Having fun at the old ballpark

But first, we stopped by the capitol for Blues Before Sunset. One of Linda's favorite bands from last year, Sumpin' Doo, was going to be playing and there would be time to catch them and still get over to the ballgame. The crowd continued to build during the course of the set and the music was well selected and performed. I'd go see them again.

We walked over to the ballpark, found our seats, and stopped by the concession for a ballpark dinner before the First Pitch ceremonies. The first pitch list was a little odd: there must have been a dozen people taking their turns on the mound. The last name, you might recognize: Fergie Jenkins. Yes, the Chicago Cubs Cy Young Award winning Hall of Fame pitcher threw out the first pitch! Linda has said that she thought "some famous baseball guy" was going to be there; I guess she was right. Of course, he wasted no time with the pitch and the camera wasn't out so there is no photo. Unlike a couple of the other First Pitchers' attempts, his toss made it to the catcher without hitting the ground.

I'm not going to dwell much on the game... it wasn't much of a game. Before it was over, the I-Cubs put eight on the board; the visiting Zephyrs put nine up in the first two innings! At the end, the cubbies lost eighteen to eight. Early on, the Zephyrs had more runs than hits.

During the game, we did find several things to entertain us. The B-Bops race had a photo finish thanks to a great starter giving a perfect head start to the youngest racer. The QuikTrip food race turned ugly when Taqito bowled over Hot Dog and Egg Roll in center field and cruised to victory. Just one of them racin' deals, I guess. A sure indicator that things weren't going as planned showed up when the scoreboard suggested we start The Wave in the sixth inning.

We left a little early and made our way down to the riverside where we'd parked. This gave us a little different view on the fireworks and let us catch the last few song by the local band, The Nadas. A good crowd had shown up at Simon Estes Riverside Ampitheater and were very clearly enjoying their show.