It's All About Perspective...

After the Rockies game tonight, our group has visited five stadiums. In each venue, we've sat in a different spot. Even in stadiums where we're watching the team twice (Kansas City, Colorado, San Francisco, etc) we will sit in two new places. I hadn't quite realized how much placement can affect how I view the game and how I interact with it.

For instance, our first game at Target Field, we sat up high, overlooking home plate:

We might have been a little high up, but we had a great view. Although I felt a little disconnected from the game, I still felt like I could keep score with confidence and stay in touch with the action on the diamond. The jumbotron was straight ahead and full of good information to give me the most current news. 

When we were at Miller Park in Milwaukee, the dome keep us closed in and we were much closer to the field than at Target Field. Our seats were on the opposite side of the diamond, looking onto the field from the viewpoint of the right fielder. 

Instead of having a bird's eye view, we were only a little higher than the field. It brought us closer to the game, yet we were still away from the plate. While I still had a good view of home plate, I missed the aerial view of Target. 

Our viewpoint at Wrigley Field was unlike the other two. We were the closest to the players and we were sitting in the bleachers behind the outfield. The only thing that separated us from the field was a yellow fence. We were higher up than at Miller and a little different angle from center field. 

When we arrived at Kauffman in Kansas City, we were greeted with nice weather and a perspective similar to Target Field. 

Just like Target Field, I enjoyed this perspective because I could see everything play out. The only thing I believe we have a poor angle of is the strike zone. I had to rely on the umpire's call as opposed to being in the position to make a judgement (like when you watch baseball on TV).

Our return trip to Kauffman brought us to the third base side.

This view was definitely another close-to-the-field perspective. We had the best chance to snag a foul ball and a better view of the infielders than the batter.  

Finally, at tonight's game at Coors Field, we were up in the second deck between the right and center fielder. 

Our section was directly above the bullpits and our view was obstructed making it unable to see any balls that hit the walls of the outfield. In order to get a little bit better view, we had to stand and even then, the view wasn't perfect. Lucky for us, it was a pretty slow game with not a lot of hits, so we didn't miss much with our view. Again, being in the outfield created a sense of disconnectedness from the game and this was by far the most distracted I had been at the game. Still, it was a nice view, different from the other seats we had been in. 

I am still not sure how I feel about this perspective. I didn't realize how much the game could shift and I still haven't fully articulated my thoughts on perspective. I know I will keep taking pictures at the games and keep writing down my ideas as they come to me. Check back for more blog posts on perspective and feel free to comment below if you have any ideas on this topic!

Hailley   

Photos from Cubs vs. Brewers

Photos from Rachel!

...

Stretch Time! - Wrigley Field

Standing for the seventh inning stretch at Wrigley proved to be quite a feat as the cold had permeated the many layers I was wearing to stiffen and numb my joints. Before we sang, the announcer introduced Babe Ruth's daughter and grandson, Julia Ruth Stevens and Tom Stevens. They were at Wrigley as part of the celebration of the 1930s and Babe Ruth's called shot, which also included Julia Ruth Stevens throwing out the first pitch and free bobble heads for the fans! After the applause for the Bambino's family, the organist began to play "Take Me Out to the Ballgame." I found it interesting that the announcer sang along with the crowd over the speakers. The tempo of the song matched the dreary weather, as it was slightly slower than what we had heard the day before. Once the song was over, the crowd slowly sat back onto the cold metal of the bleachers to watch the last two and a half innings of the Cubs loss.

Travel Time - Germantown, WI to Chicago

After a great day of baseball in Milwaukee, we packed up the van to follow the Brewers to Wrigley Field in Chicago. Thankfully, the drive was significantly shorter than the day before, so we were able to leave at the more reasonable time of 8:00 am. As we drove south, the clouds completely obscured the sun. It started sprinkling as we crossed into Illinois where we encountered our first toll road of the trip. As we journeyed on, the rain got harder, and it was even snowing lightly for a time. Fortunately it lighted up a little by the time we reached Wrigley, which meant the game when on as planned.

The night before, the class had discussed whether we should park outside the city and ride the train in or whether we should drive right into Chicago and try to park as close to the park as possible. In order to (hopefully) expedite leaving the park, we ended up choosing the second option.  We drove past the ballpark and begun our search for a spot to leave the van. Our first try was just down the street, but a native Chicagoan told us that the sign saying weekend parking was prohibited included Friday. Not how we understood it, but we decided to move the van rather than risking a ticket. We drove around a little while longer before finding a spot farther into the neighborhood, though still quite close to the field. We ventured to the ballpark to watch the game. (See Ryan A.'s post about the game for more details there.)

After the game finished, we went back to the van to search for food. Our Illinoisians strongly recommended that we find a Portillo's to satisfy our hunger. As we slowly made our way through typical Chicago Friday afternoon traffic, there were stories told of the wonders of the chili dogs, Italian beef, and chocolate cake shakes that would be available for dinner. We were all famished by the time we got to the restaurant in Lombard. Once inside, we all ordered, and Hailley made contact with a former Kohawk in the area who came a visited with us while we ate. The food was delicious and just what I needed after a long day of travelling and sitting outside in the cold. 

We gassed up in Dekalb shortly after dinner and drove into the sunset as we headed back to Cedar Rapids for the weekend. The drive seemed to stretch on as most of us were exhausted from the three day whirlwind trip we just had. Fortunately, we have two days to rest, relax, and pack before heading off on our longer west coast adventure on Monday. I can't wait for the rest of adventures we'll all have together!

Rachel

Photos from Brewers vs. Pirates

Photos from Rachel!

...

Stretch Time! - Miller Park

With the Brewers down 3-2, it was time for the seventh inning stretch. The organist played "Take Me Out to the Ballgame," and the whole crowd sang along. Then the organist transitioned smoothly into another song. Because of our seats on the lower deck at the first base line, I could not see the jumbotron with the lyrics for this new tune. Instead I just listened at those around us sang "Roll Out the Barrel," a Brewers tradition since the 1970s. Composed in 1927 by Czech musician Jaromír Vejvoda, this song became popular worldwide during World War II, where it was translated into many languages and enjoyed by soldiers on both sides of the war. An alternative title for this fun ditty is "Beer Barrel Polka." If you haven't heard this tune, you should definitely look it up! After singing, the crowd then settled back in to watch the Brewers win in dramatic fashion.

Pittsburgh Pirates @ Milwaukee Brewers

The second game on our trip was between National League Central Division rivals, the Pittsburgh Pirates and the first place Milwaukee Brewers. For someone like me, it was also extremely important to note that this was our second game in a row that the stadium was selling hot-dogs for $1.  In the past 48 hours I have consumed 10 hotdogs, and only spent $10!!

Milwaukee is a cool stadium because they have a retractable roof, so since it was about 35 degrees and rainy, they were able to cover the whole place, and make the game much more enjoyable. It was definitely like "Kids day" at the park, because it seems like there were hundreds of little kids there, and because of the kids, the ballpark had plenty of games and attractions to keep them all entertained. Of course, Milwaukee also had the sausage races in the middle of the 6th, and today's winner was the Chorizo!


As a whole, the fans in Milwaukee were a pretty interesting bunch, I am choosing to do one of my research projects on the fans at each ballpark, so this was something that interested me the most. In Milwaukee, they were out of control. They were yelling the whole time, but instead of being positive and cheering for their teams, they instead focused on yelling at the pirates and their fans. At one point, they got so out of control that one of them even spilled his drink onto Mikey!


Of course, at Miller Park there was also baseball being played that day. The starters were Wandy Rodriguez and Yovani Gallardo. Neither pitcher had a spectacular outing, but it seemed like for almost the whole game, the Pirates had control! That all changed in the bottom of the ninth, when Khris Davis had a walk-off single after missing terribly on his previous two swings! Brewers win, with the final score being 4-3! I have been to plenty of baseball games in my life, but this was the first walk-off I have witnessed in person! I know as we head west this is just the beginning of the excitement!!

Until the Next Adventure,
Ryan Rey

Game Time at 4:55 AM (Eden Prairie to Milwaukee)

The van left Eden Prairie bright and early Thursday morning headed to Wisconsin. As we settled into our approximately five and a half hour trip, the van fell asleep (other than Ryan A and Rachel). When I woke up, we were in Wisconsin, the sun had risen, and the heat was blowing hot air against my leg. Our pit stop was Black River Falls and as our van pulled into the local Kwik Trip, I got super excited.

Let me explain. Kwik Trip is a popular gas station chain in Wisconsin. When I'm traveling with my family, stopping at a Kwik Trip means a cappuccino. So while most of the group was stumbling around Kwik Trip in a sleepy daze, I headed straight for the cappuccino machines.

Dr. Bob filled up the van, took a quick cat nap, and then we were back on the road. While most of the group proceeded to fall asleep again, I couldn't help but stare out the window, the cold glass against my check. It was funny, I thought to myself, that I knew Interstate 90-94 East so well and no one else in the car knew this road. To them, they were sleeping through it, or if they were up, it was just a road to them. For me, this road carried enough memories to several Word document pages. This was the road my family took for all sorts of adventures: to a Boy Scout camp in Haugen, Wisconsin, snow tubing at Fort McKoy, the Wisconsin Dells, East Towne Mall in Madison, the Johnson Creek Outlet Mall, or to places in Milwaukee. Here I was, all these memories running through my head while my classmates were looking outside thinking, "Well this is Wisconsin." I found myself telling a lot of stories about my travels on that road, to anyone that would listen. Hopefully I wasn't too annoying, but it was one of those moments where you want to share; you want your stories to be heard. I wanted to make my classmates appreciate not only this road but also Wisconsin as a whole. I hope it worked.

The construction in Milwaukee was just as bad as it was about a month or so ago when my dad and I drove to the airport to fly out to Boston for a graduate school visit. But instead of making our way to the airport, Dr. Bob drove the van to Miller Park.

Game time.

Post-game (I'll let Ryan R. talk about the game), we made our way to Germantown to our hotel. We were told to eat at Brisco Country restaurant and boy was it delicious. On top of that, I think this restaurant allowed us to bond. We were psyched about the Brewers win (or maybe just the energy of Miller Park or maybe it was because we were finally getting food after a very long day). Lots of great conversation and it makes me excited for the rest of the trip.

Hailley      

Blogger Up!

The trip has begun and it has been crazy! When we realized the Milwaukee game had been moved up to a 12:10 PM start time as opposed to a night game, the five and a half hour drive suddenly became a daunting task ahead of us.

Our journey today began at 4:55 AM from Eden Prairie and we arrived at Miller Park at 10:45 AM. Now, we're at our hotel and READY TO BLOG. Get ready for a lot of posts, and I mean, a lot of posts. Hopefully we can begin to regulate our posting once we get going. 

In the mean time, check out our group page for profiles of the students as well as the schedule page for a listing of all our games and seating location (in case you're in the area and want to hang out with the coolest Kohawks around). 

Hailley

Blog Captain 

Photos from Twins vs. Red Sox

Photographs from our group photographer, Rachel, from our first MLB game of the trip.

...

Stretch Time! - Target Field

The seventh-inning stretch is a practice that dates back to the very earliest days of baseball, though it did not receive it's "official" title until 1920. Taking place between the two halves of the seventh inning, the stretch allows fans to stand up, stretch, and maybe buy a few last minute snacks. "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" is traditionally sung in this break, making it one of the few times in American culture where it is okay and even encouraged to spontaneously break into song. Many parks have other, unique rituals as well. I'm excited to see what happens during the stretch at each ballpark that we visit!

The first seventh inning stretch we experienced was at Target Field. True to MLB form, we sang "Take Me Out to the Ball Game." It was led by Christina Sparks and friends, who were there as part of the celebration for Mayo Clinic's 150th birthday. The organist played, and Christina sang into a microphone. She was quite deliberate with the tempo, which I suppose I should have expected after hearing her rendition of the Victory Song early that night. The live organist was able to follow Christina as she slowed down, though the fans through out the ballpark had a much harder time. The music major part of me didn't much care for this version of the song, but the baseball fan was just excited to experience it in a new ballpark.

After "Take Me Out to the Ball Game," the Twins played a video of some of their players wishing the Mayo Clinic a happy sesquicentennial. I think they had probably never heard that word pronounced before, as most of them stumbled over it quite a bit before switching to just saying one hundred fiftieth. Then the game resumed as the Red Sox soundly beat the Twins. What a great first game to see!