with Eck, Mulder and… I forget who else, the shirt's not handy to me right now).

So I'm not positive I'm going to like wearing it, but I've already established that I'll suffer for my team, as long as I can later ramble on endlessly about it in my blog.

First of all, hee hee.

Second: I'm going to see the Mets play the Brewers tonight, which is great, as the seats are free, and fantastic. Problem, of course, is that since the Brew Crew is in our division, I'm going to have to cheer for the Pond Scum. Blast! Anyone think of any way around this, let me know.

Two things:

1. Yesterday, I jokingly told a friend of mine, a Yankees fan, that they could have Pujols if we could have Robinson Cano and maybe a few pitching prospects. He didn’t realize I was making fun of him and thought this sounded like a great trade and pretty plausible. This story has no point, really, I just thought I’d point out the extent to which some Yankee fans think they can have anything they want. Oy.

2. You know the problem with watching baseball on a DVR? You know exactly when it’s going to end. Last night, for instance, I knew the game was 2 hours, 43 minutes long, which took out some of the drama of Looper’s seventh inning. Simple math told me that the game was going to end before the Brewers could get a real rally going. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it is something I hadn’t considered before.

This morning I woke up bitter and jaded because of the Series Which Must Not Be Named. I decided that I'd buy a ringtone for all my Cubs fan friends so I'd immediately know when they were calling me just to gloat (last night I made the mistake of not checking the ID and actually picked up). The hunt cheered me up a bit. I'm thinking… Something incredibly annoying? Or evil? If anyone has any thoughts… (Maybe that Darth Vader/Death Star theme?)

And then I became euphoric as it dawned on me that today was HOME OPENER DAY and though I had to work, the DVR was ready to go. Nothing like opening a brand new stadium to wipe away the scarring from being swept by the Cubs. The rest of the morning was spent counting down the minutes to the first pitch (no, seriously, I had my own personal countdown going on).

And then I went to check my fantasy teams, realized that I'm doing terribly in all of them, and got depressed again. AND irritated. What the hell is fantasy baseball all about? Man, if I didn't have to set the damn roster every day, I might get into it. Like I don't have other things to do (Ok, going to make a personal countdown isn't exactly an important thing, but you get my point).

And then the game started, and you can imagine all the ups and downs that I experienced while gamecasting this afternoon. I left work on a jubilant high, as Mark Mulder had just hit a homer.

I came home 45 minutes later to watch the end of the game – and found my roommate lounging in front of the TV, watching a movie. Bastardo! And my bipolarity (is that even a word?) struck again. Heartbroken, I agreed to wait until 8 pm so he could finish up, then ran to the TV as soon as he moved and… Apparently, the DVR is a Cubs fan (this insight courtesy Lakeline Leah). It didn't record. More bastardos! The only thing that kept me from the depths of despair was the fact that I'd just looked up the final score, and the bullpen seemed to avoid total implosion.

But I was not to be denied my Opener. (Not to be confused with My opener…) I borrowed Bet's MLB.tv subscription, and am FINALLY watching the game. So now I'm back on a high: drinking a beer, admiring New Busch, and watching a game that I know the Cards are going to win.

Ok, so it’s not quite a betrayal, but I skipped out on the game today to get back to New York and accomplish stuff. (I’m still in the thick of Getting Stuff Done, in fact.)

By the way – anyone like the redesign? Too bland, right? I got sick of the headlights theme, as it has nothing to do with baseball. So I replaced it with another design that has nothing to do with baseball. Crazy, I know. But at least we can now see who’s commented recently.

Also, I did take a few pictures, then looked at them and thought: “Why would anyone want to see these? It’s not as though people on the internet are clamoring for Citizens Bank Park photos. Also, I look fat because of all the layers I was wearing.” So I’m sparing you all that. Instead, I’m treating you to a picture of a little present I bought for Bet (she moved into a condo last June and I never bought her a housewarming gift). Bet, no peeking! It’s below the cut…

(more…)

Man, it was cold out tonight. I gave up on keeping score after the fourth inning because my fingers felt like they were going to fall off. How do football fans do it? The whole sports-in-the-freezing-cold thing? Honestly. I'm going to a game at Shea next week, and let me tell you: it had better be warmer or I'll be most sulky and put out. On the other hand, I'm probably just a total wuss, so maybe I should shut up and talk some baseball.

A few quick thoughts about tonight's game:

1. Man, that Izzy! He's just incorrigable. In the middle of his coronary-inducing appearance I vowed to stop being so obsessed the Cardinals, because I can't handle 160 more games of this. Hope that I'm not the only fan who does this during practically every close game. It gets worse during the playoffs, too. Dangit!
2. I was glad to see Jimmy Rollins continue his hit streak. I dunno – streaks are just exciting.
3. Citizen's Bank Ballpark is gorgeous. So well-laid out and thoughtful, and the sightlines are great. Plus I could order Yuengling.
4. I know that everyone knows this already, but seriously. They weren't kidding when they said Philly fans like to boo. They boo EVERYONE! The Cardinals, the Phillies, their fellow fans who miss foul balls. It's actually hilarious, although I'm glad not every baseball game I go to is like that. And they're not what I call friendly, either. Of course, it could well be that everyone was just too cold to do anything other than huddle
5. I dunno why the new season made me think that Mulder and Izzy would be magically better than they were last year. I guess it's the new stats. All right, that sounds stupid. Never mind.
6. I don't have tickets for tomorrow's game yet. Should I go, or should I get stuff done back in New York, instead? I have no idea what I'll decide, but I suppose you'll find out when I either put up another chapter, or don't.

So I called in sick to work just now (“food poisoning”) even though I’m not remotely sick. Why? Because I’m going to Philadelphia to see those wacky Redbirds play at Citizens Bank Park.

(I don’t know why I went with the “wacky” just now. The cardinals don’t really strike me as wacky. If any baseball team is wacky, it’s probably the Reds, who looked like Keystone Kops against the Cubs the other day. Especially Adam Dunn. Those crazy kids!)

Anyway, I’ll take photos (though probably not of myself, as that might wreck the incognito thing) and report back tomorrow. I haven’t decided whether or not I’m going to tomorrow’s game – but I may not be able to resist as I already have a day off then, too. (Yeah, I don’t work much.)

ETA, 11:13 am: Oh dear God. It is SNOWING in New York City. Seriously, it’s coming down like crazy. Please tell me it’s sunny and mild in Philly.

We had a whole week of gorgeous weather, and now it’s rainy and dreary again. I wonder if it’s equally dreary in Philly. Bummer.

BUT! It’s sunny in our hearts, right? Happy Opening Day, kids!

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!