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| Some water |
Myrtle Beach, SC
Outside the Game:
The day didn't start auspiciously. Going down to breakfast at the hotel, there was another atrocity of truth coming out of the White House, and I just had to grab my breakfast buffet and bury my head in my tablet in as quiet a corner as I could find to avoid hearing any of it. Off by the window, I saw the rain blanket the morning, and there was not much you could do about that. Or any of it, really.
I headed off early to the stadium to take my pictures and buy a ticket. As it turned out, I was lucky to scam a ticket even for as one guy on his own. Thursdays were apparently big days for the Pelicans, as it was $1 beer night, and it was a special give-away as well that I wasn't even aware of.
HBO's Eastbound and Down chronicled the life of John Rocker-inspired Kenny Powers, a washed-up ex-MLB closer who, through the course of the show, slowly made his way back to the major leagues. One of his stops along the way was a season with the fictional "Myrtle Beach Mermen," the AAA squad for Texas in the world of the TV show. The give-away for the actual Myrtle Beach Pelicans was a "Kenny Powers Night," where they were going to give away a Kenny Powers Mermen jersey and play as the Mermen for the night.
After taking my pictures and getting my valuable ticket, I went out the beach and got smoked for $5 for parking. I grabbed lunch at a Nathan's concession by the beach, and then walked around to see what was worth seeing. There were boardwalk arcades to be had, and I played some skeeball, as well as a row of old baseball games. If you scored 28 runs, you won a prize, and after playing a little while, I walked off with a t-shirt from the arcade for my efforts.
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| A sign just for me |
I walked down the boardwalk some more and ended up helping an older couple with their phone. They needed to clear off some space on their crowded iPhone so they could take more pictures. They had some Baptist app that had a bunch of video sermons on it that they weren't willing to part with, so I cleared off as much space as I could without deleting the giant video files and sent them on their way. I stopped into another arcade and played another modern baseball game, but I ran into the golden goose: There was a Space Invaders game that gave out a ton of tickets if you reached a certain score. I quickly amassed a king's fortune in tickets, as well as a crowd of kids watching me print tickets at will. They started giving me their tokens, which I turned into tickets. This was so profitable that the staff eventually made me stop. I got a medium-sized trinket or two with my tickets and headed on my way.
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| Looking at water while hiding from water |
I eventually got a pass for the Ripley's attractions on the boardwalk and went to the Mirror Maze, Oddity Museum, and the 5D Theater. The final stop was the aquarium, which was a short drive away at the "Broadway" entertainment area, which also happened to be right across from the stadium. I went through the aquarium for a while just as it started raining again and spent a little time walking around Broadway before heading over to the game as it stopped raining.
Given the hoopla around the game, I was on line a little before 5 PM. I was well within the range of people to get the giveaway, so I suffered through on and off rain for the next hour or so. There was a family with several kids in front of me. The staff made us stand away from the wall that gave some protection from the rain, so I was completely in my rain gear eventually, and it was only the father and I staying on line, while the wife and kids retreated to cover.
As if by script, the rain stopped just as the gates opened, and we all quickly funneled into the stadium and got the jerseys, and once I made it to behind home plate to start taking pictures, the rain started again. They made an announcement that the game start was going to be pushed back to 8 PM. I wandered around doing my usual bit, while grabbing a pulled pork sandwich and fries to eat while I waited.
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| Man's gotta eat |
Eventually, the rain stopped again, and all the pre-game festivities started to happen as the grounds crew took the tarp off the field. I settled into my seat on the third-base side. Ceremonial pitches were made (by a Kenny Powers impersonator), lineups were exchanged, and the anthem was sung.
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| They exchanged lineups. They have to play now. Its a law or something. |
Just as they were about to announce "play ball," the skies opened up again. They made an announcement pushing the start back to 9 PM, and the remaining crowd milled around some more. I grabbed a supplementary Polish sausage while I waited.
Around nine, just as they were starting to take the tarps off the field again, the umps came out and called the game, no doubt privy to some new weather report. The damp crowd headed to their cars, and I had a short, damp ride back to the hotel.
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| Lies and perfidy |
I spent the rest of the evening hanging up everything to dry after getting a nice hot shower for myself and contemplating my potential courses of action. I could stay another day and try to get the game the next night, or I could go back into North Carolina to see one of the two new teams that year, giving me a much shorter drive to West Virginia the day after.
I did all my research, took in the weather reports, and decided to punt to the next morning. I was quickly asleep, happy to be dry and warm again.
The Accommodations:
I was at the Country Inn again, and outside of breakfast and the stop after the game, I did not spend much time in the room at all.
2017 The Carolinas II & Tennessee
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