Rangers mascot Captain at The Palace Theatre with David.
This week we took in our first Texas Rangers game of the season. There was an ad earlier in the week that Wednesday night was Dollar Hot Dog Night so off we went.
The team is younger than me! The stadium sits between Six Flags over Texas (where we normally park) and this monstrosity:
I took this from the second deck of the baseball stadium. I think the Cowboys stadium looks like a spaceship.
I tried to talk David into eating a BoomStick - a 2 ft. long hot dog that weighs over 2 lbs (including bun, chili, etc.) and costs $26. Sadly he abstained so I can't share a picture of one but you can find one here if you are really curious.
We have been to games in Kansas City and Los Angeles (Angels) and I have been to Wrigley Field (not a Ranger's game). This doesn't give us a lot of experience with other fields but I think the ballpark in Arlington is a great venue.
The view from our seats in the Lexus Club Terrace, our preferred area. I like it because it is one of the first to be in the shade. I had to raise the camera way up to take this because the first picture looked like this:
They have an entertaining mix of regular features they run between innings during what would be a commercial if you were watching on TV.
· Stealing 3rd. A local kid runs from the opening in the gate in left field to 3rd base, grabs the base and runs back. If they do it in the time allowed, they get to keep the base. I have never seen a kid not make it, the girls holding the finish line tape move it if needed.
· In the past, they had a "dot race" where three colored dots raced around a track on the outfield board, then they took it partially live and they had dots run on the field. They recently changed to Texas figures Sam Houston, Jim Bowie and Davy Crockett.
David had Sam Houston, I had Jim Bowie. Sam Houston won.
· The singing of Deep in the Heart of Texas and Take me Out to the Ballgame. Take me Out to the Ballgame is the beginning of the 7th Inning Stretch and is always followed by the Cotton-Eyed Joe.
· Kiss Cam & Flex Cam. We took the kids when they were teenagers and our daughter was adamant that if they put her and her brother on the camera, she was NOT going to kiss him. I have seen a couple of awkward moments. This time there was a marriage proposal, lucky for him she said yes. Flex cam is mostly kids and drunk adults flexing their muscles for the camera. The kid in the row in front of us made it on camera. I bet he talked about that all day today.
As much as I like to go in person, there are a number of reasons that I don't like to go. Here is a partial list.· Dirty and/or crowded bathrooms.
· People who don't need to be in the bathroom that are. You are IN THE WAY and get OFF your cell phone!
· People who don't watch the game (talking about anything other than baseball, texters, cell phone talkers, the lady in front of us who applied her makeup 3 times, people/food servers who stand in the way while the game is going on).
This lady sat in an $80 seat to eat a $12 pile of nachos, text non-stop for 4 innings and then be on a call for 1 inning. She left in the 7th, there are 9 innings in a game. What does the cost per inning watched work out to?
· Drunk people
· Smelly people (man next to me)
· The Wave - enough already; the public announcer also hates the wave and puts messages on the board to encourage people to stop.
· People who boo the home team. Totally unacceptable.
Maybe I feel different because I played baseball. Not softball, although I played that too, both fast and slow pitch, women only and co-ed, but I also played amateur women's baseball - men's rules. I know the difference between a passed ball and a wild pitch, between a save and a blown save and when a save is even applicable. I come to the game to watch, I don't understand why other people don't.
Taken before the game. We don't get up and wander around, we don't leave our seats other than between innings and even then only if completely necessary.
David and I play a game both at home and at live games. The idea is that you "put in the call" for a player and if that player hits a home run in that at-bat you get a point. I went with Hamilton in the 5th, David went with Moreland in the 9th.
Fireworks shoot from the top of the stadium for a home run by Texas. Kinsler and Andrus went back-to-back. My call was gone by then. I was willing David to use his but my mind powers didn't work.
I should mention, if you are ever at a game with David, he does NOT like it or give you credit if you put in the call for a player on the other team. I did this when we went to a Rangers-Angels game. I got it right when Napoli hit a home run - for the Angels. Luckily he is now a Ranger so he is no longer off-limits, but back then he wasn't and David was unhappy with me the rest of that game.
To make it up to him, I had a Napoli jersey made for him before we went to LA last year. Here he is headed to our seats with our little pile of $1 hot dogs.
I collected a few one-liners during the game:
· The only face I want to see is the face of a hot dog staring back at me.
· What if I wanna surf porn?
· You're mine, just so you know.
· I didn't mean to spit on you.
· Calm down , they're not coming to get you.
· "Infield" is pretty vague as a description.
· He doesn't smell good.
· It makes me sad that I weigh more than Joe Nathan (the Ranger's closer).
· They waited all that time for mayonnaise.
Final score? Seattle 4, Texas 3 - blown save by Nathan.
Score in the "call" game? David is currently ahead 1-0. I am not worried though, there are plenty of games left to go.
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