I actually had a pretty big weekend for once. Yesterday, I went to Giants Stadium for the international friendly between the US and the Argentine national soccer teams. I’ll have a separate post about that later.
This post is about Saturday, when my dad and I went to Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, to watch Game 5 of the Calder Cup Finals between the AHL’s Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and the Chicago Wolves.

It was a little bit odd to look at the thermometer on my dad’s car and see a reading of 100 degrees F while heading to an ice hockey game, but we made the trip nonetheless. Wilkes-Barre was cooler than South Jersey, but it still didn’t feel like hockey weather. I’ve always thought the North American hockey season runs too late, but that’s a topic for another day.

ANYWAY!

This was my first visit to the Wachovia Arena at Casey Plaza (formerly the First Union Arena) in Wilkes-Barre. I had heard some bad things about this particular arena. While it wasn’t perfect, I really liked the place.

The Wachovia Arena is nine years old, and for the first few years, it was almost impossible to get hockey tickets there.

Characteristically for minor league sports, playoff tickets are easier to obtain in Wilkes-Barre, but they still drew a good crowd.

The building itself was interesting. It’s not fancy like the new AHL arena in Hershey, but it’s not nearly as drab as I had feared.

It’s mostly a concrete building, but it doesn’t feel unfinished or anything like that. And it’s unique enough that it’s interesting despite its utilitarian design.

One thing I found interesting was the ends of the arena were different from each other. One end is rounded, with permanent seats; the other flat, with temporary seating. For concerts, these seats would be removed.

I think these pictures make the arena look bigger than it is.

The arena seats 8300 fans for hockey, but it’s still pretty intimate. All of the seats are close to the action, and the upper-level seats are pretty steep. Fitting that many fans into such a small space makes for a great atmosphere. This is definitely one of the loudest and most intimidating minor league hockey rinks I’ve visited. The fans were great. (And no one gave me any trouble about my Hershey Bears shirt.)

One common complaint about the Wachovia Arena is that the concourse is cramped. That was definitely true, even though this game was not a sell-out.

There was actually enough room to circulate through the building behind the last row of seats without entering the actual concourse, so that does help things a little bit. But, like I said, the concourse was cramped.

The concessions were pretty good. Northeast Pennsylvania is known for Eastern European food (or so I’ve read), and one stand was serving pierogies and potato pancakes. I also saw some local beers on tap.

I had the fried pierogies (with butter and onions), which I think were only $3.50, and they were very good.

In the AHL, I’m a Hershey Bears fan, so this game didn’t really mean much to me. But I was kind of pulling for Chicago to win. It would have been cool to see a Cup presentation. And Dennis Bonvie, who is something of a minor league hockey legend, is retiring after this season. It would be cool to say that I saw his last game.

Chicago was definitely the favorite to win, but Wilkes-Barre won, 5-1. (It looked to me like they were helped out by a few off-sides plays that weren’t whistled dead.)

Wilkes-Barre survived to take the series back to Chicago, down 3 games to 2.

After the final home game of his career, Bonvie saluted the crowd.

My current hockey city and league tally

Since I’m not going to Chicago this week, this trip ended the 2007-08 hockey season for Gary.

This was a pretty good year for me; I saw hockey in six different cities–four for the first time.

I have now seen hockey games in the following places (the links are to my posts on them):

NHL: Philadelphia, Ottawa, Washington, New Jersey, Pittsburgh, Anaheim, NY Islanders
AHL: Hershey x2, Philadelphia x2, Syracuse, Binghamton, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton
ECHL: Trenton, Atlantic City, Reading
SPHL: Richmond
OHL: Toronto
QMJHL: Drummondville (1/3 of a pre-season game only; I had a bad experience)
NCAA Div. 1: ECAC: Princeton
ACHA Div. 3: Shippensburg in Hershey
France Super 16: Mulhouse
France Ligue 1: Strasbourg
Switzerland LNA: Basel, Fribourg, Lugano
Germany DEL: Freiburg
IIHF: World Championship in Ostrava, Czech Rep.

I attended an Arena Football 2 game at the Norfolk Scope, which is also an AHL hockey arena.

I have also seen the hockey arenas in the following cities, but not attended games there: Bridgeport, Providence, Albany, Rochester, Indianapolis, San Diego, Elmira, Ambri-Piotta, Boston, New York MSG, Montréal, and Toronto x2.

On the agenda for next year is the new arena in Newark, NJ, and Madison Square Garden.  Other than that, it’s hard to predict which cities I will visit, because I’ve already seen most of the nearby arenas.

Note: Whenever I visit a new sports stadium or arena, I like to post some of my thoughts and pictures about it soon after my visit. Believe it or not, there are a lot of “stadium geeks” online, and these posts are pretty popular. Unfortunately, I’ve been lazy for a few months, and I’m only just now getting around to writing this post about my trip to watch the SPHL’s Richmond Renegades play in VA’s Richmond Coliseum. Since it has been a while, my memory isn’t as fresh as I’d like it to be. But hopefully my thoughts are worthwhile anyway.

By February 7th, my grandmom was out of the woods with her heart, and she was resting comfortably in a rehabilitation home.

So, knowing that she was well cared for, I decided not to come back from DC after work on Thursday night. Instead, I hung around DC and met up with my friend, Kevork, on Friday afternoon to make the two-hour trip south to Richmond, Virginia, to take in a minor league hockey game. While there, we tried to see a few of the sights around town.

Kevork, being from Montréal, is a big hockey fan, but he had never seen a minor league game.

I love minor league hockey, but I had never seen a game in Richmond. In fact, it is one of the few semi-nearby cities in which I had never attended a game. Mostly, I wanted to see the arena (you probably know that traveling to visit new sports stadiums is my passion). But I had also never seen an SPHL game before (or any minor pro game below the ECHL level, for that matter), and I was curious about what hockey was like in the “low minors.”

I had wanted to see a game in Richmond for several years, and this seemed like a great opportunity.

The Trip Down

We met up early Friday afternoon and made the trip south on I-95. We stopped at a Waffle House along the way, which gave it a real road-trip feel. There was some traffic, but nothing terrible. As someone from the Philadelphia area, I was surprised to pass a Wawa so far south of the Mason-Dixon Line, but other than that, the trip was uneventful.

When we got to Richmond, we found our way around the city with no problem.

Richmond

I had been through the city of Richmond as a small child on my way to visit relatives in North Carolina, but I remembered almost nothing about it (aside from the fact that you can see the baseball stadium from the highway–what can I say, I guess I’ve always liked stadiums!). So, this was almost like a first visit.

I was only there for a few hours, so I’m certainly no expert, but the city itself reminded me a lot of Syracuse and some other medium-sized cities that I’ve visited for minor league sports. I liked it; it had a nice mix of small town and city, and it just felt like a comfortable place. (Although, I have to admit, having spent so much time in DC may have spoiled me. I used to think that a medium-sized city like this would be the perfect place for me to live; now, I’m thinking I might get bored there.)

Nevertheless, I liked the feel of the place.

We didn’t have much time, so we didn’t put too much on our agenda besides the game. But I like history, so I made a point to visit the Museum of the Confederacy and the Confederate White House.

I enjoyed the Museum of the Confederacy (even though I think I look kind of creepy in that picture), but it was considerably smaller than I expected. We only had about an hour there, and this was almost enough time. I was expecting a massive museum, almost an authoritative Mecca-like shrine to the Confederacy. This wasn’t it. In fact, this reminded of another Civil War museum I visited in Gettysburg. So, while it wasn’t extremely unique, it was a good museum nonetheless. I didn’t have time to nit-pick every little display, but it seemed to do a good job of portraying a neutral, objective account of the Civil War.

I was a little bit nervous walking in, because I was wondering if I’d run into a bunch of neo-seccesionists, ultra-right wingers, and/or klansmen. I have to admit that everyone in the museum was white and Southern, but I felt completely comfortable there, as did Kevork, who is a non-citizen. I don’t think anyone needs to feel nervous about visiting this place. In fact, I recommend it. The museum was good, and the staff was nice; the guy even came back after closing to validate our parking!

The Confederate White House was closed for repairs, but maybe that was for the best; we really wouldn’t have had much time there, anyway. Fortunately, we were able to see it from the street. I was shocked by how banal and unimposing it was.

Here’s Kevork in front of the Confederate White House.

After rushing through the museum, we moved the car to the arena, which was also easy to find. In fact, we probably could have walked, although we didn’t realize how close we were.

We parked and, while walking to the arena, Kevork thought this was a good spot to stop to have a cigarette.

The Richmond Coliseum

The Richmond Coliseum is pretty easy to spot: it’s the big flying saucer sitting in the middle of downtown. We found it easily, and had no trouble finding a place to park nearby.

Right after we parked, I noticed that the guy coming out of the car right next to us was wearing a Trenton Devils hat. I asked if he was from New Jersey. I think he thought I was weird, until I explained that I was from NJ, about 45 minutes south of Trenton. He seemed surprised to hear that I came to Richmond just for a hockey game. Turns out, his son was playing for the visiting team, and he used to play for Trenton.

The gates hadn’t opened yet, so we walked around, hoping to find a way to kill the hour or so that we had to. There didn’t seem to be a whole lot to do before the game in the immediate vicinity of the Coliseum, but eventually we found a small food court a block or so away. The architecture of the building was beautiful, but it was just an ordinary food court. But it seems like this was the place to go before the games; there were about two dozen hockey fans there (including the guy in the Trenton Devils hat) eating and drinking cheap beer.

From there, we headed over to the arena.

The arena immediately reminded me of the Norfolk SCOPE, where I saw an af2 arena football game in the summer of 2000 (of course, I only saw one game there, and it was a long time ago, so I’m not sure how good this comparison actually is.) It also reminded me vaguely of the Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh.

Even though the arena reminded me of a couple of others, I found the place to be more unique than most arenas.

The futuristic exterior contrasted with the interior brick concourses, which I thought gave it a collegiate feel. (Appropriate, because Richmond is a college town, and the Coliseum hosts its share of NCAA basketball.)

The layout of the seating bowl was also a little unusual.

The building is circular, not a “barn,” and is covered by a large domed ceiling.

There are three levels of seating on the ends, but only two levels along the length of the ice.  The second level tapers up towards center ice.

I walked around the place for a little while, just taking it in.  Concessions were average (I had chicken fingers), but the team had a nice selection of merchandise (I bought a program and a scarf).  The seats were comfortable, inexpensive, and offered good sight-lines.

Hockey Game

Kevork was worried about making the trip without having tickets ahead of time, but I assured him that it wouldn’t be a problem; the Richmond Renegades never sell out.

I was right; we had absolutely no problem getting tickets at all, but I was a little bit surprised by a few things.  There were 4081 fans at the game–quite a bit more than I expected.  The fans were also more passionate than I expected.  It was a little odd, but cool, to see people cheering on a team in a Southern accent; I’m glad hockey winning fans in non-traditional markets in the south.

I was also surprised by the game presentation.  Hockey in the low-minors is traditionally unstable: teams move from year to year, management comes up with unrealistic business plans, and teams are shoddily run.  That was not the case in Richmond.  Everything felt professionally-run, and the ownership seems competent.

In fact, everything about this game felt like the AHL.  The city, the arena, the game presentation, all felt like they belonged in the high minors.  Of course, Richmond is still a non-traditional hockey city, so an AHL club might not be viable.  But it seemed to me like fan support is the only thing keeping Richmond from moving up the hockey pyramid.

The quality of play was enjoyable, and also a little better than I expected.

In the end, the Renegades lost to the Huntsville Havoc 4-2.  I was cheering on the home team, but I had a great time anyway.

Recap

After leaving the game, Kevork and I both kind of wished we had booked a hotel so we could have explored Richmond’s nightlife. But we hadn’t, and I was trying to catch an early bus back to Philly the next morning, so we headed back to the DC area. The ride home went fine, and we were both glad that we made the trip.

We got back safely and, fittingly, watched Bon Cop, Bad Cop before turning in for the night. (Three stars out of five for the movie; definitely worth seeing if you’re a hockey fan and/or if you have any interest in linguistic divisions in Canada.)

Overall, there’s certainly no need to rush back, but Richmond was unique and definitely worthwhile. I enjoyed the game, the arena, and the fans tremendously I was impressed all the way around.

My current hockey city and league tally

I have now seen hockey games in the following places (the links are to my comments on them):

NHL: Philadelphia, Ottawa, Washington, New Jersey, Pittsburgh, Anaheim, NY Islanders
AHL: Hershey x2, Philadelphia x2, Syracuse, Binghamton
ECHL: Trenton, Atlantic City, Reading
SPHL: Richmond
OHL: Toronto
QMJHL: Drummondville (1/3 of a pre-season game only; I had a bad experience)
NCAA Div. 1: ECAC: Princeton
ACHA Div. 3: Shippensburgh in Hershey
France Super 16: Mulhouse
France Ligue 1: Strasbourg
Switzerland LNA: Basel, Fribourg, Lugano
Germany DEL: Freiburg
IIHF: World Championship in Ostrava, Czech Rep.

I have also seen a dozen or so other hockey arenas, but not attended games there.

If you’ve been checking out my website over the past month or so, you might have noticed two things:

1. I’ve been lazy about updating recently.
2. This site is lacking in color.

So, I thought I’d try to kill two birds with one stone!

Believe it or not, I have been getting out of the house a little bit to do things other than watch my grandmom.  So, I thought I’d do a quick little photo-blog to recap some of the fun things I’ve done over the past month or so.

(Scroll down; I promise it’s not all hockey/arena pictures!)

Reading Royals hockey

On November 4, I borrowed my mom’s car and drove out to Reading, PA, to watch a Reading Royals ECHL hockey game.  Ok, ok…I watched the game (a pretty good game by ECHL standards), but my main reason for going was to see the arena.

The Sovereign Center is easy to find in a nice part of downtown Reading.  From the outside, it reminds me a bit of the arena in Elmira, New York.  The interior feels like a modern version of Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena in Binghamton. 

All-in-all, it’s a nice building for ECHL hockey and other small events.  But it’s nothing terribly special, and I don’t think it will age gracefully.  Hopefully, I’ll be wrong.

Regardless, I had a pleasant experience, and I’m sure I’ll make it back at some point.  Everything is reasonably priced, and it’s only about 90 minutes away from me, so there’s no reason not to make a return trip.

New York Islanders hockey

Just six days later, on Nov. 10, my brother and I made the drive to the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum on Long Island, home of the NHL’s New York Islanders.

This place is a little old and a little grungy, but it has character, and I LOVED it!

The Coliseum is now the third-oldest NHL arena, which accounts for much of its charm.  Most of the new buildings seem so similar to each other; it’s nice to see something a little unique.

The Coliseum reminds me a lot of the old Spectrum in Philadelphia, and a little bit of the Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh.  The layout of the seating bowl even reminds me a bit of a larger HersheyPark Arena.

It’s not luxurious by any means; the seats are a tiny bit cramped, and the concourse is very cramped.  But it has character, good sight-lines, and affordable prices.  I’m glad this place still exists in today’s NHL.

Visiting the Dans at Thanksgiving

It’s odd.
I now live less than a mile from where I was born, and about 4 miles from my old schools.  Yet, I don’t know all that many people around here anymore–most of my good friends have moved away. 

Even though family stuff didn’t go exactly as I’d have hoped, Thanksgiving was a nice treat, because my good friend Dan, along with his girlfriend, EMILY, came out to visit from San Diego. 

We spent a fun night hanging out with them at (another) Dan’s house.  It was a good time.

We capped the night with a trip to Wawa, where this picture was taken so they could remember their trip to the right coast.

Gotta have my Wawa.

New York City

Thanksgiving is great, because it brings people back into town. 

The Monday afterwards, I met up with Dustin and his wife, Jess (both in town from Atlanta), along with their friend, Ali, and we drove up to New York City. 

It was a nice time, featuring delicious cupcakes!

Comcast High-Speed Internet

No picture for this one, but I finally broke down and ordered my own high-speed cable internet.  I anticipated this being a chore to get set up, but it wasn’t.  Comcast’s self-install kit was a breeze, and I was up and online within about 15 minutes of opening the box–I didn’t have to call tech support or anything.  Setting up the WPA was also surprisingly easy.  So, after a year here, I finally have fast, reliable, and secure wireless Internet on both of my computers!  (And I got $100 off of an mp3 player for signing up!)

Baby Hayley!

Saturday, I got to hold a baby!

Before going to the hospital, I half-jokingly pointed out to my mom that I have more experience with foreign dignitaries than I do with babies.  So, for the first minute or so of holding her, I was a little nervous.  But I got pretty comfortable very quickly, so everything went fine.  I didn’t drop her and break her!   In fact, she slept soundly almost the entire time.

Nana

Not much new to report on here.  She has been getting very depressed for about an hour a night for the past week or so, and we had a tiny bit of a scare with her heart yesterday.  But overall, she’s about the same.  Not much new to report.

Work

And, as I mentioned in my last post, I am now working again–two days per week in Washington, DC.  It’s going well.  After a year of my life that has been turbulent for many reasons, it feels great to be back in the familiar confines of my old office, surrounded by familiar faces.  Despite the problems my office has (and there are many), it still feels really comforting to be back.  Not to mention the fact that being productive feels good, too.

I don’t have any pictures of my return to work yet, but I’m sure I will eventually.  Especially once my movie premiers: my colleagues have decided that I should play the title role in their Lollywood remake of a television classic.  They’re going to call it, “Chaudhry’s Angels.”
(That’s a joke.)

And I’ve been trying to do a little work around the house, too.  Yesterday, I installed a new insulation blanket on the hot water heater.  Today’s job was renting a carpet shampooing machine.  It worked well!  No pictures of that, unfortunately; hopefully the other pictures I just posted will suffice.  And hopefully I’ll break out of this lethargy and start posting more often!

For once, I’ve got a few action-packed days.

Hockey

Yesterday, I went to the Flyers’ SkateZone ice rink in Voorhees to watch the Philadelphia Flyers’ prospects scrimmage against the Washington Capitals prospects.

SkateZone was the first place I worked; I started there almost exactly seven years ago, as a scorekeeper and clock operator.  I worked through my last year of high schoo, and I filled during breaks from college.  I hadn’t been back to the rink for a few years, but nothing had really changed.  In fact, my old boss was even there to watch the game!  (He works elsewhere now.)

I also ran into one of my friend from high school, which was also cool.

The kids played hard and were definitely out there to impress. The gameplay was pretty good–better than I expected.  Most of these guys will be back in junior or Europe this year, although a few will make it to the AHL or even NHL.

I’d estimate about 250 or so people turned up to watch, including probably a dozen or so scattered Caps/Bears fans. (I saw one guy wearing a Bears t-shirt and cheering the Flyers’ team. ) It was pretty crowded.

No one really stood out to me, but that might be because I was standing and peeking over heads for most the game. That might be what kept me from gaining any real insight, since I wasn’t able to focus too well, but I really enjoyed it anyway.

The Caps seemed to dominate the first and last 10 minutes of the game, but the Flyers seemed to take the middle of it.

Backstrom looked good, and no one looked horrible.

Caps’ new unis looked sharp. Better than I expected. I think the Flyers rookies were wearing practice jerseys. Their socks were kind of weird, but not terrible.

I hope they do this every year. Definitely a fun afternoon.

Flyers’ prospects won, 5-3.

—

Wedding

In about an hour, I’m off to Philly for my friend Dan’s bachelor party!

 
(L to R: Me, the Dan who is getting married, our other friend Dan, and Dustin, way back in High School.)
Then tomorrow I have the rehearsal dinner (I’m not really in the wedding party, but I’m reading something nonetheless); the wedding itself is Saturday afternoon in New Castle, Delaware.  I’m really looking forward to it.

My mom is spending tonight and Saturday night here with my grandmom, so I have some time off.  Should be fun!

I probably won’t be on the computer much the next few days, but feel free to call the cell. 

***

Cricket: 

(If you’re not familiar with the sport of cricket, here is a little primer I wrote a few months ago.  Or you can just scroll down to read my comments on other sports.) 

Rather than this specific tournament, my first comment is on Twenty20 cricket itself:
If you’re going to limit the overs, then why the hell don’t you limit the wickets along side of it?!

I understand that the whole point of Twenty20 is to speed up the game, make it more intense, more high-scoring, and thereby attract a new audience.  I’m cool with that; after all, I’m part of that new audience–I’m young, I’m a cricket neophyte, and I’m American.  I think cricket is a great game, but, while I’d be willing to give it a shot,  I’d be skeptical about actually spending a whole day at a match.  Twenty20, though, is something I’m dying to see.  I wish ProCricket was still around.

But while I’m keen on short-form cricket, I think the current version of Twenty20 sacrifices a too much of the integrity of the sport by essentially turning the game into a slog-out. 

How to fix it?  Limit the outs along with the overs.  Say, 5 or 6 wickets per side per match.  It would at least make the fielding and running count for something.   And even with only 5 or 6 wickets to sacrifice, the batsmen would still be far more agressive than in ODIs.

Downsides?  The only complaint I could think of with my idea is that it makes depth in the batting lineup less of a neccessity.  But how much much of a neccessity is it now, anyway?  Furthermore, if it’s that big of an issue, you could allow, or even require, teams to shuffle their batting lineups during the match.  Sure it’s unorthodox.  But so is the current form of Twenty20.

–

Now, as for this tournament, it’s going to be interesting.  From what I’ve read, the South Africans have done a *gasp* good job organizing the event.  That’s a good sign, especially condering the controversies about RSA’s preparations for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.  I’m looking forward to it.

That said, retirements (Lara, Inzamam, McGrath), scandals (Shoaib Akhtar), and miscellaneous absences (Dravid, Ganguly, Tendulkar, Panesar) do take away somewhat from the star power.

(Aside: Notice how most of those players are from South Asian teams?  If the Indian Cricket League really does take off, the PCB and BCCI will really have no one to blame but themselves.  Honestly, I think I’m pulling for the ICL to succeed where Packer failed.)

I’m going to try to follow it as best as I can.  And I’ll be cheering on my WIndies.

(I get good mileage out of this photo.)

Australia should take it without much trouble, although I’d be looking for an upset or two in this tournament thanks to the nature of Twenty20. 

***

Football:  I have mixed feelings on football.  I love following it, but actually sitting down and watching a full game can be brutal.  It’s not so bad on TV, but I just don’t like going to games.  Regardless, the season just started, and I’m excited about it.  A few comments:

1. Syracuse sucks.  I mean, we’re just plain awful.  How does a team fall that far, that fast?  And how did a new AD and new coach not change things at all?
2. The Philadelphia Eagles need to make Andy Reid aware that this is his last chance.  He’s 90% perfect, 10% terrible.  That’s great 90% of the time, but that’s not something we Eagles fans should settle for.  Today it was special teams.  Last game last year it was clock management/playcalling.  Same with the Super Bowl.  He’s just not getting it done.
3. My fantasy team is, once again, incredible.  Go White Hor*R*se Homebody!

***

Ice Hockey:  Stateside, rookie camps are underway, and training camps are opening very soon.  The Flyers’ rookies actually have a real scrimmage this Wednesday against the Washington Caps rookies just down the road for me!

The European pre-season is wrapping up, and the Swiss regular season opens on Friday!  I can’t wait.  I really have no idea how Fribourg-Gottéron will do this year, but I’m hoping for th best.  Their new website, by the way, sucks something fierce.

***

Soccer:  The Women’s World Cup opens this week in China.  I’m not sure I’ll be up early enough for the games, but I’ll be trying to follow it anyway.  They say group B is going to be damn near impossible. I’m certainly no expert, but I just can’t see the US having much of a problem.  Also, this is supposedly going to be China’s warm-up for the Olympics.  Let’s see how it goes.

The officiating today in the USA-Brazil men’s friendly was horrible. 
(Yep!  It was a FIFA weekend, the same weekend as NFL openers, and just a few days before the Women’s World Cup and the ICC World Twenty20.  See what I mean about it being a huge sports week?!)

Today’s Netflix Pick was Bend It Like Beckham.  (I figure that’s slightly more excusable than normal since my previous pick was a classic exestential drama).  The girls were cute, the message was good, and the movie was entertaining enough overall.  But the acting of Jess’ mom and sister was a little too over-the-top, and I hate movies where thing after thing after things goes wrong (Meet the Parents is one of my all-time least favorites). 
2.5 stars out of 5.  But I’m definitely not the target audience.

DC United just finished a stellar week.  It is absolutely killing me that I haven’t been able to see this team this year.  Hopefully I’ll get to see them at least once this year.  I’m also hoping to visit DC for the MLS Cup in early November.  I’m hoping I get to visit DC one more time before that, but it’s not looking too likely.  I miss it down there.

Now, I am in baseball mode.

But what if there was a baseball game and no one came?

I took in my second professional game of the season yesterday afternoon in Camden.

Where are the fans?

You’re looking at them!

By my unofficial count, I was one of 22 spectators there, including players’ families.  And that’s exactly why I went!

See, the independent (unaffiliated) Atlantic League of Professional Baseball awarded an expansion team to York, Pennsylvania, this year.  The York Revolution (so named because York was, however briefly, a Revoluation-era capital of the US) were supposed to move into their home stadium in York last month, but construction delays meant their stadium won’t be ready until mid-June.

So, with a month of baseball scheduled to play and without a stadium, the team arranged to play their first 11 “home” games 105 miles away from their home city.  For May and early June, York’s “home” is Campbell’s Field in Camden, NJ.

In the Atlantic League, an average ticket costs about $8, and crowds of 6,000 fans aren’t unheard of, although 4,500 is probably about average.  The quality of play is good; many of the players are former major-leaguers.  But a largely unadvertised mid-week, mid-afternoon game, early in the season played at a neutral site between two teams that have never had a home following just doesn’t hold that much appeal around here.  Tickets were only $3, and even still, I only counted 22 of us there.

In a way, I was amazed that they had tickets at all.  With the stadium filled to about .3% of capacity, we were all free to roam around.  It was fun to watch the game from multiple angles, and a couple of young kids collected literally dozens of foul balls.  Of course, aside from the game, there wasn’t all that much else to see (aside from the luxury box I found my way into–Shhh!  Don’t tell!); all of the concession stands were closed, and I think there were more people from the off-hours cleaning crew in the park than there were fans.  Even still, I have to hand it to the teams for actually running it like the professional game it is.  In addition to having tickets, they actually had a professional PA announcer, radio broadcast team, a national anthem, and music between innings.

(Does anyone remember the Delaware Stars of the old, ill-conceived Maryland Fall Baseball Leauge?  This kind of reminded me of that–a real game played before a deserted stadium.  I never made it up to see the old Lehigh Valley Black Diamonds before they became the Road Warriors, but I imagine this was like their games.)

There is definitely something to say for being part of an energetic, sold-out crowd.  But every once in a while, being part of a laughably small crowd can be an interesting novelty. 

All in all, a fun, quirky afternoon.    

THE HERSHEY BEARS HAVE ADVANCED TO THE CALDER CUP FINALS, AND THEY’RE PLAYING THE HAMILTON BULLDOGS!

If anyone wants to join me out in Hershey for the finals, let me know!  It should be a great time.
Right now, I’m tentatively planning on going June 1 and, if neccessary, June 12 and 15.

(We had Calder Cup finals tickets in 1997 when the Bears were still playing at the Hersheypark Arena.  But we weren’t able to go because my brother was hospitalized after he hurt his eye.  Hopefully that will be one way that this year is different from 1997!)

Hershey has a great team this year.  While I haven’t followed them like I did in 1997 (the ’97 Bears are my all-time favorite sports team), they still have been fun to follow.  And I think they have a GREAT chance of winning a Calder Cup, just like last year, and just like 1997.

In other news, lest you get too worried from that last post, my grandmom’s spirits have been returning to normal.  In fact, I’d say each of the past four days have been a small step in the right direction.  It’s not so much that she’s doing better (physically or mentally), but she seems to be feeling better, emotionally.  At this point, that counts for a lot.  She has virtually no recollection of the 18 days she spent in the hospital and in rehab this month, and she seems to be mostly back to her old self, the way she was before this whole episode with her heart happened.
Last night she told me that she hopes to live to at least 100.  I think she has a good shot.

Don’t blink; you might miss something.

As you probably know (since I haven’t really shut up about it), I just got back from a week in San Diego a little more than 48 hours ago.   It was my first time in California (my first time west of Arkansas, actually), and I had a GREAT time!

It’s funny; no matter how long you stay somewhere, it usually seems that you need one more day.  In a way, that held true with this trip, but in a way, it didn’t.  I mean, I could have easily found a way to spend another month out there.  But I did pretty much everything I set out to do, so one more day really wouldn’t have made all that much difference.  But I wanted it anyway.

Even having done all that I set out to do, or maybe because of it, the whole trip is a bit of a blur.  In a way, it doesn’t even feel real.  It happened so quickly: I decided to go away around March 28.  I booked my flight on March 30; I left on April 12, and by April 18, I was back on the ground in NJ.  Now, I can hardly believe that I went to California for a week and that I’m back.  It really did fly by.  I feel like I blinked and it was over.

I’ll type out a full report below (I doubt many people will read it, but I hope people will enjoy my pictures, and maybe it will be useful for someone planning their own trip), but first, here are my highlights:

• Seeing ice hockey, baseball, and soccer in new places, and also seeing 7 additional stadiums on top of the three where I attended matches.
• Reconnecting with some old friends.
• Watching wild seals in La Jolla.
• INCREDIBLE food.
• Visiting my 14th country–Mexico!
• Beautiful (and historic!) scenery.
• I can go on…
• and on…
• and on…
• And I will!

Background and Planning

About three weeks ago, I found out that I’d be able to take a week off, so obviously, I decided it was time to go away.  For a while, I was thinking about going somewhere in the Caribbean to watch the Cricket World Cup, but I decided against that.  I thought I’d probably have more fun visiting my friend, Dan, in San Diego.  Hindsight now confirms that this was definitely the right decision.

I hadn’t talked to my friend, Matt, in over a year.  I don’t think I had even seen him since the ButterBowl (at which, you might remember, he did his best impression of Tony Danza and showed everyone Who’s the Boss), but when Dan mentioned to him that I was thinking of coming out, he decided it might be a good idea to pre-pone his planned June trip so that we could go together.  I was down.

Now, I have to admit, I was a little bit nervous about this trip.  See, for a variety of reasons, I have been in the habit of travelling alone.  I do lots of things that many people aren’t interested in, and I do some things that are often (wrongly) perceived as dangerous.  So, I frequently end up going places alone.  In a way, that’s boring, but in another way, it’s liberating.  You don’t have to worry about anyone but yourself, and it’s easier to make new friends on arrival if you’re not already in a group. 
Since this was my first time travelling in a group in a LONG time, I was worried that I’d get impatient and anti-social.  Fortunately, this was not the case at all.  I LOVED having my friends there to share the trip with me!

Overall, the planning was easy.  (I’ve posted before about how easy “big” things in life can be, and how this fascinates me).

BUT, there was one other little bit of planning that needed to be taken care of.  Dan, being from the South Jersey/Philly area, has seen the light, and he acknowledges that Yuengling Lager is the greatest beer in the history of man.  He wanted me to bring him some, and I was happy to oblige.  However, Northwest Airlines regulations prohibit transporting more than 5 liters of alcohol per person.  That’s only 14 bottles of Yuengling, and Dan is worth more than that.  So, I bought a case of 24, padded it up really well, wrapped it inside a beach towel, put it inside another box, taped it up, hoped for the best, and went off to the airport!

The Flight

It was raining when I showed up for the airport for my 6:30am flight on Northwest.  I checked the beer with no problem, to my great relief.  (“What’s in the box?”  “Bottles.”  “Fragile?”  “Nah, not really.”  “Ok.”).

Things went uneventfully until I got to the front of the security line, at which point I finally noticed that the check-in agent had neglected to put my boarding passes into the envelope he handed me.  Oops! 

By this time, there was less than half an hour before departure.  So, I raced downstairs, got my passes, and the TSA folks nicely let me move to the front of the security line.  Thanks to that delay, I was the second-to-last person on the plane, but it was all good.

I spotted Matt on the way to my seat (the first I had seen him in years); he had gotten an exit row!  He’s a big guy, 6’6″, so he deserved it.

I had heard bad things about Northwest Airlines (“Northworst”), but I didn’t find it all that bad.  Yes, the plane was pretty spartan–no free food and no in-flight audio, let alone any video.  But for $216.59 roundtrip across the entire country, taxes included, I really can’t complain.  The plane was clean and comfortable.  And it was only about 2/3 full, which was nice.

The flight to Minneapolis was uneventful. 
For the first time, I was using a set of noise-cancelling headphones, which worked WONDERFULLY.  I never realized how much ambient noise there was in planes before I tried these out.  I recommend them to anyone who flies.

Once we got off the plane, we had about half an hour to walk around.  The airport there was quite nice, and it was fun to catch up with Matt. 

As rare as it is to hang out with Matt, I actually saw something even rarer at MSP airport: an iPod vending machine!
(I feel bad for the poor sap who buys one on an expensive impulse before a long flight, only to realize that he doesn’t have any music on it.)

It was also fun to pretend I was a Vikings fan.

All in all, I’d say that, however brief,  my first visit to Minnesota (typed with a Minnesotan accent) was a success.

Soon enough, we were back on a plane (this one was full) for the San Diego leg.

This leg of the flight was also pretty uneventful.  I caught a little bit of a nap, but not much of one.  It’s kind of funny; even though I was flying westward (for my first time in the US), the flight felt more like an eastward trip to Europe.  At least it did to me.  I’d say this is mostly because it involved a long-ish flight leaving in the the dark, coming off of only a tiny bit of sleep in the hours beforehand, and arriving at my destination early in the day but still sleepy.  Fortunately, unlike I transatlantic, I was able to simply keep my body clock on Eastern time, and this actually worked well, since I’m a night owl at home.

San Diego International Airport is located pretty much right downtown (at least as centrally located at Reagan is to DC), and that’s where Dan met us.

Day One–04/12/2007: Coronado and more!

The beer came out with no problems.  Aside from an extra TSA sticker, nothing much set it apart from the rest of the luggage.  Which is good, because Dan and his friends were really looking forward to some Yuengling, and because I bought a new shirt for the delivery.

(This picture if funnier if you know me, because then you’ll realize that it’s kind of out of character.) 

Dan picked us up at the airport.  From there, it was off to pick up Emily, his lady, and then get some In-N-Out Burger. 

In-N-Out is a chain in California, Nevada, and Arizona.  Everyone raved about the burgers, which were good.  But for me, it was the fries that made the place.
Since it’s the banal things about a place that I like experiencing the most when I travel, I really enjoy trying new, local fast food places, and this did not disappoint.

After In-N-Out, we made a quick stop off at Dan’s.  His place was very nice, I thought.  It also reminded me how much I love group houses.  Maybe I should have grown out of that phase, but I just think it’s cool to have a large group of people around.

Then, we headed to Coronado, via the bridge from Anchorman. 

It was a really cool part of town, made all the cooler by spotting a NJ license plate.

(The Jersey Guys: me, Matt, and Dan, from left to right.)

I saw (and touched!) the Pacific Ocean for the first time!

Then, we ate dinner at McP’s Irish Pub, a place where all of the Navy Seals eat when they are in town for training.  It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t really anything special.  The prices were good, though.  In fact, that was one of my biggest surprises about the trip.  Aside from gas, nothing was much more expensive than in NJ, and some things were even a few cents cheaper.

From there, it was back to Dan’s via the supermarket.  I picked up some Karl Strauss Amber because I wanted to try a local beer, and it was pretty good (more flavor than a macro), although nothing terribly special.  Then, we just had a fun night in. 

Day Two–04/13: Anaheim Ducks Game at Honda Center

On Friday, we got a bit of a late start.  Some people don’t really like that when travelling, but my feeling is that vacation should be a time to recharge.  As long as you don’t waste a whole day, I like sleeping in.  And Friday was hardly a waste.

We (yes, it was truly “we;” believe it or not, I DID NOT remotely push this down people’s throats!) decided to go to the Anaheim Ducks NHL ice hockey game against the Minnesota Wild.

Although the game was sold out, the Ducks have a “ticket exchange” on their website, where people can sell their extra tickets legally and conveniently, as long as they aren’t trying to rip off their fellow fans.  Dan had used it before, and it worked very well.  We just printed the tickets off of the computer.

We left around 3:30pm, and, after sitting through some of that infamous SoCal traffic, made it to the arena just before 6. 

The Honda Center (formerly the Arrowhead Pond) is, quite simply, beautiful.

I have now been to over 120 stadiums and arenas, and I don’t think any of them can really hold a candle to Anaheim as far as how the building looks from outside. 

I have to admit that there is something strange about going to an NHL playoff game in a building surrounded by palm trees, but it works.

The building is beautiful inside, too.

With the tiles floors throughout the concourses, I thought this place felt more like a theatre than a sports arena.  It’s high-class all the way.

Here is a photo of the seating bowl and ice surface during warm-ups:

Inside the seating bowl, though, the building is pretty much identical to all of the other post-1990 arenas in North America.

This isn’t a terrible thing; the sight-lines are good enough, and the seats are pretty comfortable.  But at the same time, it is kind of boring when it’s virtually impossible to distinguish between the ice surfaces and seating in Philadelphia, Washington, Ottawa, and Anaheim.  I’ve now been to six NHL arenas, and, in some ways, those four are virtually identical in terms of seating.

I know I’m in a minority here, but, as beautiful as it is, I would prefer an older,  grittier, less palace-y arena if it meant cheaper prices, closer seats, and more uniqueness.  I want a sports experience, not a corporate experience.

Other observations:

• During the second intermission, I could see fireworks from Disneyland from the concourse windows.  Very cool.
• The Ducks had a very good game presentation.  It included a full 13 minutes of pre-game video, and it was all well-done and interesting.
• Before warm-ups, they were showing Eastern Conference Playoff games on the ArenaVision.  Very cool, and an interesting reminder that you’re now in the Pacific Time Zone! 
• I saw a Hershey Bears jersey!  I said hi to the guy wearing it, but we didn’t chat all that much.
• Excellent crowd!  They came out large in numbers and in voice.  I didn’t expect that.  (Although maybe I should have, given how much of the NHL playoffs I saw on TV in area bars and restaurants all week).
• Very large Asian fanbase.  Very cool!  It’s nice to see hockey growing beyond a white guy’s sport.
• For a new arena, there was very little in the way of restaurants other than basic concession stands offering standard arena fare.  Good BBQ pork, though.
• I believe this is the 7th city in which I’ve seen ice hockey this year.  I think that’s my 2nd best all-time.

The first period took almost an hour, but aside from that, it was a good game.  A fight, too; those are pretty rare nowadays in the NHL playoffs.  Despite a shaky blueline in the first half of the game, the Ducks were still mostly dominant.  They won 3-2.

After that, it was time to head home.

I enjoyed the ride!

(Dan’s lady, Emily, is on the left, and her friend, Tisha, is in the middle.)

After that, it was more In-N-Out, then into the bed, where I drifted out.

Day Three–04/14: La Jolla, Old Town, and Gaslamp Quarter

Saturday, we drove just a little bit north and checked out La Jolla.  (“Lah HOY-uh”)

After a quick bite to eat at Azul, a slightly-above-par restaurant that advertised being showcased by the prolific Rachael Ray on the Food Network, we walked around the coast. 
In some ways, the Jersey shore is still my favorite beach area.  But, in terms of beauty, La Jolla wins.

As much as I would have loved to lay on the beach and go swimming in the Pacific, it was just a little too chilly for that.  But the die-hards below didn’t seem to think so!

Nor did these die-hards:

Haha…La Jolla is known for being the home of a bunch of lazy seals who enjoy sunning themselves on the public beaches.  I had never seen seals in the wild before (not even in McP’s!), and I thought it was very cool.  It was hilarious to watch them waddle down the beach and into the water, where they’d catch a wave and hang-10 off into the ocean.

I’m not completely sure, but I think I may have even spotted Jesus walking on the water in La Jolla.

After La Jolla, we very briefly visited the Presidio of San Diego. 
Unfortunately, I was not aware of the historic importance of this place until after I got home.  It probably deserved more attention than we gave it.

From there, it was just a short ride to Old Town San Diego.

I love historic old towns, and it was interesting to see how a real “Old West” town differed from their historic cousins on the East Coast and overseas.  In a way, it felt foreign, but not too foreign, considering how much it resembled the Old West you see in movies.

It was fun, and definitely worth seeing; but for some reason, it didn’t really grab me.

Emily’s sister met up with us there, and we went out for appetizers and drinks. 
I had a maragarita for the first time, which I didn’t particularly enjoy.  I’m glad I tried it, though.

We ate and drank at a counter that ran perpendicular to some tables.  For a while, I was worried that Emily might get jealous, because Dan made a new friend who insisted on playing footsies with him the whole time we were there:

We rested up at Dan’s house for a bit (while watching National Treasure on tv.  It’s probably the best terrible movie ever made! I loved it!), then decided to hit up the bars/clubs in the Gaslamp Quarter downtown.

Now, I’ve gotta tell you–I can count on my fingers the number of times I’ve gone bar-hopping/clubbing before, and it would only take a couple of those fingers to count the times I enjoyed it.  Tonight was different, though.  Maybe it was because I was out with some of my favorite people, but it was just a REALLY fun night.

Matt was simply on fire.  He’d walk in the door, all smiles, and just say hello to EVERYONE.  A couple people told me he was the funnest, or friendliest, person they had seen in forever.  One of the things I hate most about the Philly area is that, if you go out, everyone is a tough guy, and it gets old.  I didn’t see any people like that here, and it struck me as ironic, but wonderful, that the nicest person in San Diego that night was Matt, from South Jersey.

Not surprisingly, Matt made A LOT of new friends.

When I was in the bathroom, I met a cool Rajasthani guy who really want to teach me “how to have game.”  I kinda wanted to talk about cricket. 
Now, I really don’t care to learn how to “have game” in clubs, and the last thing this guy wanted to do in a club was talk about cricket.  So, I said phir melingay (I really said that), and that was that. 

I’m sure that guy succeeded in getting whatever he was after, but even without “game,” I made some new friends anyway.

(Full disclosure: Matt ended up with about 20 of these type of pictures, compared to my 1, but it’s my website, so I can make us look equal if I want to!)

The night ended in an odd way. 
In the unwitting Jersey accent that occasionally and unconsciously finds its way out of my mouth, I ordered “five boddles of wooder” for my friends.
The girl at the counter was clueless. 
Emily had to translate.

“You’ll have to excuse him; he’s from NJ.  He wants five BOTTLES of WATER.”

Day Four–04/15: Tijuana, Mexico, sports via the San Diego Trolley

On Sunday, I added a 14th country to my list: Mexico!  My main reason for going was to see a soccer game and a baseball game, but in doing so I think I got a pretty good taste of the local flavor (literally and figuratively).
It was fun, and I’ll have a whole post on TJ sometime within the next few days. 

Day Five–04/16: Balboa Park, PetCo Park, and a really cool mall

Monday morning, we got *gasp* an early start!

Emily suggested this place that had great huevos. 

(Don’t feel bad; I had to ask, too.  “Huevos” simply means “eggs.”)

Dan, like all of us, enjoyed his.

Matt thought about taking the Broken Yolk Challanged–a 20-egg mushroom omlette.  But he decided against it.

After that, we went to walk around Balboa Park.

The park, like just about everything else I’ve mentioned, is beautiful.

There were lots of museums there that looked interesting.  I was specifically interested in the Museum of Man and the International Cottages, which I think are run by the UN.  And the San Diego Zoo is considered a must.  But, with less than a week in a city, I usually save museums for last.  Generally, I’d rather see the city than see specific things within the city.  Assuming I go back, these museums (along with going to the beach, if the weather cooperates) will be one of the first things I do.  But for now, I was content just to walk around the park with my friends.

After that, we went downtown–back to the Gaslamp Quarter.

For a weekday afternoon, I simply could not get over how empty the city was.

But there were still gnarly things to see.

(I’m doing the official California-surfer-dude-hang-10-gnarly/cowabunga sign.  You see LOTS of that around here, for sure.)

PetCo Park, the baseball stadium where the SD Padres play, is home to “The Park at the Park.”  They keep the outfield cheap seats open as a public park when there is no game going on.  As a stadium nut, I loved that!
(Pittsburgh does something similiar).

After that, it was lunchtime, and Matt tried sushi for the first time.

It might not have been my first time trying sushi, but I had never had it this close to Japan before!

(I’d also bet that no one has ever worn a Gottéron cap this far west before.  Allez, Fribourg !)

After that, we went to Horton Plaza, a really cool outdoor shopping mall.

We grabbed some pizza later, but early to rise meant early to bed.

Day Six–04/17: San Juan Capistrano and Hollywood!

Tuesday was our last full day in California.  And it was a great day, as is any day in which you wake up in Dan’s bed. 

First thing that morning, Matt and I walked over to the SDSU campus to get something to eat.

We had walked around Dan’s campus several times prior, and it is very nice. 
A few days prior, I tried a fish taco there.  Even though a food court probably isn’t the ideal place to try a signature local dish, especially one that didn’t really sound all that good to me, I actually enjoyed it.  We ended up with Mexican food on this morning, too.

The southwestern style of the San Diego State University campus is really striking. 
Speaking of tacos, I know this sounds funny, but it struck me how much it reminded me of Taco Bell.  The thing is, Taco Bells are built to resemble this because the southwest is part of their gimmick.  Here, these buildings are real, and built in this style because of where they are, not because of a marketing plan.  I know it sounds stupid, but that really hit me.

After that, we got a little bit of a late start on the rest of the day. 
(It’s incredible, and wonderful, that we managed to see SO much on this trip while also taking things at a relaxed pace).

Around 1pm, we stopped off at Qualcomm Stadium so that Matt could get a San Diego Chargers cap. 

Then, it was off to San Juan Capistrano!

As it turns out, I was the only one in our group who was aware that this place even existed.  That kind of surprised me, because I always thought it was pretty famous.

See, when the Spanish were busy colonizing their New World, they set up a series of “missions” up and down California.  They were mostly religious in nature, i.e., places to convert the natives.  I believe they had some military role, too.

Regardless of my respect for the (very valid) debate on missionaries in general, I wanted to see this place.  I knew of it mostly because of the swallows, which famously stop there every year during their migration to South America.  But I had also heard that it was one of the most beautiful, and most historic, missions in California.  “The Jewel of the Missions.”

The drive up was a lot of fun.  The northbound traffic on the 5 (I just said “the 5.”  How California is that?!) wasn’t bad at all; a big difference from what we encountered on our way to the Ducks game on the same road a few days prior.  I also saw a US Customs and Border Patrol secondary inspection station along the highway, which made the IR student in me geek out just a little.  (A few people also told me to watch for the road signs warning of migrants crossing the interstate, but I’m pretty sure those signs are no longer there). 
I also saw some people working in berry fields (the real heart of the current immigration debate in the US), the Navy practicing helicopter maneuvers at Camp Pendelton, and, last but not least, I HEARD SPOONMAN ON THE RADIO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We arrived at Mission San Juan Capistrano just fine, and I was the first one inside.  I could tell you that this was because I was most excited about it, which is true, but the real reason I sprinted inside was because I really had to use the bathroom.

After using the modern facilities, we spent a good hour visiting the historic facilities, and we were all blown away.  Matt and Dan were surprised that they had never heard of the place, and Emily now thinks she may have visited as a child.

I’ve visited LOTS of historic churches, and this one easily falls into the top 5, and I’d say it’s in a fight for the number one position.  These photos don’t do it justice.

If you’re in Southern California, this is a MUST SEE for anyone interested in history, political geography, religion, architecture, birds, horticulture, or just simply beauty.

For me, it may have been the highlight of my trip, although it has some tough competition.

Above is a photo of the ruins of the Old Stone Church, which didn’t stand for very long before being mostly destroyed in an earthquake.  Another church was built within the complex to take the place of the above.

We finished seeing the mission around 4pm, if I remember correctly, and that left us in a bind.  There wasn’t much else to see in the area; traffic home would be terrible, and traffic to LA was unknown, but infamous.  We all kind of wanted to see a little bit of LA, but none of us could decide if it was worth risking hours in traffic.

We finally decided to risk it and head north, and, miraculously, the traffic was all in the opposite direction.  We made it to LA quickly, and our driver, Emily, did a wonderful job delivering us to a reasonably priced parking lot in the heart of touristic Hollywood!

(The pictures didn’t turn out very well, but we had a great view of the Hollywood sign).

Frequently, when I go to a new place, I try to shun the ultra-touristy stuff. 
Lonely Planeters might shun me for saying this, but, just as often, the touristy things are what I just have to do.  LA/Hollywood fell into the latter category.

None of us had very extensive lists of things to do (which, given the late hour of our arrival, is probably a good thing).  Fortunately, I got to do everything on mine!  First, I saw the Hollywood sign.

Then, we found Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, where we got to see the stars’ handprints!

In true Hollywood style, I converted to Scientology.

(JUST KIDDING!)

And then we met up with my friend, Nikki, for dinner and drinks. 
Our half of the table had a mini SU reunion.

And, of course, we walked down the Walk of Fame.  Here’s Emily:

We weren’t there for very long, but I’d say we packed a lot in. 
I’m sure LA deserves it’s own trip, but I think I speak for all of us when I say that I was very satisfied with what I saw there.

And our stomaches were all satisfied with another visit to In-N-Out on our way back to Dan’s.

Day Seven–04/18/2007: Coming Home

Six days sounds like a long vacation until you wake up on the morning of the sixth day.  Fortunately, I had no regrets, so that made packing just a little bit easier.

But, it was still sad to collect all my things and walk out the door.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: one of the things I’m most proud of myself about is the fact that I can carry twice as much luggage as a guy twice my size.  I now have photographic proof! 
Check that out: I have all of my bags, all of Matt’s bags, and I STILL have a free hand in my pocket!

We left Dan’s house and made a quick stop at Tony Gwinn Stadium, home of SDSU baseball and the independent pro Golden Baseball League’s San Diego Surf Dawgs.  It was a nice little ballpark.

I also had a triumphant moment for a stadium geek: on the way to the highway, we passed Cox Arena.  From behind, there was something strange about it.  I asked, “was that place built on the field of an old football stadium?”  Everyone else in the car thought it was an odd question.  “Umm…I don’t think so…”  Once I got home, I confirmed that it was indeed built inside an old football stadium.  As long as I’m bragging about my baggage-handling skills, I might as well continue my bragging with my stadium-identification skills: I’m good!

I was determined to suck every last ounce of fun out of my trip, so even in front of the airport I was still taking photos of the city skyline.  Here is the city and the embarcadero.

But alas, even the end of the vacation has to come to an end.  Soon enough, we were in the air.

Matt got the exit row again, and I got a window.  This was possibly the clearest flight I have ever taken, so the window was a real treat for me.  I could see the ground for almost the entire flight, and it was fun to be able to see some of my country’s cool sites pass below me, like the mighty Mississippi River:

The connection in Detroit went well (cool airport; they have a shiny new metro train directly ABOVE the terminal!), and the flight back went even better…Matt got us an INSANE exit row.  I could put my feet fully out in front of me and still not touch anything.  More legroom than first class, at no extra charge. 

It’s good to be tall, huh, Matt?

All good things must come to an end, and, 6.5 days and 694 pictures after I started, I was back in Philadelphia International Airport (the ghetto-ass wing, too, not even the nice shiny new international terminal).

As if the weather wasn’t enough of a giveaway, the monitors let us know that it was not a dream–we were indeed back in the City of Brotherly Love. 

Half an hour later, I was at Wawa in NJ.  Wawa might have softened the blow a little bit, but I still wish I was back in California.

So, there you have it!  A wonderful trip spoiled only by the fact that it had to come to an end, and that the follow-up to that ending involved hundreds of gallons of water in a New Jersey basement. 

I hope you enjoyed my trip report as much as I enjoyed my vacation.  I will have another post soon about my daytrip to Tijuana, and I may do another one on the stadiums that I saw while I was out west. 
After I get those out of the way, I’ll go back to my normal, boring blogging, and I’ll also do a little more work to get this new site cleaned up a bit.

Whew!  I’m finally done with typing that all out!  Cookies to anyone who actually reads it all!
Comment if you’d like.  I’ll type to you soon!

SHAKE AND BAKE!

Link du jour:  I posted some more of my pictures here, but honestly, I’m not too fond of flickr, so I may move them.

SoCal Amaretto Lime
California, here I come!
It’s official; I will be in sunny Southern California April 12-18. 
$216.59 roundtrip with taxes, and $0 lodging with a friend.  You can’t beat that with a stick!
I can’t wait!

1. We drove to Binghamton.
2. We watched most of a hockey game.
3. We drove home back home.

Every year, RBK Hockey gives away a limited number of tickets for certain AHL (minor-league) hockey games on their website. 
When my brother went to claim his this year, they were all out of Philadelphia and Hershey tix.  Binghamton was closest team with free tickets left.  So, why not?
The Trip

My brother picked me up just after 3pm.
Our directions had us taking the Sure-kill Distressway Schuylkill Expressway to the PA Turnpike, but I suggested taking the NJ Turnpike to the PA Turnpike, and I think that saved us some time.
Before we knew it, we were really on the road!

Unfortunately, between the rain, the bit of traffic that we couldn’t avoid, and construction, we didn’t make great time.
As if that weren’t bad enough, as we got off of I-81 (my favorite highway) in Bingo, we followed the signs to the arena.  But for some odd reason, the signs just stopped about a mile from the arena. 
The first 200 miles went fine, but since the arena blends into the surrounding buildings, we had a really tough time with the last mile.
By the time we parked the car, it had been almost 4 hours since we had left home, and we had missed the first 10 minutes of the game.  D’oh!
The Arena and the city

As I said before, and as you can see above, the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena blends in with the rest of the city. 
Here’s the interesting thing about New York state.  Buffalo is just a much smaller version of New York City.  Rochester is a smaller version of Buffalo.  Syracuse is a smaller version of Rochester.  Binghamton is a smaller version of Syracuse.  Elmira is a smaller version of Binghamton, and there are countless smaller versions of Elmira.  It’s lucky that they’re all similiar, because we didn’t see anything in town aside from the game.
Still, having spent a substantial amount of time in Syracuse (which is only about an hour north of Binghamton), and having passed through Binghamton numerous times (I’ve probably mentioned the Binghamton Wendy’s to you in passing), Binghamton felt comfortable, and it was good to be back.  New York is absolutely my favorite state in the country.  I love everything about it.
Like Syracuse, the arena is a throwback to what minor league hockey was 15+ years ago–a working man’s game played in a gritty, old arena in a small blue-collar city.  It proved to be a very enjoyable place to see a game.  Good sight lines, affordable prices, and an enthusiastic crowd.

There is only one seating level, and all of the seats are good–close to the action.

Above is a view in one of the concourses. 

Above is the view from ice-level.
Like the arena in Syracuse, there are public/service walkways in the bowels of the arena, underneath the seats.  I really like that about the older minor-league buildings.  If you’re on the way to the concession stand, you might just bump into a player, or the ice-making machinery, and you can sneak glimpses of the game from areas most people might not know about.
Today is mostly the era of big, luxurious, sports palaces, where access to everything is controlled, and where fans are kept as far away as possible from the players, the playing surface, interesting little nooks and crannies, and anywhere else other than their assigned seat where they might possibly get into trouble.
Not so in Bingo.
To me, it’s refreshing that, in older buildings such as this, you can wander and explore.  No one is worried that you’ll slip, bump your head, and sue; it’s so innocent, and it makes for a much more unique experience.
Like so many other old arenas, I’ve heard that parts of Slapshot were filmed here.  Like so many other old arenas, I don’t know if that’s true, but it is certainly possible.  I love that sort of atmosphere.
The Food
Like Syracuse, there’s cool stuff if go down lower than everyone else.
If you wander down two flights of stairs from the main concourse (one level below the bathrooms), you’ll end up under the stands.  It feels like you shouldn’t be there, but don’t worry; you’re allowed.
Wander a little further and you’ll find this hidden concession area.

I’d like to thank one of my internet hockey friends, without whom I’d have never even known to look for it.
One you get there, you can find CHICKEN SPIEDIES!!!
One thing I like to do when I visit various arenas is try the local food, and spiedies are a great example.
Once a month or so, when I was in college, the dining halls at Syracuse University had “a taste of Central New York” night.  One of my favorite dishes on these nights was chicken spiedies. 
Turns out, spiedies are actually from Bingo, not Syracuse (but I guess Binghamton is close enough to SU for “taste of CNY.”)
It’s nothing really too too special…just some chicken in a tasty marinate and on a roll.  But I loved them at SU, and after hearing that they serve them at the Binghamton Senators games, I was excited to try them on their home turf.
I’m glad I had the opportunity to do so, but the sandwhich was just ok. 
In Syracuse, you could put a lot of sauce on the roll.  Here, there was virtually no marinade, and the rolls weren’t that great either. This, and the fact that the team had sold out of game programs were my only disappointments. 
Still, it was a spiedie, and it wasn’t terrible, just a little too dry.
Here’s a young Santa Claus me with mine:

Any my brother with his:

(Don’t worry; he was laughing, not vomitting).
The Game
Binghamton is interesting because it has lost its hockey team several times.  The owners always realized that Binghamton was one of the smallest cities to ice an AHL team, and it had one of the oldest arenas, so they left for greener pastures. 
Well, despite small population of the Souther Tier, the fan support has always been there, so a new owner always seemed to move a new team in shortly after the previous left. 
(In the first picture I posted of the interior of the seating bowl, you can kind of see championship banners for all the old teams: the Broome Dusters, the Binghamton Whalers, the Binghamton Rangers, the Broome County Icemen, and the current Binghamton Senators).
Before the Senators moved in 2002, many people thought the AHL had been gone for good.  Many were shocked when such high-caliber hockey moved back in, but I’m glad it did.
But last night’s game didn’t really resemble AHL hockey.  The Binghamton Senators, quiet frankly, suck.
They lost to Bridgeport 6-2, and in doing so were eliminated from the playoffs.

No worries, though; I was just happy to have paid the visit.
Headed home
Less than 2 hours after we stepped into the arena, we were back in the car!
By 9:30pm, we were on the road!

We briefly stopped at K-Mart to see if they had spiedie sauce and/or a cheap FM transmitter so we could listen to my brother’s iPod.  They had neither (that meant no 30,000 Pounds of Bananas by Harry Chapin as we drove through Scranton!  Hmph!), and, after getting junk food and guinea pig food, we continued home.
A couple of hours later, just we got into the range of Philadelphia radio stations, I called 93.3 WMMR to request Spoonman by Soundgarden (my brother and I’s official hockey roadtrip song, along with just about anything by Eve 6.)  They told me they’d look to see if they had it. 
Well, if they managed to find it, it must have taken them more than an hour, because just after 1am (almost exactly 3 hours on the road, not counting stops for K-Mart or getting gas–GREAT TIME!), we pulled back into my grandmom’s driveway without having heard it.  But otherwise, the trip home went fine.
Yes, I realize that our “free tickets” ended up costing us $70 in gas/tolls/food, and yes, I realize that it might seem absurd that 7.5 of the 10 hours we were gone for were spent in the car.  But it’s that kind of ridiculousity that makes life fun!
Neither of us had been to a game in Binghamton before, and it’s definitely worth checking out!
It was a great trip.
IN OTHER NEWS, my mom just got back from getting new tires on her car.
It took almost 3 hours.  Now, I don’t know much about cars, but from catching bits and pieces of NASCAR on TV every now and then, I didn’t think such a job required more than 10 seconds!