On a Long, Long Day
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| New Liberty Freedom Yee-haw America Airport |
Sunday, May 11, 2025
Chicago, IL
Outside the Game:
I had an awful night's sleep the evening before, so I dragged myself out of bed later than normal on Sunday morning, and deposited myself straight into the tub. My Sunday progressed as normal, going food shopping after my soak and then a long nap.
But this was not an ordinary Sunday. For one, it was Mother's Day. I had originally planned my baseball trip to start on the Friday before, but after a sneaking suspicion or two (as well as having my reservations cancelled more than once), I finally realized the holiday that I would be disowned for missing, so I had moved my flight back until end of day today.
So after my nap, I drove out to pick up my mom and bring her back to meet my aunt at the house. After an incident or two with mom, we got to our early dinner reservation without further issues, and I even landed a parking space at the restaurant with the notoriously small parking lot. It was a nice dinner at least, and my aunt drove my mom home so that I could leave for the airport promptly.
I had a quick secondary stress nap, dumped my bags in the car, and headed for the airport.
Ah, yes, the airport. Earlier in the week, Newark Liberty Freedom Apple Pie God Bless America International Airport was shut down by a combination of bad weather, upgrades, and incompetence. Horrific weather coupled with landing strip construction and terminal renovations explained some of the problems I was having with my flight schedule, and the kerfuffle was large enough to hit the national news.
So it was with a light heart and spring in my step that I drove to the airport. I decided to try parking there instead of taking an Lyft, just so I'd be in control of my destiny, as much as possible. Through a series of wrong turns, I ended up not at the economy long-term lot, but the pay-through-the-nose long-term lot, and I could not be bothered anymore, so I just parked and decided to deal with it in a week.
But now that I was parked, I'd just have to take the AirTrain, and I'd be right to terminal A. Except that Terminal A was the new Terminal A that they were building from scratch (and a good thing, too, really, because the old Terminal A was a deathtrap dump), and they had decided not to hook it up to the AirTrain, at least yet, so I had to get off at the last stop and take a shuttle bus, which just triple underlined what a bad idea it was to drive to the airport for this trip.
I finally made it to the new Terminal A, and in its defense, it is quite nice--just impossible to get to if you don't drive there directly. They had the new security scanners that don't make you completely unpack and disrobe to go through, so that was a bonus, and the security line wasn't bad at all.
But I found out that my flight was overbooked, so I decided to buy an upgrade to ensure I wouldn't be kicked off. Which worked, but they did not upgrade my boarding pass to an earlier boarding group that was supposed to come with the ticket upgrade. I went to the United Club to see if they could sort it out, and while they did try, there was nothing they could do except re-issue the incorrect boarding group ticket. I went to the counter at the gate, and the attendant acknowledged that I should be in an earlier group, and that he would sneak me in, for which I was thankful. So things weren't all bad.
Now I just had to wait for the slightly delayed flight while being a friend's therapist over text messages, but a plane and crew showed up, and we started to board. True to his word, the attendant let me in with the correct boarding group, and I stowed my bag and got into my seat. And then a little kid sat behind me and kicked my seat the entire trip, while his mom coughed up a lung onto the back of my seat. I had so many things actually and potentially go wrong so far all day today that I tried to keep a tranquil mind and positive outlook, but I swear, I came very close to throwing that little so-and-so off the plane.
Also of note was that this new plane had been designed with maximum efficiency overhead space which passengers had been demanding for so long; it was actually shocking to see implemented, and even on this very full flight, there were few bag checks. Who would have thought that acceding to the obvious and apparent needs of passengers would result in better conditions for said passengers?
But the plane finally landed. I had to wander a long way before I finally got to the airport train that would take me to the rental car lot. As I just missed a train, I met a janitor lady from Chicago central casting who lifted my spirits a bit at this late hour, although she did peak my anxiety by outright saying that there was a 50/50 shot that no one would be manning the booths at the rental car locations when I got there.
She was, thankfully, incorrect, and I boogied it enough to beat the crowd to the rental car check in. I received my keys and found my way out to the car, a white Toyota Corolla, a model which I had managed to go my entire life without driving to this point. And to be fair, I see why this is the most popular car in America. It took me a bit to get my phone hooked up to it, but once I had all the seats and mirrors set up, I didn't really have to fiddle with anything for the rest of the week.
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| Finally achieving mid |
Hampered by being in the layered cement parking lot, I eventually picked a nearby hotel for the night and once my GPS connected, I made the short drive to the hotel.
Except I couldn't turn the car off. I was having enough problems that another guest offered to give me a jump, forcing me to sheepishly tell him that I was just having problem with the key on the rental I had just picked up at this late hour. I went inside and checked in, and the guy behind the counter set me up with a sweetheart rate and a free water, which I thought might be karmic payback for not murdering a child who deserved it earlier in the evening.
I parked up and made it to my room where I did the basics of setting up for the next day before collapsing in bed for the night.
The Accommodations:
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| Holiday Inn Chicago-Elk Grove |
The Holiday Inn Chicago-Elk Grove was an average hotel near the airport, and I just picked a familiar name at the point I was at that night (after checking reviews and making sure it wasn't at the end of a runway or something). There was an average bathroom off the entrance and an average king-sized bed with night tables on one side and an average dresser and desk on the other.
I did very little else except sleep there, and it served its purpose adequately.
On a Stuttering Start
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| Impact Field, 2025 |
Sioux City Explorers vs. Chicago Dogs
Impact Field
American Association of Professional Baseball
Roseland, IL
6:30 PM
Outside the Game:
I had a restless night, waking up several times for whatever reason. It did leave me awake just as the breakfast buffet (such as it was) opened at 6 AM. I grabbed several items from the continental breakfast and retreated sleepily back to my room and ate it listlessly, before heading back to bed to sleep until closer to check-out time.
I awoke again and booked a hotel for the night in Joliet, as it was a short drive after the game and the start time for the "school day" game the next day was the unintelligible 10:30 AM, so I wanted to be close to the park in the morning.
With a comfortable noon check-out time, I lay about until the very last minute, packed up, checked out, and loaded up my car. Still stumbling around in the daylight, I went next door to the gas station mart to grab some lunch. It was then I noticed I was across the street from the Bally Pinball Factory, but I was soon bitterly disappointed that I found out that the factory tours had been suspended in the pandemic and not restarted.
With nothing better on the agenda, I decided to go over to the park (which turned out to be right by the rental car outlet for O'Hare that I was at early that morning) and buy a ticket and get some photos at least before finding something else to do. However, after parking in the lot integrated into the park, I found the park deserted, so I took some pictures of the outside before heading out, arriving back at the parking lot just in time to avoid being chained in at the entrance.
There was a Dave & Busters almost literally next door, and still feeling punchy, I decided to just go and play video games for a while. I parked and went in to find it completely deserted on the Monday afternoon with school still in session. I had the place entirely to myself, and played video and carnival games to my heart's content, eventually getting enough tickets to redeem for a LED light bulb light before heading back out to my car.
I heard back from Stadium Journey, who would let me write the trip up, and thus made it tax deductible. I took a little bit of time to get completely oriented with my car controls, and still having some time to go before the gates opened, I pulled my car into the covered lot and took a medicinal nap.
Upon waking, I drove back next door and parked in the now-open lot for $3, and going to the ticket booth, I was surprised to find that it was still closed less than a half-hour before gates opened. So I waited with the small group of people at the gates until right before opening time, at which point the ticket booth opened and vended us all tickets and then we all went straight into the now-open park.
The game ended a little after 9 PM, so I was on the road around 9:30 PM for the short drive down to Joliet. It was a weird drive around Illinois at night, passing cloverleaf after cloverleaf after cloverleaf until it was almost hypnotic. I arrived in Joliet around 10:30 PM, and I was checked into my room by the most rail-thin man I had seen in a very long time.
All that was left was parking, unloading, unpacking, and straight to bed.
The Stadium & Fans:
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| Home plate to center field, Impact Field |
Impact Field is a typical indie/low minors configuration. A promenade runs above the seating bowl around the entirety of the park, with the concessions, stores, and whatnot arrayed along it. The video scoreboard rises above left-center, and the parking lot holds down right field, while the park looks outs onto the highway that passes just beyond the outfield walls.
A second level of press and luxury boxes stands atop the promenade from about first base to third base, and a small play area in left field. The whole park is in a red and black motif that I couldn't quite decide if stylish or awful.
There was a sparse crowd for this early-season Monday-night game, though there was a school group there sitting by themselves in a preview of what I could expect the rest of the week.
We, however, need to have a discussion about mascots. The main mascot of the Chicago Dogs was "Squeeze," a mustard dispenser. No real problem there. But then there was Ketchup, As you might guess, Ketchup is a ketchup dispenser, but you might not know that ketchup is a disparaged condiment for hot dogs in the Chicagoland area, so it is perhaps not surprising that Ketchup is presented as a villain, usually wearing a black criminal mask. Okay so far. But out problem is that he is very clearly wearing a trench coat. On the souvenir cup, he is shown opening the trench coat with an arched eyebrow in something that can only possibly be coded as a sex offender flasher.
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| Seriously |
What the living hell, Chicago Dogs?
The between-inning entertainment was the regular assortment of contests, quizzes, and challenges, run by the questionable mascots and the "Dog Squad." Flights to O'Hare next door buzzed us at regular intervals throughout the game, which made me homesick for Not Shea Stadium.
At the Game with Oogie:
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| A tautology |
Once I finally achieved admission to the park, I went around and took my pictures and hit the team store before rustling up some dinner. As I was at the Chicago Dogs park, I resigned myself to getting a Chicago Dog, which is just a pickle with a frankfurter sausage in there somewhere. I was pretty hungry, so I followed it up with a chicken sandwich before settling into my seat right by first base.
There was no one immediately around me, although there was another scorer sitting not far away. So it goes.
The Game:
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| First pitch, Explorers vs. Dogs |
This early-season matchup between the Sioux City Explorers and the Chicago Dogs was not a barn-burner by any real extent, but did end up at least close.
Sioux City went in order in the first, with the exception of an error that was scored a double (but more on that later). The Dogs alternated walks and outs, leaving the bases stranded in that manner. The Explorers has just a walk to show for the second, while Chicago stranded two singles in their half. Sioux City managed a single in the top of the third, but the Dogs turned a double and a single into the first run of the game, taking a 1-0 lead.
The Explorers managed to strand the bases loaded in the top of the fourth with three singles, while Chicago added to their lead with a bloop and a bomb, extending the lead to 3-0. Sioux City finally got on the board in the top of the fifth, combining a walk, single, and sacrifice fly to close the score to 3-1. The Dogs just has a one-out single in their half of the frame. Both sides went in order in the sixth.
Sioux City kept chipping away in the seventh, manufacturing a run with a hit batsman, stolen base, and single to bring it within one at 3-2. The Dogs just had a single to show for their part of the inning. The Explorers went in order in the eighth, while Chicago just mustered a walk. Despite a leadoff walk sacrificed over to second, the Sioux City runner went no further, leaving the Dogs with the 3-2 win.
The Scorecard:
Sioux City Explorers vs. Chicago Dogs, 5/12/25. Dogs win, 3-2
I was using the BBWAA scorebook again, pursuing my experiment in using the new friction-erasable ink to score with instead of pencils.
The game was quite conventional, with only a few things of note. One was that even though this was an indie game, there were multiple pinch hitters in the late innings that required me to make letter match-ups for new lines. Another was a hit in the bottom of the first that was adjudicated officially as a hit, but it literally bounced out of the right fielder's glove, so I made it an error. And the last note wasn't game-related, as the announced attendance of the game (that had--at most--a thousand people in the stands) was officially given as 972,311. Because reasons.
The scoreboard actually helped out any scorers by including the scoring symbols for each batter's previous at-bats, should you have missed it.
The Accommodations:
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| Clarion Hotel & Convention Center |
I drove the hour to Joliet after the game to be right by the park for the insanely early start the next day. I had booked a room at the Clarion Hotel & Convention Center, because it seemed nice enough for a brief overnight stay, even if the room was right by the ice machine and elevator.
An nice bathroom was right off the entrance to the room, followed by a well-appointed bedroom with a king-sized bed, nightstands, and chair on one side, and a small dresser and desk with TV on the other side.
I wasn't spending much time here, so it was more than good enough.
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