April 2, 2010

It’s been a while.

Hi, everyone. I hope you haven’t forgotten me. Even though I might not update or comment anymore, I haven’t forgotten you.

When Tom updated his blog, I was inspired to do the same. Mine will not be as poignant for several reasons: I took Vicodin a few hours ago, my life isn’t as interesting as his, and I’m not as good of a writer as he is. But here goes.

I’m not going to lie. I didn’t watch a single playoff game last year, even though the Rockies were in it. I haven’t seen a spring training game, read a trade rumor, or glanced at the sports section in the Denver Post since last September. I have gone days without so much as thinking about baseball, and I’m pretty sure you could quiz me about who’s on the team now and I’d fail.

But here are some things I have done. I have gotten a 3.3 GPA, although I did drop 4.5 credit hours’ worth of physics because I failed it. I have fallen in love, and I have discovered that there is a lot of work to staying in love. I have cried through every military movie I’ve seen because they are hard to watch when you love a future Airman. I have gone to the gym twice a week for two months, lost ten pounds, and dislocated my patella, torn my meniscus and a ligament, and been stuck on crutches for a month (and I still am). I have taken my first geology class and remembered how much I love it. I have gotten food poisoning. I have wasted time and I have studied my butt off. I have given cursing up for Lent and broken it several times, including both trips to the ER. I have been casted in the school musical, then lost my part because of my knee, then fought my way back in by dancing for four straight hours despite my inability to bend my left knee. I have joined a sorority and made lifelong sisters. I have become an adult.

So it’s up to you. You can call me a false fan for suddenly losing a lot of my interest in baseball, and I’m sure that would be fair. Or you can look at what else has gone on, appreciate that I still love the sport, and let it go. And maybe you can forgive me for not blogging for seven months.

I still love you all so very, very much.

♥

August 26, 2009

Quick Entry For Posterity

So I know I’ve not posted in a while. Between my last post and this one, I’ve been to two home Rox games, started college, and lost both my water bottles in calculus class on the first day.

But here’s a post to tell you some things.

I love all of you. Every last one of you. I enjoyed meeting you, D, and I’m sad that I missed you, Zack. I love talking to all of you and being part of your lives.

College is hard. Starting with new material on day one of calculus is terrifying. Walking onto a campus not knowing anyone except three guys from my high school was probably the scariest thing I’ve ever done, but now I’ve made friends and I’m happy. I’m very attached to my family and watching them drive away was so sad, but I call them every day (twice a day, haha) and I think I’m growing up.

I don’t have laundry detergent, fabric softener sheets, or a desk lamp. I need all of these things. Fortunately I have a wallet with which to bribe friends to drive me places, like Target.

Coors Field is amazing. It’s beautiful, and everyone I met was absolutely wonderful. Unfortunately I realized I have no depth perception when I missed an embarrassingly easy catch at BP on Friday.

I think I’m going to be okay. I’m excited for this next part of my life.

I should be doing physics homework…

♥

August 20, 2009

In the 5280; A Bible Lesson

So guess where I am?

Yep, that’s Denver as I tried to catch it out the car window. After seventeen hours of driving and two stops, our filled-to-the-backs-of-the-front-seats Saturn Vue rolled into Denver, Colorado at around two-ish this afternoon. Six and a half hours later I’m still on a bit of a high. I have danced around and screamed and jumped and waved my arms. An RV honked at me doing my Colorado-dance when I stopped to take a picture with the “welcome to colorful Colorado” sign. It only increased my excited-ness. And the mountains on the way in–through Trinidad on I-25–were breathtaking. And those were just hills by Coloradan standards.

I saw the real mountains passing Pike’s Peak. And then when I saw Denver’s skyline in the distance… I flipped out.

Here are some interesting things that happened on the way:
— I discovered, as shown on the left, that when one ascends from 42 feet above sea level to 6600 (Canyon, NM, I think maybe?), wrappers and things tend to expand. Like this Starburst, which I found absolutely hysterical and have not yet consumed.
— We stopped at a Thai place in Podunktown, TX (not a real city name) where my pad thai did not taste Thai at all but rather like Cracker Jack.
— I realized that 60 degrees is cold, and I’m not at all prepared for Colorado winters. Then I stopped to get some Under Armour, because, really. I really need it.
— I realized that although I have a coffeepot I don’t have filters, sugar, creamer or coffee. So I went to Target to buy those things and then realized I had no idea what kind of filters it needed. So basically, GO ME and my preparedness.
— I have a “republican” tag hanging off the back of my bike (which is on a bike rack secured to the back of the car) and someone cut it in half. I’m pissed about that. I was probably going to take it off anyway because it’s rusted and dirty as hell, but still. He or she CUT IT WITH SCISSORS. WTF. Just because you don’t agree you go and destroy my property?
— I tried to take a nap five times and only took two. Poo.
— Nothing else interesting happened apart from me and my dad singing along with the radio. That got pretty entertaining.

So here I am, in metro Denver (in a hotel without FSN, which makes me ANGRY, but I get it in my dorm), ready to move in tomorrow. And I should be going to sleep but I don’t know that I could if I wanted to.

In other news…

Sometimes when I watch Rockies games I imagine I see Jesus on top of the Rockpile. He’s extending his hands out to the people in the crowd and reminding them of something very important he said in John 20:29.

“Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”

And I’m thinking that in this case, Jesus is kind of like the Rockies in that the stands are filling up fast with people quickly switching gears and digging out their purple after months of condemning the Rox to the cellar, kind of like Doubting Thomas, who would not believe until he felt the wounds of Christ.

I’ve seen the stands go from empty to full in a matter of weeks. It appears that the bandwagon is making its nightly rounds and dropping off its passengers at Coors before they’ve even torn the tags off their brand-new gear. Now I’m not a bandwagon hater. Sometimes it takes a push for someone to notice a team that’s been there all along. Sometimes those people turn into great fans (like Doubting Thomas was a pretty great apostle, but there’s a reason we don’t call him Believing Thomas). But there’s not much room for fair-weather fans at Coors Field. Don’t forget those of us who have been there all along.

Pointless Ramblings:

– I’m going to Coors Field for the first time tomorrow! And hopefully again on Monday!
– I move in tomorrow. I’m looking forward to it. My roomies are all going out to dinner tomorrow night but obviously I have something else on the agenda 😀
– My birthday is next Sunday! WHEE!

♥

photo of Jesus statue courtesy of allpics4u.com.

August 11, 2009

The Opposite of a Rabbit’s Foot; Leavin’

Whatever the opposite of a rabbit’s foot is, I am that for the Colorado Rockies. I find it quite unfortunate that each time I open MLB.tv to watch the Rockies game, I worry that they will lose simply because I’ve tuned in.

It’s even more unfortunate because within a week and a half, we’ll be living within miles of each other.

Yes, my friends, I’m leaving for college on August 18th, a mere seven days away. But before I get into that, let’s deal with what happened last night.

I might need therapy to recover from the fact that last night, while I watched the season premiere of Monk and an episode of Warehouse 13, my Troy was pushing for a cycle. And I hate myself for having to watch SportsCenter to see it.

It’s a double-edged sword. If I watch the game, I ditch my parents for the evening and we’ve only really got one week left. If I don’t watch the game, I have the potential to miss very important moments like this one, among others. And I miss that more of their playoff push. On the flip side, I’ll shortly be in CO and I’ll be able to watch whenever I want then, without paying an exorbitant $20/month to watch one game every few nights. So at least there’s that.

In any case, Troy hit for the cycle. Watching it on SportsCenter I had to question how much of it was him and how much was the Cubs’ awful defense. Yes, he ran hard on every ball he hit, and if he hadn’t on the triple he never would have made it. His good baserunning put pressure on the defense, and maybe that’s why Alfonso Soriano made a horrible throw. If Alfonso had made that throw, however, Troy probably would have been out.

The nice thing is, we’ll never know. It’ll go down on record as a cycle, and that’s that. Baseball is like that. Doesn’t matter what could have been, what would have been if this thing happened instead of that other thing. Trust me, I’d know. I spent hours watching September 2007 happen and then trying to understand how October came to a close like it did. No way to know. The end.

In any case, Troy, I’m very proud of you. All of us are.

In other news…

I went to my final home Astros game on Friday against the Brewers. Bud Norris pitched a pretty damn good game, Jason Michaels hit two homers, and the Astros poured the Beermakers down the drain.

The Saturday before that, I went to my first and probably last game at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. I wanted a Salty shirt, but there weren’t any. So then I looked for a Kinsley shirt, and all they had were XLs. So I have a Kinsley shirt that is way too big on me. But I LOVE IT ♥ And then the Rangers lost. But I had so much fun.

I’m leaving on August 18th for my looooong journey northwest. There are five teams on the way up (Fort Worth Cats, Grand Prairie AirHogs, Frisco RoughRiders, Amarillo Dillas, and Colorado Springs SkySox) and NOT ONE of them is home during my drive. Come on, baseball gods, is this some sort of strange punishment for not watching so many Rockies games?

However, despite the animosity shown me by the minor and independent teams, the Colorado Rockies are coming back home on August the 21st, and guess who’s going to be there? I AM! And I think I’ll even make it in time for BP! To top it off, I might be able to make the gameo n the 24th, and guess who’s going to be there? ZACK HAMPLE! So really, it could be the most perfect week of my life if everything comes together correctly.

And then I’m trying to get people together to go to a game on either September 5th or 6th for my belated birthday (August 30). I want to do BP, but at the same time if I have to take the bus I am NOT taking it alone at night. No way, no how. So it might end up being the Sunday game. I really won’t know until I figure things out.

I’ve actually kind of started to pack. It’s weird. I still need to buy a coffeepot, though.

Pointless Ramblings:

– I surprisingly don’t really have any. Yay?

♥

July 20, 2009

An Open Letter to Troy Tulowitzki

Dearest Troy,

I’m the girl who screamed your name in Houston in June for four days in a row even though you got hurt. And the girl who had the “TROY/Tulo is MY Rookie Of the Year” sign with the glitter and the broken (then fixed) camera that you took a picture with last year in Houston. I cheered my hardest in Anaheim while wearing my lucky pajama pants. I yelled for you at Dodger Stadium despite the jeers from the drunken fans behind me. I’m also the girl whose jersey you signed on Saturday in San Diego.

Oh yeah, you remember, right? We called your name during stretches. The guy next to me asked if you’d be coming back and as you walked away, you nodded. We couldn’t see your face but we took your nod to mean yes.

You went back to your business of stretching and warming up and taking BP and of course we screamed your name. We wanted to make sure that you didn’t forget us, that you knew we supported you, that we wanted you to do well. At an away game, we figured we had to cheer enough among us for a capacity Coors crowd, and since there were about six of us that was almost 7,000 people worth of screaming for each. So we yelled for you and waved and I held up my jersey like a flag proclaiming that you are my favorite ballplayer.

The National Anthem played and you took off your hat and we sang along with the really pretty girl. I briefly admired your short haircut and then you went back to warm-ups. Finally, at the last possible second, you walked over to us. You set your glove down on my jersey and I swooned, and then you looked at the guy next to me.

Had I any idea what was coming, I would have paid better attention and maybe written what you said down, because I didn’t realize what an impact it would have. Pretty much, what you said was “Man, next time I tell you I’m coming back, you don’t have to keep shouting at me. I’m coming back.” You said it in a perfectly flat tone. You weren’t yelling or scolding, but you weren’t joking either. I could tell by your lack of inflection and expression that you were completely and totally serious.

While I appreciated that you didn’t want to chide us like misbehaving children, I was somewhat disappointed that you even mentioned it. Do you have any idea how many times a little kid, a teenager, a dad has been told by a player that he would come back, then left hanging when the player forgot, ran out of time, or just decided not to return?

I know that you are a sweet guy and you kept your word last year. We posed for a picture and my camera battery was dead, so you promised you’d look for me the next day. And you did. I had a sign that said “I fixed my camera,” and you said, verbatim, “Let me take some ground balls.” So I waited. I cheered for you. And you stopped by on your way back to the dugout just after BP and you even smiled and sounded excited to take the picture.

I don’t want to believe that you’re jaded and you think we’re all going to sell our autographs the second we get them. Yeah, we want autographs. But the guy behind me was a fan. I’m your biggest fan, Troy (well, at least one of them, I don’t have a tattoo or anything) and I have cherished your autograph and the picture since I got them. No matter how or where you play, Troy Trevor Tulowitzki, you will always own my baseball heart, and a part of my real heart as well. You’ll always be my favorite player, Tulo. I will always clap my hands red and scream my throat raw when you come up to bat because I adore you.

Which is why I wanted you to know that I’m sorry for frustrating you. I apologize that we didn’t believe you. I never doubted your return, but at the same time I wanted to ensure it, to know that I did everything possible.

In return, I’m asking you to please help us fans out. We won’t badger you if we know you’ll come back, but for us to trust you we need to have reason to believe. You are my reason to believe, and I always trust the Rockies because they’re the most honest bunch of ballplayers I’ve met thus far. But we fans need more reasons to believe in y’all as a class act in general. Ballplayers aren’t known for their honesty.

More flies are caught with honey than with vinegar. All your colleagues would do well to know that. I got tired of seeing Roy Oswalt pull out his BlackBerry. Of hearing stories that Lance Berkman takes a golf cart out a different exit to avoid the fans at spring training. Of Michael Bourn’s “I gotta go, I gotta go” the spring after we traded for him. That’s not how to build a fanbase.

So that you can educate your colleagues, I’ve gathered examples of “good players” who make fans’ lives better.
– Jay Bruce. The first game I attended after the hurricane, I attempted to get several autographs from Reds. I wanted Josh Fogg’s on my Rockies hat, I wanted Micah Owings’ on my D-backs team card, and I had a Joey Votto rookie card I was dying to get signed. But it turned out Joey was really quiet, Micah didn’t sign, and Foggles was on the 60-day and not traveling. I heard guys talking on my left and turned to look. Jay was sitting on the railing (as pictured, back when I still had long brown hair) and talking. With everyone. Hanging out. I walked up to him in my Astros shirt and said, “Jay, I’ll hate myself if I miss this opportunity. Would you take a picture with me?” He said, “Sure!” and hugged me. I almost died. I shook his hand and wished him luck, then went back to my corner. One single experience that left a smile on my face made me a lifelong fan of this young outfielder.
– David Eckstein. My family friend, who is a Padres autograph guru, told me that Eck signed all the time. Even so, given my natural tendency not to trust ballplayers, I was dubious that I could be able to meet one of my favorite players. David proved me wrong when he parked his car and came back outside to sign and take pictures for about ten minutes. He was the sweetest thing ever–just ask Hyun Young, who got his autograph on Saturday and had a similarly wonderful experience with the King of Intangibles. It was fifteen minutes out of his day and it made me (and Hyun Young) so unbelievably happy.
– Hunter Pence. I’ve seen him sign more than I’ve ever seen anybody else sign. And he’s so patient and sweet. He smiles, chats, takes pictures. In this picture, he was getting out of a taxi at Petco with a couple other guys and could have ignored us like Roy and Lance did as they got off the team bus. Nope. He proudly wore his rally-hawk and his dorky carry-on suitcase with straps and took this wonderful picture with me. For one of my first games as a real fan, I made a sign that said “It’s Hunter season” with camo letters and pictures of him on it. My friend held it up while he signed my hat, and Hunter saw it and cracked up. Then he reached over three rows of peop
le to take it and sign it, still laughing, and draw a big smiley face underneath his signature. I have it even though it’s two years old, and I used to have it on my wall before our new house decided to have walls that don’t let anything stick.

I’ve got more stories but Jen‘s also provided some beautiful ones, so I’ll relay those.
– AJ Pierzynski. “I went to SoxFest in 2008 solely for the purpose of meeting AJ
Pierzynski. I started following baseball again because I went to a game in San Francisco in 2004 when he was a member of the Giants. I didn’t know any of the names of the players because all the ones I DID know weren’t playing due to an off-day or going to the All-Star Game. He very quickly became my favorite player. He signed with my White
Sox in 2005, and my mission was clear: I will meet him, I will get my picture with him, and I will get his autograph. SoxFest was my chance.
“SoxFest is held at the Palmer House Hilton in downtown Chicago. It’s a massive hotel, and AJ was signing on the sixth floor. At the beginning of the day, you pretty much had to take the stairs unless you were disabled or elderly. I ran up six flights of stairs to get in line for his autograph. Keep in mind I’m the most unathletic person ever, I only run if I’m being chased by a dangerous person, and I have horrible knee problems from years of cheerleading. I RAN UP SIX FLIGHTS OF STAIRS for this man. He finally came out at 10:00 to start signing. The line is snaking around, and I’m having several minor panic attacks. I get to the front of the line with my picture. He doesn’t look up at me, but he says “hi” and I say “hi” back. He signs it, hands it to me, looks up and says (this is a verbatim quote), “Whoa, you’re really pretty.” I almost died before being ushered away by security. So my mission is almost complete. All I need is my picture with him, and I can die happy.” — Never again will you hear this: BE MORE LIKE AJ, BOYS. All any fan wants is for her player to appreciate her adoration. Sign whatever she wants and take a picture with her. She’ll never boo you.
– Jake Peavy. “In April, I went to the Padres Fan Fest with Kaybee and Hyun Young. Kaybee and I got in line to get Jake Peavy’s autograph, and we were put in the overflow section. The security guard/usher/whatever he was told the overflow section that it was highly unlikely that Jake would sign for us since he had a set number of people he could sign for. Kaybee and I stayed anyway since you never know how many people he would actually sign for.
“As the last few rows of people in the guaranteed section were nearing the table where Jake was signing, the usher started letting people from the overflow section go down. Apparently Jake was signing for everyone. EVERYONE. All of the overflow people got autographs too.
“So when Kaybee and I got down to his table, I said something to the effect of “I’m a White Sox fan, but you’re my new favorite Padre.” He smiled and laughed, and he signed my ball on the sweet spot. It was awesome.” — Don’t y’all want these to be the stories we tell about you? Not, “yeah, he jumped off the team bus on his BB and didn’t even give us a glance.”
– Josh Fields. “I got to meet Josh Fields at SoxFest in 2008 after I met AJ. That year was the first year they decided to do separate photo lines. So Josh was there just taking pictures. I was in line for my picture with him, and when I got up there, he said “Hi darlin’. How are you?” He also asked if I’d gotten my Pierzynski jersey just for SoxFest. He was super sweet, and I suspect it was due to him being such a Southern gentleman. I took the chance and asked if he’d sign my ball even though he wasn’t supposed to. And he did. Then the security lady/usher/whatever she was told everyone in line that Josh couldn’t sign anything, so don’t ask. :)” — Gotta love Southern boys. If you’ve got an accent, let it out, and if you’ve got sweetness, bring it 😀
– DJ Carrasco, Jeff Marquez, and Chris Getz. “I went to spring training for a weekend during my spring break. I was unable to get any autographs on Saturday since I barely made first pitch, but I went on Sunday to the A’s ballpark since that’s where the Sox were playing that day. I waited outside and was unable to get autographs since a few guys only signed for the little kids. Which was fine, but I was seriously on the only female there. When I went inside, I hung out near the Sox dugout. Soon DJ Carrasco came to sign for people. When he took my ball to sign, I mentioned that he was the first to sign for me this weekend, and that I was leaving after the game. He was genuinely excited that he was the first to sign for me that weekend. After DJ left, Jeff Marquez came to sign. I had been pushed out of the way by some mean guys, and Jeff motioned for me to toss him the ball. I said, “If I could throw, I’d toss it, but I can’t,” and I handed him the ball. He chuckled and signed it for me. Then I went with the mob of people closer to the dugout because Chris Getz was signing. He was talking to some friends and didn’t really acknowledge most of the people he signed for, but he did sign for a lot of people, myself included.” — We don’t really need y’all to make conversation, although that is the reason I love Tim Byrdak. Sometimes just a laugh or a comment is more than enough to make our day.

And here’s what not to do, courtesy of @clintonde:

“So you probably know that Johnny Damon got his start with the Kansas City Royals. You may or may not know that Johnny Damon was born in Fort Riley, Kansas. So when Johnny got called up he was kind of the “home-town” kid and everyone including me loved him. He was one of my favorite players from this time until the time my story takes place, even with his girly arm and everything. Obviously he was good so the Royals couldn’t hang on to him and had to trade him. (The royals are allowed to have one good player at a time, and they already had Mike Sweeney). Anyway, around the time that Damon signed with the Yankees I ran across a Johnny Damon rookie baseball card. I’m not exactly a huge baseball card collector but i have quite a few and if it’s a player I really like then I’ll keep the card and possible try to have that player sign it. SO, I look up the players’ address at yankee stadium and decide i’m going to have Johnny Damon sign this card. When I get it ready, I do everything correctly, I don’t write a huge note with it, just a simple, “Kansas City misses you Johnny, can I have your autograph please?” AND I include a self addressed stamped envelope for him to send the card back easily. Anyway so I get ready and send the card off…. and that was the last I ever saw of it…

“[N]ow I’m no longer a Johnny Damon fan at all. I wish baseball players would either sign all stuff sent in if it’s sent with a self addressed stamped envelope or at least send the stuff back if they can’t sign it!”

Fanbases are built by being kind. Being honest. Doing what you say you’re going to do. You’ve done that, Troy. You’ve proven yourself several times now to me personally, and to anyone who reads this blog. You, my dear, are all class. But the same cannot be said for most.

Good guys don’t get booed. I promise you I will never boo you, Troy. But I have no problem booing many guys because they are not as classy as you are. If a player wants to be supported always and never have the fans turn on him, all it takes is a few smiles and nice words. It’s well worth it.

I know y’all’s job is to play your best. I get that and I respect it–we hate it when you lose too, you know. But we love you no matter what. And I know you’re not directly responsible to the fans, and that you hate it when fans say that you are. We like to say that we pay your salaries, but we won’t stop going to games if one of you is rude, and y’all know that. You have no real motivation to be nice. You get paid whether or not you decide to be polite.

So it’s up to y’all, ballplayers, and that’s why this is an open letter. More than addressing the letter to Troy, I have used him as an example. Troy, your classiness makes you more of a winner than a World Series ring could. And no matter what you do or don’t do, I’ll support you wherever you go. You’ve won me over with your personality more than your bat or glove (although your putting your glove on my jersey when you signed it… that was great).

Toss a fan a ball and win her over. Give a fan the cold shoulder and lose her forever. It’s y’all’s choice. Make the right one.

Much love and endless fanhood,
Kylie

♥

July 19, 2009

Pants! Beer! Bradley! OH MY!

So the title is from a comment I made about something Jen tweeted. So props go to her for starting the conversation. You know what? I’m just going to start at the beginning.

So at 4:45ish I met Jen and her friend Courtney outside the front gate at Petco. We went to pick up Courtney’s ticket and then hung out waiting for Kaybee and Hyun Young. However, I didn’t know we were actually meeting them OUTSIDE the turnstiles, so I was already in line to go inside when I turned around and saw two more people with Jen. I wormed my way through the crowd and in all my hyperness introduced myself. There was supposed to be another with us, but alas, Tom could not make the trip. So the five of us trekked up the stairs and parted ways at the top–Jen, Courtney and I went to the Rockies’ dugout, and Kaybee and Hyun Young went to the Padres’ dugout. And here’s where the adventures start.

The only reason there are pictures in this entry at all is because my Flickr is being a bohunkus, and I want to show off the wonderful that is this game. It was far too hot to wear the Pants, which is probably why we lost. However, they safely made it to San Diego tucked into my purse, and they had to pose. And they still look blue. But Jen can vouch for me–THEY’RE PURPLE. And you can see the interlocking CR on the right.

In any case, when we got down to BP and stood up against this railing, we saw two things. First, Jen saw a guy in an AJ Pierzynski jersey, who, as you know, rox her White Sox. So that was cool. And when we sat down, somehow (I wonder) Tulo came up in the conversation. I obviously started rambling about how adorable he is, how well he’s doing this year, how he plays the game how it’s supposed to be played, and how I’ve been chasing his autograph for a month and a half now and Jen, if I don’t get it I’m going to cry and this is NOT waterproof mascara. Jen looks at me and says, “Isn’t that him?”

IT WAS TROY. Sitting right there, not twenty yards away from me. I squealed and then hyperventilated. He was hurt in Houston, I couldn’t get autographs in Anaheim, and Dodger Stadium ushers wouldn’t let me down by the dugout to get autographs there. And here he was. With those weird three lines shaved into his hair that I constantly tweet about and have failed to explain. So the day was already looking good for us autograph hounds. At least, until Crotchety Old Usher #1 came down and told us that we weren’t allowed to stand up during batting practice. Okay, yeah, I get that you don’t want us to get whacked in the face, but we’re both wearing gloves. But whatever. We sat down. We got Dexter Fowler’s autograph. Jen and I snapped pictures of Garrett Atkins for Emily. Spilly signed, but I already had him. I really wanted Troy.

So the guy behind me (Troy Fan #2) needed Troy’s autograph as well. He asked Troy if he would come back and sign, and as Troy walked away he nodded. Well, all of us has a story of a ballplayer who said he’d come back but didn’t. Keep that in mind for a few minutes.

Somewhere in here, Crotchety Old Usher #1 comes down and checks us for tickets. God, was I glad I paid $30 for a first-level ticket because unlike at the Bee Game, tickets were actively being checked both in the seats and at the top of the aisles. We separated and were off to our own ticketed seats–I sat on the end of the third-base line, Jen was in right field. The security guard I had been talking to told me that Crotchety Old Usher #1 wouldn’t come back, so I took off my jersey (I had a Matt Holliday shirt underneath, so I had essentially changed my outfit) and snuck back to “my” seat. At this point, the (my brother-in-law’s) camera fell on the ground and got mashed in the front. It wouldn’t turn on and I called my mom almost in tears. She talked me off my mental ledge and later, Courtney easily fixed it (although the lens still doesn’t retract all the way), and I sat down to chat with the security guard and the guys in my section. The boys came out to stretch and we shouted for Troy, because that’s what we, as fans, do, right? We shout for our boys.

ANYWAY, after the National Anthem, I held up my jersey like a flag with the back to him and shouted for him again. I draped my jersey over the blue padded railing visible in the above picture and he PUT HIS GLOVE DOWN ON MY JERSEY. Maybe you didn’t hear me. HE PUT HIS GAME-USED GLOVE ON MY OWN PERSONAL AUTHENTIC JERSEY. I DIED. Ask the Angels fans next to me. Then he looked at Troy Fan #2 and said, very calmly, something to the tune of “Man, next time I tell you I’m coming back, you don’t have to keep shouting at me. I’m coming back.” I wish I had been paying better attention to what Troy Fan #2 said in return, but I didn’t. Troy signed my jersey, PATTED IT, picked up HIS GLOVE, and went on his way.

Troy didn’t say it angrily. I’ve never seen Troy use anything except one single tone of voice–he’s always very calm and level. Hardly any inflection, no facial expression. Just words. He’s articulate and smart, and very level-headed when it comes to speaking. Now, as we know, he can make a mess of his hand when he angrily bashes a bat on the ground, and he smiled when I asked to take a picture with him, but usually he’s nothing less than zen. But in any case, calm or not, I wasn’t sure whether to be frustrated or sympathetic.

Which is why I’m going to write an open letter to Troy and all ballplayers. That will be my next entry, and I’ll link to it here when I’m done. (eta: here it is.)

After this, I met a nice young man next to me who recently graduated from Mines, and we talked a bit. I whipped out my baseball knowledge to impress (and my hyperness to frighten) some guys sitting on the other side of me, and then someone came to sit in my seat so I had to go to my ticketed spot, where I promptly had popcorn thrown on me by a guy in my row who was half joking. I was not taking any more of that, and I really didn’t want butter on my jersey, and the rest of the fans were heckling and yelling at me anyway, so I called Jen. We met at the top of the aisle and stood behind third base until the eighth because THE USHERS WERE STILL CHECKING TICKETS.

Seats at Petco on the first concourse are split into two halves–top and bottom. The top half was empty all the way around the stadium, and yet when a couple came to sit in the TOP ROW of the TOP HALF, Crotchety Old Usher #2 asked them for their
tickets. IN THE TOP OF THE EIGHTH INNING. I was dumbfounded.

At some point during that inning, I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned around. A man in a retro blue/orange Padres jersey and his wife held out two tickets to me and Jen and the man said, “How would you like to sit behind home plate?” I screamed. Or at least, I did internally. Then I hugged him and Jen okayed it with Courtney, who isn’t particularly into baseball, and we took off for our new seats.

OH MY GOD, y’all. We found row 22 and decided we could go down to row 2 instead (of the top half) and sit in a nearly empty row. Wouldn’t you know it, an usher came to ticket us. He looked and said, “Ladies, your seats are down here.” DOWN. As in, WE WERE MOVED CLOSER TO THE FIELD. Oh my goodness, me oh my. We were sitting in a wheelchair row and RIGHT BEHIND HOME PLATE. I have never had such good seats in my whole entire life. Admittedly, it was only for an inning, and by that point we were losing, but holy cannoli on a stick made of holiness. And I’ve never even said that before. I made it up specifically for this occasion.

Once Troy came up to bat as the final out of the game for us, Jen and I started crazily doing the Tulo chant (which, in case you don’t know it, is clap clap clapclapclap, clapclapclapclap TU-LO!, and I was doing it the whole game, and Meg said she heard us screaming for Hawper too, and I verified both by rewatching the FSNRM broadcast) and my hands turned red and I’ve lost most of my voice from it. Well, this crazy drunk lady was just absolutely sloshed off her @$$, which is weird because she was probably in her late fifties or early sixties. She was yelling “SHUT UP!” and actually stood up from her seat and advanced a few steps towards me to tell me to shut up and that Tulo sucks.

Here’s the best part, and why Jen and I left cracking up. We did the chant until he struck out, and when he did, she ran at me and put her hands and face up in my face, literally maybe five inches away. “TULO SUCKS! TOO BAD!” and stuck her tongue out at me. It was all I could do not to pass out from laughing. She was there with some little old man in a wheelchair and they left. A lot of Padres fans booed me or told me that the Rockies sucked as they passed me and Jen taking pictures in front of the emptying field, and I looked one in the eye and said, “Nothing you can say about Troy will ever make me love him any less. I will always completely adore him.” And the guy looked surprised and said, “I respect that.” And I was just like, if you respect that, shut the heII up! WTF?

I was denouncing all Padres fans when an adorable blonde usher came up to us with a big smile on her face. She asked us if we wanted her to take our picture together, and of course we did, and then we told her about the nice guy who gave us the tickets. Apparently he’s a season ticket holder and when he and his wife left for the evening, they told her they were going to give the tickets to a Rockies fan. We both asked the usher to give the man and his wife our thanks and left feeling redeemed.

Then we met up with Kaybee and Hyun Young outside and took the first picture in this entry as sort of a tribute to Kaybee’s profile picture on her blog. I think it turned out well, don’t you? Then we parted ways.

Totals for the night:

– two autographs
– one somewhat angry ballplayer
– one cute Mines grad
– two crotchety old ushers
– one super nice usher
– two nice season ticket holders
– eight nice people
– four amazing bloggers

Pointless Ramblings:

– when I said I was writing an open letter, I was not joking. So if you have any “ballplayers being rude/mean/not keeping their word” stories, please email them to me.
– I love my family for taking all these treks for me.
– at some point during the game, we called Tom and left him a very loud voicemail. We wish you had been there, man 🙂
– I don’t have energy for more and I know you don’t have patience for more.

♥

July 16, 2009

ASB Recap; 100 Entries and Counting… but not really

So as everyone knows, the National League once again got their behinds handed to them at the All-Star Game. I tried to find a picture of the NL players looking all depressed after losing but, well, I couldn’t, so I picked this picture of the AL celebrating to a) punish the NL players and b) celebrate the awesome that is Jason Bartlett. Because, really.

What else happened during the All-Star Break?

1: I went through Troy Tulowitzki withdrawal. It was horrid.

2: I actually did things with my family in the evening, like watching He’s Just Not That Into You. Which also happens to be the story of my life. Except the happy ending.

3: I tried to catch up on In Plain Sight and only made it through two and a half episodes.

4: I got so bored with the Home Run Derby that I simply quit watching. I don’t think I’ve ever done that with a baseball event. I did fall asleep during a Yankees-Red Sox game on ESPN, but I was so sleep-deprived. But honestly, the HR Derby was boring, especially after last year’s Josh Hamilton Show. That was long but it was fun. And last year and the year before I actually had people to cheer for–Hambone last year, Matty in 2007. It’s got to be cut down from three rounds to like, two. Or stopped entirely. I’ve heard stories of post-HR Derby slumps and ruined swings. Just open BP to the fans and they’ll pay for tickets to that too. The really positive thing about it is all the money State Farm donates, but they’d come up with another way.

5: A friend of mine started her own MLBlog, Life in Purple Pinstripes. And yes, I’ll keep plugging it until everyone is commenting.

And then the game happened, and if you follow me on Twitter, you know exactly how I felt… up until about the seventh inning, when Twitter decided I had updated too much and cut me off. That made me super angry. It finally let me back three hours later even though it said I’d tweeted too much in one hour, but, whatever. I had used up all my expletives for the day anyway, and it forced me to take a step back and cool down–but the profanity still stands. ******* National League.

I was so furious with Carl Crawford. I love him because he’s from Houston, and I love the Rays anyway, but nothing made me more angry that night when he stole Hawper’s homer. He dropped his hand over the bullpen fence and BROUGHT IT BACK. THAT WAS A HOMER. Hawper, ilu. You did what you were supposed to, sweetie. Anybody else playing left never would have brought that back. Don’t worry about it, darlin’. We of the Colorado persuasion still adore you.

I was also frustrated that Hunter Pence didn’t get a chance to play. It was his first ASG ever, and as Alyson could tell you, he was so ridiculously excited. Poor thing. I loved seeing him in the dugout, all wide-eyed. I wanted to give him a hug, despite his ridiculous rally-hawk which can be seen on my Flickr.

All in all, the All-Star break was gross. Four days without seeing my boys, the HR Derby was pathetic, and the ASG made me furious.

In other news…

This is my 100th entry. Kind of sad considering I’ve been around since last April. So to see how far I’ve come, I’ll post the self-survey I did in my first entry and then I’ll re-answer all the questions and see how I’ve changed.

Name: Kylie
Favorite seats in MMP: Section 405, row 3, seat 7
Favorite
‘Stro: J.R. Towles. I got a picture with him at Spring Training.
WOW. And it used to be Luke Scott but… sniff. And I LOVE Jack
Cassel. He’s SO NICE!
Favorite MLB player: Troy Tulowitzki. Got a
picture with him on Saturday. DOUBLE WOW. Except he thinks I’m weird
because I was there for all three games… which is okay. Brad Hawpe
thinks I’m cool.
Other favorite teams: Rockies, Tigers, Broncos,
Texans, Cowboys, Chargers, Aggies (WHOOP!). No, I don’t care about
basketball or hockey.
Favorite show on ESPN: Baseball Tonight, obviously.
Favorite baseball stat (I’m a SABRhead): WHIP! I don’t know why.
Extra:
I love getting autographs. Mostly I get Astros autographs, but this
past weekend I spent about six hours total getting Rockies autographs
(my other favorite team! NO, I’m not a bandwagon fan). I went to
Spring Training in 2008 and got more autographs than I got all last
season at MMP. I take my camera with me and snag pictures of the boys
of summer as they sign for fans, and if there aren’t many other people
I might get a picture with one of them. However, I’ve already got J.R.
and Tulo, so who else do I need? That’s right, no one. Except maybe
Wandy.

Name: Kylie, yeah, that hasn’t changed.
Favorite seats in MMP: Section 405, anywhere.
Favorite
‘Stro: Hunter. JR isn’t really a ‘Stro anymore.
Favorite Rockie: had to add this, considering I’m not an Astros blogger anymore. Definitely Troyness.
Favorite MLB player: still Troy. Still love Luke Scott, and he’s doing really well. Also love Tim(meh) Lincecum and Clayton Kershaw 😀
Other favorite teams: I have a big fat ugly soft spot for everyone in the NL West. It’s awful. Love the Orioles, if only because of Cal Ripken Jr. and Luke Scott. Proud of the Rays.
Favorite show on ESPN: Baseball Tonight, despite their obvious disdain of the Astros and Rox and complete failure to mention 70% of Troy’s homers.
Favorite baseball stat: WHIP. Why did I have this question, anyway?
Extra:
I still love getting autographs. Most of all, I love talking to the guys. I love having Tim Byrdak tell me that LASIK is amazing and I should get it, and don’t worry because there’s Valium involved and you won’t feel a thing. I hate that I can’t watch commercials on MLB.tv. I’m still moving to CO in August.

Pointless Ramblings:

– Can’t wait to hang out with Kaybee, Hyun Young, and Jen on Saturday! We’ll have a ton of fun. I bought my tickets for section 122, but knowing Petco I’ll just sit behind the visitors’ dugout.
– I’m trying to toss together a little birthday party for myself the first weekend of September at a Rox game. My birthday’s actually August 30 but they’ll be in Frisco. Anybody who can come, please do. I’d love to see as many of y’all as possible.
– Move-in day is August 21, and my dad and I are planning to go to a game either that night or the night before. Anybody who’ll be there, let me know! I’d love to meet you (but not ditch my poor dad).
– I’ve been worried about Aaron Cook these last few starts, especially this one that I’m watching right now. I don’t like what I’m seeing and I’m going to leave this game to go watch my family play Monopoly, because I’m lame and ditched them to write this blog and watch the game. I suck.

♥

photo courtesy of Reuters

July 7, 2009

Stinging the Friars; A Midsummer Surprise

So you may or may not have known that I went to Petco (or PETCO, but that looks dumb) Park last Thursday, July 2. Well, I did. And Jen was there too. And… it was a very interesting day.

I started out by the players’ entrance in hopes of acquiring autographs. By the way, if you’re going to do that, please have no reservations about feeling absolutely creepy. Because wow, I felt so stalkerish hanging out there.

It was weird. We saw big Escalades drive up, visiting players in taxis, new Lexuses with the paper plates indicating their freshness from the Lexus plant. We saw one player pull up with his wife in the passenger seat, and then saw her leave a few minutes later. If I were married to a ballplayer, say, Tulo, I would want to be there for all of his games to support him, plus, I love baseball anyway. But this player maybe has kids at home that his wife needed to pick up or take care of, since it was 9:30 in the morning anyway.

The one sighting that made me the happiest was David Eckstein. He drove up in his little fuel-efficient sedan, waved, and went inside. Three minutes later, he popped back out and chatted and signed and took pictures for as long as we wanted. I also got some encounters with other important, well-dressed men, but you’ll have to go to my Flickr to see those because I haven’t got the patience to deal with Moveable Type right now. I’ve got pictures of the bee swarm, the park itself, the skyline… one picture I have to put up right now is the “rammycackle” picture, because I’m begging for help. WHAT DOES IT MEAN? They put it up randomly in the home half of the second and I have had no luck whatsoever attempting to decipher it. Padres fans, help me!

The Astros won, despite the swarm that took over the outfield and a ballgirl’s jacket. Petco looks a lot smaller in person than it does on TV, but we had a ton of fun and it’s extremely beautiful. I didn’t get sunburned like I did at Dodger Stadium, and my arms are actually turning tan instead of crimson. A great time was had by all, and then it was time for the drive back to LA.

In other news…

I’ve never been a big All-Star Game follower or voter. I mean, yeah, I watch it and I get into it, but you won’t catch me submitting hundreds of votes like the people I met at Minute Maid who take boxes of ballots and punch them during the game. I become particularly frustrated with the National League because players who are not all-stars (Kosuke Fukudome, for example, last year) are voted in by players who vote for popularity and not for good players, which leads to disappointing performance by the NL. However, this year I have been stunned by the sheer talent of the National League roster and while I don’t want to jinx us, I feel better about our chances.

Most importantly #1, Manny Ramírez was not voted in. Thank God.

Most importantly #2, HAWPER AND MARQUIS. Not only does Hawper have the fourth-highest (at last check) batting average in the NL, but he’s also a spectacular outfielder. Jason Marquis is now in a league of his own as the only pitcher in the Major Leagues with eleven wins to his name. Way to go, Jason and Hawper. Y’all deserve it.

Also, Tim Lincecum. Who I absolutely love and/or adore.

Pointless Ramblings:

– If everything goes exactly to plan, I’ll be in San Diego for the game on July 18th against the Rockies. However, this plan depends on circumstances beyond my personal control, so for now I can only hope. I should know by tomorrow if I’m staying or going, and if I’m not staying I go back home on Thursday.
– I’m going to NYC, hopefully sometime before I leave for school. Hopefully ASAP, but I’d also like to see the Mets and Yankees play, so I’m trying to find a weekend when they’re both home.
– The weekend I get up to school, August 21-23, the Rox are in town and I’d like to have an early birthday celebration by going to one of the games. I’d like anybody who’s in town to come, so please think about that. It will probably be the 21st, but if that weekend doesn’t work, I’ll plan for it later in September. My birthday is August 30th but they’re in San Fran that weekend.
– Also, if I stay here for that Padres/Rox game, I will probably do some extra traveling, so stay tuned for further updates. I also might have some exciting news to announce in the next few days but then again, it might not happen. We’ll see.
– My blog titles suck lately. I apologize.

♥

July 1, 2009

Chasing the D-backs; A Tribute to Dodgers Fans

God-awful title, I know. I am horrible at plays on words. And this is going to be a huge entry, so if you’ve got stuff to do, put this blog on hold and finish whatever you’re doing.

So on Friday, we made the six-hour trek from Los Angeles to Phoenix. First of all, if you’re going to this, for the love of God please make sure your A/C compressor is functional. If you don’t you’ll positively die when it gets up to 120 degrees on the open desert between LA and Blythe… and even then you’ve still got two hours to go. Also, I beg you to stop at every gas station and just fill ‘er up, because there’s nothing between them except some nasty rest stops. And finally, enjoy the drive.

I enjoyed the drive, anyway. Being the geology megadork that I am, I listened to my iPod (Bose QuietComfort 2 headphones are the bomb diggity) and mentally identified every formation we drove past and speculated about the makeup of the mountains. Because I’m that cool. Not cool was the rise in temperature I felt in the middle of nowhere IN TRAFFIC. Yes, there is traffic in the middle of nowhere. Don’t ask how. It existed.

Drive aside, Phoenix itself was… hot. We were actually in the suburbs, so the only time I spent within Phoenix was at Chase Field (more on that later), but it was hugely hot. At night it wasn’t so bad, still up in the hundreds but at least the sun wasn’t beating down like it was during the day. Either way, I could live there as long as I had A/C.

On Saturday, we went to Chase Field to catch the Angels/D-backs game. I was cheering for the D-backs because I’ve always had soft spots for Danny Haren and Brandon Webb (don’t hate me) and I really freaking hate the Angels and their damn rally monkey. Lately I’ve learned that I am the No-Hitter Killer–Doug Davis had a no-no going that afternoon, and so did Jason Hammel this afternoon. Alas, they were not to be and both pitchers lost (more later). I wasn’t so much watching the game because I wasn’t very attached to the outcome, but rather I spent most of my time there people-watching and admiring the stadium.

Chase Field… I know Tom wasn’t a huge fan when he visited, but I have to admit, it’s probably my favorite ballpark I’ve been to. That’s not a big number (Minute Maid Park, Astrodome, Dodger Stadium, Angel Stadium [of Anaheim], and… yep, that’s it, Coors Field was just a tour so I’m not counting it), but I really, really liked it. The lower concourse was so incredibly open and as you walked around the outfield you could see everything that was happening on the field. There was seating everywhere they could fit it, and even up in the upper deck I had a great view, especially since the seats were tilted towards home plate.

The giant videoboard was absolutely magnificent. It was wider-than-widescreen and the video was beautiful. They had to put some random things in around the video and the linescore to fill in space, but even so, it was gorgeous. One of the things I didn’t particularly appreciate was the fact that miscellaneous boards were sprinkled EVERYWHERE. It took me two innings to find the strikeout count, and another half inning to find the pitch count. The out-of-town scoreboards hang on the walls. Other than that, it was awesome.

I didn’t eat anything while I was there, having eaten a turkey sandwich before leaving, but they let us bring food inside. Non-alcoholic drinks are also allowed in as long as they’re unopened (sealed). I went in search of an ice cream helmet since my friend’s little sister collects them, and I found a vendor near 328 who was just the cutest, sweetest thing. He gave me way too much ice cream and even held onto it while I ran to the nearest ATM to get cash. Side note–Chase Field means Chase ATMs, so thank you for not making me pay outrageous fees! Anyhow, he was blonde and extremely adorable so if you’re sitting in the top deck of Chase, be sure to drop by and say what up?!

I loved the stadium and was sad to leave in the seventh inning when the niece and nephew grew impatient. Speaking of kids, Chase Field had a great playground called The Sandlot. I didn’t go down there myself but apparently the kids loved it. All in all, I absolutely loved the stadium. Maybe because it felt like home. Who knows? For whatever reason, I adored it.

We left at five to drive back. It was cooler but I’d suggest leaving the driving for after the sun’s gone down because it gets really hot really fast. Our car made it despite the heat in the Valley, and we brought back enough Blue Bell to feed a small family for a month or two. If you’ve never had Blue Bell, try it if you’re ever anywhere they sell it.

In other news…

Today, I went to go see the Rockies take on the Dodgers at Dodger Stadium. Here’s what I learned:

1. I can’t do no-hitters. Every time one has begun in my presence, it fails completely. Jason Hammel and Doug Davis, for example.

2. I sunburn really easily. OW OW OW.

3. Troy Tulowitzki is hella hot. I know I knew that already, but suga honey iced tea, Christ on a bike, good God almighty hot damn.

And here are some stories:

1. Mark Strittmatter (please tell me that’s correctly spelled/first named or I’ll feel like an idiot) is awesome. He was asking kids trick questions and giving them a ball if they got it right and he asked the kid next to me: “say silk five times. What do cows drink? Nope, water!” So I figured, my friends have all done all of those to me. I told him to ask me one and he said if I got it right he’d give me the ball, but if I missed he’d give it to the kid. So he asked, “What do people in Kentucky call their capital? ‘Louissville” or “Louieville”? And I said, “Trick question! ‘Loo-vull!” “Nope, Frankfurt!” We both cracked up. I looked at him and said, “Mark, I’m coming up to Denver in August. I WILL GET YOU!” He laughed and when he got back to the bullpen he started telling someone else (pitching coach?) about it and they both laughed. Then when they were going back to the dugout I yelled “Mark, I WILL GET YOU!” and he cracked up again. I LOVE THAT MAN. And I WILL GET HIM.

2. Someone tossed me a ball. I’m ashamed to say that I couldn’t figure out who because I couldn’t see his number and I don’t watch enough games to know our bullpen’s faces. But it’s all rubbed up and kind of grassy so I think it might be a game-used ball.

3. There was a really cute, sweet usher down by the right field foul pole. We talked a lot. He was so sweet!

4. Spilly came out to sign. Here’s what you need to know about Dodger Stadium: getting away team autographs is nigh impossible. There are these baseline box seats that are really expensive and you can’t even go down for autos without a ticket, so those block off eight rows all the way over to the foul pole. So he went over to sign for kids in DODGERS SHIRTS and I waved him over toward me while wearing my TROY TULOWITZKI AUTHENTIC JERSEY and he just waved back! I yelled “No, Spilly, come over here!” and he waved me towards where he wa
s going with a smile, I yelled back “I’M NOT RICH!” and he laughed… and nobody signed for me. ****.

And here’s the conclusion:

What a pitching duel. That aside, I HATE DODGERS FANS SO MUCH. I had a whole section behind me (I was in the front row) yelling “TROY TULOWITZKI SUCKS” and “**** THE ROCKIES.” Because I was in right field I was right by Hawper, and the guys kept yelling “BRAD HAWPE YOU SUCK” and I yelled right back “SORRY YOU’RE JEALOUS OF HIS #2 IN THE NL BATTING AVERAGE!” I neglected to mention the “SORRY YOUR BEST HITTER WAS A HUGE CHEATER” because really, they were so drunk off their ***** I don’t think they would have cared–Dodgers fans don’t care anyway (more on that later). So basically, the only Dodgers fans I ran into that weren’t ******** were the ones I’m related to. The end.

Pointless Ramblings:

– The trip to PETCO Park was delayed from Monday until Thursday, so I’ll be there tomorrow/today (depending on your time zone; I should be sleeping).

– I’m so fricking sunburned. WOW.

– I love my suitemates. Facebook rocks.

– People need to realize they can’t have it both ways. You can’t denounce cheating and in the same breath cheer for Manny or Roger or Barry, or, I hate to say it, Andy Pettitte (we all know how much I loved him once upon a pre-juicing time). You can’t get mad when other teams’ players dope but allow your own players to do it. Grow up, people. If you’re going to support it, at least be honest. I’ve had several Twitter conversations about this.

– I hate the trade deadline.

♥

first image courtesy of diamondbacks.mlb.com

second image courtesy of Getty Images

June 26, 2009

Quick Travel Update

[cue Baseball Tonight update jingle]

Here’s what’s going down, kids. I’m doing a lot of traveling to see ballgames this week, and here’s a list for both you and me.

June 27: Chase Field, D-backs vs. Angels. I hate the Angels SO MUCH that I guess it’s go Snakes.

June 29: PETCO Park, Padres vs. Astros. GO ASTROS. Houston people, watch for me on TV!

July 1: Dodger Stadium, Dodgers vs. Rockies. I will be sitting in dugout club, hopefully behind the Rox’ on-deck circle. Look for me in my new Tulo jersey!

At some point thereafter: Lancaster JetHawks (Astros farm team). Hopefully.

I’m headed to Phoenix today and I won’t be back until Sunday, so I won’t be reading, commenting, or updating until that evening. Forgive me 😀

Also, I added a new profile picture, if you haven’t seen it yet. I kind of like it 😀

Love you all!

♥