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Get Your Game On, Go Play
Jul. 13th, 2004 08:35 amTonight is the 75th annual All-Star Game. Houston is host to the big game, but the chaos that was the Superbowl doesn't seem to be here. There's no Paris Hilton sightings (thank God), the parties are relatively calm, and there's no halftime show. I don't think we'll see the problem of Rubben Studdard, who's singing "God Bless America" during the seventh-inning stretch, if he happens to show a man-boob.
If you're an American Idol Fan, you'll be happy to know that Fantasia will be singing the national anthem. I'm surprised they couldn't get local boy Clint Black. It's a decidedly low-wattage affair. Reports of people going star-hunting have come up disappointed. Baseball, unfortunately isn't cool. Still, there's talk that Mark McGwire is somewhere in town. Has anyone seen him at the Ripcord?
Everyone is Roger Clemens crazy here. His name or picture is on everything. It's kind of funny since he's only been with the Astros this year, but there he is on the official program. actually you can choose, Roger, or Nolan Ryan. Ryan played for 10 years in Houston. Of course both are local boys, but so is pitcher Andy Pettitt, who has received zero attention, despite his signing bringing Clemens out of retirement to play here. Clemens will start for the National League this year. He's started for the American League many times.
After work last night I went out to the Fan Fest. I really couldn't afford to get tickets to anything else. All-Star tickets were around $150, and Home Run Derby tickets were around $75. I got the Fan Fest tickets free from a co-worker. I was supposed to go with Hans and his wife, but her father ended up back in the hospital and he couldn't go. So off I went to the convention center to see the exhibits and shopping.
It was interesting, but not so much entertaining. There were batting cages and pitching cages, cards and collectables and exhibitions on women's fast-pitch softball and the negro leagues. Of course baseball is the game most focused on the past, so there was plenty on the history of the game and items from hall-of-famers. There was an auction going on, and apparently it was also being broadcast on the internet, because there were few bidders in attendance, but items, items only shown in a booklet, were going for thousands of dollars.
I succumbed to my inner shopper, buying a hat, a pin (no t-shirts, I just threw away something like a hundred t-shirts at my parent's house over the weekend) a program (with Nolan, not Roger) and a couple of action figures. I have several action figures of astros players, and in the last couple of years they have really gotten good at capturing likenesses. I couldn't resist the exclusive, All-Star game only Roger Clemens and Jeff Bagwell figures. The limited run features Clemens in a different uni from his regular figure, and Bagwell in a uniform from the 1990's and with the ZZ-Top inspired goatee that he sported one year.
Once I had my fill of shopping, I went out to see what was going on outside the stadium. The roof on Minute Maid Park (formerly Enron Field) was still closed for the first round of the Home Run Derby. Lots of people were hoping to catch a homer just outside the stadium, and between rounds they did finally open the roof and Astro Lance Berkman, another local kid (played at Rice University), and quite cute, I think knocked several out of the park, some 500 feet to the crowd outside. It was fun to watch as the sun went down on the city.
Although there has been growth and interest in downtown since the stadium was built, a Monday night is pretty dead in Houston. There was some activity on Main Street as they tried again to have the street party that was so successful during the Superbowl. Weeknights aren't so good for this, and the All-Star game has been on Tuesday for as long as I can remember. Of course there's a lot of security, especially being in a less secure area like downtown, rather than in more isolated Reliant Park, where the superbowl was. I headed home on the train, which can be quite useful, and always exciting, you never know what you might hit.
I'm planning on watching the game with Hans at his house tonight (as Tivo captures the Amazing Race tonight). The game will be over soon enough, and everything back to normal tomorrow. There won't be the hangover the Superbowl brought.
Of course bringing Roger Clemens here was supposed to bring a championship to Houston, but instead we find ourselves in 5th place at the halfway point. Houston isn't cursed like the Cubs or the Red sox, but it does seem like success does seem out of our grasp again.
It's hard to be a fan, sometimes.
If you're an American Idol Fan, you'll be happy to know that Fantasia will be singing the national anthem. I'm surprised they couldn't get local boy Clint Black. It's a decidedly low-wattage affair. Reports of people going star-hunting have come up disappointed. Baseball, unfortunately isn't cool. Still, there's talk that Mark McGwire is somewhere in town. Has anyone seen him at the Ripcord?
Everyone is Roger Clemens crazy here. His name or picture is on everything. It's kind of funny since he's only been with the Astros this year, but there he is on the official program. actually you can choose, Roger, or Nolan Ryan. Ryan played for 10 years in Houston. Of course both are local boys, but so is pitcher Andy Pettitt, who has received zero attention, despite his signing bringing Clemens out of retirement to play here. Clemens will start for the National League this year. He's started for the American League many times.
After work last night I went out to the Fan Fest. I really couldn't afford to get tickets to anything else. All-Star tickets were around $150, and Home Run Derby tickets were around $75. I got the Fan Fest tickets free from a co-worker. I was supposed to go with Hans and his wife, but her father ended up back in the hospital and he couldn't go. So off I went to the convention center to see the exhibits and shopping.
It was interesting, but not so much entertaining. There were batting cages and pitching cages, cards and collectables and exhibitions on women's fast-pitch softball and the negro leagues. Of course baseball is the game most focused on the past, so there was plenty on the history of the game and items from hall-of-famers. There was an auction going on, and apparently it was also being broadcast on the internet, because there were few bidders in attendance, but items, items only shown in a booklet, were going for thousands of dollars.
I succumbed to my inner shopper, buying a hat, a pin (no t-shirts, I just threw away something like a hundred t-shirts at my parent's house over the weekend) a program (with Nolan, not Roger) and a couple of action figures. I have several action figures of astros players, and in the last couple of years they have really gotten good at capturing likenesses. I couldn't resist the exclusive, All-Star game only Roger Clemens and Jeff Bagwell figures. The limited run features Clemens in a different uni from his regular figure, and Bagwell in a uniform from the 1990's and with the ZZ-Top inspired goatee that he sported one year.
Once I had my fill of shopping, I went out to see what was going on outside the stadium. The roof on Minute Maid Park (formerly Enron Field) was still closed for the first round of the Home Run Derby. Lots of people were hoping to catch a homer just outside the stadium, and between rounds they did finally open the roof and Astro Lance Berkman, another local kid (played at Rice University), and quite cute, I think knocked several out of the park, some 500 feet to the crowd outside. It was fun to watch as the sun went down on the city.
Although there has been growth and interest in downtown since the stadium was built, a Monday night is pretty dead in Houston. There was some activity on Main Street as they tried again to have the street party that was so successful during the Superbowl. Weeknights aren't so good for this, and the All-Star game has been on Tuesday for as long as I can remember. Of course there's a lot of security, especially being in a less secure area like downtown, rather than in more isolated Reliant Park, where the superbowl was. I headed home on the train, which can be quite useful, and always exciting, you never know what you might hit.
I'm planning on watching the game with Hans at his house tonight (as Tivo captures the Amazing Race tonight). The game will be over soon enough, and everything back to normal tomorrow. There won't be the hangover the Superbowl brought.
Of course bringing Roger Clemens here was supposed to bring a championship to Houston, but instead we find ourselves in 5th place at the halfway point. Houston isn't cursed like the Cubs or the Red sox, but it does seem like success does seem out of our grasp again.
It's hard to be a fan, sometimes.
