Whoa, a whole week passed between posts, thanks to work, houseguests, and a trip to Missouri. Saw my first non-Chicago major league baseball game as the Cardinals hosted Pittsburgh on Saturday. I loved the atmosphere -- very knowledgeable fans, minimal gimmicks. Had great seats just behind the Cards' on-deck circle. They lost 4-3, with the tying run thrown out at home in a bang-bang relay from left field. Boy, that was an exciting play. I grew up a White Sox fan, and my father would disown me if I stopped rooting for them. But it gets harder and harder. It's not the losing -- hell, we're used to that. It's the ballpark and atmosphere that I hate. Too much loud music and hokey "spectacle," as if they don't trust fans to find the game itself sufficiently interesting. All adds up to a pretty depressing way to spend an evening or afternoon, not to mention $200 or so for a family of four.
We raced home from Missouri to catch the finale of Six Feet Under. Amazingly, the local cable co. lost HBO's signal for the last five minutes, and all of the season premiere of The Wire (highly recommended, btw). Had to catch the west coast feed starting at 11 central, and goddam if the signal didn't drop at the exact same spot! Fortunately, it came back after a few seconds. Was a decent send-off for the Fisher clan -- cliffhanger is that we don't know just how Nate's wife died. The season started off abysmally but improved a lot halfway through.
Sunday evening on HBO is the only tv I'll go out of my way to watch. They're clearly positioning The Wire to hold people's attention on Sunday evenings while SFU and the Sopranons are on hiatus. It's an excellent detective procedural, with input from the great George Pelecanos. There are over two dozen central characters, but somehow it all stays on-track, and the cumulative effect is like an absorbing saga. I'm also happy that they now have Tom Waits singing the series theme song, after previously using some unknown vocalist who butchered his "Down in the Hole."
Posted by Vernam at June 2, 2003 12:43 AMAmy, any interest in catching the Reds in Cincy on August 16? We're thinking of stopping there on our way to Knoxville. I'll spring for the garbage bags!
VC
Posted by: Vernam at June 10, 2003 04:42 PMWay to ruin the end of Six Feet Under for me! I'm kidding - I'm actually still in the first season, since I don't have cable, let alone HBO.
And I haven't been to a major league baseball game (always Reds games) in like 10 years. I've always gotten rained on when I've gone, too - the first time, I was 12 and the guy that took us made us stop at a grocery store and buy garbage bags, which when then had to wear, much to the amusement of everyone around us. Good times.
Posted by: amy at June 4, 2003 01:56 PM