Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Guess I'm Going to Get Started

Hi.

Well, as my title says, I guess I'm going to get started with this "blog" business.

Truth to tell I'm not entirely certain I have anything to say just yet - at least, anything reasonably interesting.

I did go to Milwaukee last weekend for a baseball game. Miller Park is nice, really, a great spot to watch a game.

Yet it's also too... I don't know, too "newish", I guess.

The dome overhead just does not belong for baseball - baseball is a game that's played outdoors. Period. With the dome open, well...

All the windows - windows at a ballpark? The ten foot strip of electronic ads? The slide in left field for the guy with the baseball head? Uhh, no.

What's funny is that it's a big league park that acts like a minor league park. Guys dress up in sausage costumes and race around the field, kids take the field before the game, four different people throw out the first pitches, there's the Roadrunner on a sign in center. And that goofy guy with a baseball for a head who slides down the slide in left for no good reason that I can tell.

Don't get me wrong - I love minor league parks. I happen to think that the Buffalo Bisons had one of the best parks in the country (baseball mags agree) but we have the Schaumburg Flyers and the Kane County Cougars and the Joliet Jackhammers around here, and I like their games just fine. I grew up on the Syracuse Chiefs (now SkyChiefs, whatever that means).

It's just that those are small parks - perfectly proportioned to hold a few oddball elements (like Buster Bison - odd mascot!). But Milwaukee's park is FULL of these weird oddities (there are many many more). It's just another world from Wrigley or Commiskey or Shea.

Odd.

Milwaukee beat the Twins, by the way.


4 comments:

Martin Maenza said...

KC, welcome to the BLOG world. Loved the first post! I also added your page to my Links page on my blog, so you can get some cross traffic.

Michael O'Connell said...

Woo hoo! About time! I've been meaning to bring this up to you for a while, on how you just HAVE to have one and join us! Glad you figured that out without me.

Yeah, the toughest part of starting one of these is trying to get over the idea that no one would be interested in what you have to say. A) Who cares? What, are we getting paid for this? Is there a chance we'll be fired? B) Of course people are interested! That's the wonder of blogging. Stuff that you think is just everyday boring stuff is often really fascinating and educational to others, even the mundane stuff. Hey, *I* don't know squat about minor league ball parks. Now I do!

And on a strictly writerly level, this is the best way to keep us writers actually writing on a regular basis, in a stress- and deadline-free environment, and lets us keep the skills sharp. So it's like exercising...with words. Win-win!

Welcome to Blogtown.

Jim McClain said...

I join Michael in saying, "About time!" I am really looking forward to reading your words, KC!

So do you have a favorite major league team? We'll have to go to a game sometime. I'm only two hours away and have been to both the Cell and to Wrigley.

KC Ryan said...

Thanks for the kind words, guys! I really appreciate it.

Jim, we'll definitely have to hit Wrigley one of these days - or at least the Silverhawks or Flyers :)