The All Star Game

The day rolls around at last. A couple of entries back I compared the experience to Christmas when we were kids. Like the exciting holidays of years past, anticipation made it hard to sleep.

And like little kids, we may have gotten a bit too excited. Though the parking lots opened at 10, the ballpark itself wasn’t scheduled to open until 4:00. Thanks to some confusion about what opened when, we arrived way early and ended up sitting for a bit. We found a nice, shady spot, talked, read, and generally chilled. It wasn’t a terrible experience by any means.

Then of course the franchise sent someone out to make us move. So we strayed over to the corporate circus for awhile. The Budweiser Clydesdales tent was shady and not too crowded, so we braved the smell until the lines outside the ballpark started moving (fortunately half an hour earlier than announced).

Our seats felt great. We spent some time just sitting, catching our breath, regaining our bearings, generally acclimating to the whole experience. The American League was taking batting practice, and we watched Billy Butler hit three or four balls over the fences. Just trying to prove a point, I guess.

After awhile Ken and I took a stroll around the ballpark to get some photos. By the time we got back, the National League had taken the field for BP. Among the folks milling around behind the backstop: Mark McGwire, George Brett and Tony LaRussa all at once.

I wonder what they said to each other.

The pregame stuff was extensive, but not as big as I’d figured. The highlight was a brief recognition of Steve Palermo. Though one can’t really judge emotion from way back in our seats (not even with a strong lens), he seemed like he was playing along but would really rather they hadn’t done it.

The rest of the pregame stuff was frankly lackluster. They gave us all T-shirts so we could make the whole stadium into some kind of red, white and blue themed thing (lucky us, we were the red section). The musical act and the anthem singer were both American Idol vets (no doubt at the behest of Fox). Even the color guard was just guys from KU ROTC.

The big letdown was the ceremonial first pitch. Not that George Brett is ever a disappointment. It was nice to see him get some time in the national spotlight. But the rumors circulating around in advance of the game suggested that Michelle Obama or maybe the President himself or at least Joe Biden was going to do the honors.

So then why all the show of paramilitary force?

The lineups were a reminder of just how out of touch we’ve become with the sport as a whole. There were a few familiar names and faces, but they were far outnumbered by the guys I knew only vaguely or had never heard of before. This may be a subject we’ll revisit before the season comes to an end.

The game itself was All Star typical. Justin Verlander started for the AL and gave up five runs in the first inning. The NL scored another three later, but really that first inning pretty well did it. Some good hitting. Some bad fielding. Nobody exactly gave it his all (or even 50%).

 

Still, it was an experience to watch. If nothing else, a few of the guys were wearing really interesting shoes. Safety cone orange with gold toes and soles. Fancy.

Gotta be the shoes

By the end, however, I started to fade. All the substitutions would have made keeping score impossible (assuming iScore would have allowed it to begin with, which of course it wouldn’t have). Deprived of my usual game-watching habits, I found the overall flow – to the extent there was one – hard to follow. By the time another American Idol vet took the field to sing “God Bless America,” the heat, bad food, lack of sleep and the umpty-millionth yelling of “frozen margaritas!” began to take their toll.

Frozen diarrhea! Frozen diarrhea!

So that was fun. Let’s all do it again in another 37 years. Seriously, I’m really glad we did it and that we did it up right, going to all the events. Still, if this was a once-a-year deal at the K, I think I might pass on future occurrences. Having now gone to a Hall of Fame induction and an All Star Game. I wonder how long we’ll have to wait for the chance to see a postseason game.