7/30/2007

I decided to keep yesterday’s post strictly to Ragbrai and the happenings there, as I knew that it alone would be more than enough to fill up one blog, and that is still leaving a good chunk of what Ragbrai was out due to not wanting to go on too much about it, but one thing I forgot to mention was sitting in a bar, getting asked to play a game called “tippy cup”, accepting, and then finding out it was flip cup. It had been a while, but I feel I represented UMass pretty well, so those four years of college have apparently gone to good use, now promoting the student body very well. So, now for what else is new since the last post I was able to write on the 21st.

The major event since the last post has to be the Cardinals game. We got to check off another stadium in our pursuit of taking in a game at every MLB stadium. Busch Stadium fits right into the mold of many new stadiums. It has the appearance of being an older place with all the amenities of a 21st century sporting arena. I must admit, it was nice to have a cushioned seat with plenty of leg room in comparison with what they call seats in Fenway, but after having taken in more than a couple of these, I am truly glad to have Fenway. There is something to be said for having a truly unique park to call home. Not to say that these new places aren’t nice, they are, but all their efforts to set themselves apart have just created an easy layout for a new park. Nice seats, good views of the field from all of them, brick work throughout much of the stadium, and typically a local cuisine of some renowned. It’s all very nice, but you know what? I will take some bad seats and some cramped space, because the other stadiums, nice as they are, seem a bit boring to me. I know I’m a bit sentimental about having grown up watching games throughout the years at Fenway, but its nice to be crammed in with a bunch of other crazies, it really gets the atmosphere pumping. We caught a great game in St Louis, and the fans really got up for it at the right moments, but it still wasn’t rocking the same as Fenway can when it gets cranking. Hopefully if it does happen, the designer will look at Qwest Field in Seattle, and see that it possible to create a great home field advantage as well as mix in the aforementioned modern amenities.

With that in mind, it was fun to meet the St Louis fans. They were all across the board, from old to young, devoted to newly learning the game, but almost all came into the park decked out in Cards colors, ready to push their team to victory. They knew to stand and yell at important parts in the game, which I have yet to see with regularity elsewhere. It may have simply been the circumstance of catching a very exciting game from the hometown perspective following a great comeback the night before, but I would be inclined to think otherwise. They seemed to know their baseball, from knowing their player’s strengths and weaknesses in and out to throwing out random trivia points to other fans(including name me the three teams Hank Aaron played for, answer at the end), And on top of that, they gave fans coming into their park decked out in other team’s gear crap. I actually appreciate this, as it shows some great pride in your own team. Walking into the park, we were asked if we were trying to get into the wrong stadium, told we were wearing the wrong team’s gear, and all that jazz. All light-hearted, but it showed well for what they have in their own team. Again, hopefully this isn’t because they just came off their own championship, which could be possible, but I’m inclined to think they would do this any year to anybody walking into Busch Stadium wearing the wrong jersey.

And in the other piece of major news, we went out and got the new Harry Potter from Wal-Mart not long after its release. Although there may have been some concern over whether or not we would be able to find a copy soon after the release, there was a decent sized pallet of the books priced cheaper than our membership at Barnes and Noble could offer. So that was in reality no problem at all. My only serious concern was having to finish the first six books before I could start the new one, and with the temptation of the social scene going on at night, my typical reading time, it was kind of a strain to get all the reading in that was necessary. However, I managed to squeeze it in between all the driving, shopping, and setting up camp in the morning and the drinking in the evening. So now I can say that I have successfully completed the Harry Potter series. It’s been a long journey for me, having gotten the first book as a Christmas present before the second had been released. Its taken me from somewhere like my sophomore year at Pentucket Regional to past my graduation from the UMass Amherst. As each new book came out, I would re-read the series to date, and it was always a great buildup of anticipation to the new book, and all that buildup has finally come to an end with the publication and subsequent devouring of the 7th Harry Potter. Sure, I was being anti-social the last two days of Ragbrai whenever there wasn’t work to do or beers to take down, but it was fun to tear through all 758 pages. I just wonder when I will pick up the series again, as Rowling’s said she was most likely done with the series, and barring some crazy financial predicament on her behalf, I would be willing to bet, judging by the size of her bank account, that she would be inclined to leave the Harry Potter series as is, instead of doing prequels or additional books with any of the other characters. It’s kind of sad to come to the end of what has been a great series of books through my maturing process, and will forever remain a link to my teenage years. And no, I won’t be talking about it here, so if you want to hear anything about what I think of it, or chat about it shoot me an email, IM me if I’m ever on, call me, or just wait until I’m home once again. I hope to be able to respond to my inbox sometime in the next month, although my ability to reply to emails has been worse than my ability to throw up blogs, so please, be patient with me those awaiting replies.
Anyways, we are back on the road, driving back to Wyoming to resume the trip, judging by the call of “if you can’t drive, park” from Joe Roche to the people of St Louis. It is a long drive, and then ride, ahead of us, but the idea of being across the Mississippi is pushing us on. I can’t wait for the parties that come upon crossing to the Eastern side of the Mississippi, starting with Chicago and continuing on to Kennebunkport. And on that note, its about time I took over, as the literal driving force behind team Roche, sorry for taking so long between posts, hopefully I can avoid this in the future. (Hank Aaron played for the New York Giant, San Francisco Giants, and the New York Mets, or so I was told by the fan in front of me. I had no idea he went back to play in New York again at the end of his career, it was neat to find out)