National Lacrosse League schedule announced – USRT planets align!

Yesterday was the big day that all us indoor lacrosse junkies wait for with baited breath – the unveiling of the NLL schedule!

OK OK yes there is a little sarcasm intended here, but readers of this space know that we do cheer on the Buffalo Bandits and cover them for our media assignments.

So when the schedule unveiling came out, there was one really intriguing announcement – The Bandits will be out on the west coast, playing against the Washington Stealth in Everett on January 22. The Stealth is the team that replaced the Portland Lumberjax.

Why is that huge? Only because we will be out in Vancouver that same weekend, catching the Sabres game in January 25, checking out the new AHL digs in Abbotsford, and touring the upcoming Vancouver 2010 Olympic venues and preparations.

So — “BANDITS ROAD TRIP!”. Wow will Darris be shocked when he sees us walking into the locker room for postgame!

Wow! What a ride!

Right now I’m in Milwaukee reflecting on the huge amount of driving I’ve done in the past fourty eight hours or so.

Following a night game at Wrigley Field on Tuesday evening, I left a CTA train in Skokie, IL and hopped into my car. What followed was an insane journey covering almost 1400 miles in five states all to catch games in Minneapolis and St. Louis. Grabbing a few hours sleep in Madison following the Cubs game, then a 270 mile race to catch a matinee in Minneapolis. Then a dash to Iowa City(300m+) to get a few more zzzzzzz’s before traveling another 260m to another matinee in St. Louis. And finally a drive to Milwaukee(almost 400m) to top it off. How I managed to pull it off and stay awake I have no idea.

So that’s the reason why the blog hasn’t been current on the recent visits to Wrigley Field, the Metrodome, and New Busch Stadium. I simply haven’t had a few minutes of free time to put my thoughts down.

But fear not, I’m not going to any games tommorow!(I think) So I’ll be banging out what’s been happening since I left Cincinnati on Tuesday morning. Stay tuned! Thanks!:)

-pjf

A double dip in Cincinnati….

A replica of a steamboat smokestack beyond the right center field fence at the Great American Ballpark. The signature of Great American Ballpark

Two games in a day, when you have a chance to get that on a road trip you do it. Even if it features two of the more mediocre teams in the sport. Even when I was in the planning stages of this journey, I saw this day and thought “this has to stay, no matter what”. And I’m glad that I kept it I got plenty for my day here. Where to begin? in no particular order…..

“Great seats, eh buddy!” – There was an announced crowd of over thirteen thousand for the first game. Honestly it was closer to thirteen hundred. The night crowd was listed as under ten K, but was clearly better attended. In either game you could have a section to yourself.

Blame Cincinnati for the excesses of the big market teams – in 1869, the Champion family who owned the Cincinnati baseball club came up with the radical concept of paying its players to perform for the team. Why? Simple, they wanted a team that could compete and defeat the best teams of the East Coast at the time. And so professional baseball in the United States was born. So when you see Player X sign a 100M$ contract or something to that effect, it’s Cincinnati’s fault.

Signature food item in the building! – Skyline Chili and their chili dogs. Take a hot dog and with chili on top, then smother it with an overload of cheese strings and some onions and BAM! Cincinnati’s finest delicacy. On another note: The afternoon game was so sparsely attended that there wasn’t a single Skyline stand open. Yep, it was that empty.

Really sweet, awesome part of the park to see (sort of part of the park, has its own admission charge) – The Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame and Museum. For ten bucks this place has 140 years worth of exhibits about the oldest club in professional baseball. Photos of the original club of 1869, table sized replicas of Crosley Field and its predecessors. Most impressive – an exhibit of 4,256 baseballs representing each of the hits in Pete Rose’s career. The exhibit sits near an area called the “Rose Garden” which is on the spot where Rose’s record breaking 4,192nd hit touched ground at Riverfront Stadium.

The games themselves: Another pair of good games and the Reds won both of them. They took the afternoon matinee 4-3 as former Buffalo Bison Darnell McDonald came charging home from third on a wild pitch in the bottom of the ninth for the game winner. And Drew Stubbs his second home run of the two game set in the nightcap to put away the Bucs in game two by a 6-3 count. The former “King of Buffalo” – Brandon Phillips for you Bisons fans also had a solo homer in that game.

Other silly stuff:

Number of Buffalo expats met yesterday – 2
White Castle burgers eaten – 0, but there’s one right by this hotel. That’s changing soon.
Vanilla Coke intake – 3 cans
Cost of parking – 5 bucks, not bad for a doubleheader

Something that irked me that I wish I would have known sooner: The Reds gave anyone with a ticket to the afternoon game free admission to the night game. I knew I shouldn’t have gotten a ticket to the night game in advance.

On tap – heading for Chicago and night baseball at Wrigley Field. Yes, you heard that right, baseball under the lights at the Friendly Confines. Gotta hit the road, thanks!

-pjf

Ain’t no party like a Detroit party.

The greatest of all the players to wear the old English D have their own life sized statues at Comerica Park

How do I explain a city like Detroit best?

Sure, I could use all the negative words and labels that have been applied to it over the years. And they would work to an extent. But to stop at that (s**thole, dump, etc.) doesn’t tell the whole story.

Where some people see vacant and dilapidated skyscrapers, I see buildings that they just don’t make like they used to, I see history. Where people see a city cloaked in economic struggle, I see a city that made America the greatest nation in the world with the sheer might of its people.

Once you get past the not so pleasant visuals in Detroit you begin to see it for what it is, and how important it was to the building of a great society. And when that point is reached, you begin to appreciate Detroit. Almost like that not so great looking girl/boy who didn’t dress flashy and didn’t hang out the “in” crowd, or any crowd. Once you got past those initial uncertainties and got to know her you couldn’t help but like and appreciate her. She’s real, she’s honest, and doesn’t try to be anything she’s not.

So that was my mindset when I came here today for the first stop on the ballpark tour as the Rays took on the homestanding Tigers. It was an uneventful ride through Canada until I got to the Ambassador Bridge and tried to re-enter my country. What happened then?

Well, let’s just say that Customs and Border Protection are doing everything they can to keep you safe from ballpark roadtrippers like me. I was held up at Customs for at least a half an hour, spoke with three different agents, none of which could figure out why I would come all the way to Detroit from Buffalo without game tickets (gee, because they’re available at the box office?) or why I would go on a weeklong journey with just a couple twenties in my pockets. Apparently the concept of credit cards and ATM’s is foreign to those assigned to “defend” our borders.

Anyhow, I had to vent about that and I was still able to get to Comerica Park with plenty of time to spare. It’s a great park, one of my favorites. It’s a venue that does the best job in all of baseball in celebrating a team’s history. Where else does a player get his own statue when his number is retired? And a fantastic collage of Tiger memorabilia can be found in five giant baseball bats sitting on wheels on the lower concourse. And thanks to the tons of tiger statues, gargoyles, etc. etc. there’s absolutely no question where you are when you visit here. And the seating bowl provides an astounding view of the Detroit skyline and nearby Ford Field.

The game was a good one. The Tigers brought out their ace Justin Verlander to face the Rays Jeff Niemann and it was a solid pitcher’s duel with the Rays leading 3-1 after seven innings thanks to back to back home runs in the fifth by Evan Longoria and Akinori Imamura(Akinori’s first of the season). Then Rays manager Joe Maddon pulled Niemann during the eighth for Grant Balfour. Balfour couldn’t close the deal as Placido Polanco took advantage of a strong wind to left field to eke a three run homer out of the park and sending the Cats to victory on this day.

With the game ending at about 3:30ish, it gave me plenty of time to go for a pleasant walk around town. The Greektown entertainment district, with a casino rising amidst it and destroying the community (last comment dripping with sarcasm) filled with Athenian restaurants and shops. Wandered through the Campus Martius area of dowtown with several newer buildings, including the headquarters of Compuware. Then off to the riverfront with several works of art in and around, including one of a freed slave family looking upon the river. A tribute to the heroes of the Underground Railroad. The Spirit of Detroit….Joe Louis’ fist.

Humorous note: I saw someone get a summons for trying to hop on top of the Joe Louis artwork.

Yep, Detroit….you’re alright in my eyes. Just fine.

Silly stats of the day(or not):

Miles driven: 522.6
Intake of Vanilla Coke: 4 cans
Intake of White Castle: 10 cheeseburgers
God Bless America in seventh inning stretch: yes
Ushers being sphincter police: not here. Maybe “Steve” from Ford Field doesn’t work here.(inside story, feel free to ask)

Interesting note: The fountains above the center field fence once named after GM in a naming rights deal now has the logos of all of the Big Three automakers. On the house, courtesy of the Tigers.

Next stop: Great American Ballpark, Cincinnati. A day/night doubleheader pitting two teams playing for jobs(again) in 2010. Reds vs. Pirates, a first class matchup in the seventies but a sorry matchup today.

-pjf

ECDC Picnic Featuring Sen. Gillibrand

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand

On Thursday August 27th, between 5 – 8pm, the Erie County Democratic Committee (that’s the Lenihan Democrats.  Not the Pigeon Democrats or the Casey Democrats) will be holding a “pre-primary” picnic fundraiser for Senator Kirsten Gillibrand.  The cost to attend is $25 per person or $40 for a family.

The picnic will be held at Veteran’s Park at Niagara Street and Veterans Drive, City of Tonawanda.  It’s a family event, featuring live music, food, and activities for kids.  You’ll also be able to meet and speak with your US Senator and other elected officials from throughout the area.

Ten games, nine baseball parks, nine days. (Peter goes solo)

Yep the crazy roadtripper in me is at it, and has gone haywire to boot.

Beginning on Sunday, August 30th and ending Monday, September 7th I’ll be on the road in my Kia Sorrento traversing the great cities of America’s Midwest attending Major League Baseball games along the way. What began back in the springtime as an excuse to visit Milwaukee to see a family member play in a national softball tournament has fallen victim to what we at the USRT call a “fertile mind attack” – brainstorming about potential sports road trips and the possibilities that we can come up with while doing said daydreaming.

So how exactly, did it come to this? Glad you asked!

At first the plan I had was to base myself out of Milwaukee for the balance of the week and then attend minor and major league games within a certain radius of the Cream City. Plenty of parks to be seen in the area, some affiliated minor(Kane County, Appleton) independent(Gary, Schaumburg) as well as the Major League clubs in Chicago and Milwaukee. But as time went on, I began to search through the Major League schedules and found the possibilities to be far more appealing. A chance to see the Cubs and White Sox do battle, A day/night doubleheader in Cincinnati, a swan song for the Metrodome, and so much more. I came up with a final plan after plenty of schedule reading and research on travel websites to calculate distances between cities. One that would take me to nine different MLB stadia covering all of the clubs from Buffalo west to the Mississippi River and north of the Ohio River, one that crams ten contests in a nine day span yet provides a day off from heading to the yard.

Sounds impossible? It isn’t. Sound crazy? Absolutely! But that’s how I’m going to roll for a week or so. Plenty of time in a car, daily intervals of time spent at a ballpark, and the occasional few hours of sleep at night to top it off. So without further ado, the planned itinerary:

Day 1 – Sunday, August 30th: Tampa Bay Rays @ Detroit Tigers 1:05pm
Fitting to begin a road trip like this in the Motor City. Useless USRT factoid: The official USRT visit to Comerica Park in April 2000 featured these two teams.

Day 2 – Monday, August 31st: Pittsburgh Pirates @ Cincinnati Reds 1:10pm, 7:10 pm
A doubleheader in the Queen City featuring two teams long gone from contention….again. Useless USRT factoid II: Yep, we witnessed a late season doubleheader between these two teams as well in Pittsburgh back in 2005.

Tuesday, September 1st: Houston Astros @ Chicago Cubs 7:05pm (CT)
You are reading that start time correctly. Night baseball at Wrigley Field, the rarity of this makes it all the more intriguing and something to look forward to. Also, plenty of caffeine may have to be consumed afterward as I’ll have roughly 14 hours until first pitch of my next game a mere 409 miles away.

Wednesday, September 2nd: Chicago White Sox @ Minnesota Twins 12:10pm (CT)
One last look at the Metrodome before the Twins move into Target Field next season. Thank goodness for the early start, as a 562 mile drive to the next destination ensues afterward. Useless fact: when Target Field opens in 2010, Tropicana Field will be the only MLB park with a permanent roof on it.

Thursday, September 3rd: Milwaukee Brewers @ St. Louis Cardinals 1:15pm (CT)
Will the Brew Crew still be in contention by this game? Hmmmm….

Friday, September 4th: DAY OFF(Thank goodness! 1300+ miles in 48 hours while watching a few games will drain me somewhat)

Saturday, September 5th: San Francisco Giants @ Milwaukee Brewers 3:05 (CT)
Looking forward to tailgating before the game, the “Beer Barrel Polka” during the seventh inning stretch, and the sausage mascot race. Useless USRT factoid III: We ran into Brewer broadcasting icon Bob Uecker three times in a four week span in three different MLB parks. He definitely wasn’t the funny man you see on tv towards us, to put it mildly.

Sunday, September 6th: Boston Red Sox @ Chicago White Sox 1:05pm (CT)
The ride home begins in earnest afterwards, but not before seeing this battle of playoff hopefuls.

Monday, September 7th: Chicago Cubs @ Pittsburgh Pirates 12:35pm,
Texas Rangers @ Cleveland Indians 6:05pm
The grand finale! Two games in two parks over 100 miles apart. The visitors in both games should be in contention by the time I get there. It’ll be the second Monday in row featuring two games on the journey.

Ten games, nine parks, nine days. You got a better way to kill off a week? Didn’t think so.

I’ll be doing my darndest to update the blog while I’m away and keep everyone posted on how things are progessing, though there will be many instances where time will be of the essence in getting from point A to B. Please follow along! It all starts on the 30th!

-pjf

Bruce Smith brings the house down in Canton

Thurman Thomas and Jim Kelly join Bruuuuuuuuce for his big moment.

The finale tonight at the 2009 Hall of Fame enshrinement ceremony was a doozy.

“Simply the best” and “The best Buffalo Bill player ever” was the way presentor and former coach Ted Cottrell described Smith, who still flashes that killer smile and still looks like he can suit up and sack quarterbacks tomorrow.

While some fans had left the building after a long evening of speeches and presentations, Bills fans stayed in force, drowning the crowd in chants of “Bruuuuuuuuuuce!”

“As vividly as yesterday, I could remember arriving at training camp with Andre Reed back in 1985″ said Bruce as he opened his comments. “I stand before you honored and humbled.”

Smith paid tribute to owner Ralph Wilson, saying “there couldn’t be a more deserving enshrinee.” He paid tribute to his teammates on the Bills, to his family, his coaches and mentors in his younger days.

As expected, he finally got choked up and lost it a bit when he spoke to his son Austin, exhorting him to aspire to greatness in his life.

Composing himself, Smith then started rattling off his memories of all the great years, calling out players, people with the team, the memorable moments, revving up the fans as if this were some sort of revival. To Thurman Thomas, he quipped, “P.S. I hid your helmet”, a reference to that moment in the Super Bowl when THomas could not find his helmet and had to stay out of a play. The crowd roared.

Smith’s portion of the program capped off a great night for Buffalo, a night which Bills fans might never see here again. For those who made the journey from Buffalo to see the Canton Class of 2009 in person, nobody went home disappointed, leaving the stadium to the strains of U2’s “Beautiful Day” and a pyrotechnics display.

Ralph Wilson enters the Hall on cloud nine

Reporting in from Canton, Ohio, as Ralph C. Wilson Jr. became the first member of the 2009 class to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Bills Hall of Famers join on the dais with first 2009 enshrinee Ralph Wilson Jr.

Aided by a boisterous and clearly blue shirted Buffalo cotingent in the audience, presernted Chris Berman of ESPN gave a stirring opening address. “The Swami” commended the Hall of Fame Committee, saying “this was one of the wisest selections the committee has made in a while.” Berman added, “The Bills still belong to Buffalo because your owner has given you his word.” Then he asked Bills fans to offer the Berman signature chant, and all obliged “No one circles the wagons like the Buffalo Bills!”

Wilson approached the podium, hugging fellow enshrinee Bruce Smith. Wilson shared numerous anecdotes about the early days of the Bills. He poignantly mentioned his daughter Linda Bogdan, who worked for the team as a scout, and who recently passed away from cancer. “I’m closing in on 91, and I still feel like I have youth on my side” And with that Wilson closed his remarks.

Checking out the sights around the HOF

Roughly three hours or so until the ceremony begins, and the streets surrounding the Hall of Fame complex, as well as the grounds, are teeming with fans. Tailgating is abundant; front lawns parked up with cars ($20 seems to be the template cost); Bills fans everywhere our supporters pretty much own the place.

Still drizzling. Hoping the skies will clear. Big blotches of green on the radar screen.

Finding fellow roadtrippers at the HOF

It didn’t take very long for us to run into some old friends and contacts.

Walking out of the media room, and directly into the concourse and exhibit areas here at the Pro Football Hall of Fame, we bump into Adam Goldstein and Hans Steiniger, two football roadtrippers extraordinaire.

We met Adam last year; he is from the United Kingdom, and during the 2008 NFL football season, he crisscrossed North America and visited every single NFL stadium, with side trips back to Wembley Stadium in London, and even to the Bills/Dolphins game up in Toronto. He maintains a web site at adamsfootballtrip.com.

Hans Steiniger is 26 stadiums into his multi year tour of what he calls “Quest for 31″. He should wrap things up this year, and with the help of his lovely wife and daughter who accompany him to some of the games, he is also building a lifetime of adventures and memories. Hans chronicles his tour at his own web site, nflfootballstadiums.com.

These guys weren’t hard to pick out of the crowd here in Canton – Hans is wearing his trademark “Quest for 31″ jersey, while Adam is garbed in one of the funkiest custom made hats with his football trip emblazoned on the top. Good stuff!

We exchanged pleasantries and shared plans for future trips – the boys are going to be in Buffalo for next Saturday’s exhibition opener at The Ralph, so perhaps a meetup and some tailgating plans in the works!

L-R… Hans, Peter, Adam and Andrew… road trip warriors!