After leaving Gatorland, we made the 45 minute drive back to Bambi's parents' place in Lakeland and had plenty of time for one more jump in the pool before the evening's entertainment would commence. We set off for the development's pool with a pocket full of day-glo yellow golf balls.
The kids loved chasing them, diving down, and hunting for them at the bottom of the pool. I think I'll bring them along next time I go golfing a non-gator-infested course. Those balls aren't cheap, you know.
After a good cool-off in the pool, we walked back to the house and got ready. Ready for what? Well, to take me out to the ball game. To take me out with the crowd. To buy some peanuts and cracker jack. To not care if we ever come back. To root, root, root for the home time, that if they didn't win would be a shame. Because, as the old saying goes, it's 1, 2 , 3 strikes you're out at...
...
the old ball game.
Joker Marchant Stadium is the spring training home of the Detroit Tigers and the home of the Single "A" Lakeland Flying Tigers. It also happens to be only about a mile from where Grandma & Grandpa live. Being "A" level baseball (basically, the lowest level team in an organization's system), tickets are cheep, so the whole family can go out to a game and not break the bank. And even better: we specifically picked this game to go to - not because it would be some kind of heated rivalry game between the Flying Tigers and the visiting Dunedin Blue Jays, but because it was Wednesday. And Wednesdays at Joker Marchant Stadium are all-you-can eat days.
For one low price ($15 maybe?) you got a game ticket and unlimited hamburgers, hot dogs, nachos, pizza, soda, etc from the time you walk in the gate until 9pm. And yes, they have a clock on the scoreboard in the outfield. And yes, I kept a close eye on it. And yes, I got my money's worth.
But, enough of the tales of gluttony. There was even more exciting stuff than just that. Bambi's dad had gone to the stadium about 30 minutes before we did. No, not to beat traffic (literally, it is a mile down the road) but to see if he could track down the promotions people at the stadium.
We arrived, got our first load of food and found our seats down front, 3 rows behind home plate. Another aspect of this being Single "A" ball - very few people really come to the games - especially on hot Florida nights in places where Disney World is just up the road one direction and Busch Gardens and the Gulf of Mexico is the other. So good seats are always available. No sooner were we sitting down when a team employee came over and asked if we would follow her. We down to the first base dugout, though the gate, an onto the field.
It seems that grandpa had some luck tracking down the promotions people and finding some "jobs" for the kids to do.
Evan was the <some corporate sponsor that I don't recall and isn't very clear in the video> Rosin Bag Kid of the day. Check out video of his performance by clicking the picture below:
Now, as his daddy, it is my job to stick up for him on two points:
1. Gravity. Evan has been tempting -
and losing to - gravity his entire life. Sometimes he falls, sometimes he trips. I think what we saw was a combination of a little of both. And don't run in flip flops - it's just not safe.
2. He plays T-ball, where there is no pitcher, and thus no rosin bag. I can't fault him for not knowing where to put the bag.
But overall, he did a great job running the bag out. Despite the fall, I know I was beaming with pride.
We were told to hang out in front of the dugout for a few more minutes while the managers exchanged lineup cards at home plate.
Evan took the opportunity to get some professional pointers on spittin' and crotch gabbing.
Then it was Madison's turn to go to work. Madison had the most important job of anyone in the stadium that night. Because even though these guys are professionals, the game can't start until the Metro PCS "Play Ball" kid utters those 2 most famous words in sports: (Click the pic to watch Madison's performance)
I'm not sure if it is physically possible to "burst with pride", but the way my kids rocked their jobs, I was about as close to it as possible.
After a quick family picture in front of the Home Dugout, we made our way back to our seats - which, as you can see from the pictures, really wasn't much of a problem since maybe 500 people were in the entire stadium.
All of a sudden, my kids' early warning radar starting going off. Evan started checking the live feed from the spy satellites while Madison gathered intel from her network of informants on the ground. There were characters around! They quickly mobilized and sprung into action.
The purple wrist band Evan is wearing? Not just fashionable, but functional as well. Flash it at a food vendor, and you get free food!
Do I have lens envy? Yes, yes I do. I found out later that the opposing team's pitcher was a local kid, and a few media outlets from town had reporters & photographers there covering him. I have a feeling he wished they forgot to file their stories, because he got shelled that night.
As the evening sun set and darkness - and little boredom - overtook the stadium, the kids turned their sights on grandma's hair and decided a some "restyling" was in order.
As more and more people left - including the photographers, Evan and I moved down for a little "front row" action. What better place for a father to teach his son the finer points of heckling, than within ear shot of that blind, good for nothin' umpire that was either taking bribes from the other team or actually couldn't tell his rear-end from a hole in the ground.
Between stuffing their faces and chasing down foul balls - like I said, it was a pretty empty stadium - the kids made some friends. And as it turned out, one kid they were playing with was some kind of relation to the opposing team's catcher. So after the game, they went with their new friend to get their balls signed.
And with that, the day came to an amazing end.
Up Next: One last visit to Disney, then this TR comes to an end with a bang. Well, not really a bang, but more of a controlled burn. Just keep reading and find out.
Awesome.
