Day 9 (2011) - Come On, Irene

As promised, we woke the kids up pretty early (around 7:30) to get them up and moving so we could get on the road from Ann Arbor to Cleveland so we could get there by game time at 12:05.  I used Stubhub last night and was able to buy 5 tickets about 20 rows back on the 3rd base line for $15/ticket.  We had been to a day game last year and sat in a section that was covered by an overhang sparing us from the sun.  On the Indians web site the view from the section I was looking at showed people in the shade.  However, clearly this picture was taken at a different time of year or a different time of day, because when we got to our seats just before game time we were smack-dab in the sun.  It wasn't crazy hot as far as the temperature, but in the direct sun it was toasty.  We slathered on some sun screen and settled in for the game.

After the top of the 1st inning Debbie decided she needed a hat, so she went out to look for one.  While she was gone, it became clear to me that if we stayed in these seats for the whole game we would be as cooked and crispy as the hot dogs we ate yesterday.  So when she returned with her sexy new Indians hat, we got up and moved to shaded seats about 20 rows behind home plate. 

By the end of the game the boys were right behind home plate. 

See, this is the one advantage of going to games in cities other than NY or Boston.  We sat in seats that were better than the ones I bought, and in the shade with a nice breeze, for $15/seat.  These seats in NY or Boston would likely fetch over $400/ticket.  The flip side is that the team stinks.  Yes, I know the Indians are in the race this year, but c'mon, it's the Indians.

While the seats cost all of $87 (with Stubhub fees), I think we spent more than that by the end of the 3rd inning on food and drinks.  And it's not like we were eating anything fancy (sandwiches, pop corn, cracker jacks, nachos, etc.).  But it ended up to be a lovely day for a game, and we were able to see King Felix Hernandez pitch, and Ichiro get a few hits.  Oh, and the Indians played also.

Towards the end of the game, Ethan said he was hungry (he didn't have any of the snacks the rest of us had eaten), so Debbie went out to get him a slice of pizza.  When she went to pay, the vendor said to her "do you have a loaded ticket?"  Debbie had no idea what she was talking about, so the vendor asked for her ticket and scanned the bar code.  Turns out, we had purchased season tickets and the Indians give some credit on season tickets to use towards food or merchandise.  So, each of our tickets had $3.00 on them, and Ethan's pizza ended up costing $0.50. 

We wish someone had told us about this earlier, since the game was wrapping up and none of us was hungry any more.  But since the credit was good for merchandise, we decided to check out the team store after the game to see if there was something in the $12.00 range for the family (had we known about this when we first got there Debbie would have just used the $15.00 towards her hat).  We looked around and all they really had was an Indians pennant for $5.00.  So we bought that for the basement and also purchased two ball holders (I will withhold any impulse to make a joke here, but you can do what you want) for the souvenir balls the boys have.  Total cost with tax was about $14.00, so after the credit we only owed $2.00.  It was nice not breaking the bank for once at a team store.

The original plan for the day was to watch the game and then do something else in Cleveland afterwards.  I had checked out a few possibilities, but by the time the game ended, finished at the team store and got to the hotel it was almost 4:30 and everyone just felt like vegging.  Debbie took a nap while the boys and I watched the Little League World Series (and Amanda watched TV in the room with Debbie).  At around 7:00 we ventured out to a local sports bar, called the Winking Lizard, that was recommended by the hotel and had a delicious meal that didn't require me to sell a kidney to pay for.  We took the hotel shuttle service to the restaurant, but it wasn't far away from the hotel so we walked back.  On the way we checked out the set of a movie that is filming here where they turned a Cleveland city block into a Manhattan block, with NYC street signs and a subway entrance (the 4-5-6 lines).  The movie is the new Avengers movie, and clearly something bad happens in NYC in the movie, as the block looked like it had been hit pretty hard by something.

The plan for the rest of the trip is/was to go from here to Williamsport tomorrow to try and watch two Little League World Series games, then head to Philly for the weekend.  However, Hurricane Irene may mess that all up.  The forecast for Williamsport for tomorrow calls for 50% chance of rain, which may or may not even be related to Irene, but the bigger issue is the weekend.  As many of you probably know, the storm track is heading right for Long Island on Saturday night or Sunday, so if we spend the weekend in Philly as planned we may get stranded there.  On the other hand, I am not all that excited about heading home just to sit in our house during a hurricane.  It's quite the conundrum.

To complete my role as Al Roker, as I type this blog post the TV is on and there is now a Tornado warning for this part of Ohio overnight.  I guess if we are lucky the hotel will be picked up and transported to Kansas and we will miss the hurricane.