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• Wrigley Rooftop Directory
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Weekend Update, With Byron ClarkeSunday, June 5, 2005I love weekend update on Saturday Night Live, even if it was a little off this year. Man, I miss Jimmy Fallon. Well, I'm at the permahome for the second weekend in a row, and as I have discussed earlier, I feel completely removed from the broader world while I'm here. So, it should come as no suprise that I was unable to watch the game today. But, the Cubs won 4-0! This gave them one swell roadtrip out west, returning with a 6-1 record, and the lead in the wild-card race. On Saturday night, I attended the Indianapolis Indians game at Victory field. As with my other visit, it was quite enjoyable. Although I made the mistake of paying for cheap tickets and then sitting in my seat, I rectified the error three innings later and enjoyed myself immensely mid-way down the third base line. In the cheap seats, I was stuck next to many young families with kids who were annoying, didn't know baseball, and more interested in cotton candy than allowing me to enjoy or even see the game. In the pricier seats ($12 vs. $8) the kids were all a few years older, and knew things like strikeouts, walks, and outs. In a completely freak occurence, I also ran into some of my sister's friends and sat with them for the last few innings. During that time, we started several chants (Let's Go Indy-ans... to the tune of Let's Go Cub-bies) and cheers. At one point we got the entire stadium doing the 'three claps and a rest' cheer and the scoreboard operator picked up on it. So, it is with complete honesty that I tell you that I won the game for the Indianapolis Indians on Saturday night (wrap box log) by leading the fans in cheering, and spurring the team to victory... but Jose Leon helped me out with a walk-off three run homer to cap a comeback. Otherwise, the defense on both sides of the ball was atrocious. There were five errors awarded throughout the night, and a half-dozen more plays that could be considered candidates. No one was too terribly impressive, although I noticed that Cesar Crespo looks a lot like Marcus Giles. Kirk Bullinger also pitched again, and picked up the win. I should also mention that the Indians (Pittsburgh's AAA affiliate) were playing the Charlotte Knights, the White Sox AAA affiliate. I recognized many of the players because of their stints in Chicago, or previous trips to the big leagues. Of note, Ricky Gutierrez, and Roosevelt Brown were both playing for the Knights, as well as Jaime Burke, Ross Gload, and Joe Borchard. Three at-bats were memorable for me. In the top of the sixth, Felix Martinez hit a ball 415 feet... which would have been a homerun in any spot in the ballpark except for where he hit it. The ball basically bounced off the 418 mark in left centerfield. Half an inning later, Graham Koonce hit a ball 405 feet which really did bounce of the wall in the other odd angle in the ball park. Both of these blasts would have been home runs if they had been hit five feet to the left or right of where they were. The third at-bat was of course Jose Leon, whose home run (425 ft) to left field, sent myself and 10,999 other fans home happy. All in all, it was a good night at the minor league ballpark. Victory field is a great place to enjoy yourself, but its not exactly a hot-bed for radical (or even involved) fans... but I'll change that if I end up moving to Indy and becoming a season ticket holder. Well, in Cubs News, Jon Koronka is pitching in tomorrow's game, which I will be attending. Here's hoping for a win! Posted by Byron at June 5, 2005 11:57 PM
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Sounds to me like you had a lot of fun. I'm still going to be hitting some Bisons game at some point this year, and knowing that I should recommend that if you go to another minor league game, you should try for a press pass. They're very easy to get for someone who has a good blog such as yourself.
I have to agree Victory Field is a great minor league park to watch a game. Go Koronka!!