St. Louis

About a month ago, my boss called me to inform me that I was going to attend the SDDC (Surface Deployment and Distribuition Command) Traffic Management Workshop in St. Louis. Woo Hoo! I actually tried to talk my way out of it, but one of us needed to go, and he is the boss. As the trip got closer, I realized that there was a chance that the Rangers could be in town for the World Series.

As it turned out, it all fell into place and I happened to be in a city where the World Series was being played with my favorite team. I look up my hotel and it is 2 blocks from Busch Stadium. A very short walk. It's also across the street from the Gateway Arch (Meh).

As the weather got colder, I followed the internet ticket prices and watched them drop and drop. Finally, about an hour before the game started, I walked over to soak up the scene and look for tickets. The first few scalpers were looking to get rich off of me so I just kept on walking. What I noticed was that there were more scalpers than people needing tickets...always a good thing! Finally as the national anthem was being sung, I bought a ticket on the third base side 3rd level. Face value = $215 Paid $80. Couldn't pass it up. When I got to my seat, there were three empty seats all in a row and I sat in the middle. Both arm rests and nobody next to me! Everything was perfect, except the weather and the final score.

I would have bet the house that it was below 40 degrees, but it was between 45-50 degrees, which doesn't sound cold until you add in a steady drizzly and a 20 mph wind. Later the drizzle turned into a light rain...nice! Also, the fact that I was just sitting still and not moving made it so much colder. If I was out jogging, 45 with drizzle is an ideal weather situation. Sitting still in a hard plastic chair makes it cold. I had on a t-shirt, a button down shirt, a hoody - hood on, and a jacket. Overall, I had a blast, and I got to go to a World Series game!

Observations about the game:
1. St. Louis is a baseball town. The whole downtown area is red and white.
2. A downtown stadium is really cool. For some reason, have the stadium in the middle of everything is pretty cool.
3. The ballpark in Arlington puts on a MUCH better show than Busch stadium. I could have napped while at the game, it was so quiet between innings.
4. St. Louis fans are not nearly as into the game as Ranger fans. The only time the crowd got loud was after the two RBI hits and in the top of the ninth inning.
5. St. Louis fans are very cordial. I wore my Ranger jacket and never even got a second look. I've been to plenty of different games as a visiting fan and this is easily the least aggressive crowd toward visiting fans.
6. When it is cold, people don't remove their hats during God Bless America. I did. It was cold, but doesn't seem like too much of a sacrifice!
7. No dot race, no Cotton Eyed Joe, no Deep In The Heart Of Texas?? See #3. All they had was a couple girls and a T-Shirt sling.
8. The squirrel is really stupid. I think Rowdy is better than that squirrel. The claw and antlers is cooler than that squirrel. The Crowley High School eagle is cooler than that dumb squirrel (shout out to D. Loomis)
9. All this, the best part of this trip is going to be the flight home to see my baby!