It turns out that there is a shopping mall on the other side of I-10, not too far from the Pilot. Sjoe headed over there this morning and got himself a pretty little red Diamondbacks ball cap and a new pair of shoes, leaving himself prepared for the afternoon's festivities. Then J.T. showed up and things proceeded from there.
Sjoe, world traveler that he is, happens to be a big fan of the home team in whichever city he finds himself. I'm a die-hard Tigers fan, so I find this sort of approach to be distasteful, but the Swede marches to his own beat. He and J.T. headed downtown and grabbed a bite to eat, then took in the game between the Diamondbacks and Pirates. Pittsburgh came out on the winning end of this one, much to the chagrin of my Swedish buddy and his local host. The ballpark was nice though, as evidenced by the following photos.
Unfortunately for my Swedish buddy and his fellow D'backs (not to be confused with d-bags) fans, things didn't work out for the home team tonight. After making peace with the fact that Arizona's manager left Danny Haren in to lead off the bottom of the sixth inning, already trailing by a score of 5-0, Sjoe had to accept that he would be a fervent supporter of the losing team.
Dinner at a local steak house helped to dull the pain, after which the Swede stopped by the truck stop to share his thoughts with me. He was apparently struck by the virtual silence of the crowd at Chase Field, having Comerica Park in Detroit (my hometown) as his baseline comparison. The Swede has attended ballgames in numerous cities. He never likes to see a lackluster performance by the home team or, equally important, the home team's faithful supporters. In many cities, the intensity of the crowd is overwhelming. Alas, this was not the case in Phoenix. In a southwestern city populated largely by northern and midwestern transplants, intensity is bound to be lacking. Chase Field was not exactly rocking tonight. C'est la vie.
Tomorrow morning will bring a return to the world of trucking for me. My Swedish buddy Sjoe will most likely go away for at least a few days. I have to deliver in Buckeye by 6am and then we'll turn things over to the desk jockeys to see if they can find some freight for me. One more full week of work should take us to the point where it's time to head home.
That stadium is beautiful... we got to attend a game last summer there while at home thanks to free tickets from my brother. I haven't had the joy to see Comerica Park but I hear it's really nice. My son is going to see my parents in Royal Oak this summer so I might have to pop in and take him to a game just to check it out.
ReplyDeleteArizona plays at Detroit in the middle of June. If you time it right, you can catch your old home team against your new home team.
ReplyDeleteI will have to say that whatever it was that the friendly Swede Sjoe said to Diamondbacks and their manager it really worked. Not that we got to enjoy a game like that.
ReplyDeleteDon't know how to put a link in here but copy this one in to the browser and check it out.
http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=7398109
By the way if you look to the end of the clip you might notice one former Tiger going yard.
It did not go unnoticed who the AL Central leader is tonight. Congratulations to the Detroit Tigers
If I knew you were just hanging out would have had you over for some burgers for lunch.
Enjoyed the game with you yesterday and for now on I will only be referring to my team as the Diamondbacks.
Heh. D-bags. Heh.
ReplyDeleteThat first place stuff won't last long once the Twinkies and White Sox stop playing each other but we'll take it for now. Since we got rid of a bunch of salary, including your man Jackson there, it's most likely gonna be a long year.
One of the great things about working where I do is that I'm rarely allowed to know when I'll be hanging out all day, until the day is over and I've been sitting ready to work. Peckerheads.
I'll always root for Detroit as my hometeam. I'm a die hard wings fan and watch the Tigers once in a while as well but I'll never be a fan of the Lions... never have liked them.
ReplyDeleteRedskins. Just adopt the 'Skins and you'll be on the right side of history.
ReplyDeleteI was never a Lions fan either, but that's mainly because I picked up on football a little later in life (~8 years old as opposed to ~2 years old for baseball and ~4 years old for hockey). I was living in Texas at the time, where everybody hated the Redskins.