June 1, 2008

  • This was the view from my seat at the Cubs game today. Hard to believe, but this is was taken from the upper deck at Wrigley Field. Those of you who have not had the pleasure of sitting in the upper deck at Wrigley, it really is a great view. Its not like a lot of other stadiums where the upper deck is so high airplanes fly below you. Wrigley is known for being close to the action and the upper deck is no different. Even though we were in the first row of the second section of the upper deck (I know that sounds confusing, so let me explain it this way. We weren't in the front row of the upper deck, however there is a front section of the upper deck, where the front row of the upper deck would be and there is a back section. We were in that back section) we still had a good view and it really didn't feel like we were very far from the action.

    The game started at 1:20 in the pm. I got up at 9 and was out the door by 9:40, speeding down I55 on my way to Lincoln Park to meet this guy from work (some of you might remember him, I wrote about him a couple of weeks ago, also he and I went to opening day as well) which is where his girlfriend lives. I was to take Lake Shore Drive and get off at Fullerton. As I got up to the Fullerton exit, for whatever reason there was a cop car blocking the exit with a cop standing in front of his car to prevent people from getting off. Oh sure, of all the tons of streets that one can exit off of LSD and on the one day I need to get off it was blocked. None of the other streets were blocked, just that one. So as I drove by I unrolled my window and threw a coffee mug at him.

    Now even though in recent years I have driven a lot more in the city and gotten to know my way around a little bit, its a rather large city and easy for a dope like me to get lost. I got off at Belmont and it seemed instantly I was lost. The ironic part is that if I were going straight to the ballpark I would have been fine as I know how to get there, in fact, I would even get off at Belmont. But, I wasn't and this was the problem. I had to call Terry several times for him to help get me unlost. As luck would have it though, after I got going in the right direction I was able to find a prime spot right across from his girlfriend's condo. This worked out nicely. Within about 10 minutes I met him on the street and we headed on the train to the game.

    It was a quick 10 minute ride to the park. Honestly, the next time I go to the game even if I don't go with him, I'm totally going to do this. It was only $2 to ride the train and only $4 per person to take a cab back. It sure as hell beat paying at the very minimum $30 for parking, especially since I would be the only one paying for parking since he would have taken the train there. Plus, its always nice to take the "EL". Those of you that don't know what the "EL", its stands for elevated train which is what we have here in Chicago instead of subways. Its nice because it means that you still get a view of the city as you ride and its always cool to see the park rise up from the distance as you ride the train.

    We got down to the park shortly after 11. We walked around for a few minutes before heading to the Cubby Bear for some beers and a bloody mary. Ok, I should be clear here, he was the one doing the drinking as I didn't drink at all today. Because this is Terry's last week at work, it was nice to spend some time with him outside of work. We spent some time talking about work but also did talk about other things.

    We headed into the park about 12:30. Although it was a glorious picture perfect day with a high in the upper 70s, we were actually still cold. Ok, again, I should clarify, after he had a few beers in him he was not cold. Being in the upper deck and underneath the awning we were completely shaded. And there was a breeze that was blowing in from the lake. This made it a little bit chilly since I was in shorts and a Cubs jersey.

    The game itself was of course tons of fun, in spite of dumb ass Alfonso Soriano's error in the top of the first. It was also University of Illinois day at the ballpark what with their head football coaching throwing out the first pitch and singing the 7th inning stretch. It also meant that there would be a TON of U of I fans at the game. Throughout the game they kept doing this stupid U of I cheer. Honestly I would have loved it and joined right in had I gone to U of I or even gone to the game with somebody who had gone to U of  I. But, I didn't and therefore it was not amusing really. Granted, it didn't really bother me at all. Terry on the other hand.............well he had gone to U of  I...............University of Iowa, that is. He spent a good portion of the game making fun of the U of I people.

    The Cubs wound up winning 5-3 to finish the homestand an impressive 7-0, even if it was against one decent time and another team who is the worst in baseball. As soon as the last out was recorded, they played "Go Cubs Go" over the PA system and many people in the crowd, including myself sang right along. The song has been stuck in my head ever since. Then again, when the Cubs are going good the song is often stuck in my head. Fortunately I have it right here on this page to listen to whenever I want.

    After the game we went to another bar in the area for a couple of beers. Terry managed to find the only other person in all of Wrigleyville who was an Iowa Hawkeyes fan. We sat there talking to him for a good half hour. After a while though we left and tried to grab a cab. As we walked down the street a very drunk, dumbass Terry kept stopping to pet random dogs on the street. Not that they were stray dogs, but people's dogs. He even pet a dog that was in a truck. And he started to bend over to pet a sleeping dog on the sidewalk. I started to pull him away when the dog's owner started to yell at Terry to leave the dog alone.

    Soon though we found a cab and went back to his girlfriend's place. I hung out there for about a half hour before coming home. Oh, and I did manage to get lost coming home as well.