Any recommendations for going to a spring training game?
43 thoughts on “March 6, 2017: First Time”
So I think you're supposed to order tickets ahead of time and then I pick them up in Minneapolis and mail them to you. And then you mail me a book. It sounds a little convoluted, I'll admit, but it seems to work for Rhu_Rhu!
Yep, that system seems to work for all parties 😉
If you're taking in one game, go through a broker and get yourself quality seat(s). Go early -- there is practicing going on at all the practice fields. As a matter of fact, go in the morning and watch drills, etc., even when it isn't a game day. Wear a hat and lots of sunscreen. Bring a camera. If ii and Rod Carew walk right by you going between fields, don't disturb their conversation. Visit with other fans. Try foolishly to score the game on the lame scorecards with an inadequate number of lines on the page.
Don't go to a split squad game -- the practice fields can be pretty barren then. Go later in the spring when the minor leaguers report and see a lot more ballplayers.
I wandered over there about a decade ago when it was sold out just to watch stuff on the side fields. Then, the put a "tickets available"sign up about thirty minutes before first pitch. When I bought some, they told me that the seats had been reserved for opposing scouts and became available once certain scouts confirmed they wouldn't be attending that day. I ended up sitting right next to Theo Epstein.
so. many. cardinal fans...
Being where I live and all, the past few spring training games I've ended up attending were vs. Cardinals. The schedulers do the fans a favor by scheduling the Twins on one day and the Red Sox on the other, so that visiting teams (and fans) spend the night and catch two games in Ft. Myers. There are a lot of Cards fans from Jupiter that will drive down for the games (and the beautiful beaches).
this is also the largest percentage of white people i've been amongst in awhile.
I know it won't happen, but I'd be good with FSN just doing radio simulcasts all season long.
Except when Jack Morris joins the booth.
I don't know why this audio source isn't an option yet in MLB.tv. They have all the feeds to make it work.
It could be the in-game promos bring stations enough money that they don't want to leave it up to the viewers to potentially tune away.
Does it matter if the in-game promos are happening on the TV audio feed or the Radio audio feed? Wouldn't the income more or less balance out somewhere along the line?
It might balance out for MLB, but it wouldn't balance out for the TV broadcaster.
TV commercials are not played on MLB.tv, just a graphic. You can overlay radio audio on TV games though MLB will take over the commercials part (kind of, but in the middle of and at a very different volume level than the actual radio commercials; very annoying).
I know the commercials are not carried, but everything in the game is sponsored by someone or another these days. "This pitching change brought to you by Jiffy Lube," etc.
dude, it is.
Yeah, same here. I caught the one they did on Saturday, and enjoyed it quite a bit. It fixes Gladden's biggest flaw, just by nature of all the information being available via HUD at all times.
Though, I was watching some archival footage the other day and was struck by the idea of watching sports without the HUD. Now I sort of want the ability to watch a game without the barrage of info.
Last football season, the NFL released full games on its YouTube channel. Its a bit jarring watching games pre 1994 (when FOX introduced its scoring bug) because of how clean the screen is.
So, my uncle died on Saturday after a brief illness. He was 70.
I can't begin to express how much I looked up to this guy. He grew up in rural ND -- my mother is his older sister -- and his ambition in life was to be a farmer. But, the Vietnam War came along and he decided to give his life for his country. He volunteered for the m-effing Marines and went to Vietnam with the expectation that he would not come back alive. My brother was born on his 21st birthday 6/9/67 when he was over there. He was named after my uncle, of course. But, he made it and came back and he wrote about the experience for all of us (of course he did that -- he had all of his seven siblings work on a project to pass down the history of living on the farm. His contribution to the effort, by far, was the best.) and he told us that he didn't think he would get back, but at the end of his hitch, he dreamed of coming home and having a beer with his dad. In the interim, my grandfather had a massive heart attack and couldn't farm, so he sold his equipment and rented out the land. And my uncle went to NDSU (Go Bison) and got an engineering degree as a straight A student. He moved to the Twin Cities and started his career. He rose up through the ranks and was a VP for a couple of different companies. He was a hard, hard worker and smart as hell. Plus, he was as resourceful as can be. Dude was a VP of a company and did all his own car repairs. On his first house, he literally raised the roof -- by himself -- and built a second story. Who in God's name does shit like that? Well, he did.
Eventually, he retired. But, before he did, he bought a lake lot in Otter Tail County. He told me that I should buy the one next to him... by God he was right, I should have listened. The property values doubled in about five years. Anyway, he had a plan. He was going to build a cabin and then convert it to a garage when he built the retirement home in front of it. And that's what he did. His oldest son and I helped him frame it one weekend. That was a miserable two days. It was cold and raining, and the wind was blowing about 40 miles an hour. I was on top, hammering the rafters down and clinging to a pretty wobbly structure in gale force winds. It was fantastic and my cousin and I will recount that story this weekend, for sure.
He was a great source of encouragement to me in my bachelor days and really supported me a lot when I was going to law school. He would call me to see how I was doing a lot. No other member of my extended family ever did that. He really liked that I'd done this and was so happy for me as I finally got my own family. Anyway, he retired and built that lake home (actually, he hired it done... for shame!). He had about ten bedrooms including three in the upstairs of the old cabin (it was 1 1/2 stories). He deliberately did that so that he could hold family get togethers, which he would do. He was the glue, the patriarch of our family.
When he moved to the small town, he dove right in and became a city leader. He was involved in projects all over town, working to bring jobs to town and make his town a better place to be. The local motel, which he helped get going, blocked off the entire hotel for next weekend so that we all had a place to stay for his funeral. Free of charge. None of us had to pay. Imagine that. They could have had a full house all weekend and we'd have gladly paid them. But no, it will not cost us a cent.
He used to read this site back in the early days and he'd call me and talk about it. Sab-Gee, he'd call me.
He got sick down in Florida and died there. That sucks. None of us extended relatives could say goodbye.
He was an exceptional human being, one of the best I have ever known. I will never forget him and our family will never be the same.
Thanks for sharing. I feel enriched just reading about him. You have my condolences.
Sorry for your loss. Sounds like a great guy.
I would say that the ethic that I tried to bring to the original site was heavily influenced by him. He had so many interests. Every time you would talk to him he was doing something new.
that's a great eulogy right there (the second sentence, with a wonderful sentiment for the first sentence that rings true).
as they say in the Tribe (not the woo-woo Tribe, the other Tribe), may his memory be a blessing.
He sounds like a wonderful man. His family is in our prayers.
Sorry to hear it, boss. Sounds like quite a person.
What a vivid and thoughtful eulogy.
So sorry for you and your family's loss.
My sympathies, Ken.
A eulogy that fine is a credit to the both of you. Thanks for sharing him with us.
May his memory be eternal. Sounds like the kind of guy who just might achieve that. I'm sorry, Boss. Best wishes to all who loved him.
Thanks guys. There's just so much I could say. A couple more things: he was a helluva cook. And he cooked by feel. I spent a fair amount of time in the kitchen with him and he'd just come up with ideas on the fly about what to make and his instincts were fantastic. I was in awe of his ability in the kitchen. Also, he made furniture. He told me how he'd seen a dresser in a store that he liked. He had a pen or pencil with him and he used it to make some measurements and then he went home and made the thing himself. It seemed like he had no limit to his creativity and abilities. Also, he wasn't afraid to pay taxes, if you know what I mean.
if you know what I mean
He was good with math but still did the forms twice*?
*first in pencil
The first week of March is a little odd to be on the lookout for tornados.
Right now outside, the thunder is nonstop rolling.
I am picking up wife and daughter at the airport at 11 tonight. I hope they can land on time!
Junior was the starting pitcher today in just his second varsity baseball game. He gave up 6 runs (3 earned) in 3 innings in the 9-7 win. He had 4 strikeouts and 2 walks. He also went 0-for-2 with a walk.
Not bad for a first outing. Go get 'em, Junior!
Don't expect too much coverage from the STrib on the United, which (who?) isn't polling well on the STrib sports site. You would think there would be a bit of a honeymoon period in their first season or two. I would probably catch a game on TV if I stumbled upon it.
Speaking of TV, after much deliberation and investigation, we have decided to cut the cord. We are going with Sling Blue with the Sports add-on channels until college football starts, and then we'll probably switch to PlayStation Vue to get the Big Ten Network, which is slightly cheaper than DirecTV Now (for the moment), which are the only streaming TV services so far that offer the Big Ten Network.
Not sure it's totally accurate to call the club "the United"; that word in the title of a football club is not a nickname like Twins or Wild. The club is Manchester is never referred to as "the United", for instance. I think the Minnesota club's nickname is (officially or unofficially) "the Loons". It's true that MLS doesn't make this particularly easy by having some clubs with nicknames in their actual titles and some without, and it wouldn't surprise me if American papers like the Strib don't know how to handle it.
Based on the STrib poll, I'm sure American papers couldn't care less.
Given the demographics who care about the Strib and who may be interested in the MLS barely touch, I wouldn't put a whole lot of stock on an online poll. Given that The Strib had a 6 page insert on Mn United, hired a soccer beat writer, and had two reporters/columnists at the first game the Strib's effort so far has been quite satisfactory.
The Strib did hire a beat reporter for the soccer beat (twitter here) so I think this year they'll get coverage. But, the United/Loons/whatever sure haven't put out a lot of effort marketing their product. I haven't seen too many commercials on tv. Maybe they are slow rolling it because they are projected to be (maybe MLS historically) terrible and they don't have their stadium up and running yet.
So I think you're supposed to order tickets ahead of time and then I pick them up in Minneapolis and mail them to you. And then you mail me a book. It sounds a little convoluted, I'll admit, but it seems to work for Rhu_Rhu!
Yep, that system seems to work for all parties 😉
If you're taking in one game, go through a broker and get yourself quality seat(s). Go early -- there is practicing going on at all the practice fields. As a matter of fact, go in the morning and watch drills, etc., even when it isn't a game day. Wear a hat and lots of sunscreen. Bring a camera. If ii and Rod Carew walk right by you going between fields, don't disturb their conversation. Visit with other fans. Try foolishly to score the game on the lame scorecards with an inadequate number of lines on the page.
Don't go to a split squad game -- the practice fields can be pretty barren then. Go later in the spring when the minor leaguers report and see a lot more ballplayers.
I wandered over there about a decade ago when it was sold out just to watch stuff on the side fields. Then, the put a "tickets available"sign up about thirty minutes before first pitch. When I bought some, they told me that the seats had been reserved for opposing scouts and became available once certain scouts confirmed they wouldn't be attending that day. I ended up sitting right next to Theo Epstein.
so. many. cardinal fans...
Being where I live and all, the past few spring training games I've ended up attending were vs. Cardinals. The schedulers do the fans a favor by scheduling the Twins on one day and the Red Sox on the other, so that visiting teams (and fans) spend the night and catch two games in Ft. Myers. There are a lot of Cards fans from Jupiter that will drive down for the games (and the beautiful beaches).
this is also the largest percentage of white people i've been amongst in awhile.
I know it won't happen, but I'd be good with FSN just doing radio simulcasts all season long.
Except when Jack Morris joins the booth.
I don't know why this audio source isn't an option yet in MLB.tv. They have all the feeds to make it work.
It could be the in-game promos bring stations enough money that they don't want to leave it up to the viewers to potentially tune away.
Does it matter if the in-game promos are happening on the TV audio feed or the Radio audio feed? Wouldn't the income more or less balance out somewhere along the line?
It might balance out for MLB, but it wouldn't balance out for the TV broadcaster.
TV commercials are not played on MLB.tv, just a graphic. You can overlay radio audio on TV games though MLB will take over the commercials part (kind of, but in the middle of and at a very different volume level than the actual radio commercials; very annoying).
I know the commercials are not carried, but everything in the game is sponsored by someone or another these days. "This pitching change brought to you by Jiffy Lube," etc.
dude, it is.
Yeah, same here. I caught the one they did on Saturday, and enjoyed it quite a bit. It fixes Gladden's biggest flaw, just by nature of all the information being available via HUD at all times.
Though, I was watching some archival footage the other day and was struck by the idea of watching sports without the HUD. Now I sort of want the ability to watch a game without the barrage of info.
Last football season, the NFL released full games on its YouTube channel. Its a bit jarring watching games pre 1994 (when FOX introduced its scoring bug) because of how clean the screen is.
So, my uncle died on Saturday after a brief illness. He was 70.
Thanks for sharing. I feel enriched just reading about him. You have my condolences.
Sorry for your loss. Sounds like a great guy.
I would say that the ethic that I tried to bring to the original site was heavily influenced by him. He had so many interests. Every time you would talk to him he was doing something new.
that's a great eulogy right there (the second sentence, with a wonderful sentiment for the first sentence that rings true).
as they say in the Tribe (not the woo-woo Tribe, the other Tribe), may his memory be a blessing.
He sounds like a wonderful man. His family is in our prayers.
Sorry to hear it, boss. Sounds like quite a person.
What a vivid and thoughtful eulogy.
So sorry for you and your family's loss.
My sympathies, Ken.
A eulogy that fine is a credit to the both of you. Thanks for sharing him with us.
May his memory be eternal. Sounds like the kind of guy who just might achieve that. I'm sorry, Boss. Best wishes to all who loved him.
Thanks guys. There's just so much I could say. A couple more things: he was a helluva cook. And he cooked by feel. I spent a fair amount of time in the kitchen with him and he'd just come up with ideas on the fly about what to make and his instincts were fantastic. I was in awe of his ability in the kitchen. Also, he made furniture. He told me how he'd seen a dresser in a store that he liked. He had a pen or pencil with him and he used it to make some measurements and then he went home and made the thing himself. It seemed like he had no limit to his creativity and abilities. Also, he wasn't afraid to pay taxes, if you know what I mean.
if you know what I mean
He was good with math but still did the forms twice*?
*first in pencil
The first week of March is a little odd to be on the lookout for tornados.
Right now outside, the thunder is nonstop rolling.
I am picking up wife and daughter at the airport at 11 tonight. I hope they can land on time!
Junior was the starting pitcher today in just his second varsity baseball game. He gave up 6 runs (3 earned) in 3 innings in the 9-7 win. He had 4 strikeouts and 2 walks. He also went 0-for-2 with a walk.
Not bad for a first outing. Go get 'em, Junior!
Don't expect too much coverage from the STrib on the United, which (who?) isn't polling well on the STrib sports site. You would think there would be a bit of a honeymoon period in their first season or two. I would probably catch a game on TV if I stumbled upon it.
Speaking of TV, after much deliberation and investigation, we have decided to cut the cord. We are going with Sling Blue with the Sports add-on channels until college football starts, and then we'll probably switch to PlayStation Vue to get the Big Ten Network, which is slightly cheaper than DirecTV Now (for the moment), which are the only streaming TV services so far that offer the Big Ten Network.
Not sure it's totally accurate to call the club "the United"; that word in the title of a football club is not a nickname like Twins or Wild. The club is Manchester is never referred to as "the United", for instance. I think the Minnesota club's nickname is (officially or unofficially) "the Loons". It's true that MLS doesn't make this particularly easy by having some clubs with nicknames in their actual titles and some without, and it wouldn't surprise me if American papers like the Strib don't know how to handle it.
Based on the STrib poll, I'm sure American papers couldn't care less.
Given the demographics who care about the Strib and who may be interested in the MLS barely touch, I wouldn't put a whole lot of stock on an online poll. Given that The Strib had a 6 page insert on Mn United, hired a soccer beat writer, and had two reporters/columnists at the first game the Strib's effort so far has been quite satisfactory.
The Strib did hire a beat reporter for the soccer beat (twitter here) so I think this year they'll get coverage. But, the United/Loons/whatever sure haven't put out a lot of effort marketing their product. I haven't seen too many commercials on tv. Maybe they are slow rolling it because they are projected to be (maybe MLS historically) terrible and they don't have their stadium up and running yet.
Thanks Jim Delaney.