Red Right 88

Cleveland sports fan and sports writer

Name:
Location: Cleveland, Ohio, United States

quit my job decided to drive west

Saturday, April 14, 2007

Take the ballgame to me

My computer died. I even paid a guy $20 to tell me it was now a glorified doorstop. So I didn't get to make my predictions in time. That's OK, since I am always wrong when I say things aloud-- maybe then will come true. I will gladly give up bragging rights in order to be correct.

I spent the week after Easter visiting my sister and nieces. I figured it would be a week without sports.

Then the Indians followed me to Milwaukee. How cool was that?

I was stunned by the crowd on Tuesday. It was a fun crowd and Miller Park is a great place to watch a game. I am a devoted wave hater. It just always seems to happen during a turning point in the game-- which is the reason I am at the a park -- and the crowd is always going nuts while the game is on the brink.

Tuesday was no exception as the Angels had a rally going against C.C. But the slow motion wave caught me off guard and even I had to chuckle. It was pretty sweat and unique. Of course when I learned it was a Wisconsin football thing, the reattempts weren't quite as fun the next two days. But that first crowd was a lot of fun. If you give normal fans a fair price, they will show up and enjoy the atmosphere of a major league baseball game. There were no corporate fans. Mostly families and young people. It was great and I thought Milwaukee was a great host.

On Wednesday I sat in the front row for the first time ever. I heard one guy say "It is kind of cool to have so many young people in these seats, normally it is just old fogies." Of course the one draw back is having so many young people near by is by the final two innings they were so drunk they started chanting inappropriate phrases at the innocent ball boy. I often myself complain about the high price of beer at the ballpark but for the first time I realized without it, games would be a lot less fun for the majority of fans. Your thought process changes the first time you have a child with you at a game.

All of the Indians had great things to say about Milwaukee. And most of the fans did as well. You aren't going to complain when you are a guest. Some drawbacks--which because of money were understandable if not acceptable-- were a lack of security and guest services. The heat inside seemed to get turned off for the last two games but the worst was not turning the lights on in the parking lot in Wednesday's snowstorm. And with no one directing traffic anywhere, it was a quagmire. Also ten dollar tickets to sit in the great seats I had all three days will certainly spoil future games paying more than that to be far away from the action.

But at least the Indians got to play. And that was the important part.