April Baseball

Mary Beth, Clark, and I learned yesterday that baseball in April is a dangerous proposition. Let me give you the skinny on our first family trip. Opening Day at Jacob's Field. It had all the appeal to me. Clark becoming an Indians fan from the earliest moments. Sounds great. We had our tickets and we were off to Cleveland at noon yesterday. The first pitch was slated for 3:05, which gave us an extra hour to get parked, get to the stadium, and get situated. We left Columbus to sunny skies and a temperature of 70 degrees. Things were progressing smoothly, when about 20 miles from Cleveland we came to a standstill on I-71 North. Thirty minutes later we were being ushered off the interstate into a neighborhood we knew nothing about. We fumbled around trying to find our way back to the interstate, but the next entrance ramp we found was also closed. Finally, thirty minutes later, we were back on I-71 North towards Cleveland. Then, I had to pee so bad, I had to make a quick bathroom stop. The stadium came into view as the second inning kicked off. 3:30 in downtown Cleveland turned out to be a bad time to try and find a parking spot. We drove around for an hour trying to find a spot. Finally, luckily, near the stadium we unpacked Clark and his entourage of stuff, and ran to the stadium. After walking all the way around the stadium, we finally came to our seats (we began at section 502, and our seats were in 572 - if that gives you any clue as to how far we walked). We finally came to our section, and found our row . . . the very last row.) As we climbed to the pinnacle of Jacob's Field the temperature continued to plumit as it would climbing a mountain. Turns out there were 20 - 30 mph sustained winds and the temperature was only about 55. That made it feel like about 40 up in our seats. Clark watched the fourth inning with his mom, then she took him to the bathroom to feed. I withstood the winds until she called saying they were done (in the seventh inning by then). We hung out in the commons area for about an inning, then made our way to the left field homerun porch where we watched the ninth inning. Cleveland lost 2-1 which makes the day all that much better. People passing us had that look on their face of, "I can't believe those people brought their baby out in this weather." Oh well, it was an experience nonetheless. Clark has to be an Indians fan after that. Once I get a chance and get things working at home, we'll get some pictures up of him all bundled up in his seat. It was pretty funny. He was in the best mood when we got him back to the car . . . I think he was a bit relieved to be out of the gale force winds. All in all, a family tradition has been started - the Metzes at Opening Day at Jacob's Field. We have learned in our first experience not to trust the weather in Columbus. Cleveland may not be very far away, but that big lake has a lot more to say with the weather up there than here.

Clark survived and so did we. Cleveland will make a run at the Central Division crown this year. We will be back in June - not as much a chance of freezing our butts off then. Maybe we'll make it back a little later in the summer too.