Thank Goodness For Local Baseball: Richmond Flying Squirrels Game One

Richmond Flying Squirrels (AA GIANTS) Vs. Bowie Baysox (AA ORIOLES)

Final Score RFS 4, BBS 1
The Richmond Flying Squirrels aim to please. Sunday Afternoon was a bulls-eye.

Ever since Mayor Wilder fkkin blew it by refusing to build the R-Braves a new stadium, we have been without the roundball on the Boulevard. Now the R Braves are states away and Virginia seems hell bent on jamming the Nationals down your throat. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate watching losers win a little and get lauded for it, and I really appreciate that the brewers are so near by twice a year. (I haven't been to "Natstown" yet, but I traded up for O's opening day last year, so I feel alright)

The Makeover the Diamond recieved when the Braves left was a huge improvement. I have loves and hates about it. The Braves just made it seem old-school somehow, and the state of decay of the stadium had something to do with that. I just don't know if I am ready for the rabid squirrel invasion that is the marketing machine of AA baseball. They have some asshole (usually a kid, sorry kid.) come out between EVERY INNING and do some stupid human trick that the crowd sort-of cheers for. Despite the super-size beers, this got annoying real quick. At least we had great seats. Field-level, third base line. The seats are much more comfortable than they used to be, and for some reason the players seem more accessible, though there has been no noticeable change to the infrastructure. The away bullpen still warms up on a sophomoric-looking mound, out in the open.

Daryl Maday was pitching, and so far as I can tell, he has got some serious stuff. Conor Gillespie is starting third, but the only reason i know his name is because of all of the unsold manu-patch autos of his that came out of 09 Finest.....jury's out on his skills, I was mostly checking out the park.

some goofy shit is constantly going on at the Diamond. I am pretty positive that we have Sgt. Slaughter coming for an evening in June. What type of skill or entertainment value that he will bestow upon the crowd is anybody's guess.

Some great FutureBirds were signing for us as we got to our seats in time for the anthem. Really can't say if I like the Birds or the Squirrels better...yet. Like I said...Local baseball, man....it is almost unbeatable. The hopefully-Camden Yards-bound bullpen was in good spirits on a beautiful day, and I was able to snag my first few autos of the season without leaving my seat.

Up top-left is #7 Pitcher Eduardo Gamboa, the first to walk past and agree to stop and sign...actually (My fiance and I only missed one guy who walked past during the game, Widlanski was his name, who I had a BPP a card of.) Next is #6 Pitcher Zachary Clark, and below-left is pitcher #32 Patrick Egan, Born in CT like my lady and I, and finally Pitcher #15, Timothy Bascomb. these guys were great, polite and professional. It was a great break from the Glorified-little-league that I coach called "Junior Varsity". (we are 6-10)

My wifey at-first questioned me about my choice of red sharpie, yes it was brand new, I prefer a lightly used one for the wider tip. We both agreed later that the fact that I only had a couple of cards to get signed, made the ticket-sigs that much cooler and the red made them stand out in such a wonderful way. As you can see below, the last sig we got was right after the game, when Chorye Spoon came back, presumeably because I had chrome on me, Bowman Chrome. The red again looks great, but you can never get a perfect line on chrome with a sharpie, new or old it is difficult (see Bowman Originals mess)

Great time, great company (I love you Nicole) and a wonderful Sunday all around. Got some sun on my head, a new squirrels cap, and then capped it off with a few Leine's (yes we get those here now) with my sister, brother-in-law and nephews. You can't make this stuff up.

Well maybe I could, but you'd never know.