Hey all!
After a very, very long travel day across the country, I can now say that I have returned to the happy confines of Eugene. The past five days have been very memorable, but I am very glad to be home.
First off, I want to say how proud I am of my brother. He went up against some great competition and did very well. While he may not have jumped as high as he wanted, it was the experience that counts. In all the successes I had as a high jumper, I never had the opportunity to go to a national meet like this one. I am so proud that he has gotten the opportunity and took advantage of it.
I had a lot of time to digest what has happened to me these last five days in the Tar Heel State. I went to three baseball games in three separate cities. I would like to shoot off some closing remarks about my trip.
First, all three parks I went to were extremely nice and well-maintained. My favorite park would have to have been Burlington. The small, quaint park just really appealed to me. Sure, only 721 people showed up for that game, but you got a real sense of community at that park. But what really struck me as awesome was the purity of it all. No flashy video boards, blaring music, or useless promotions. Just baseball. Putting the experience into words is very difficult to do, but I kind of got the feeling that this is the way the game was supposed to be played and watched. Cheap tickets and concessions, small town teams, and youthful players. It was as close to perfection as I have ever seen.
The Greensboro Grasshoppers have a lot going for them at Newbridge Bank Park. They have a wonderful location, cheap prices, and a dedicated fan base. It would seem at first glance that everything was perfect there, too. But the atmosphere was just way too over-the-top for my liking. They really need to shut off those sound effects, put the PA guy in the press box, and fire the on-field promo guy. It got so annoying there after about the third inning that it became a distraction from the game. This is a big NO-NO in my book. If they were to fix the atmosphere, then they would rank amongst the best, in my book, minor league parks in the country.
Durham is the so-called "Most Famous Minor League Team in America", and I believe it. They have done a wonderful job of living up to that hype. The DBAP is an incredible ballpark and I absolutely love the neat little quirks that were there. Certainly one of the best parks I've ever been to.
I hate driving everywhere. Sure, my parents were nice enough to foot the bill for the rental car, but a part of me likes the excitement of traveling on the trains from town-to-town and walking around the cities. I get a better vibe of what's going on if I do that. The freedom of having a vehicle at my disposal was nice at times, but I like the traditional way of doing BRTs.
While on the topic of vehicle travel, North Carolina freeways are the most boring in the country. Here on the West Coast, the freeways tend to travel right through the downtown areas. I like that because it gives some scenery to the road. In North Carolina, everything is funneled onto beltways around the core of the cities. You wouldn't have known you were going through Raleigh or Durham if it weren't for the signs on the exits. It makes for a very boring road trip.
That all being said, I could never live in North Carolina. The heat and humidity in the summer, snow in the winter, and constant threat of hurricanes is way too much for me. This is another instance where Oregon outranks everyone in it's natural beauty and moderation when it comes to the weather. As much as I harp on this state, we do have it pretty darn good here.
So, I get to catch my breath, but only for a little bit. The countdown now begins for my much anticipated trip up to Canada. Unlike the North Carolina BRT, Canada has been planned for months and I am very excited to take the Baseball Extravaganza 2009 international.
I will be hitting lots of Em's games from here until I leave for Canada on the 11th. If anything comes up, I'll most definitely update the blog, but otherwise I'll talk to all of you from Canada!
Always take on a 3-0 pitch ;)
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