I woke up at 8:30 on Saturday and started working on the blog for Friday’s game at 9:00. At 11:15 Dave came into the basement and said we were getting kicked out because Annette’s fraternity (it’s co-ed) was doing an initiation at the house. I quickly got ready and Dave and I drove to the Taco Mac nearest to his house. Dave and Bill love Taco Mac (see the 4-13 post if you don’t know who Dave and Bill are). Taco Mac sounds like it would be a Mexican place, with maybe a little bit of macaroni thrown in there. Nope, wings are their specialty. I read their website and the reason behind it makes sense. Long story short; two guys had opened up a wing shop back in the late seventies, and their first place was an old taco stand. The name stuck and they’ve opened up a bunch of locations since then. Below is a picture of the front of the menu on the left, a picture of Dave’s Brewniversity progress receipt, and the wings we ordered.

Brewniversity is something Taco Mac does to make customers keep coming back for more. They have literally over 100 beers on tap, and even more in bottles, we’re talking hundreds. It’s free to sign up, and you can keep a tally of all the different beers you’ve tried. When you reach certain milestones you get prizes. As you can see from above, Dave has gotten a lot of beer here, he’s up to 207 different beers after yesterday. He told me that him and Bill go there pretty much every Thursday, because Thursday is free glass night. One of Annette and Dave’s kitchen cabinets is almost entirely full of free pint glasses. We ordered 20 hot wings and ten 3-mile island wings (supposedly hotter). They were very good wings and some of the better ones I’ve had  in a while, besides the wings I make myself with Frank’s Red Hot sauce.

After lunch (which was also my breakfast), we headed back to their house to get ready for the game. I finished up the Friday post and we headed out with Dave, Annette, and Bill. Again we boarded the MARTA at the Chamblee station and took it downtown. We walked to Turner field again, even though there were shuttles waiting by the MARTA station this time. We were going to tailgate with some of Bill’s friends, and along the way there were a few photo opportunities. This first picture is of the State Archives and Records Building.

We had walked past this building on Friday but didn’t notice anything special. On Saturday Bill pointed out that it didn’t have windows and we were interested in what it was. Bill thought it was an archive building because sunlight ruins documents, and in fact it is. I thought it was interesting, just because I can’t recall seeing another building with no apparent windows. A little closer to Turner Field is this:

The Summer Olympics were held in Atlanta in 1996, and Turner Field actually served as Olympic Stadium, where it held the Opening Ceremony, the track and field events, and the Closing Ceremony. The stadium was obviously configured differently for the Olympics and had about 35,000 more seats. After the Olympics they reconstructed what was basically the outfield section and created a new one, while the seating bowl from foul pole to foul pole remained mostly the same. We had some time to kill and went to see the spot where Hank Aaron’s 715th home run landed.

Hank Aaron hit the home run at the now demolished Atlanta Fulton County Stadium, which was torn down in August of 1997, the first year that the Braves called Turner Field home. They also have bricks laid out to represent where the infield was amongst the asphalt parking lot.

The blue wall had “Atlanta Fulton County Stadium Home of the Braves 1966 – 1996” written on it. This was the exterior wall of the old stadium, and now it’s used to as a commemorative piece. The other side is elevated, and you have to take a staircase to get to down to the side shown above.

Dave’s friends arrived and we went over to meet them. There was actually a guy from Milwaukee there, and Annette and him went to schools that were in the same conference. They were one year apart so they knew some people  from each others’ schools. His name was Trent and I told him I would give him a shout out, mainly because he thought what I was doing was amazing, and that was cool to hear.

I left the tailgate a little earlier than Annette, Dave, and Bill, because I wanted to make it inside before first pitch. I was sitting with those three, and wasn’t using the ticket that the Brewers had offered. The seats were in the outfield and the first two innings or so were brutal because the sun was setting over the third base side:

I had my sunglasses, and they helped a little, but then they made it difficult to see the ball after it left the pitchers hand. I wound up not wearing them and just shielding my eyes with my hand, and eventually one of those free game day programs that teams give out.

As for the game, not too much to talk about. The Brewers had a hit in the first, but not another until the eighth, so there wasn’t much to cheer about between those innings. The Braves pushed two across in the second, with the help of a Brewers error. Marcum pitched really well though, and didn’t deserve the loss. He gave up three hits and the two runs over seven strong innings. The Brewers eventually got a run in the 8th, and loaded the bases with only one out in the 9th, but Kimbrell struck out Kottaras and Gamel to end the game.

I got my game number 9 picture taken in 6th or 7th, and some people asked what it was all about. I actually stood up during two separate half innings because the first time Dave took the picture he didn’t stand up, and a lady who was sitting right in front of him, dominated the shot. A guy who I was standing in front of said “What’s the nine for? Are you commemorating the ninth anniversary of when you lost your virginity?” Hilarious. During the second attempt to get a good picture he got serious and asked what it was really for, and I’m guessing he kind of felt stupid after I told him, because then he started asking questions. After the game he spotted me when he was entering the concourse and shook my hand again and wished me good luck. Back to the picture:

We took the shuttle back to the MARTA stop after the game, and were back to Annette and Dave’s by 11:15. As I write this it’s 10:15 on Sunday, and we’re leaving for the game in less than an hour. We’re already an eighteenth of the way through the season! Hopefully today’s game will wind up in the win column.

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It was a short turnaround from the 7:05 game on Tuesday night to the 1:20 game on Wednesday afternoon. I went to bed after midnight, got up at six to go to the bathroom, and couldn’t fall back asleep until seven. When I got up at 8:20 I felt more exhausted than I had at six. I ate breakfast (Honey Nut Cheerios), while watching Tuesday’s Around the Horn and PTI that I had DVR’d. I’m extremely grateful that Alex and Jess have a DVR, and was able to keep my schedule of watching both ESPN talk shows on a daily basis, at least for the time being. It’s going to be different most other places, including at home, since my parents don’t have ESPN.

I was planning on catching the 74 bus on Fullerton over to the Red Line, and taking that up past Wrigley one stop, so I could hit up Byron’s Hot Dog Haus. I was looking to get an authentic Chicago style hot dog before I left, and it sounded like this was one of the places to go. I wanted to catch the 12:04 bus from the Albany stop, and I made it there five minutes early. I went to transfer my bus pass from my wallet to my front pocket, and it wasn’t there. I thought that you could pay cash, but I wasn’t sure, and I wouldn’t have had exact change anyways. I ran back to Alex’s building, up to his apartment on the third floor, got the card from my coat pocket, and tried to make it back to the stop in time. As I turned onto Albany, I saw the bus pulling away from the stop, just 60 yards away; awesome. I wound up just walking along the bus route and caught the next bus, while getting some “exercise”. On the way I took a few pictures, the first being from the Fullerton L-Train stop. I tried looking into who is painted on the side of the building, but I had no luck.

The next is of the Addison stop with Wrigley in the background. People can say what they want about Wrigley Field, but it’s NINETY-EIGHT years old. You can say it’s run down and hate on it for that, but why? Because it doesn’t have all the flashy lights and replay boards as other parks. That’s one of the reasons I love baseball; there are aspects of every ballpark that makes them unique.

Since I cost myself 15 minutes with the missed bus, I decided not to try and make it to Byron’s before the game, and am planning to do so before Thursday’s finale. I got to Wrigley at 12:45 and had a some time to kill, so I walked around the exterior taking it all in and enjoying my “retirement”. This is the view up at the scoreboard from across Sheffield.

I picked up my ticket from the player will call and found my way inside. I made a pit stop at a hot dog stand and ordered a bison dog. By the time I got around to eating it, it was somewhat cold. I had to locate my seat, and by that time the National Anthem was starting. I’m not a fan of stuffing ones face whilst honoring thy country, so I waited. The bison dog was good, not sure if it was $6.50 good, but that’s ballpark food for you. They want to reassure you that it is in fact bison (I’m not sure if I could tell), by sticking it with a little pennant of sorts.

The game started and it looked promising early as the Brewers put runners on the corners with only one out. Aramis squashed the rally by grounding into an inning ending double play. He went 0-4 and is 2 for 18 on the young season. I won’t say that I’m a little worried, but I’m a little worried. He has proven to be a slow starter in the past and picked it up later, so hopefully that trend continues. Early in the game I got a guy who was sitting behind me to take game photo number six.

He was from Greenfield, WI, and was in town for a college visit with his son (and family) at Depaul. I also talked to the guy I was sitting next to, and learned he was friends with Randy Wolf. He said he wasn’t a Cubs fan and was just a fan of baseball, he seemed like a genuinely nice guy. Those of us not in the sun froze our butts off during the game. I don’t know why I didn’t bundle up like I did for Monday’s game. I would argue that it was actually colder for today’s game, even though it was during the day. I think the combination of not being in the sun and a 10 mph wind coming in from centerfield made the difference. At Alex’s place I had; a coat, gloves, winter hat, long underwear, and hand warmers. Of the five I wore/brought… ZERO. I did have the Cubs earmuffs with me, which was the fan giveaway from the day before. I was planning on selling them, but was too cold to try and sell them, and too stubborn/loyal to put them on.

Despite the screen making the shots not as pretty, I was able to freeze the action pretty good due to the sunlight. Here is Gallardo throwing what I think is a changeup. However, MLB.com’s play by play says that Gallardo didn’t throw any changeups to Geovany Soto today. You can correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m almost positive that is Soto, due to the other pictures I took right before and after. And I think it’s a changeup because his pinky is on top, meaning he rotated his arm counterclockwise when he was releasing it. Perhaps MLB/Wrigley Field needs some better pitch detection equipment.

I was really expecting a loss the way things were going, an example would be Gamel’s screaming shot off the right field wall that probably knocked a few bricks loose. It wound up being a single because it caromed off the wall so hard it went right to DeJesus who was playing right field. The Cubs held a 1-0 lead from the bottom of the first into the top of the seventh. Gamel doubled to lead off the inning and a Cubs fan sitting behind me had some words. “He rolls like a f****** caterpillar down the first base line!” he proclaimed. We all got a good laugh out of it, but he didn’t seem too amused. Kottaras, who was getting a spot start due to soreness in Lucroy’s rib cage muscles, followed Gamel’s double with a home run to right. Just like that the Brewers took a 2-1 lead that they wouldn’t relinquish.

The “uneducated fan” moment came in the BOTTOM of the eighth. A couple of Cubs fans behind me were debating if the game was in the top or bottom of the eighth. One guy finally said, it’s the top of the eighth, they agreed and then stated it again but not too confidently. I turned and told him it was the bottom of the 8th, because the Cubs were batting. He said “oh, i don’t know, I’m not paying attention” followed by “well, they didn’t announce it!” I couldn’t help but laugh. I think he thought it was funny as well, either that or he wanted to kick me in the back of the head for laughing at/with him, but I’m confident it was the former.

I did miss two, yes two (2) pitches at this game. But I have very good reasons for both of them. I missed the 2-0 pitch from Dempster to Gomez in the top of the seventh. A vendor was yelling “HOT DOGS!” and it kind of sounded like “MARCO!”, a bunch of kids were responding with “POLO!”, I glanced over at what was going on and missed the pitch. I also missed the 1-2 pitch from Marmol to Gamel in the ninth. Gamel had pulled a pitch foul that was an absolute ROCKET. It went right over the 1st base dugout and looked like someone may have gotten hurt. I was looking over there and missed that pitch as well.

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Tuesday was a lazy day leading up to the game. Since I had gotten a $60 parking ticket the day before, I figured it would be wise to make up for it by just having a PB&J at Alex’s place. A short nap followed and I was ready for game number five. I think naps are going to become my new best friend over the next 176 days. After working for 14 months, and getting up at 7:20 every day, I think my internal clock is set to wake up at that time no matter what.

I left Alex’s place at 4 to head up to the game. I got off the Red Line a stop early and hit up Jimmy John’s to get a sub for the game. My usual is the Big John, and I add cucumbers and onions. I didn’t really need or want anything for Christmas, and seeing that I’d be on the move during the baseball season, I asked for Jimmy John’s gift cards. I think I wound up with $150 worth of Jimmy John’s and $75 worth of Noodles gift cards. Most of the major cities I’ll be in have JJ’s near the ballparks.

I walked up Clark to Wrigley and arrived at 5:35, which was 25 minutes early. That probably wasn’t the smartest idea since it was going to be the coldest game of the year for me. On second thought, I guess I’d rather be early than late, so I can’t complain. At six I met outside the will call windows with Tyler Barnes, and Joan Watkins, the Director of Public Engagement for Be The Match. We picked up our tickets from the player will call window, and put on our credentials which allowed for field access.

We made our way down to the camera well to the right of the Brewers’ (1st base) dugout. We talked there for a bit with Tyler and he introduced us to Craig Coshun, I probably should’ve gotten a picture with him but didn’t. Since I had field access, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to get game number 5 taken on the field.

Craig informed us that we wouldn’t be on until 6:45 so we had some time to kill. Joan had a friend with her, who is from Chicago and is a Cubs fan. His name is Mick and he’s actually friends with Mark, the guy who sits right behind the visitors tunnel at Miller Park. If you watch the games on TV, every time they show a right handed batter hit a home run, he’s the guy in the background standing up and putting his arms in the air. Small world.

Craig and Auggie were doing Brewers Live, and at 6:45 Auggie came off the field and sent Joan and myself down. I think the cold actually helped calm my nerves, since it gave me something else to think about. I gave Mick my camera and instructed him to take some pictures when I was out there. I also told him to move a little closer to home plate so the sun wouldn’t ruin the shots. I probably should have instructed him to stay there for when I was actually on air, but I failed to do so. This first photo is when we were waiting for the show to get back from commercials.

And this is the best shot of me during the interview. As you can see the angle from above would have made for a much better picture. I can’t blame Mick for trying, and he did say as I was giving him my camera that he might not be the best person for the job. I didn’t have any other options, so I’m still grateful for his willingness to help.

I was only on air for a minute or two. They were announcing the starting lineups as Craig was introducing the viewers to what I was doing. I honestly did not hear much of what he said because of the announcer and the crowd’s reactions. I luckily heard the last bit of what he said, so I at least could start my answer in the right format. If not it could have been one of those awkward situations similar to when someone asks “How are you doing?” and you answer “Nothing”, because you expected them to ask “What’s up?” I looked for the video online but couldn’t find it, and I’m not sure if they’ll put it up anywhere. A few friends said I did fine, so that’s good enough for me. A male friend of mine from high school texted “You look soooooo dreamy live on TV!”. A little strange, I’ll admit.

After the interview I headed over to my seat which was right behind home plate. This was the first time I was using a ticket that the Brewers provided. I will admit it’s a great view of the field.

For some reason my DSLR and point and shoot cameras produced horrid results, and the previous photo was taken with my iPhone. The field looks like it is made up of flood lights. An example would be this picture of myself, Mick and Joan.

I’m guessing you just have to use the manual option to find a setting that works, it might also have to do with the protective screen deflecting light or something like that. I think sitting behind the screen is going to take some getting used to. I’ll be using the Brewers provided tickets 50 or so times this season on the road, and will likely be located behind the screen at each game. I’ll be sitting near the family and friends of the players, and they want to keep them safe from screaming line drives and flying bats.

I did miss one pitch at the game. My seat was two rows behind Mick and Joan’s, and I moved down to sit with them. We were in somebody else’s seats and had to slide down the row. In the commotion I was distracted and missed the 3-0 pitch to Soriano in the bottom of the first. I’ll just have to start a new streak. I’m not sure which pitch I missed on opening day, so I don’t know what the streak was, but I know it was around 1,050 pitches.

The game itself was enjoyable, a five run first is never a bad thing. We had chances to tack on more but didn’t take advantage, and left 10 on base. The Crew made it interesting in the 9th for the second straight night. It felt like 34 degrees at 10:20 and I was ready to be some place warm. I wish I could say I was shaking because I was nervous K-rod might blow it, but I was shaking because I was absolutely freezing. He got the job done and the Brewers improved to 3-2, hopefully Gallardo can keep the momentum going with his start today, and erase the troubles he had on opening day.

My favorite “uneducated fans” moment came when a Cubs fan behind me said “we should get a hit off this guy, he’s got a 4.5 ERA.” This was in the fifth inning, and he was referring to Narveson. I don’t think he realizes that the 4.5 ERA is based solely on the first four and 2/3 of the ONE game, since it was Narveson’s first start of the year. Wow. I wonder what would’v happened if Axford came in and he saw his bloated early season ERA of 13.50, he probably would’ve claimed that he could get a hit off of Ax.

First pitch is in 2 hours 20 minutes, so that’s all for today.

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Monday morning started off with somewhat of a scare. I wanted to rip the commemorative DVD that the Brewers gave out on Sunday to my computer. I wanted to be able to watch it on my iPad on Friday’s flight to Atlanta. I had my laptop on my Alex’s table, and it was resting on a cloth placemat. When ripping a disc my computer works pretty hard, heats up, and the cooling fan is noisy enough that you can hear it from another room. When I was leaving for lunch it wasn’t done yet and I was a little concerned that it could potentially start a fire. Nonetheless I walked to lunch and was on my way back when I saw a fire truck sitting on a street corner just a half block from Alex’s apartment. My heart sunk and I rushed back only to find the building still standing. Whew, I don’t think I would’ve been invited back for the other series if I had burned the place down.

I ate lunch at Revolution Brewing on Milwaukee Avenue, and was not disappointed. As you can see from the pictures below, they use a closed fist as their calling card. Going clockwise from top left you have; the exterior of the building, the bar (with wooden fists supporting the structure above the bar), my lunch, and the tap handles.

I had their Anti-Hero IPA, and the Smoked Pulled Pork, which had a South Carolina mustard sauce and was topped with honey-jalepeño slaw. After my first bite I swear I had barbecue sauce all the way over on my ear, ok, maybe not that far, but it was messy, and delicious.

Earlier in the day a columnist asked for a short interview at Tribune Tower in downtown Chicago. Since I was meeting Alex on Michigan Avenue anyways, it worked out well. I took the Blue Line into the city, and made my way up Michigan Ave. Below are four pictures I took on my walk, it’s Tribune Tower, the lobby of Tribune tower, a very large Marilyn Monroe statue, and 225 Michigan Ave, where my friend works, which has a large red overhang outside of the entrance.

The interview was with Matt Lindner, and he said the profile piece will be up on espn.com sometime next week. After the interview I went up and got a quick tour of Alex’s office, and then we got a key made for his apartment. Since I’ll be staying here 10 more nights this season, he was kind enough to offer.  It allows me to leave the apartment during the day without having to borrow his keys, and I don’t have to wake him and Jess when I get back after a night game.

We jumped on the Red Line on State Street, and headed up towards Wrigley. Shortly after arriving we spent some time trying to get a good game number 4 picture. With all the traffic, it makes it a little tricky. We tried a few different spots, and thought we had a good one, but there’s a taxi van right below the Wrigley Field sign, so we settled with this:

After agreeing it wasn’t going to get any easier as we got closer to game time, we had some time to kill and went over to Moe’s Cantina on Clark Street. I know it’s Chicago, but it still hurts to see your bill of $26 after having four beers (two were mine). I checked foursquare and Moe’s Cantina was offering free guacamole on your first check-in, so that was a plus.

At 5:30 Alex I headed back to Wrigley, got a hot dog, and found our seats. I think it’s crazy that I was able to get the seats I did, seeing that I bought them just 10 days ago. We met up with Katie, a friend from UW-Madison. Alex, Katie, and I all lived in the same dorm freshman year. Katie lives in Wrigleyville and can probably smell the ballpark food from her apartment that is just a half block away. Before the game we got our picture taken, we were standing but the guy taking the picture was sitting, so you can’t really tell where we are. Telly Hughes, who I’ll be speaking with on Brewers Live later today, is (unintentionally) photo bombing the picture.

Seeing that I was four rows behind the Brewers dugout, I was able to get some good action shots during the game. This is Braun connecting on a double to left in the first inning.

This was the view from my seats, not too shabby. I took this photo in the 9th when Braun was getting booed profusely. It’s going to be a long year for him on the road, hopefully he can produce like he always has, and quiet all the skeptics.

The Brewers bullpen definitely tested my nerves with the rocky 9th inning. Thankfully Axford provided a great three pitch sequence to Castro and ended the rally.

My favorite line from the day had to come from a Cubs fan. First off, one of my favorite, albeit frustrating things is when people think any ball hit in the air is going to be a home run. At home and on the road there is a large percentage of people who think everything is gone. When one of the Cubs hitters popped one foul down the right field line, a Cubs fan two rows back said: “That’s what’s up!” He was surely disappointed when the ball landed 100 feet short and 150 feet foul. I wish every ball the Brewers hit in the air would land in the outfield seats as well, but I judge the trajectory and don’t jump to conclusions. Ok, rant over.

I’ll be back at Wrigley in six and half hours, and am already dreading the interview. I know it’s great for raising awareness for the registry and what I’m trying to do, but it doesn’t make it any easier.

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I was optimistic coming into Sunday’s game, seeing how the offense woke up on Saturday. That feeling dissolved shortly after the first pitch. The day started with me frantically packing for the 7 game road trip that starts Monday. For some reason I think I can pack in 20 minutes but it always takes much longer. I left the house at 10:35, and stopped for gas, because I didn’t want to have to pay Illinois gas prices. I drove to Milwaukee and met my girlfriend, Victoria, at a location that I cannot disclose. There is parking near Miller Park that is free (and legal), but the spaces are limited, so I shall not share. It is quite a bit farther than the parking lots, so it’s probably not for everyone anyways. It’s about .85 miles from the park, so it’s somewhat of a hike. We drove separately because she was coming from the west side of Madison, and I was coming from Fort, and heading to Chicago right after the game. After entering Miller Park we headed straight for the terrace level to get this:

Like I said before, getting the game number sign taken from my seats at every home game would get boring. I’m planning on getting a picture taken from a different section for games 3 through 81. I’m starting in the terrace level and working around the bowl, and then the loge level, and then the field level. We’ll see how it goes. For away games I won’t have as many games to deal with, so it should be easier to mix it up.

Jill, who gave me the apparel on opening day, said that I could exchange the two sweatshirts that didn’t fit. We headed down to the field level and made the exchange. Victoria and I reached our seats in time for the national anthem. The first inning run the Cardinals scored was ominous, but as my uncle always says; “we needed one to win anyways”. It was close until late, but I wasn’t feeling too confident with how things were going. The Brewers weren’t getting any base runners and Lynn was pitching really well. If he can pitch anywhere near the level that he did today, he’s going to have a great season, and he’s only 24. I’m convinced the Brewers will solve the puzzle and tag him for some runs the next time they see him. Chart continues to mash for the Crew, and yes I meant “Chart”. I combined his first initial with his last name; C + Hart = Chart. Yes, I am strange. The people two rows back kindly took a picture for us in the 8th.

The end of the game worked out well, I had to meet a few friends in the field bleachers for fantasy baseball purposes. I’m the “commissioner” of a 12 team league that we’ve had for 4 years now. I didn’t think I’d have time to stay on top of it this year, but I reluctantly agreed to play again. I already don’t know what’s going on and regret trying to make it work, bad judgement on my part. With Axford getting pulled in the top of the ninth, we took off to the right field corner from our seats in 221. I watched the last out from the concourse and then used the “best bathroom at Miller Park”, before heading down the by section 203. I made it to the field level just in time to see Motte’s first pitch to T-Plush.

After Victoria and I said our goodbyes it was off to Chicago. I still don’t think it has set in that I’m actually doing this. 3 down, 159 to go. I’ll be staying with my good friend from college, who I call A-Train, lives in the Logan Square neighborhood. As the crow flies it’s roughly three miles from Wrigley, driving it’s about four miles, but transit time is about 40 minutes. You can either take the L into the city and then the red line up to Wrigleyville, or take a bus over to the red line. Tomorrow I’ll be going into the city to meet him at work, because he’s joining me for the game.

I would have taken a picture of Alex and Jess but they were in their pajamas by the time I thought of it. Jess would probably have destroyed my camera if I had tried to take a picture, but who wouldn’t? They were extremely kind and made dinner for me after I arrived, which was about 6:15. They made marinated chicken breasts, rice (Uncle Ben’s, they probably bought it just for me, knowing them), and an arugula salad with walnuts, strawberries, and cucumbers. It was amazing, and am blessed to have such good friends in a place where I’ll be 12 or 13 nights this season.

This is where I’ll be sleeping for the next five nights. I also have the option of an air mattress, so I’ll go off how my back feels in the morning.

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