On Avoiding Disaster
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| Ballpark at Arlington, 2009 |
Los Angels Angels of Anaheim vs. Texas Rangers
Ballpark at Arlington
Major League Baseball, American League West
Arlington, TX
7:05 PM
Outside the Game:
On a full-night's sleep, I was up and ready for the drive up to Dallas after breakfast at the hotel. My hotel in Houston was right on the road to Dallas, so I didn't need much help from the TomTom unit until I got to the Dallas metropolitan area proper. It was a straight shot with no incidents up to Dallas and my hotel just by the north entrance to the airport.
Upon getting to the hotel, the first thing I did was to check into my flight to Kansas City the next day. On viewing into the American Airlines Website, I was greeted with an itinerary that had me flying into Chicago. Thinking I might I have accidentally entered in my confirmation code for the day after, I confirmed that this was supposed to be my flight to KC. One quick and frantic call to American Airlines later, I found out that my flight to KC had just been scrubbed due to the always vague "mechanical issues," and I had been rescheduled to a later flight through Chicago that connected to KC. I was able to get moved back to direct flight to Kansas City, but only one that left two hours before my original flight. No sleep for me tonight.
Since I was getting up god-awful early the next day, I got all my clothes and bags ready for the next morning as soon as I hit the room. I got out my necessities for the game that night and had an uneventful drive down to the park.
Because the game went a little long, I wasn't able to turn in my rental until the next morning. But the drive back after the game went quickly, and I showered up and went to sleep as quickly as possible to face my next inevitable sunrise on the way to the airport with enough sleep in my system as possible.
The Stadium & Fans:
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| Home plate to center field, Ballpark at Arlington |
The Ballpark at Arlington is in the home territory of HKS, Inc, a design firm that has done several sports stadiums in the area, including the new Cowboys stadium that was rising up in the same manicured park area in which the Ballpark at Arlington was situated, along with what seemed to be about three amusement parks. The park was clearly a showpiece for the architectural firm, as the design was outstanding and the details were well-handled. The friezes outside the park and the decorative ironwork inside showed that they spared no expense. The concessions (including the bizarre "Coney Island" hot dog stands) had some unique items, such as sausage on a stick (exactly as advertised).
The big features of the park were the retro porch out in right field, the large area of suites out in center, and the decorative green in center that became the scene of frantic footraces when a home run landed in its confines. The kids activity area was out behind center field, anchored by a statue of Nolan Ryan that also doubled as an accurate sundial in the blinding north Texas afternoon.
Another attached attraction was the "Legends of the Game" sports museum. It was an extra charge, but it was worth the price, and housed the largest on-loan collections from Cooperstown in the world. There were general baseball history and exhibits, in addition to a section just on the history of the Rangers, including some charming racism.
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| It is funny because it dehumanizes |
The top level of the museum was interactive exhibit for kids, centering on baseball Math, History, and Geography. That said, the physician needed to heal thyself, as the Geography exhibit, clearly a few years old, touted a team in Montreal as part of the major-league world.
The crowd was raucous and into the game. There was a small Angels contingent that kept largely quiet. The fans stayed into the game through the ups and downs and were quite emotional when they blew the game. The quote of the night goes to a rakish gentleman in front of me who stated that "That's the kind of thing that makes me want to go home and beat my kids." Quite, sir. Quite.
At the Game with Oogie:
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| Unrelated |
I was again in the upper deck (or whatever the local euphemism was) right behind home plate, thankfully in the shade. This was the first game I was watching outside on this trip, and it was hot enough to remind me the practical principles and rationals for domes. The locals mentioned how it was finally cool enough to come out to the park, which makes me wonder what kind of early-season hell these people must endure.
The Game:
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| First pitch, Angels vs. Rangers |
After the catastrophic collapse by the Astros the day before, home teams were running 1-1 for the trip. This game was of some import, as the first place Angels were visiting the second-place Rangers. A win would close the gap between the two teams, and the Rangers homered their way to an early two-run lead in the third with back-to-back clouts. The Angels got one back in the 4th, and then exploded in the sixth with four runs courtesy, in large part, to their own back-to-back homeruns. (A double back-to-back homer game was another first.) The Rangers threatened in the eighth, but never scored again, falling 5-2.
The Scorecard:
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| Angels vs. Rangers, 06/29/09. Angels win, 5-2. |
The scorecard came as part of the $5 program. It was a single-sheet paper card built into the program. It was a little small, but adequate for an AL game, though it did have a stats category for pitchers (NP) that I had never seen before (and would subsequently discover meant "Number of Pitches").
The Accommodations:
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| Super 8 |
As mentioned, I stayed in a Super 8 just north of the Dallas airport. Since even with my original schedule I wasn't going to be staying there that long, I went with a convenient, cheap place right by the airport. Though not fancy, the room was everything that I needed it to be, and with my extra-early flight the next day, the wisdom of my choice would be borne out.
2009 The Rest
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