Memorial Day Weekend Sports Journal Part 1

Saturday, 5-25-13

Welcome to Sports-a-poolza 2013. Here I will document my shameful lack of useful activity over this three-day weekend by doing nothing but watching baseball and racing. (I’ll only be watching the NBA if Lebron James’ mom holds me hostage and makes me.) Yes, I’ve got several more productive things I could be doing, like putting together this Oriental Setting I’ve been working on. I’m sure I’ll rue this colossal waste of time about three weeks from now, when I run out of prepared RPG game material. But for now, it’s all about sports indulgence.

We’re already off to a good start. After work Friday night, I saw a few glamorously claustrophobic minutes of the F1 practice in Monaco. Then listened to the Rangers easily best the Mariners, at least until the M’s made a game of it in the 9th and Nathan had to come in and save it. A win nonetheless.

First up this weekend is a round of the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing series. It features a bunch of trucks with really good shock absorbers racing around an over-sized dirt bike track. I don’t write about these guys, but pound for pound (or RPM for RPM) it’s probably the most entertaining racing out there. You’ve got trucks on a dirt track, racing close and hard, hitting each other, making big jumps, drifting through turns, and occasionally flipping and rolling. The racing is competitive and the drivers have strong personalities. The races are short and keep your interest and generally aren’t constantly interrupted by commercial breaks (unlike some other series).

They only seem to race once a month, so that’s likely why they fly under the radar. CBS seems committed to them (though on delay), so somebody other than me is watching. My main complaint about the coverage is the loss of Keli Snyder as a pit reporter. Just getting a couple of glimpses of her was worth turning in for. (Don’t tell Kelli Stavast about this.)

And as sure as I sit here praising off-road racing, the races today sucked. I’ll blame the Las Vegas track for this, though I’m hardly an authoritative expert. This was just a palette cleanser anyway.

Well, I’ve got a half-hour until the ballgame. Let’s watch that really important UEFA Champions League final match. Okay, what I’m seeing here is a bunch of guys jogging around a field kicking a ball. The crowd at Wembly Stadium is engaging in nonsensical cheering and incoherent chanting. It’s like a Nazi rally without the parade. I’ll say one nice thing about soccer, at least it’s commercial-free during the match, unlike some other sports.

And speaking of those other sports, I’m saved. There’s a NASCAR Nationwide race on. Wait, didn’t I swear that I was going to stop watching Nationwide racing? Well, this is an emergency. The cars are better looking than the Cup series anyway.

They’re in Charlotte, and there’s a bunch of Cup drivers in the field and . . . Yawn. Oops, nodded off. Oh, it’s lap 6. Commercial. Flip. Still nil-nil in the championship match. Flip. Still driving around in circles under green. Commercial. Flip. Still nil-nil. And I’m going mad. Oh thank God, time for baseball! (And never do that again.)

“The most important things in life are good friends and a good bullpen. Not necessarily in that order.” Good advice from Reds’ manager Dusty Baker. Welcome to Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati with the Cubs and the Reds getting ready to play.

Wait, I have to relate this story from the newspaper first. Marlins pitcher, Alex Sanabia didn’t know that spitballs were illegal in the game. Yeah, that’s right. You’ve got to use Vaseline like everybody else. Oh, Bayern Munich and Kyle Busch “won,” for whatever that’s worth. Whatever.

What did we learn during the Reds-Cubs game? The Reds were founding members of the National League in the 1870’s, but were kicked out for selling beer on Sundays in the 1880’s. They were later brought back in in the 1890’s however. It was that kind of game. Len and JD were having a good time calling the game, but the crowd was generally listless, perhaps owing to Reds pitcher Homer Bailey’s excruciatingly deliberate delivery.

We did have the amazing mystery of the foul ball man. A ball boy caught a foul grounder and flipped it to a fan standing nearby. The fan then took the ball and started walking up the grandstand steps. And kept walking. The camera continued to follow his progress as Bailey was in no hurry to continue the game between pitches. “Is he taking his ball and going home?” asked Len and JD. Finally at the top, near the concourse, he found his seat and gave the ball to probably his wife. The burning question is how long was he down there waiting? Or, was he just really fortunate?

Three and a half hours later, the Reds won 5-3. The crowd didn’t get into it until the 9th with two outs, after Aroldis Chapman threw a 100-mph pitch at Scott Hairston’s head. Hairston also had words with the ump, who called him out on a couple of questionable pitches. Who could blame the ump for wanting to finally end the game?

Noooo! The Fox regional game for me is the A’s vs. the Astros. Come on! I wanted to see that Dodger-Cardinal game, not this zero-interest match up. I’m very disappointed, and I’m sure I’m not the only one (my dad for example).

So here we are in Houston. Yeah, there’s that train on the outfield wall. Those short, pull-happy fair poles down the lines. That hill in the outfield, instead of a wall, with the flagpole in the field of play. And there are the Astros, wearing the worst shade of orange possible. For 40 minutes in the top of the 2nd, the A’s proceed to take batting practice. The pitching coach went out, and I can imagine how that went. “Now, now son. It’s a learning experience. You keep your composure out here and someday you’ll make it onto a Major League team.”

In more interesting baseball news, the Giants beat the Rockies on a Run-off inside-the-park home run in extra innings by Angel Pagan. Cool.

The crowd in Houston is actually more involved and vocal than the Cincy crowd. Yes, they’re rooting for the Astros, and the Cincinnati crowd was a full house. I like Bo Porter and Reid Ryan running the Astros. They gave good, upbeat interviews. Nice night for Matt Dominguez with three homers. Certainly I really liked that hot, busty blonde behind home plate. I think the Astros have some real positives to build on. For now though, they lost 11-5 in another three and half hour game. Props with Mitch Williams and Rich Waltz for doing their best calling a game with very little to work with.

I have immediately joined the Ranger-Mariner game on the radio, already in progress. Matt Hicks is relating an interesting tale about getting hit by foul balls while broadcasting. Once in the back of the head by a ricochet after ducking to avoid the ball, and another while in El Paso, getting hit inside the press box in the ribs. He went down the next day and got the ball signed by the player.

Felix Hernandez was strangely not the story tonight and got lifted half way through the game. The Rangers scored some runs and won 5-2. I hope that wasn’t too detailed for you. My reception for most of the game was actually pretty bad, thus limiting my comprehension of it. At least this game only went three hours and 15 minutes.

And so ends day one of my three-day weekend. I’m exhausted. Tomorrow’s sports schedule is actually busier. This may not have been a brilliant idea.

Continued.