The Rangers Last Game, Garagiola, Mountains, Prescott

Day 227 on the road.

The Rangers and MLB ended Spring Training this week, officially on Thursday. A new record attendance of 1.3 million fans made it to the Cactus League this year. The reason: severe winter weather in the north and east made it easy for many to head south for some baseball this year. An estimated 60 percent of the fans are from out of state.

I attended the last two Rangers home games, one was a night game on Tuesday night. The weather was perfect. The last game was yesterday. It began at Noon so the players could get out of town early.

Joe Garagiola was at the game autographing his new book, "Just Play Ball."

Below is a video clip from yesterday's last game of the 2008 season.

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I met a Rangers Bat Boy at a game when he took the seat next to mine while his mother remained on the lawn in the outfield. I was shooting a video clip when he convinced a player to toss him a ball. I promised him I would post the clip of him on YouTube, so here it is. He was back to work on the bench yesterday with the Rangers, shagging balls and bats.




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After the game I drove through the mountains to Prescott, Arizona. I'm there now. I'm posting this update from a Starbucks north of downtown. What a beautiful town, sitting on the slopes of the mountains and in the Prescott National Forest.


The trip from Surprise was easy enough. I just took Hwy. 69 north to a little town called Wickenburg. From there I took Hwy. 89 north which takes you directly through a mountain range.
Be prepared to take your time if you drive this scenic route to Prescott. The roads curve severely and you must reduce your speed in most cases to 20-25 miles an hour. But the views are breathtaking.











Once you arrive in Prescott, you find a nice sized town built among the slopes of the mountains that surround the town. I've not seen one street that isn't sloped or elevated. The new mall is built in what looks like a hill that was cut out for that purpose.

Downtown has a monumental country courthouse and plaza that is heavily treed and beautiful. I read that this historic town was the first capital of the new Arizona territory under President Lincoln.

Day 220 on the road.

It's getting warmer, today's high to reach the mid-80s. On Easter Sunday the forecast is 89 degrees, sunshine.

I made it to Starbucks this morning and decided to walk to the grocery store for some breakfast food. I was thinking how great the weather was and saw numerous people walking their dogs and enjoying the cool morning. In a few weeks as the heat arrives, these cool days will be gone. I've been told, however, the nights and mornings are still cool during the summer months...even though the afternoon heat will top 100 degrees.

I'll be attending another Rangers game today. It's one of the few night games, so I expect it to be cool...if not downright cold. I'm going to revisit downtown Glendale and the Westgate City Center on my way to Surprise. My first visit to these hotspots was during Super Bowl weekend when thousands of football fans from all over the country were in town. I'm going back today for a quieter and less crowded visit.

I read in this mornings Arizona Republic newspaper about a local business owner from Tempe who donated a few professionally built poker tables to the troops in Iraq. The man owns a company that sells poker and gambling supplies and was approached by the military about donating some new tables. The troops like to play poker to keep their minds active while off duty and enjoy playing poker tournaments during their downtime (poker has always been a popular game among the troops, even during the Civil War when poker was just starting to make the rounds up and down the Mississippi River). Of course, when I play poker, I sometimes feel as if I'm in a battle, fighting my way through a mindfield. Go figure. I guess it's all a matter of perspective.

Tommy Lasorda, a Blind Man, and Hulu

Day 219 on the road.

It's sunny outside and I'm having my morning coffee and reading the New York Times wondering if Hillary has a chance to overtake Obama. I watched Obama's speech on race relations and admired his attempt to save himself from the quagmire created by his former pastor. I'm sure Hillary was licking her significantly large chops over the whole thing.

But as a conservative, and a reluctant supporter of John McCain, I'm just enjoying the theater of it all. I must give Obama the credit for being an outstanding speaker. But I must not let the elegance of his oratory pontification overshadow the ugliness of his liberal and radical beliefs.

Enough politics.
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I’m not sure what I’ll do today. I’m thinking about just working on my web site and doing some reading, writing, and hanging out without having to drive anywhere too far…give my car and gas tank a day off. I’ll be here through next week, so there’s no need to be in any hurry to see other things in the area. I’d like to check out WestWorld in Scottsdale. And the McDowell Sonoran Preserve is another area I’d like to see. I’d also like to drive east to Apache Junction.

Tomorrow’s Rangers game is at 6 p.m., so I’ll have the day to kill. I will probably wash clothes at the Laundromat in Scottsdale I’ve used before, then slowly head to Surprise Stadium. I've only got three games left before Spring Training comes to an end next week.
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Tommy Lasorda and the Dodgers Moving Spring Training Here Next Year

The Los Angeles Dodgers are establishing a new “Dodgerstown” in Phoenix this week, making plans to permanently move their Spring Training camp to Glendale next year. The team has spent the past 60 years in Vero Beach, Florida. Sighting family concerns, the Dodgers are moving to Arizona. They feel the team’s families and friends will have an easier commute to Arizona than Florida. According to Charles Steinberg, the Dodgers chief marketing officer, “It was so difficult for families to make the trip from Los Angeles (to Florida).” A flight from L.A. is much cheaper to Phoenix, and the drive isn’t that bad, either.

So Glendale, a suburb to the northwest of downtown Phoenix, has another reason to celebrate. They are building a new baseball complex to provide a home for the Dodgers, and it will be completed by next year. They hosted the Super Bowl this year and have already begun to submit an application to get the Super Bowl again the next year it’s available. The city has agreed to spend $500,000 to assure the Super Bowl returns. Glendale is becoming a sports venue powerhouse. Just a few years ago, it was a small town with very little to brag about.

With the popular Dodgers coming to the valley, the Phoenix/Tucson area has more professional baseball training camps than any other place in the country.
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I'm attending an arts festival this weekend: the Fountain Hills Fine Art and Wine Affaire, Avenue of the Fountains, in Fountain Hills. Fountain Hills is located northeast of Scottsdale on the eastern slope of the McDowell Mountains.
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Inspiring Story of the Week: Blind Man Climbs Camelback Mountain

Jeremy Schmidt hiked up Echo Canyon leading to the top of Camelback Mountain last week, and the 27-year old area resident is blind. In less than a month, he went from having 20/20 vision to not being able to spot an eye chart in a doctor’s office. A genetic disease damaged his optic nerves, cutting off the signal from his eyes to his brain.

After two months of trying to deal with the loss of his sight, Jeremy decided he couldn’t just sit around and let his life slip away. Having been an outdoorsman his whole life, he went back to doing those things he enjoyed: horseback riding, hiking, mountain climbing. Last week, his 1.2 mile hike up Echo Canyon along with his father was one step in returning to a normal life.

“I didn’t think my whole life was over,” he said. “Not by far. It just meant it was going be one heck of a challenge.”
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Hulu.com is now up, and it looks great. The site arrives courtesy of NBC and Fox, and it will offer free episodes of shows like Arrested Development and movies like The Jerk. It’s a sign of things to come: television and movies will one day be watched primarily online…or will they? What’s going to happen to the cable companies once the Internet becomes the main portal for delivering entertainment? Will your cable modem one day be obsolete like the 8-track tape and cassette?

Rangers Lose (Again) and The District Marketplace

The Texas Rangers once again found themselves behind early after giving up six runs in four innings today. So far the Ranger pitching staff seems to be struggling. But this is nothing new, unfortunately.

It was another beautiful day at Surprise Stadium, with very little wind, 74 degrees, and bright sunny skies. Below are some pictures from today's game.


Ian Kensler, Michael Young, and ? taking a pre-game walk. The Homerun Party Deck behind them is a "bar and buffet" place for postgame tomfoolery. They usually have a live band on hand, plus plenty of suds.

One of the numerous photogs who are here to cover the games. I think he dropped his hotdog or something.

A young Rangers fan trying to ponder the question, "Why can't we ever find some pitching for this team?" Answer: Tom Hicks is a tightwad.

A Hippie and his companion singing the National Anthem. How groovy.

Either the National Anthem is being played...or, they are watching highlights from last year on the Jumbotron.

"Look, Daddy, the Padres just hit another homerun."

The scoreboard says it all. The Rangers scored some runs late (five), but it was too little too late. Kevin Mench's 3-run homer wasn't enough. Final score: Padres 9, Rangers 5.

This guy gets the "Dumbest Hat Award" for 2008 Spring Training. I think he let his love of baseball go to his head.

After the game I drove back east via Loop 101 and stopped off at a nice outdoor shopping mall, The District at Desert Ridge.

I'm at my "office", it's a Thursday night, and the place is a little strange tonight.

Just across the room from me is a group of people with Middle-Eastern accents discussing a new church they are starting--an evangelical church, not a Muslim one. It's a reminder of the "melting pot" our country is known for, and has renewed my faith in freedom. God bless America (hand over your heart, please).

Then, a woman approached a man drinking his latte and gave him a small button that said, "Accept Your Success." She tells the guy, "I'm with a group that believes to have true success you just have to believe in yourself. Tonight, our members were given the challenge to see how many buttons we can sell. Do you have a dollar? The button is free, but we are trying to sell them for a dollar." The guy sheepishly reached into his pocket. "Sure, I'll give you a buck." If she had approached me I would have said, "I'll give you two dollars if you'll go away and leave me in peace." She ignored me, however, because I quickly put on my headphones in order to send the messsage, "Leave me alone."

Just a recap of yesterday. I spent most the morning and early afternoon at the Fine Arts Expo (where you can hang out with artists while they work on stuff and you can basically bore them to death with questions like, "How do you make that shadow on the horse's head look so real?) I then drove further north to Carefree and the neighboring community of Cave Creek. At Cave Creek, a new western-themed retail and office development is almost completed. They call it "Stagecoach Village" and the development seeks to mimic an old western town.

So far, the only offices currently in use belong to real estate agents. A ReMax residential office is open, although I saw some agents still unloading their wagons and it appeared they were still moving in.

According to the newspaper, it will be another six to nine months before all of the offices and retail spaces are occcupied. It's a beautiful setting among the foothills of Black Mountain.

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That was yesterday. Today, my plan was to take a walking tour of Arizona State University, home of the Sun Devils. I spent about three hours on campus and in the area retail shops nearby.



Sun Devil Stadium is just a couple of blocks north of the main campus.


College Ave. Marketplace (above) is located between Sun Devil Stadium and the main campus further south. The mountain with an "A" on it is in the background. The University of Arizona in Tucson also has an "A" mountain. Why do colleges in Arizona feel the need to place big ugly letter A's on nearby mountains?

The best place to go shopping and have lunch is the Mill Avenue District just to the west of the campus. I found all kinds of places to eat, drink, buy stuff, and just hang out. (Photos below.)

I took the above shot of ASU head football coach Dennis Erickson, his face plastered on banners around the area. He's smiling because he makes over $2 million a year.

I took the photo above from the second floor of an old bookstore that specialized in out-of-date and collectible books like you find in most garage sales. They were going out of business (big surprise since there is a Border's Bookstore just down the street). The owner said I could rent the 1900 square foot retail space for $24 a foot. I told her, "I think I'll just buy these books." I found a drawing book published in the 1950's teaching how to sketch protraits, and a Civil War book of Mathew Brady's photographs.

Photos from my walking tour of the ASU campus:

The palm trees above are called Mexican Fan Palms (Washingtonia robusta). They come from Mexico and are very popular in Arizona for landscaping. The one drawback: they grow so tall you can't trim them without a very tall ladder.

Rangers Lose...but Nolan Ryan Makes a Visit

I began the morning with good intentions: I wanted to find a Scottsdale fitness club to use for the month. I'm losing some pounds, but I need to get some exercise and I thought some free-weight training might firm up the mid-section (I'm old and flabby, you know).

I found a LA Fitnesss facility not far from the Casino Arizona (my home port), so I went inside and met John. John gave me a tour of the place and it was just right for my needs. However, the only rate plan available for a traveler like me was way too expensive.

"Why do they charge so much for guy who just wants to use the place a couple of times a week for a month?" I asked John.

"Uh...I don't know." He looked a little disappointed that I wasn't going to pay a registration fee plus an enormous weekly amount to work on my chest and flabby waist.

So I left and drove toward Surprise for my date with the Texas Rangers and the Arizona Diamondbacks. On my way I stopped by an RV showroom and looked at a travel trailer. I found one just the right size for $13,995. I told Dan, the salesman, "Well, let me go see the Rangers play some ball, and I'll think about it." He looked a little disappointed, too.

I made a stop by Walmart to buy some snacks and water before heading for the stadium. Suggestion: take food and water with you when you go to the ballpark. Otherwise, you'll have to take out a second mortgage and sell your bedroom furniture to buy a hamburger and coke at the stadium. The stadium rules for these games at Surprise Stadium: you can bring in food, unopened bottled water (no soft drinks), and your bag must fit under your seat.

Today's photo album is below. By the way, for you photographers who might read my blog (Linda, Jay, etc.), I use a Nikon Coolpix 5200 with 7.1 Megapixels, 2.5 inch LCD screen, ISO up to 1000, and a 3x Zoom. The camera is the size of a credit card, less than one-half inch thick, and easily fits in my pocket. I paid around $200 for it last Fall. The quality of the photos are not that bad for such a small and inexpensive camera.

Banners are hung around the major roadways leading to the stadium.

My seat location is much better today, and I'll have this seat for the remainder of my games. Next year I have made plans to return to this seat...and hopefully see a World Series pennant hanging on the dugout. (Well, we can dream can't we?) I'm on the first row, just behind the Rangers dugout. I can spit on Michael Young if he strikes out. (Notice I'm wearing a Dallas Mavericks shirt along with my Rangers cap. My sweats are red and they have an Arizona University Wildcat logo on them. I looked like a sports dork.)

The view of the dugout from my seat.

Michael Young about to hit a home run. He knocked the approaching pitch into far right center field for a 2-run homer. The Rangers were behind 5-0 at the time. After the next inning, Young and a few other starters left the field. He only played three innings today.

Josh Hamilton on first base. Josh is a fan favorite this spring. Most fans want the former drug addict to make it back and be successful this time around. He says with "God's help, all things are possible."

Former Ranger great and Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan was at the game. He was recently hired as President of the ball club, and he hopes to see success here before he retires from baseball for good. He signed a two-year contract. A long line of fans were waiting for him to sign autographs. I asked him to give me his jacket. It's very cool. He told me to get lost.

Here is Nolan biting his tongue before he says the Rangers sucked last year. Maybe this year will be different.

The Seat from Hell

I walked into the Surprise Stadium for an afternoon of baseball with my beloved Texas Rangers but soon found my seat was in Hell. I didn't realize Hell was a part of baseball, but then I remembered Roger Clemens' remarks before Congress a few days ago. His seat was in Hell, too.

I ordered my package of tickets online and had a fuzzy idea about my seat location. But I was soon disappointed. I found myself sitting next to Lucifer and his partner, Old Cranky Man. My tickets were inprinted with "Section 105, Row V, Seat 3." When I saw the seat, I almost cried. Lucifer and Old Cranky Man were on my right eating hotdogs in seats 1 and 2. On my left, of course, was the brick wall that stretched 20 feet into the air providing support for the floor above.

Was I destined to watch the Texas Rangers from a seat between a brick wall and two of Hell's biggest baseball fans?

I suppose I should explain the reason for referring to the two older gentlemen as Lucifer and Old Cranky Man. When I first pointed out my seat to them, they both looked at me with a "You can go to hell" expression on their faces. They were not Rangers fans, but were from Kansas City. They loved the Royals. Kansas City is Hell, so you can understand my monikers for these men.

But all was not hopeless. I met Kendra in the Box Office (Heaven) and she happily exchanged my tickets and found me better seats. Kendra saved me from the depths of Hell and showed me the Light. My new seats are located five rows back of the Rangers dugout, on the aisle.

Hallelujah.

Rangers "Breeze" to an 8-7 Victory

After leaving the Pro Shop at Surprise Stadium with my new Rangers ball cap, the little old lady behind the counter said, "Don't lose your new hat. It's windy outside." Then I walked outside and was handing the old gentleman at the gate my ticket, and he said, "Don't lose your hat. The wind is pretty strong today."
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No kidding. The day was perfect except for winds blowing everything asunder. I've lived through worse, growing up in north Texas. The spring winds in Wichita Falls can be severe, too. I remember spring baseball games while I was in high school, winds blowing so bad you couldn't wear a hat, much less lose it.
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The Texas Rangers played anyway, and posted a walk-off victory in the 9th inning after a base hit drove in the winning run. The 8-7 win over the Royals was before an estimated crowd of 5,256 fans. The Rangers were ahead most of the game, but the Royals came back and were ahead in the 9th inning 7-5. The Rangers scored two runs on a homer, then drove in the winning run with one out in the 9th to win the game.
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The only SNAFU I experienced was over my seat. I purchased an 8-game packet over the internet a few weeks ago, and therefore I had to hope my seat was going to be a good one. I had a general idea by looking at the small ridiculous stadium drawing they give you online, and I thought I was seated just behind the Royals dugout. However, when I actually saw where my seat was located, I was not happy.
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My seat was on the top row of the lower level (which isn't bad), the inside seat of a 3-seat row (bad), and next to a humungous brick pilar/wall that stretched upward to the floor above (very bad). To make it worse, the other two seats were occupied by two elderly and snotty Royals fans who were not happy to see me wearing a Rangers ball cap. So I was faced with the possibility of sitting between a brick wall and two crabby old Royals fans for the next month.
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This is not going to work, I told myself. Luckily there were plenty of unoccupied seats further down the aisle, so I sat elsewhere for today's game. During the 7th inning stretch I went to the Box Office and spoke to Kendra (very cute). She was happy to exchange my tickets for other seating (very helpful). Thanks, Kendra. I now have a seat on the aisle about five rows back of the Rangers dugout to watch the seven games I have left.
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Here are some photos from today's game.

The First Base Entrance to Suprise Stadium. Parking was just across the street and very close. The last Rangers game I saw at the Ballpark in Arlington, Texas (home field for the Rangers during the regular season) I had to walk 6 miles to find my seat.

My first view of the stadium. The crowd was just beginning to arrive. The stadium as voted "Best Sports Venue" or something by some Phoenix organization, according to the announcer.

A picture from my seat at today's game. For the next seven games I'll be on the other side behind the Ranger's dugout and much closer to the field.

Spring ball with the Rangers may become an annual event for me. I'm already making plans to be back next year. I told Kendra what seat I want reserved for next Spring. "Don't stick me next to a brick wall," I told her.