Opening Day - Durham style

There've been a few changes around the no longer brand spanking new DBAP, besides the naming of Goodmon Field at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park. (Ummm, Jim, it wasn't a good idea when Duke named it Krzyzewski Court, and it's not such a hot idea at the ballpark either. These things really should wait until after someone dies, you know. But what's done is done.)

First up, there's a new bull in left field. Rumor has it that they'll eventually get around to putting a another bull on the back of this one, but for now, it's just plywood. He's missing a tail, but fortunately, he's not a steer, if you catch my drift.

The party deck is now being sponsored by the AICPA, apparently without irony.
Party on, Wayne!
Here's a nice wide angle shot of the view from the cheap seats, Row Z, Section 211. To be honest, i would have killed for seats like this at Shea Stadium when i was younger.

But wait, what does that ad say next to the 20th anniversary of Bull Durham the Movie logo?
Has anyone thought this ad campaign through? Does anyone care?
The Bulls came out to meet the crowd packed into a bunch of Saturn crossovers. I kept expecting guys with big shoes and red noses to jump out and scare the kids.

But things were made right by the Hillside High School trumpet section opening the season with the Star Spangled Banner.

Thank goodness for that uplifting moment, because the game didn't work out so well.

Memo to Goodmon: lose the ads on the Blue Monster, OK? They still suck. Oh, and check the beer taps, please. My Newcastle never made it out of the tap, and the LongHammer i got as a substitute tasted like powdered lemonade. The ESB was drinkable, though.

Continue reading Opening Day - Durham style

Go Bulls!

The Bulls evened up the Governor's Cup series with the Richmond Braves tonight, 5-1. A good game with lots of extra-curricular activities, which i'm sure you'll be able to read about tomorrow in the papers. I may even post some pictures in the morning myself.

Memo to Jim Goodmon: You don't have to have the frickin' music blasting between every pitch. Give us a chance to chat with the people sitting next to us, or, heaven forbid, heckle the umpires once in a while. It's a baseball game, not a freak show. Oh, and the crowd still wants to do that "whoop - whoooo" thing when the opposing team brings in a relief pitcher in the middle of the inning. Imagine that. Twelve years after the old ballpark closed, and the fans still have their own memories. We really don't need electronic scoreboards and stupid animations to get us to make noise. We can do that ourselves.

Continue reading Go Bulls!

But will they offer eyelid-breathing lessons?

From Kevin's Bull City Rising, regarding the plans for a Minor League Baseball training complex and museum at the old DAP:

One of the other interesting elements to this plan lies in Minor League Baseball's stated annual programs for the site and neighboring facilities (available for download off the City Council agenda web site.) The list -- which seems to presuppose the creation of the national Minor League Baseball Museum, though my understanding has been that that remains conceptual -- includes:

* An annual MiLB promotional seminar, currently held in multiple cities, would move permanently to Durham, bringing representatives of 160 teams, exhibitors, and sponsors.
* MiLB-run academies for interns (seeking to break into the sport on the business side), groundskeepers, and broadcasters (possibly in partnership with Capitol Broadcasting).
* Quarterly "Business of Baseball" workshops
* Three annual Umpire Schools bringing as many as 200 prospective MiLB umpires to the Bull City
* The official headquarters of the MiLB Alumni Association would move to Durham (to be located in the Museum.)
* Four to six Minor League 'fantasy camps' per year, each bringing 40 campers to Durham

Altogether, the schedule of activities that Minor League has in mind is one of the things that, to me, make this a terrific deal for Durham. A steady stream of tourists and visitors bound for the DAP district -- at first for these camps and workshops, eventually to visit the museum -- means more traffic for the Marriott and the new boutique hotel, more patrons at local restaurants and shops. We're adding more and more things to do downtown; renovating the DAP and partnering with Minor League Baseball makes downtown Durham a destination for sports lovers.

Oh, and MiLB will (naturally) show the movie Bull Durham on a regular basis at the old park.

(emphasis added)

I'm thinking a Bull Durham themed fantasy camp ought to be a big hit with a certain demographic.

Continue reading But will they offer eyelid-breathing lessons?

Mea culpa

Kevin reminds me that Saturday night marked Boston Herald sportswriter Steve Buckley's visit to Durham, to take in a Bulls game and other assorted "minor-league" entertainments.

Now, this is actually embarassing for me. See, back in March, when the brouhaha first started boiling over, i wrote: "Quite frankly, i don't really care what you do when you're in Durham. I'll be too busy enjoying myself."

And while i was too busy enjoying myself to check in on Steve over the weekend, the fact is, i went to Raleigh on Saturday night to do so.

The good news is i hung out with a bunch of other Durham bloggers, but there's no getting around the fact that we were in Wake County.

How will i ever live this down?

Continue reading Mea culpa

Opening Night

Thanks to some unplanned good fortune (h/t to MC) i was able to attend Opening Night ceremonies at the DBAP last night. First time in all my years in Durham that i've made it to the first game of the season. Saw a couple of skydivers floating in while we were waiting in line to enter. That was cool. Didn't catch if there were any special ceremonies announcing the naming of the playing field in honor of Jim Goodmon. I guess the official name is now the Goodmon Field at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park, which trips off the tongue about as awkwardly as the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, but i guess most people will still just say, "Hey, going to the Bulls game tonight?"

When we left, the Bulls were up 1-0, with a no-hitter working. (It was cold. We weren't dressed for the occasion.) Turns out they lost 2-1.

That's the breaks.

I did want to call attention to two items, though.

First, the new TV screen and advertisements on the Blue Monster in left field.

They suck.

Out loud.

From our seats behind third base the glare from the TV screen made the hand-operated scoreboard directly below it unreadable. I can't imagine what it's going to do to outfielders trying to play a carom. The ads also are poorly designed and reflect nothing of the long heritage of baseball stadium advertisements. This big a change could have and should have been done in a much more sensitive way that added to the ballpark experience, rather than just being revenue source.

Second, and this ties in with some of the discussion over at Atrios' today about religion and atheism.

I'm not much for organized religion. And generally speaking, i'm even less when it comes to public prayer. My daughter used to play judo, and every time we'd go to a tournament, sometimes driving 6 hours each way for the privilege of competing for less than 10 minutes, the tournament was almost always gotten underway with a solemn public prayer invoking the spirit of Jesus Christ to protect the competitors and bless the mats and what all. I guess they assumed there were no Jews since the tournaments generally took place on Saturdays, and no Muslims, since, well, it was North Carolina.

Public prayer almost always serves to highlight differences between people. And quite frankly, if your God is omnipotent, He's got a pretty good idea of what you need without your having to use a public address system to let Him know.

But one of the Bulls players read a prayer before the game last night (and i wish i knew which one. I'll do my best to find out and post an update) which i assume he had written himself. In it, he called on all the spectators to remember those who could not be in attendance, whether due to illness, infirmity, or poverty. He asked us to remember the sacrifices of loved ones far away from home, as well as the innocent victims of wars and conflicts. He reminded the the players and the fans how special it is to be able to enjoy the simple pleasures of life, including the great game of baseball. And he did it all without actually mentioning any deities.

If everyone who felt compelled to invoke the glory of the Lord in public for my benefit could speak so movingly, i might actually listen once in a while.

Continue reading Opening Night

More from Steve Buckley

Oh sweet Jesus, now they've done it. Boston Herald columnist Steve Buckley (see the post below) has accepted the Durham Bulls' invitation to come down on June 30 and partake of the "minor league experience" of a game against the Toledo Mud Hens.

Our boy really gets in to the spirit of the thing too:

That any media outlet in North Carolina would even touch this thing only hammers home the original point: With Duke having gone up in flames in the first round of the NCAA tourney, there really isn’t anything going on in Durham these days.

Sweet.

The Bulls would like me to enjoy a “Complete Durham Bulls Experience,” including the following: Dragging the infield with the grounds crew, working an inning as the public address announcer, working an inning as a hot dog vendor, and “sumo wrestling a local sports columnist.”

I’ll pass on that last one, owing both to a bad back and, having met many North Carolina sportswriters, my unwillingness to come away from the experience with tobacco spittle and beef jerky all over my hands.

I don’t know much about the new park in which the Bulls play, other than that there is a Blue Monster in left field and that the oversized bull that was used as a prop in “Bull Durham” is now on display on the concourse level of the new yard.

The Bulls no doubt assumed my response to their press release would be to write some kind of column ripping their team, their ballpark, their city.

They were wrong. Instead, they tricked my editor into assigning me to attend a Durham Bulls game this season.

Steve, maybe you'll be a better person for coming down to Durham and enjoying our hospitality, maybe you won't. Come down a day early and catch the free music at the Friday night Warehouse Blues series in West Village. Have a beer at a sidewalk table on one of our fine dining establishments on Main St. Shoot a game of pool at the Green Room. Buy a condo downtown for what a parking space costs up in Beantown.

Quite frankly, i don't really care what you do when you're in Durham. I'll be too busy enjoying myself.

Sorry about the Bruins, though.

Continue reading More from Steve Buckley

"This isn’t a swipe at Duke, or at Durham."

So says Boston Herald columnist Steve Buckley in a piece published earlier in the week upon the occasion of the Boston College Eagles being knocked out of the NCAA tournament.

Seems that some Eagles boosters are upset that their plucky little team isn't more like Duke, their plucky little arena isn't more like Cameron, and their plucky little coach doesn't make as many cheesy commercials as Coach K. So Buckley puts on his civic booster hat to remind his readers that they live in Boston, and they've got a major league baseball team. You know, and they play against the Yankees sixteen times a year. Whereas Durham is "just another minor league tank town." And we get to play against Cpl. Klinger's beloved Toledo Mud Hens.

So there.

I've got two words for Mr. Buckley.

Celtics.

And Bruins.

Now talk to me about minor league towns.

Seriously, what would Mr. Buckley's analyst think about his need to defend Boston's sports quotient against Durham? We know that Durham wasn't even on the map when Paul Revere was riding through town at midnight. We're OK with that.

Just like most of us are resigned to the fact that Duke football's never gonna be a contender. It's just not that big a deal.

More concerning, though, is the response of the Durham Bulls, which have put out a press release inviting Mr. Buckley to come to a Bulls - Mud Hens game in June to get the "full Minor League Baseball experience." Work the scoreboard for an inning. Drag the infield. Race Wool E. Bull around the bases. (That might be worth the price of admission, to see Wool E.'s 10 year losing streak come to an end.)

What good can possibly come of this invitation? Do they think that Buckley might have a good time, see the error of his ways, and apologize? Do we need Buckley's apology to validate ourselves?

I like the minor league experience. I like not having to plan my trip to the ballpark in February, and not having to raid my retirement account to pay for it. I like not having to pay 7 bucks for a parking spot two miles away from the gate. I could do without the sumo wrestling, to be honest, but some folks find it charming.

No, better that the Steve Buckley's of the world stay smug in their press boxes in Boston and Detroit, and New York. If they come down here and realize how likable the minor league experience is, next thing you know, they'll be bringing their friends and relations. And that means i'll have to start buying my tickets in February.

And paying the big bucks to park.

No thanks.

Continue reading "This isn’t a swipe at Duke, or at Durham."