Baseball, anyone?
May. 25th, 2008 07:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
auntiemeeshWent to the Pirates game with ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
eve11 and B. It was kind of nice to take a break from the constant action of hockey for a nice, relaxing game of America's Favorite Pastime. We had great seats (must remember to thank J for the tickets, again), the weather was pretty much ideal for an afternoon game, and the Pirates won in the eleventh inning. It was a good game, with just enough tension to keep me interested, but only really tense in the bottom of the ninth, when the Pirates were down by one, with two outs and a man on second (I think). Someone (don't remember who - I am familiar with all of two Pirates, Bay and Sanchez and I don't think it was either of them) missed a homerun by about five feet, and the outfielder inexplicably dropped the ball, allowing the Bucs to score. *and wasn't it fun listening to the dad in the row behind us explain, several times, to his little boy why the Pirates were called Bucs*
Baseball, for me, is a sport that can only be enjoyed live, at the ball park. It takes me back to being a kid and going to Reading Phillies games each year (and once or twice to the real Phillies games). It has such a different feel than the games when seen on tv. I think it's partially the announcers that drive me crazy. I like to just watch the game, without having the voice over telling me what I'm seeing. Plus, it's the ability to focus on whatever aspect of the game I want, whether it's the pitcher, the cute infielder, or the crazy guy over in the left field stands trying to get himself on tv. Watching the game on tv, you have to pay attention to what the cameras show you, which is just not as entertaining, for me.
The other thing that struck me was that, sitting so close to the game, it had more of Saturday afternoon pick-up game, than a real professional game. And I don't mean that to be denigrating to the quality of the play, because it's not that at all. It just felt very casual and comfortable. The first base coach was leaning all over the players at first (it was actually a little weird), and at one point the Pirates' first base man was chatting with the Cubs runner on base. It feels so much more formal when seen through the eyes and voice of a camera and sportscaster.
Tomorrow is more hockey, and I'll probably have to resign myself to listening to it on the radio, which is just not as fun, at all. But I think the rest of the games after that should all be aired on NBC so that will be good.
Okay, enough sports talk for one day. Yesterday, I finally managed to make it out to Phipps Conservatory. This is the second time I've been given free passes but the last time I wasn't able to use them before they expired. I'm all about free passes. Plants are good and all, but I'm not really interested in paying to see them. That being the case, this was only the second or third time I've been to the inside gardens. The outside gardens are free and usually open to anyone (they were closed yesterday for a private function) and are quite lovely. The current exhibit inside is Chocolate themed. So they have lots of little chocolate facts scattered about, and some really absurd chocolate colored and 'candy-coated' plastic flamingos (with white Ms on some of them, to complete the experience). I forgot my camera and B won't be posting his pics till after he gets settled in Switzerland, sometime in July, probably, so you'll just have to image the horror for now. Actually, at first it was kind of cute. By the time we'd been the whole way through and encountered the ugly brown things everywhere I was pretty much over it. Other than that, the whole thing was very nice. The butterfly room is pretty much my favorite, but I also really, really liked the tropical forest room, which currently has a Thailand exhibit.
I was disappointed not to be able to wander through the exterior gardens, but honestly, after two hours of wandering around inside, my bad foot was really unhappy, so it was just as well to end it there. I'll have to come back another weekend for the outside garden.
eve11 and B. It was kind of nice to take a break from the constant action of hockey for a nice, relaxing game of America's Favorite Pastime. We had great seats (must remember to thank J for the tickets, again), the weather was pretty much ideal for an afternoon game, and the Pirates won in the eleventh inning. It was a good game, with just enough tension to keep me interested, but only really tense in the bottom of the ninth, when the Pirates were down by one, with two outs and a man on second (I think). Someone (don't remember who - I am familiar with all of two Pirates, Bay and Sanchez and I don't think it was either of them) missed a homerun by about five feet, and the outfielder inexplicably dropped the ball, allowing the Bucs to score. *and wasn't it fun listening to the dad in the row behind us explain, several times, to his little boy why the Pirates were called Bucs*Baseball, for me, is a sport that can only be enjoyed live, at the ball park. It takes me back to being a kid and going to Reading Phillies games each year (and once or twice to the real Phillies games). It has such a different feel than the games when seen on tv. I think it's partially the announcers that drive me crazy. I like to just watch the game, without having the voice over telling me what I'm seeing. Plus, it's the ability to focus on whatever aspect of the game I want, whether it's the pitcher, the cute infielder, or the crazy guy over in the left field stands trying to get himself on tv. Watching the game on tv, you have to pay attention to what the cameras show you, which is just not as entertaining, for me.
The other thing that struck me was that, sitting so close to the game, it had more of Saturday afternoon pick-up game, than a real professional game. And I don't mean that to be denigrating to the quality of the play, because it's not that at all. It just felt very casual and comfortable. The first base coach was leaning all over the players at first (it was actually a little weird), and at one point the Pirates' first base man was chatting with the Cubs runner on base. It feels so much more formal when seen through the eyes and voice of a camera and sportscaster.
Tomorrow is more hockey, and I'll probably have to resign myself to listening to it on the radio, which is just not as fun, at all. But I think the rest of the games after that should all be aired on NBC so that will be good.
Okay, enough sports talk for one day. Yesterday, I finally managed to make it out to Phipps Conservatory. This is the second time I've been given free passes but the last time I wasn't able to use them before they expired. I'm all about free passes. Plants are good and all, but I'm not really interested in paying to see them. That being the case, this was only the second or third time I've been to the inside gardens. The outside gardens are free and usually open to anyone (they were closed yesterday for a private function) and are quite lovely. The current exhibit inside is Chocolate themed. So they have lots of little chocolate facts scattered about, and some really absurd chocolate colored and 'candy-coated' plastic flamingos (with white Ms on some of them, to complete the experience). I forgot my camera and B won't be posting his pics till after he gets settled in Switzerland, sometime in July, probably, so you'll just have to image the horror for now. Actually, at first it was kind of cute. By the time we'd been the whole way through and encountered the ugly brown things everywhere I was pretty much over it. Other than that, the whole thing was very nice. The butterfly room is pretty much my favorite, but I also really, really liked the tropical forest room, which currently has a Thailand exhibit.
I was disappointed not to be able to wander through the exterior gardens, but honestly, after two hours of wandering around inside, my bad foot was really unhappy, so it was just as well to end it there. I'll have to come back another weekend for the outside garden.
