Where to begin? Well first off I will tell y’all that I was in the Show-Me State for this past weekend plus following the greatest team known to man, the Twins of course, who else?
It all began a few months ago when my mother asked me the innocent question of, “Would you like to go to the Twins game in
We left my mothers house at 8 o’clock central time (for those keeping score) and were off to our first destination of
After filling up on scrambled eggs and sausage we were again heading towards the gateway to the west. The rest of the drive was pretty uneventful. A few buildings here and there but mostly
This guy (I don’t care to look up his name) had no idea what a microphone was. We were first introduced to him somewhere along the 3rd inning as out of no where some grumbling occurred in the background. My brother looked at me and had the expression on his face that questioned where this voice came from since he had not spoken all game. When he took over after the 4th inning it was a back and forth struggle with my sanity.
First, he couldn’t figure out where the microphone is, at least I think that is what the problem was. We had to turn up the volume for most of the game because he wasn’t speaking into it and then all of a sudden he would find the mic and would blow our ear drums out causing us to turn down the volume. This would keep repeating until the game was over. It was the most outrageous thing I have ever heard on the radio. I’m sure the producers for the Cards are very fed up with it as well but probably not as this has to be a regular occurrence. Secondly, he was the most unenthused announcer in the history of announcers. It was like he was announcing a surgical procedure and could not wake the patient. Half of the time he was very behind in his calls as you could hear the crack of the ball making a connection with a wooden bat and this guy would continue to be talking about something else until the play had ended.
I wish I could say that this is the end of my complaints with the radio broadcast but sadly, it is not. The station that hosted the mockery that is a play by play crew would always go to commercial break to early. I counted at least 4 times when the station cut to commercial while the play by play announcer was still talking and thus causing my mother to be confused. At one time she thought that we were picking up two stations at once, that is how bad it was.
Enough about those fools and onto the city that I found to be quite boring actually. Other then the Arch and the Cardinals,
We got into St. Louis on Saturday night and did some sight seeing (more like walking towards the arch and looking at all of their court systems that they have downtown) and eventually went to eat at a place called Maggie O’Brien’s that boasts the best BBQ in the STL area. The food was good but not great and after we retired to our hotel room and put on the swimming suits to hop into the pool to wash the gallon of sweat and saltiness that had gathered on us from walking around (we broke the wait 30 minutes after you eat to go swimming rule. I come from a family of badasses)
Since we had a 9:50 date with the top of the St. Louis Arch the next morning (and the fact that we had been in a car all day and in the sun all evening) we went to bed relatively early for my standards (10:30 or so), I went to bed happy as I had a monster day in fantasy baseball (thank you Andre Ethier).
The arch is, as I put it, “very pointless but also very cool”. To get to the top you have to take a little tram type thing that looks like what people in the 60’s thought would pass for futuristic. You were bunched into a small sphere of death if it were ever to malfunction with 4 other people and it took about 2 minutes to get to the top of the arch. Once at the top there were lookout holes that you could see for miles out of. It was a bit overwhelming at times for me because as I leaned out over one of the peep holes I kept imagining the arch breaking at the bottom and me falling to my death (so positive I am). Some facts about the arch: the top is 630 feet off of the ground, it was made in 1965 and it attracts two million visitors per year, like I said pointless but cool.
After the arch we started to walk over to the new Busch Stadium. I was quite impressed with the stadium that will be hosting this year’s all-star game, although it is not hard for me to be impressed with major league stadiums considering the stadium I call home is covered in Teflon and artificial grass. The game time temperature was a staggering 91 degrees in the mid afternoon and I took it as an opportunity to take my shirt off and enjoy baseball how it was meant to be played, outdoors. My decision to go shirtless would haunt me later as I think my skin is the same color as the Cardinals primary color. Justin Morneau started off the game with a bang, hitting his first home run in 63 at bats and causing the many Twins fans to cheer. I even got a Twinkie out of the deal as Twins fans above us started throwing them out after the home run.
The rest of the game was like all other baseball games, a few hits here, a few strikeouts there with runs scored in between. In the end the good guys got the much needed road win and I left a happy guy (besides the current state of the skin on my stomach and shoulders). After the game we took off to
We got to “The New K” as they now call it as Kauffman Stadium underwent a major renovation this past off-season a few hours before game time to get a feel for the place. And I have to say, it is the best stadium of any kind I have witnessed a game in so far in my life. The most impressive feature of the New K was its awesome video board. It's huge and in HD so everything looks so clear and vivid. Plus they showed replays on it (you hear that metrodome, its a novel concept that you should look in to). They call Busch Field "Baseball Heaven", obviously whoever coined that nickname has not been to the New K.
As for the game, it was pretty uneventful. The Twins left their bats in St. Louis it seemed and were 1 hit most of the game until Justin Morneau's bomb in the 7th or 8th inning. They ended up losing 4-2 in what felt like a semi home game. It was surreal how many Twins fans made the trip to both St. Louis and Kansas City. I'm proud to be a Twins fan after seeing all of the others.
All in all it was an amazing trip and I will never forget it...now to the awards for the weekend.
Best BBQ Award
Aurther Bryant's - Kansas City
Best Sign by a Twins fan
"Lets get Denarded in here" - St. Louis. Very clever
Coolest tourist stop
St. Louis Arch
Most overused phrase
"It's really hilly in Missouri, I didn't know that" - Mother
Best thing since slided bread
Solercaine. Greatest thing ever
Twin of the trip
Jose Mijares for his outfield antics during BP in Kansas City. I would love to be a relief pitcher
Best way to pass time
Can I Keep My Jersey by Paul Shirley. What a great book. I cruised through roughly 280 pages on the drive and finished it. I recommend
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