A memory of the trip

Thought you'd like this...

Fantasy Football

It's now time to move on to fantasy football. Poor Izzy keeps drafting retired players or guys from the Dallas Cowboys.

Izzy is holding out...

Izzy have you been to another baseball game and have not published your review of Citizens Bank Park? Some blogger you are!

2008 Baseball Trip?

Maybe a trip for next year...we can only dream of 6 more games!

Hidden video of Izzy on the trip...

Next Game & Coming Soon

There are more photos from the trip coming soon...and I posted a bunch to a Kodak gallery, so that link will be posted as well.

Our next scheduled game will be the Phillies vs. Mets in late August. This division rivalry will be a big game, with playoff implications! Currently, the Phillies are only 5 games behind the Mets . Stay tuned for a review of the stadium and the game.

Think you are a sports fan

Here's a list of 101 Sports Events to attend before you die. I have done 6 (one last week!). Check it out.

All Roadtrip All Stars

Here's our Most Valuable Players from our road trip:

C - Russell Martin, Dodgers - didn't do much offensively, but Izzy and I both have him on our fantasy baseball teams. Consideration to Greg Zaun (Toronto) for going 3 for 3 with 3 runs scored and 3 runs batted in.

1B - Adrian Gonzalez, SD - went 4 for 4 with 3 doubles and a homerun against the Cubs. Prince Fielder deserves some consideration as I have never seen someone so big play professional sports so well.

2B - Dan Uggla, Florida - slim pickings here. We go with Uggla because of his name only.

SS - Edgar Renteria, Atlanta - was 5 for 5 with a HR and stolen base against the Indians

3B - Ryan Braun, Milwaukee - impressive rookie who had a hit, walk and scored a couple of runs.

OF - Andre Either, Dodgers - Went 3 for 3 and broke up Halladay's shutout.

OF - Jermaine Dye, White Sox - had two incredible diving catches

OF - Mike Cameron, San Diego - hit 2 HRs in Chicago which made him unpopular with the home town crowd

DH - Frank Thomas, Toronto - hit his 497th career homerun which happened to be the only grandslam we saw. Jim Thome gets consideration for his 3-run HR.

SP - Roy Halladay (Toronto) and Ben Sheets (Milwaukee) - both had dominating pitching performances

RP - Bobby Jenks (White Sox) - had a save and looked dominating when we saw him for the 1/3 of an inning.

Baseball Checklist

I decided that I should keep a running list of Major League Baseball Stadiums I have been to. Here's the list after the trip:

1. Camden Yards, Baltimore
2. Memorial Stadium, Baltimore
3. Yankee Stadium, NY
4. Shea Stadium, NY
5. Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia
6. Veterans Stadium, Philadelphia
7. Fenway Park, Boston
8. Three Rivers Stadium, Pittsburgh
9. PNC Park, Pittsburgh
10. Jacobs Field, Cleveland
11. Wrigley Field, Chicago
12. US Cellular Field, Chicago
13. Safeco Field, Seattle
14. Rogers Centre, Toronto
15. Enron Field (now Minute Maid Park), Houston
16. Kaufman Stadium, Kansas City
17. Miller Park, Milwaukee
18. Astrodome, Houston (I found these old photos I took back in 1999...)

I think that is all of them...obviously I have been to some of them a couple times. Some day maybe I will see them all...

Karl

Fellow Travelers

A friend of mine retunred from a cross country trip similar to ours on Memorial Day. They flew to Seattle and drove down the west coast, across the southern tier of the US and up the east coast. They hit just about every city along the way and created a great blog (they are a photographer and a web guy...so thier's looks a little better than ours).

Visit thier blog at http://www.wanderingtravelers.com/

Baseball Totals

This is what we saw...

Innings - 72

Runs - 65

Hits - 115

Errors - 4

Walks - 32

Hit Batters - 3

Strike Outs - 84

Doubles -24

Triples - 3

Home Runs -12

Stolen Bases - 6

Complete Games - 1

Pitching Changes - 29

Saves - 2

Total Attendance - 198,547

Home Record - 4 wins, 2 losses

Trip Totals

States Visited: 8 *including the providence of Ontario

Lost time due to construction: 2 hours & 10 minutes

Blogs Posted While Driving: at least 6

Top Speed: undisclosed

Tolls Paid: TBD once we get the EZ Pass bill *$10 cash paid in Ohio, no EZ Pass

Miles Driven: 2150 *45 before we actually left

Miles Walked: 350 *estimated

Football Stadiums Viewed: 6 *Including BMO Field (Toronto Soccer Stadium)

Hot Dog’s Consumed: 13 *tubular meat product

Best meal: Mamasita’s in Chicago

Worst meal: Hostel breakfast in Chicago

Starbuck’s Visited: 20 *one had no restroom

Pictures Taken: 800 *not including deleted photos

Souvenirs Purchased: undisclosed

Foul balls caught: 1 – Braves batting practice

Stadium Quick Hits Commentary

Wrigley Field is on the top of our list thanks to the history and fan spirit. Miller Park is a surprising close second thanks to the cool stadium and awesome fans. We would make a special trip to either one of these stadiums in a heartbeat! Jacob’s field offered excellent pro shop, quality food & beverage as well as a cool facility, both inside and out. The Rodger’s Centre offered similar value for having multiple restaurant opportunities and a hotel overlooking the field. The retractable roof, CN Tower and surrounding amenities make Toronto a cool place to experience a game. PNC Park would be a quality place to see a game if the fans had a team to be excited about. It’s hard for them to be competitive when the team spends less on their entire team than the Yankees spent on Roger Clemens. PNC is still a great place to see a game and thanks to how close it is to Harrisburg, we’ll be back. Just like the White Sox 2007 season, US Cellular Field was a disappointment. If we got free tickets to the 100 level, we would consider returning.

Stadium Grades

We decided to grade the stadiums we saw on the tour in four categories…

1 – Concessions - Variety & quality of the food & beverage. Also considered was the variety, quality and cost of the merchandise.

2 –Entertainment – Variety of things for fans to do, see and participate in.

3 - Architecture Interest – Incorporation of the stadium into the surrounding area, views inside and out and coolness factor.

4 – Team Spirit – Level of loyalty and excitement the fans showed at the game.

PNC Park
Concessions
Entertainment
Architectural Interest
Team Spirit

Jacob’s Field
Concessions
Entertainment
Architectural Interest
Team Spirit


Wrigley Field
Concessions
Entertainment
Architectural Interest
Team Spirit

US Cellular Field
Concessions
Entertainment
Architectural Interest
Team Spirit

Miller Park
Concessions
Entertainment
Architectural Interest
Team Spirit

Rodgers Centre
Concessions
Entertainment
Architectural Interest
Team Spirit

Overall Stadium Ranking
1. Wrigley Field
2. Miller Park
3. Jacob’s Field
4. Roger’s Center
5. PNC Park
6. US Cellular Field