I was invited to go to an Altoona Curve Event lastnight. If you know anything about me, you know that baseball is not on my top 100000 things to do. Anyways, I accepted the invitation with a very good friend of mine.
Oh and let me say that this post has very little to do with The Acoustic Hour Radio Show.... or maybe it does? Read on and find out..
I had seen the park before, but there is something eyecatching about ballparks, at night. the lights, sounds, and upon approaching, the food smells and the vehicle and people sounds.
Right of the back, I noticed the pace of which people where walking to the game, they didn't seem to be in a hurry, and the game had started, hum...We were greeted at the gate and walked to our seats, people all around where taking their time, talking , watching the game, eating, and just having what looked liked a good time. We didn't even have to wait in line for food..
I noticed how wide open things where..I wondered if that was by design or not, anyways we had no trouble finding our seats, which by the way, was competely around the other end of the park. It didn'take us long to get seated, however..I'm a big guy and I wound up sitting right next to another big guy, who had got us all the tickets. Let's say that he's a big baseball fan, and the kind of person you'd want to be sitting next to if you had a baseball question. He did have a weird sense of humor. Anyways.. the view from where we were sitting was stunning. I could see the lights against the sky, the vaery large viewing boards (that by the way, are all part of the organized entertainment that goes on through the game. I could see the roller coasterg going next door at Lakemont Park and the wonder skyline..
It was a beautiful Midweek evening and the tempature was perfect.
I watched the game along with the (silly human tricks) and contest, with delight. it was clear that the focus on this was much more than baseball.
We chatted and decided to move downstairs to continue watching the game.
This is when things really go fun for me.. You can actually go down to groundlevel and watch the game.. it's was so cool. We sat at these tables with all the room in the world.
It was at the point that I really started watching and paying attention to the game. Unfortunate the home team was loosing. and the thing that struck me was, "How the players where behaving" I mean, when there was a hit, double, the players kicked it into gear, ran faster, threw and threw harder. And when there was a bad play, I didn't see, attitude, or hear yelling at the ref, or throwing bats, turning over stuff, or simple acting badly... I didn't see any of that!
The pace of the game was fast and organized. The players didn't mess around at all. Everyone's seemed organized and timed. Between, the announcers chatter, the music, the events on the field and the game itself, it was like a symphony.
I looked at the faces of the people working there. They were kids, teens, youn adults, adults, older adults and senior citizens. All looking professional and happy. It' was like and ant farm... Everybody had their area, or job to do... and they did it in quietly.
Needless to say, I was having a wonderful time, and it had little to do with baseball. But I must say to the organizers, promoters, owners of The Park and Team... Way to go.. For me, it was a nice time to spend with friends away from the daily routine. Oh and one thing, this 6 year old girl played the "guess which hat the ball is under" You have to watch this on the big screen, and then very one yells out wich hat the ball is under..3 hat's one ball. Anyways..it was under hat one. Everyone yelled out hat one. The little gril picked hat 2. But they gave her the prize anyway... I don't think she should have won the prize. lol she guessed wrong.
But the important point here is that "They included kids in almost every phase of the event. If you have kids, take them to the park., If you don't have kids, borrow your cousin's and take them..lol..
I can barely remember the last time, I was in a ball park watching a baseball game..But I can tell you that it will be long time before I forget last evenings experience.
So there I was, at baseball game, watching, listening and enjoying... and when you heard the crack of the bat, you knew what was happening... and so did eveyone in the park, well almost everyone, except for the kids playing in the play areas,.... you watched the little white ball with the backdrop of the beautiful evening sky and for a moment again, you're a kid again!
