Playtime

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After wondering last night what I’d do today, I realized I am an idiot. Why not play some golf? After all, I didn’t haul my golf spikes, socks and glove around for good luck. Sweeny gave me a recommendation for a Tom Fazio designed course called The Frog.

I played with three other guys (David, John and Chris) who all knew one another. Sometimes that can be a bit awkward and unnerving depending on the level of golf the others play and their personalities. Well, those feelings dissipated just seconds after meeting them. David and John were a couple of real characters. Chris was quiet. They played this course regularly so they were able to save me a stroke or two with some course tips.

The tips were great but I can’t say that helped my game much. Playing once a year for the past few years hasn’t helped. But I held my own with a par and several birdie opportunities. Although the bad holes were really bad. I played tin cup on my way to a 10 on one hole.

Golf skills aside, it was a fun round. And exhausting - the 90+ degree heat, sunscreen running into my eyes and no food took quite a bit out of me. But that made the beers to come later all the better.

Golf ended later than expected so I had to head directly to the Braves game. I’m pretty sure some people were repulsed by my appearance and the undoubtedly rank combination of stale coconut oil and sweat that emitted from my body.

Heading to the stadium, I passed through a less affluent section of town. One of the residents was apparently puzzled by my presence and communicated to me that I was not welcome in the area. Fortunately I had no intentions of staying. Windows up!

The parking at Turner Field is different than in Philly. There are various small lots seemingly operated by local residents. Nothing seems official or secure. As I pass by numerous small lots the prices started to rise as I got closer to the stadium. $4. $5. $6. $8. I had my laptop and other valuables in the car with me so I decided to see if there was any better parking near the stadium. No such luck. I pulled into the last lot I saw. Looked like the others. $12. Damn.

The nice thing about the Braves is they don’t have a huge local fan base that comes to the games. That means accessibility to good seats. Unlike Philly, one can actually buy premium seats at face value. And face value isn’t insane like in NY where they charge $525 a seat. I got a row 18 seat directly behind home plate for $72. Nice.

The stadium is new and fan-friendly like many of the new stadiums. It was also Cubs friendly as their fans accounted for half the fans (or at least half the noise).

Here are some highlights of the game…
*Warmups: I like my seat. I’m happy with my purchase.
*Inning 1: Leadoff home run for Soriano. Good start.
*Inning 2: I’ll have another beer, please.
*Inning 3: Kosuke Fukudome’s first name is pronounced Kōs-kay. Why is the “u” silent? The Japanese use symbols for the written word so the translation should be phonetic. This spelling seems silly.
*Inning 4: I’m really warm. This is not helping my odor. I wonder if anyone would mind if I strip down to my skivvies to watch the game. What’s wrong with someone sitting and watching the game in their underwear while drinking a beer?
*Inning 5: It’s 8:00 and it’s still 88 degrees. It’s way too hot here.
*Inning 6: Why did the group next to me just arrive? They missed half the game.
*Inning 7: Stupid Larry. That’s what I get for trying to start a Larry chant. He always gets the best of me. I loathe him.
*Inning 8: Why did the Cubs pull Kerry Wells? He had about 80 pitches and was throwing almost 70%!s(MISSING)trikes. He gave up two hits. Later that inning when the Braves start to score… Lou Pinella is an idiot.
*Inning 9: Jeff Francoeur hits a two run home run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. The Braves tie the game. How is this possible?
*Inning 10: I start cheering in the middle of nothing. So does some other guy. Phillies went up 2-0 in the first.
*Inning 11: Someone do something. Just not Larry. I need to get some rest.
*Inning 12: Stupid Larry. 12 innings - that’s $6 an inning. Not bad.
*Postgame: I’m glad I paid extra for parking. I’m out of the lot before most fans that remained for the entire game were out of the ballpark. This was fun.

Tomorrow I’m off to New Orleans.

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Photos

Turner Field
The view from my seat.

What the...?
This is quite a physique.

Phillies!
Way to represent.

Ballgirl
We need to do better in Philly. Like this.

Soriano home run
Alfonso Soriano led off the game with a home run.