My Fifteen Minutes

These pictures are simply proof. The second picture shows one of the many waivers I signed to be a contestant and the top picture shows the three contestants and our respective hair dressers. For those of you who know her, my hair dresser reminded me of my cousin, Sarah Larsen.

Meanwhile, Dan and I have made it to New Orleans and we are trying to get tickets to tomorrow's New Orleans Zephyrs game. They are the Triple A affiliate of the New York Mets, so maybe we'll get to see Pedro Martinez make a rehab start.

Deep in the Heart of Texas

We have a pretty good road trip rhythm going right now, and by that I mean that we stay in one place just long enough to get a little tired of it, and then we move on. This is our third and final day in Houston, and it turned out to be rather disastrous. We woke up late, so we didn't get in time to the Astros game until they ran out of the free t-shirts they were handing out. And then we left the game and remembered that we didn't take the key to get back into the house we've been staying at. But after driving around in the heat for a few hours, we were able to find the spare, and now all is well.

I guess it isn't that bad of a day, all things considered. But then again, it doesn't really compare to yesterday. The game itself yesterday was uneventful. Thankfully TGF hair salon was able to spice it up for us. TGF was giving $5 hair cuts for charity at the stadium, but don't jump to conclusions yet. Yes, I did get my hair cut, but I was also one of three contestants last night to be given a "makeover" in the auxiliary team room, which is like the dungeon of the entire stadium. We were put on the jumbo tron during after the 5th inning so that we could be judged by the fans. The contestant that the fans liked the most received two Suite Level tickets. Unfortunately, I didn't win. I got beat out by a younger kid that got a mohawk and the Astros' star shaved into the side of his head. Oh well, I got a free hair cut, two consolation tickets and a great story to tell. And we will have pictures for you as soon as we get to a spot where my laptop gets internet.

Next spot is New Orleans. No there aren't any major league teams there, but we will settle for some good jambalaya.

We've Landed in Houston......finally

That's right, after 1200 miles of desert we have finally arrived in Houston. Well, just outside of Houston to be exact but who's keeping track. We logged another 8 hours of hellish driving across the desert, and are both happy knowing that we have little of the desert left. The drive was either too hot or too wet, and the black bean chile omlete and side of pancakes at IHOP wasn't the best choice for breakast. But nonetheless, we made it to Houston just in time to pass out on the couch. We were hoping to make it to the Astros' game tonight, but decided that a night off wouldn't hurt anything. Although, it did sting a little bit when we turned the game on the television to find that Roy Oswalt was pitching. Oh well.

I wish I had more to tell you all, but there really isn't all that much to say except Texas is greener and more humid the farther east you get. We did run into the border patrol yesterday evening somewhere near El Paso, but Dan was driving and more awake for that so I'll let him go into detail on that story. Let's just say there were flashing lights, bomb sniffing dogs and a officer asking us if we were American citizens.

And before I forget. As we were passing Tucson, which seemed like ages ago now, we saw the very final In 'n Out Burger of our travels. We didn't stop because, but it did get me thinking. We should try to hit some of the regional fast food chains around the nation. We have already been told about Whataburger in Texas, but we don't know many others. So, if you - yes, you, the few, loyal fans that are following our travels - know of any such spots that you think we should hit on our stops, leave us a comment. (This is my attempt to make this an interactive blog site.) Thanks for logging on, and goodnight from Texas.

The Air Conditioned Chase Field

Right now we’re about halfway between Phoenix and Ft. Stockton, Texas, where a hotel bed will be waiting for us, and here are my reactions to watching the Sox play in Arizona.

Chase Field, the D-backs home field, was unlike any stadium I’ve ever been to. It’s indoors, which I have no problem with because they air condition the enter place to a 78˚ haven compared to the outside world, but that’s exactly the problem. Like I said Dodgers’ Stadium was an eerie experience, but at least I felt like I was watching a baseball game. The D-backs don’t play on a baseball field, they play in a airport hanger or a gigantic and abandoned warehouse that just happens to have some grass and seats and hot dogs. Even when the roof is opened, it doesn’t feel like I’m outside.

I remember going to watch the Red Sox play at Safeco Field in Seattle back in 2005. Yeah, it was kind of weird being in a domed stadium for the first time, but I got you used to it pretty quickly. When the roof closed, the sides were still opened so I could feel a breeze ever once in a while. The only breeze I felt in Phoenix came when the hot air swirled at the top of the stadium, which was of course was where our seats were, and came back to smack across the face.

And my final beef with Chase Field came during the Sunday afternoon game. I was expecting them to open the roof to let the sun in, because, well, I thought it was against the rules of Major League Baseball to play a day game without any sunshine. But it never did. Now I’m not complaining because we all would have roasted alive had the place not been cooled down, but again didn’t feel like I was watching a baseball game. I mean there were lights on during a day game. Tell me there isn't something wrong with that.

Thankfully, I was distracted by the pitcher’s duel between Randy Johnson and Dice-K Matsuzaka. Johnson had 9 strikeouts through 5 innings, but then again two of those were on Dice-K, who just wasn’t used to American pitching. Maybe he was just sitting on the gyroball. Who knows? All I know is that we were there to see Matsuzaka bat for the first time in an MLB game, and we have a lot of driving left to do. It’s about 1000 miles to Houston and thunderstorms are expected in Southern New Mexico. Lucky us!

Los Angeles and Interstate 10

So, I’m sorry that I haven’t posted anything for a few days, but it’s not really my fault. The Marriot that we stayed at in Phoenix was good for everything we needed except for providing steady Internet access. With that said, there are a few things that I need to tell you all about.

The first goes back a few days and about 600 miles to Los Angeles. If you ever have the chance to go to Los Angeles, DON’T. Dan and I both agree that LA is a place where you can have fun if you have more money than you know what to do with and/or the patience to drive through the sprawl of massive landmarks that they call a city.

Seeing a game at Dodgers’ Stadium was probably the oddest experience we’ve encountered so far on the road trip, but then again, eating at Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles was at the top of that list as well. But watching that Dodgers’ play in LA felt like being a spy in the enemy’s base in more ways than one. First, in order to get to the stadium you have to drive to Dodger Island which is this small section partitioned off from the entire rest of the city sprawl. Then you have to trek up the hills to the ticket gates, where you will first encounter the largest, most disgusting sea of blue that you will ever want to see. Even the security guards’ jackets seemed a different shade of blue that could only be described as “Dodger Blue.” And they were handing out free Dodgers’ beach towels that day, which made everything worse. After crawling under and through the thick concrete walls, which made me feel like I was taking a tour of the Hoover Dam, I finally saw the field and stands raucously cheering “Let’s Go Dodgers.”

Now, I’m not one to be completely bias so I will give credit where credit where credit is due and say that the crowd knew when to start a cheer and I did see the wave going briefly. I guess what I’m trying to say is that the game would have been a lot of fun if (and only if) I were a Dodgers’ fan. But I’m not going to join that cult, and I was extremely happy to get out of that stadium and that city.

Then next interesting experience was the drive across the desert to Phoenix. First the billboards started advertising trucker gas stations every 30+ miles as opposed to the Lakers’ and Dodgers’ games. Then the ground along the highway went from solid cement dividers, to dirt and gravel, and then finally just dust and tumbleweeds. And of course the air, put simply, went from polluted and smoggy to warm and dusty, while the temperature rose from 90˚ to 100˚. But now after briefly recharging in the hotel, it’s time to head over to Chase Field to watch the Diamondbacks host the Boston Red Sox. It’s our first BoSox game of many more to come, and it is also our 4th straight game in a new city. Four down, seventeen to go.