Spring Training 2005

This year Dave got in on Wednesday, March 30th, at 11:35 AM. We instantly drove to Knology Park in Dunedin to watch the Blue Jays play the Phillies. Just made it in time for the first pitch. Well, actually we didn't see the first pitch, but after we got our beers, we noticed that the count was 1 and 0 on the first batter. So we could have seen the first pitch. The last few years almost all the games we've gone to have been sellouts, so I was wondering why there were some empty seats for this one. Turns out that Easter was the Sunday before the game and the annual northern migration of the Snow Birds had started in earnest. They can't help it, it's a lunar thing. It's also a good thing. The sun was really beating down and the game was good to watch. Not uncommonly for a Spring Training game, it ended up a tie. It really didn't matter who won. They just played the game and that's all that counts.

Thursday was Bright House Networks Field in Clearwater. For a change, we we thought we'd watch the Phillies play the Blue Jays in a different place. This is a really nice park to watch a game. Concessions are in an open area so you can watch the game while waiting at the "House of Beers" for a cold one. We did that a time or two as I recall. This game ended in another tie. It was starting to get a little like hockey, except there were actually games being played.

Friday (April Fools' Day) there were no games in the immediate area so we did the next best thing which was to go to the inaugural St. Petersburg Grand Prix practice day. St. Pete has had races in the streets downtown before and I'd been to a couple of them. This was the first time they had IRL (Indy) cars there and also the first time Indy cars have done a road race. It was a pretty nice setup. We've been to lots of road races together and we walked miles and miles looking for the best spots to watch on Saturday & Sunday. Beer prices were just outrageous at $6.00 each so we didn't but any. Well actually we bought quite a few, but we complained mightily each time.

Saturday was a marathon. Race qualifying until about 2:30 or so and then a game at Tropicana Field at 3:00. Well maybe it was just a little more complicated than that, but more on that later. Qualifying was pretty good. There are a few pictures and lots of avi's of it here. It was a good time. There were two SCCA races, and an Infinity race as well as the IRL cars that had to qualify. Dave and I really enjoy racing. We've both seen tons of it either together or separately. Today we had to cut the racing a little short and go deal with the car situation so we could take the 10 minute ride to the Trop which is very near downtown St. Pete (and nowhere near Tampa, by the way). "What car situation?", you may ask. Well...

On Friday when we went downtown to see the practice session, we parked in a garage that was kind of a long walk. On the way to the circuit I noticed a parking garage that was pretty close and decided to try for that one on Saturday. So on Saturday morning, we pulled up to the garage in question behind another car. That car went in and we advanced to the area where it seemed there should be a ticket dispensing machine or something like that. There was a card swipe machine (like an ATM) instead. As I was staring at that for a couple of seconds, an overhead gate started coming down. At this point I realized it was a private garage for some downtown condos. In order to avoid being squashed by the gate, and since there was another car behind me, I spurted ahead into the garage. Trapped! I had inadvertently followed a condo resident into the garage. Turns out there were a bunch of available spaces, so... I parked it, and we went to watch qualifying. It was about to start so what should I do? Spend valuable time trying to get the car out or go see qualifying? No contest. We went to qualifying.

A couple of burning questions for the rest of the day were, "Will it be there when we go back?", and "If it's there, will we be able to get it out?" No one should assume that this put a damper on watching qualifying. It was a great time. Fast cars, huge noise, all the necessary stuff. Except for the expensive beers. We really didn't need that. Somehow we coped.

I always walk a lot in the park right behind my house. Thursday and Friday, Dave and I walked over nine miles in the park. Big mistake. Combining that walking with the walking on Friday for practice was just a bit much for my feet. Sometime later on Saturday I started to pay the price. I treated it internally with beer.

So eventually, we had to head back to the parking garage. When we got there we found that there was no way in without a key card (unless you follow another car in). Not good. We waited around for a while hoping another car would go in, but no dice. Turned out that there was a St. Pete Traffic Authority (or something like that) office next door and after inquiring there we found that maybe the supervisor just might be able to let us in. Sure enough, after waiting for about fifteen minutes or so, the Super shows up and lets us in. On to the Trop! And oh yeah, thanks for the free parking.

Saturday evening, the Rays play the Nats at the Trop. The new Washington Nationals used to be the Montreal Expos. I went to the old Expos' stadium once a few years ago. It was a horrible place to play baseball. Dingy, dirty and almost empty of fans, it was really a hockey arena. They needed to get out of there. We'll just have to see if the D.C. area can support yet another big league baseball team. (Left for Minnesota in '61 & left for Texas in '72) Or is this just Bud Selig's way of getting the team out of Montreal? Anyway, we had great seats at the Trop for what looked like a nearly major league game. Lots of action. Beers seemed almost free after the ordeal of the race. We went home very tired but happy to have made it through a very full day. With the car.

That's it for Spring Training in 2005. Sunday was opening day. We went to see the race downtown. This time we picked a more regular parking area. Yet another great day at the race. Took loads of avi's & pictures. We went home pretty beat. Watched part of a baseball game on TV. I had to crash.

Took Dave back to the airport on Monday. Had a couple of beers in an airport bar watching ESPN again. They're cold, but just not as good. And now it's another entire year before Spring Training starts again. In case you couldn't tell, I'm waiting anxiously for it already.