My Sports Vacation Part 3

Just a quick recap, we have seen two NASCAR races, two Gonzaga games and the Husky/WSU game.  I was thinking of going to the Husky game on Thursday night against Oregon but decided against it.  We were leaving early to head for Peoria to see the Mariners.  If we could get there early enough, we would catch the split squad game at 1.  Otherwise for sure we would make the second game at 7. 

I had the directions for the ballpark and were able to get right to it.  Unfortunately my directions were to the Peoria Community Center Sports Complex.  I am thinking Peoria is not that big and a baseball field is not that small so it can't be that hard to find.  After driving around my daughter was smart enough to look it up on her phone and get us there.   I could have found it also if I had a Thomas Guide map book for Peoria.(I know I am old school who needs GPS when you have a map book?)

I was a little worried about that it was still 91 degrees outside and afraid I might melt.  We sat in the lawn section, spread out our blankets and enjoyed sunset before the game started.  It could not have been any better with the sun going down the clouds looked pink, it was cooling off and I was about to watch the Mariners.  Because it was a split squad we got more of the Rainier's team then Mariner's team but I didn't care I was just happy to be there.  Their opponents that evening was the Kingdom of the Netherlands who were here for the World Baseball Classic.  It was kind of cool to see a team that I am almost sure will never have a chance to see again.

Team Netherlands' had the better bats and beat up on the Mariner's Triple A pitching 8-1.  I was disappointed with how mellow the crowd was.  We tried to cheer and clap when the pitcher had 2 strikes on a guy but it just didn't seem like anyone else was into it.

The next morning we are leaving Phoenix and heading to L.A. to catch our first hockey game.  It was nice that my road atlas actually had the Staples Center in it and I was able to go right to it.  It also help that I had picked up a friend who was in town visiting Disneyland and he had his GPS on.  Put I know I could have found it with just my Atlas. 

When we got to the stands and could see out on to the ice what I was in awe of  getting to see the L.A. Lakers' retired jerseys hanging from the rafters Chamberlain, Johnson and Abdul-Jabbar.  They were from back in the day when I still enjoyed watching the Lakers.  We sat up on the 300 level but had a good view of the everything.  The Kings were on fire that night and scored with in the first few minutes of the game and would go onto win 5-2 over the San Jose Sharks.

To compare NHL to the Seattle Thunderbirds the biggest thing I noticed is the passing and offense is so much cleaner in the NHL.  You can see the difference in skill level.  I was surprised that the Kings still had some of the fun timeout entertainment that the Thunderbirds have which made it fun.

Somethings I will take from my vacation:

*  Always remember where you park your car so your not hiking for days to find it.

*  I had a great time cheering for my teams and didn't care if my daughter was embarrassed by me.  Even though she had to correct me during the Zag game when Hart would go to the bench or make a basket, fans would put their hands together like a heart.  Well she corrected me because I guess my heart looked like a sad kidney.

*  Make sure to google the correct location of where you want to go so you don't end up in front the Peoria Community Center Sports Complex.

*  When at the different sports events it was interesting to see how social people get with strangers.  Whether it was standing in line, at our seats or sharing at table at the concession stands.  Something I noticed was that we never exchanged our first names.  Even with the gentlemen I stood in line with for four hours we talked most the time but I ever did give him my first name.  It is something I have become more aware of and will work on introducing myself next time. 

*  The time I got to spend with my daughter sharing my love for sports.  Just watching her cheer on the Dawgs and let loose is something I will never forget.  I am sure when she is older she will have her own spin on the vacation and be telling her kids stories of the time her mom dragged her from sporting event to event and made her get up at 4 AM to get in line for tickets.  That is fine with me at least she has those memories.