Saturday, April 16, 2005

Baseball, scotch, pools, hitchhikers... and how they all tie together

I love baseball, but I am not a fan of what the game is becoming. It's quickly going the way of the NFL, NHL and NBA.

All rich men's games.

The new stadiums are getting smaller, sacrificing seats for luxury suites. The St. Louis Cardinals are building a new one, and now I see the Yankees are following suit.* Neither team really needs a new "house."

PSL's, ticket prices and "back-door-entry-with-no-lube" parking rates are slowly (okay, not so slowly) taking the game out of reach of the common man.

Among professional sports, baseball still remains the most affordable. You can still go to Busch and get a $9 ticket. But take an oxygen tank.

And don't expect things to get any better.

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I'm attending a scotch-tasting party tonight, and it's been a while since I tried anything new. Although I consider myself more scotch-knowledgeable than the average person, I figure I can learn a lot tonight.

Okay, kidding. I'm just looking for a smooth buzz.

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I am reminded what a pain in the butt owning a pool can be. But I also found that there are few things more peaceful than a walk around it in the morning with a cup of coffee.

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I just realized how boring this post is. And what's even more surprising - you're still reading. Get a life.

Speaking of, I am re-reading a great book (a friend reminded me of it) called The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I sat in the backyard and laughed my ass off this afternoon.

Now that I have no ass, I hope to find none of the rest of the book funny.

Have a nice weekend!


*courtesy MSNBC (as if I couldn't have gotten the story myself)

8 comments:

phoenix said...

I found you through the scintilating pages of Hoss. Glad I did.

My two cents here are: The city of Hotlanta was lucky enough to have the owner of Home Depot buy out the Falcons football team. Why is that lucky you ask? He came in, changed around a few players and lowered (YES! lowered) the price of admission to all home games. In his tenure as owner the Falcon's have actually made it into the playoffs in under two years. Miracle in itself!

You should move here ;)

Weary Hag said...

It's hard to understand why anyone is building anything "smaller" these days. Just doesn't make sense. I agree they don't need new stadiums. Now the Red Sox, they could use a nice new stadium - though I could care less if they get one. (thanks to my fiance, I now join the throngs who verbally slam teams other than my personal favorites - I feel like such a true sports fan now)
I never heard of a scotch-tasting event. Does this mean you won't be posting for a few days? (kidding)

Dave Morris said...

Phoenix, once in a while you find a diamond in the manure pile - and those Falcons are sumpin else! Vick is a machine. Plus, I love the city of Hotlanta. I have friends in Buckhead.

Carol, lovely to see you again in these parts. The stadiums are still big, but they are sacrificing 8 to 10 thousand of the common-man seats (which are admittedly not always filled anyway).

In order to be a true sports fan, you also must learn to grope yourself and know the game better than the coach. It's a very ethereal, finespun art. Same for being a scotch fan! (burp)

OldHorsetailSnake said...

Worse, I think, is the way the Yanks and a few others spend their way to the top. Yankees on opening day had an All-Star at every position. This is ridiculous. Small-market teams have no chance. They should give up baseball and invest in Glenfiddich.

Dave Morris said...

With a payroll of about 200 million per year, the Yankees have become a sports fan's joke. Clearly they are buying their wins, which makes it especially satisfying when a team like the Orioles (with a current payroll of around 60 million per year) beats them 4 out of 5 games so far this season.

Sorry, with players like A-Rod, who pockets nearly $158,000 per game, the Yanks no longer qualify as "America's team." They certainly don't represent mainstream America.

OldHorsetailSnake said...

Hey, pal, checked your wife's site, and no recent Life Is Good posting. I wanna know this: Is she still selling naming rights to the St. Louis Arch Supports? St. Louis Arch de Triomphes? St. Louis Archangels? St. Louis Joan of Archs? I know -- Sell to Mickey Spillane: St. Louis Arched an Eyebrow.

Anonymous said...

You may be able to buy tickets for $9.00 but a beer will cost ya $10.00. It is alot of fun to take a family of 4 to a game for only $36.00. The extras are what kill ya! An easy $100.00 plus day(not including ticket price.)

Dave Morris said...

Chris, fortunately my kids can only handle like 2 beers each, then they're out like a light. It really saves money when you're children are light-weight drinkers.