All photos of GABP available on Flickr.
Day six of the trip brought u
s back to the place I called home for the past three years, Cincinnati. I attended graduate school there and this game was very special to me because I got to meet up with a lot of my friends and see them all again, many for the last time. Erik and I made about $45 fundraising, and we met a dozen of my other friends at the gate for the 7:10 start.Perhaps I am biased, but the GAB has always been one of my favorite parks. It has to
ns of bleacher seating, great views to and out from the field of the Ohio River and downtown, great food, and a pretty slick jumbotron. If there was stuff happening near/between the ballpark and the nearby Bengals stadium, it would be a really slick area of the city as well. Baseball has been the lifeblood of this city for nearly 150 years, and despite the Reds' dismal record, over 35000 fans turned out for Mr. Redlegs Moustache Night and Fireworks Night at the ballpark. There were not many empty red chairs to be found. Although they didn't sell Homer Bailey t-shirts in the team shop, I nonetheless had a great time with Erik and my friends from school.
The game was our fourth home team loss of the trip. Bronson Arroyo pitched into the 8th, but as usual, the Reds bullpen blew the game. The redeeeming factor was the outstanding fireworks display over the river after the game. It was some of the finest choreographed fireworks I've ever seen and I'm glad I stayed for them. Afterwards, we all went the Hofsbrauhaus across the river and had one last liter together before we all parted our separate ways. This certainly won't be my last game viewed at Great American Ballpark, but this one will always hold special meaning to me - and plus that, we got our picture taken with the Reds cheerleaders, which was nice.park stats and rankings:
aesthetics - 7
views from park - 8 (view to Ohio River and downtown)
view to field - 8 (not too many bad seats)
surrounding area - 5 (nothing downtown but lots over in Kentucky)
food variety - 3
nachos - 3
beer - 4 (mostly just Budweiser)
vendor price - 2
ticket price - 3 ($22 for upper deck!)
atmosphere - 5
walk to park - 3
parking price/proximity - 8 (very fair for MLB stadium)
concourses - 9 (nice views on upper deck)
team shop - 6 (huge store, very pretty, but not a lot of variety in player shirts)
best food - goetta burger
most unique stadium feature - Power Stacks
best jumbotron feature - Mr. Redlegs moustaches on players for "moustache night"
best between-inning feature - Mr. Red Race
field dimensions - 328/400/325
starters - Scott Thompson (STL) v. Bronson Arroyo (CIN)
opponent - St. Louis Cardinals
time of game - 2:40
attendance - 35500
score - 4-2 L
Brewers score that day - 6-5 L
touch with baseball when his childhood heroes Robin Yount, Paul Molitor, and Jim Gantner retired but the Great Home Run Chase of 1998 reignited his passion. As a student at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Erik became involved with the campus chapter of Habitat for Humanity. With this group Erik traveled to Portland, OR and Baltimore, MD to work on construction projects and help the group raise $25,000 to partially sponsor a house in Milwaukee. Also at UWM, Erik met Peter Nagel. The two attended their first Brewers game together during Opening Weekend 2003. Despite their failure to ignite the coals at their first tailgate, the two had a blast and were soon making weekly trips to the ballpark. Erik has gone on to several colleges and changed careers several times, and has moved all the way out to New Hampshire, but has always stayed true to his baseball roots by holding part-time stadium usher jobs. To this day he looks back fondly on his incredible cross-country journey.
1 comment:
Nice pic with the Reds girls! I couldn't imagine any better scenery. What's up with Cindy about to deepthroat that dog?? (Watch out Bulgaria!)
Great to see you guys, keep up the good work........
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