It was Opening Day yesterday at the old ballpark and it had the normal Cleveland trappings. Bunting, nice day but chilly, big flag in the outfield, and the Indians tied for last place. During this latest streak of attending the Opener, this was the deadest our bleacher section was, by far. Normal drinking, plenty of kids, no foul language makes for a pleasant enough experience.

However, a co-worker of mine was in the mezzanine and had to deal with a lot of drinking. He was two seats from a drunken Grandpa Walton and had a drunk, fat guy in his section with a homemade Browns jersey. He was wearing the number 44DD with a nameplate that read "BOOBIES". I guess it depended where your seats were.

Random thoughts from the game:

Slider had a big promo before the game in which he was supposed to deliver the game ball. They had him in a video with "Truckin'" by The Grateful Dead as music. I wondered aloud if he was getting high, because if you're in the bleachers, you really can't see the board. Anyhow, he finally puts the baseball on the rubber to virtually no crowd reaction. PA man then introduces the umps. He was ignored, it was great. He had no Ho Train, as well.

Tom Hamilton's Tribe introductions were lame. Aaron Boone was introduced with "...and off to a great start..." Huh? Casey Blake was intro'ed with something equally inane.

During pre-game, they actually played a video to the tune of "Galvanize". I thought that a good choice, but the music during the game had me pining for G.E. Smith.

Once the shade reached our row, the temperature dropped at least 12 degrees. Instantly.

It took the scoreboard guy three batters to finally notice the game had started.

They ran out of popcorn and onions.

The new bar in right field, The Batter's Eye, was jammed from the start til the end. Let's see how this plays out during a Wednesday night game.

The two kids in front of us high-fived their Dad after every White Sox out. It was kinda cute, so we started high-fiving my Dad. Even later in the bar. I thought I was in a bowling league.

Some youngsters behind us tried to start a beach ball going three times. Unsuccessful on all three counts. Once the ball was hit to a cop, the second was handed over to a cop, and the third was popped by a fan. Total estimated hits amongst the three was 7.

As you can tell, the game was a bit dull, but that's not why you're there. You're there for "the pageantry of Opening Day." Millwood pitched well, we didn't hit and Belliard got thrown out at third for the first out of the 3rd inning with the play in front of him. Game over.

Meal of Links

Trump gives us the scoop on the final "Apprentice" episode. It's only an hour this time. Thank you, God. He also says Angry Non-Homosexual Tobacco Addict has "got a problem".

W reveals his iPod playlist. I'm amazed that Nitzer Ebb and The Damned are on it. Not really. Think George Jones.

Tom Ford heads over to Estee Lauder. He's the Mark McGwire of fashion, because he saved Gucci. Or something like that.

Exercise Yard

Just another case of Flare Play during a soccer match in Milan.



I can't believe that fans still get away with this crap for Lazio in Serie A.



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