Ah yes, Friday I had my first Wrigley Field experience. What an amazing place. It was a great 24-hour trip to Chicago.
It actually started Thursday night, when Flippen, Ward, Ekhoff and I spent Thursday night in Aurora. You may have remembered my accounts of the Super Bowl party in Ek's basement . Well, this time it was a much smaller group of friends, but dear LORD we were gettin' silly. Somehow we were able to wake up around 8 Friday morning, in time to catch the 9:20 train into Chi-town. The clouds were looming, but we were not gonna let that stop us.
Once we got into Wrigley Ville, I had to buy a hat. Yes, it is now official. The Cubs are my NL team. Of course, they will never match up to my Blue Jays, but I feel like it's ok to cheer for them since I live up here.
Anyway, the next step was onto grab a few beers and some hotdogs. GOTTA have the hotdogs on game day. Great stuff. The bar we hit, was nestled right behind centerfield. It's amazing to me that Wrigley sits on one square block downtown, and there is SO much going on around it. A great atmosphere. I can't imagine what it is like when they make the playoffs. There is one thing for sure: these people LOVE their Cubs.
Once we got into the stadium, we grabbed the front row of left center field. We were loud. We were obnoxious. We were VERY drunk. But it was great to give some hell to the Astros during batting practice and once the game started. I've never been to a park where the players interact with the fans as much as they do at Wrigley. Well, except Craig Biggio. I don't think he liked us one bit. But who cares? Get a clue Astros! People will enjoy you a LOT more once you go back to the throw back uniforms with the mutli-colored orange around the middle of the chest. Until then, no one cares.
A cool day indeed. So I wore a UGA t-shirt and ran in to about 10 people who were UGA grads. There's always that instant bond with fellow Bulldogs, no matter the age. Also ran into my buddy Scott Evans, from Wake Forest. So there you have it, you never know WHO'LL you'll run into in the "Friendly Confines."
Speaking of baseball and my Blue Jays, the guys had a great month of May. Last weekend, they completed their first ever 4-game sweep of the Yanks, and just completed a 3-game sweep of the Red Sox today. The depth at pitching might come to haunt us later in the season, as the Jays are moving to a 4-man rotation, but it's a fun ride right now. Maybe a trade will bulk up that pitching staff.
We begin the 4-day workweeks here at NIU tomorrow. Yes, "everyone" is supposed to abide by the university president's decision to work longer hours Monday-Thursday and not work on Friday. Um, I don't see myself getting off on too many Fridays, but you never know. It would be nice to work on this golf game.
Since it is summer, and I'm finding a little more free time, I've decided to start working out in the weight room again. I need to. As I see it, I'm pretty damn irresistible as it is, but getting this body toned certainly can't hurt. I've hired our assistant track coach, Gretchen, to be my personal trainer. Ok, so I'm not paying her a dime, but since her boyfriend lives in Indiana, she was looking for a work out partner. And I was looking for some damn motivation. We've only had three sessions in the rec center, and she has kicked my ass. Yeah, there are some slight pains and stiff muscles here and there, but I KNOW it's gonna pay off. As long as I can get a good routine down before the Fall, I'll be much more prone to keep it up. Discipline. It's what I need.
Well kids, thanks for reading. Even though I really have no idea who reads this thing regularly, I do appreciate it.