Active MLB Park #27: Citi Field

As part of my continuing efforts to hit every active Major League Baseball park, I'm getting down to the bare minimum remaining. I've tried to isolate those into manageable groups that will allow me to cross a couple off at a time during my travels, but it's to the point that I don't have much leeway in that regard. Given that I'm a Dodger fan living on the east coast, I found it somewhat interesting that the first division I was able to completely cross of was the American League West.

Now, I can cross off another - The National League East.

Sadly, though there are 32 parks in the Majors and I've been to over 32 in my life, the trend toward building new stadiums means that I've had to play catch-up with teams Ive already visited. The New York teams hit me twice by opening new parks for the Mets and Yankees in the same year. Suddenly, I was down two.

The facade of the park is, sadly, the best part

I rectified part of that a couple weeks ago when I visited Citi Field for a game between the Mets and the Nationals. The Mets lost and lost badly, and I'd love to say it was because they were out-classed by a team that would go on to win the division. But, the Mets lost because they are a horrible team. They dropped popped foul balls. They threw the ball around the infield time and time again, resulting in zero outs and a carousel of baserunners. The team was awful.

The park was only marginally better.

I had heard such great things about Citi Field and was genuinely looking forward to visiting the park. But, though the layout and atmosphere in the concourses was intriguing, there was little else that I found interesting. The fans were obnoxious and loud (not in a good way), but I chalk this up to not only being New Yorkers but being Mets fans. They have reason to be surly given the team's recent performances.

The food was lackluster and the location of the park (right near the old Shea Stadium) wasn't ideal. That being said, I enjoyed my time at the game I saw at Shea and (be prepared for hypocrisy), I much preferred the old stadium to the new. Shea was a cool place. Citi Field is not.

But, I was able to cross off another stadium and check off the NL East. Surprisingly, though I only have 5 active parks left to see, they span all four remaining divisions. This will make it hard to hit multiple stadiums on one trip.

Those remaining:

Chase Field - Phoenix (Diamondbacks)
Petco Park - San Diego (Padres)
Miller Park - Milwaukee (Brewers)
Comerica Park - Detroit (Tigers)
Yankee Stadium - New York (Yankees)

Active MLB Park #26: Marlins Park

In my unending quest to do everything... everywhere... I am working my way through all 32 active MLB parks, enjoying a ballgame and stadium concession offerings. Baseball has been a passion of mine for as long as I can remember, having played when I was younger and continuing with amateur ball in Gainesville, Austin, and Orlando. Most of my trips involve baseball to some extent (see my two-week road trip from a couple weeks ago as an example), and I slip references of it into most of my fiction. It plays a not insignificant role in my novel, Number 181.

I soon found that my random treks to the stadiums that work and personal travel placed me near was adding up to quite the tally, so I took it upon myself to hit all the active parks in Major League Baseball. It's been a great ride given that it's led to me visiting a couple cities I wouldn't normally have taken the time to stop in (I would have avoided the Ballpark at Arlington, for instance, due to my general disgust with Dallas-Fort Worth). The plan was to hit 5-7 parks a year, but this has made for some re-visits given the trend toward building new parks that has flourished in recent years (AT&T Park, Citi Field, Turner Field, Target Field... Marlins Park).

I'm over 32 parks now. Unfortunately, it's not the ACTIVE 32. Well, I crossed off Marlins Park this weekend thanks to the Dodgers yearly visit. It's a shame that Dem Bums only visited for one, 3-game set this year. Being so far from Dodger games is frustrating. The off-year trips to Tampa Bay are few and far between, but I'm hoping the league reorganization that leads to more inter-league play will result in more LA-TB games on the bay.

But, as to Marlins Park, major props to the city for the retractable roof. Evening monsoons are quite common in Florida this time of year, and last night was no different. Thankfully, it was a cool, dry 80 degrees inside the dome. Very nice. The stadium is laid out nicely, and I love that they use real grass. Turf, even the new stuff, is horrible to play on. It just feels wrong.

Batting Practice at Marlins park

Speaking of wrong, I'm going to go off page here a bit and repeat an oft-discussed irritation I have. Full length baseball pants. It used to be that nearly everyone wore the 3/4 pants and flashed stirrups or stirrup-socks. That's extremely rare now, and it sucks. The long pants look horrible, and I'm convinced their parachute-like qualities slow down runners. I blame Manny Ramirez... a detestable man (who played for my Dodgers for a time... and played reasonably well) whose attire put fans more in the mind of MC Hammer than a baseball player. The guy looked like a flying squirrel in those pants. I believe they were 5 sizes too big... maybe to allow room for rapid growth due to performance-enhancing drugs...

Anyway... Marlins Park. Well laid out... nice fans... everything is in Spanish. Not as a second language... it's literally in Spanish. Fortunately, 80% of my teammates are Hispanic, and I've picked up the baseball slang. Still... it was off-putting.

But, the food... my God the food. Hands down, Marlins Park has the best food in Maor League Baseball. The Taste of Miami area behind the left field bleachers may be the best food in all of Miami. Get a pork sandwich and thank me later. The selection (though expensive) is great. I ended up grabbing a hamburger after that.. just to gauge how they do with the more common ballpark fare... and it was amazing. Topped it off with a soft pretzel that was excellent (and second only to the Wetzel's Pretzel at Dodger Stadium), and you've got a nice showing of all the major ballpark food groups.

Go for the food. Stay for the baseball.

All in all, a great experience. Marlins Park wins the #1 spot for food, but it doesn't do quite enough to crack the top 3 of the parks I've visited. The weather (even in the dome) may have contributed to that given that the city skyline in the distance was clouded over. Regardless, the top three still sit as this:

1. Fenway Park - Boston Red Sox
2. PNC Park - Pittsburgh Pirates
3. Progressive Field - Cleveland Indians

I've still got one more park lined up to visit this year, but the list of those left is getting shorter and shorter.

Petco Park - San Diego Padres
Chase Field - Arizona Diamondbacks
Miller Park - Milwaukee Brewers
Comerica Field - Detroit Tigers
Citi Field - New York Mets (soon.....)
Yankee Stadium - New York Yankees

Twit on a Road Trip [Finale]

As the sun rose on Thursday, my TwitOnARoadTrip2012 time was winding down following the events of  GORUCK DC. Though we were drained from the previous day's efforts, we were able to make our way to Dupont Circle to throw back drinks with Brent, Lou, Jason, and assorted GORUCK family at James Hoban's Irish Bar. Fatigue and alcohol quickly took their toll on our ragged group, though, and we slowly broke apart to our homes, hotels, and squares of carpeted floor. July 4th, 2012 was in the books.

Very few people would be able to function after the day we had, but we awoke and made our way to the National Mall and Smithsonian Museum of American History - an impressive home to war artifacts, the fabled Star-Spangled Banner from Fort McHenry, and the Gunboat Philadelphia. Any grand plans we had to further investigate our nation's capitol disappeared at the first mention of finding a bar. This is not an uncommon occurrence when GRTs congregate in large numbers. Hell, it's usually true when we are wandering the streets alone, too.

Elephant & Castle. The sign across the road called to us, so we opted for an afternoon of rejuvenation and cellular repair, drinking up a storm and causing a general uproar. We were loud and slightly obnoxious. I say 'slightly' in reference to our own scale. When compared to societal norms, we were off the chart.

Relaxing together offered the chance to experience the best aspect of GRCs and the GRT family. Sharing stories and drinks, we talked the afternoon away. It's impressive how quickly people that you've just met can become like old friends. Sweating together during a challenge - any of life's challenges - has the strange ability to add depth and respect in any relationship. Friends, both new and old, bonded to bring the conversation to hilarious and felonious levels.

As a starter, I told the story of my epic 1988 National Spelling Bee victory and ensuing controversy.

Going back to the night before, Chris repeated the hilarious and extremely disturbing way Cadre Lou hoped to create a "T-1000 baby."

Your argument is invalid

Eventually, we started discussing when we'd get together again and talked upcoming GRCs to choose from. Kevin erupted in annoyance. "We don't have to do a GORUCK every time we hang out!"
  
Recounting the horrors and heroes from the day before, we enjoyed the A/C while the sun marched across the sky. Drunken discussions were had on the acceptability of hand-holding during a GRC. The topic of disease-infested ponds was touched upon. I blame the previous day's GORUCK and dehydration for the disaster that followed.

A fuzzy fifteen minutes later, we had women exchange an orange peel from mouth to mouth... followed by two guys doing the same thing. We then requisitioned a shopping cart and proceeded to roll all over Pentagon City. One of us did handstands on the bike rack outside a Costco.

Crazy. At 3PM... on a Thursday. We are not well in the head.

Ending up at one of the bars near the mall, we waited as one of our number attempted to get a new phone. [NOTE: Don't trust a pelican case in your ruck to protect an iPhone during GRCs. Just in case you were considering it...] Doing so, we ran into some GRTs from another July 4th class (remember.. there were five) and chatted up the differences in our experiences. At least, I think that's what we did. We were getting smashed.

To bring it all together, we headed out to GORUCK HQ in DC and threw back some beers with cadre. It was nice seeing some of them in their native habitat, and since none of my past cadre were in

GRHQ: Behind the Curtain

attendance I had a unique relationship. No one in the room had yelled at me to do divebomber push-ups or pick up an effing log. We all hit a couple Georgetown bars and closed out the night as friends.

It was a great bookend to my road trip, so after breakfast with my GRT family, I jumped in the car and made the executive decision to push on toward home for the night. It made for a long drive and I didn't get to the house until after 1AM, but it was worth it. I was going to need the entire weekend to relax and get myself in some semblance of order for Monday.

Monday... Work... I did it up hard for over two weeks and came out of it with a ton of new memories and more than a few new friends. I came up with ideas for future vacations and found new people that shared my passion for stupid crap that would be willing to do them with me. That's the best you can ask for, and I can't wait until the next one. It's only been five days, but I'm having GORUCK withdrawal. I'm having GRT withdrawal. And, I can't wait for the next trip.

Eagerness is one thing... but where to? I heard Jason Aldean's "Fly Over States" several times over those many miles, and it really hit home with me how little people in our big cities know of our country and how much we take for granted. When I drove to Florida from San Francisco, I was struck by how far apart people were. Hundreds of miles separated cities and homes. The west-east trip showed me how big our country is, but this trip showed me how close together we are. I visited Civil War sites and realized how near everything was - even 150 years ago. Louisville, considered by most to be in a culturally 'southern' state, was a Union bastion. The two capitol cities, Richmond and DC, were 90 miles apart. I left Washington, DC at nearly 1:00 PM and was in my Florida bed that night. We are so much closer than we think. We think in terms of 'here' and 'there,' but we share the same land and air. I could have spent days in some of the cities I blitzkrieged through on my drive - Louisville, Nashville, Chattanooga, Lafayette, Cleveland. This country is full of amazing places and fascinating people. My trip gave my dozens of ideas for future travels. If I do half of them, I'll see more of this country than 95% of Americans, and that's too bad. Go check out your country - not in pictures or television... GO - and let me know what you think.

FIN

Twit On A Road Trip: By The Numbers

Miles Covered: 5309
Days on the Road: 15
States Visited: 16 (plus Washington, DC)
New states checked off the list: 3 (Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota)
Countries Visisted: 2 (Canada is a country... for now...)
Half Marathons Completed: 2
Bricks purchased: 16
GORUCKs completed: 1
Patches earned/received: 4
ToaRT2012-Related Facebook Updates: 181 (I'm not joking. I counted. Irony... or destiny?)
ToaRT2012-Related Tweets: 94
Blog Updates (including this one): 11
"Halls of Fame" visited: 3
 Oil changes: 1
Highest Mileage Day: Day 15 - 852 miles from DC to Florida
Most Expensive Gas: $3.67/gal (New York)
Least Expensive Gas: $3.04/gal (Georgia)
Gallons Purchased: 134
Average mpg: 39.6
Baseball Games attended: 7 (4 MiLB/ 3 MLB)
Active MLB Parks left to see: 7 (down from 10 pre-trip)
Most nights spent in one city: 3 (tie; Buffalo and DC)
College Campuses Visited: 9
People Convinced I was David Boreanaz: 4 1/2*
Beers drank: Countless. And priceless. And now I'm even more senseless.

*One woman asked if I was the actor  on 'that show.'

Knowing my Boreanaz history, I asked, "Bones?"

She said, "No... that's not it."

? - For those of you still following along, the prize is up for grabs.
Both the question and answer are out there somewhere.

 I'd like to give to thanks to my 2007 Honda Civic for making all of this possible. She was a champ.

5309 Miles of the eastern United States