Game 53 - Kansas City Royals

Game 53 - Anaheim Angels vs. Kansas City Royals @ Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, KS (7/25/2016)I was fortunate enough to be in Kansas City for a project and took some time to visit Kauffman Stadium for a Royals game.

This stadium is decades old, but quickly became one of my favorite.  I loved the water-fall wall and water fountains in the outfield.  Someone told me before I went to the game that the score board was one of the best features....I completely agree.  It is kind of cheesy, but the crown at the top just makes it look that much cooler.  The Royals Hall of Fame museum in left field was outstanding.  I spent a few innings looking around and taking a bunch of pictures.  I even got my picture taken with the 2015 World Series trophy.

I also found that the stadium was one of the cleanest I have been to yet.  Parking was also one of the easiest I have experienced.  It shares and entrance and parking lot with Arrowhead Stadium (home of the Kansas City Chiefs).

Despite the fact that the Royals are defending World Series champs we were able to walk right up to the ticket window and get great seats in the lower level down the 1st base line.

Of course when you are in Kansas City, you must try the Bar-B-Q.  I settled for the Pulled Pork Mac n'Jack Sausage.  This was a sausage topped with mac n'cheese, pulled pork and bar-b-q sauce.  Unbelievable.

The Royals ended up losing the game 6-2 as old-man Albert Pujols for the Angels drove in 4 runs.

Short write-up.  Sorry.

Game - 52 - Philadelphia Phillies

Game 52 - Atlanta Braves vs. Philadelphia Phillies @ Citizen's Bank Park in Philadelphia, PA (5/21/2016)
Philadelphia Phillies.  Check!  All 4 Philadelphia teams.  Check!  All 7 teams in the state of Pennsylvania.  Check!  Three straight Philadelphia gams in a row and I am now complete with not only all the Philadelphia teams, but all the teams in the state of Pennsylvania.

This blog will be short as I am over 2 months late in completing it.  I guess the summer has just gotten away from me.

After watching the Flyers and 76'ers in April, Ryan and I traveled back to Philly in May to see the Phillies.  We met up with a college buddy of mine (Drew Blank) and his son Alex.  It was a very familiar feeling as we stayed in the same hotel that I did on my April trip.  As mentioned in my previous post, I love the way Philadelphia has laid out all their sporting venues in one area with lots of bars and restaurants around to support the crowds.

Drew picked us up at the airport and we headed straight to Citizen's Bank Park to grab lunch and watch the game.  There was a bit of a scare that the game might be rained out, which would have been very disappointing for all of us.  Our original seats were in the outfield and not under cover.  It started to drizzle in the 2nd inning so we decided to find seats somewhere else.

After negotiating with the usher, we found new seats out of the rain; however, we spent the better part of the game moving all over the park into different seats, which was a lot of fun.  The fact that the weather was suspect, the crowd was very light; therefore, we had no problem moving to just about anywhere we wanted.

The game itself was rather boring and it did rain almost the entire time.  In the 8th and 9th innings, there was a lot of standing water on the field, but I think the umpires were committed to getting this game in as opposed to calling for a rain delay.  In the end, the Braves won 2-0.

The park is nice, but nothing overly special (sorry, no offense Philly fans).  Normally Philadelphia fans are great sports fans, but due to the weather, it just wasn't the same.  I was hoping to see the Liberty Bell ring at the park (see photo above), but that only happens when the Phillies hit a home run; therefore, we were disappointed.  Ryan was obsessed with the Philly Phanatic (mascot), which is one of the most recognized mascots in all of baseball.  In fact, the only thing he wanted to remember this trip was a mini bobble-head of the Phanatic.

Unfortunately not a lot of money generated for charity this game (just $2), but every little bit helps and I hope it encourages others to donate, which would be great. 

To learn more about how to donate to the Jimmy V Foundation for Cancer Research, please go to:
http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/christopher-apel/christopherapel

Game 50 & 51 - Philadelphia Flyers and 76ers

Game 50 - Ottawa Senators vs. Philadelphia Flyers @ Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, PA (4/2/2016)



I was left in Wisconsin for a week while Deb and the kids went on a Caribbean cruise with her sister, nieces and parents for spring break.  No baseball, no curling, no family at home?  Perfect opportunity to catch a game or two in Philadelphia. While not quite as easy as my trip to Cleveland to see the Indians and Cavaliers on the same day, this was pretty close.  I was able to check off the Flyers and 76'ers on the same day and in the same building, too.

 A college buddy, Kevin Heaphy, and his son were kind enough to pick me up at the airport and we headed to lunch at XFinity Live outside the stadium, a very large grouping of restaurants and bars, which is great to visit before games.   I really like the sports venue set-up in Philadelphia.  All three arenas - Wells Fargo Center where both the Flyers and 76'ers play; Citizens Bank Park for the Phillies and Lincoln Financial Field for the Eagles - are located in the same spot.  I spent some time there in the past when I went to the Eagles game back in September of 2012. 




I bought my seats rather last minute, but they ended up being terrific....5 rows behind the Flyer's bench.  

The Flyers are in a fight for the last playoff spot with only about a handful of games to go therefore, every win is extremely important.  After a scoreless 1st period, the Flyers took a 2-0 lead in the 2nd period with 2 power-play goals.  The Senators made it a game mid-way through the 3rd period at 3-2, but Philadelphia held on for the win and the much needed 2 points in the standings.

One interesting fact about this season (not necessarily this game):  This will be the first time since the 1969-70 season that the NHL playoffs will not include a team from Canada.  Crazy!

I really enjoyed this venue.  As with most Philly sports, the fans are terrific and really support their team.  As mentioned earlier, the location of all the stadiums in one place is terrific and easy to access.  Inside the stadium, I walked around a lot and took in some of the displays.  They have done a nice job showing off the history of the Flyers, current players and a few other cool displays.  The one I liked the most was the Hat Trick History wall (photo to the left) showing all the hats collected off the ice any time a hat trick has been scored by a Flyer.



This game marked the 50th on my tour.  With the Flyers win, my record moves to 30-20 for the home teams.




Game 51- Indiana Pacers vs. Philadelphia 76'ers @ Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, PA (4/2/2016)

I had about 4 hours between games to kill.  I could have easily sat in my hotel room (which was within walking distance of the arena) and watched college basketball, but I want to thank my friend Drew who was reminded by a Facebook post that I was in town and decided to meet up with me to watch the 1st semi-final game of the Final 4.
 

We went back to XFinity Live where the crowd was obviously pumped up for the Villanova game.  They were even more excited when they beat Oklahoma by 40+ points.  After a burger, a few beers and the largest soft pretzel I have ever seen covered in crab meat, I quickly ran back to Wells Fargo Center for the 76'ers game.  This was only the 3rd game out of 51 that I have attended by myself.

Now if anyone is following the 76'ers this year (and why would you unless you lived in Philadelphia), they have quite a bit of young talent, but unfortunately most of them are injured.  As a result, they are working on one of the top 10 worst records in NBA history.  At the time of this game, their record was 9-68.  Ironically, the Golden State Warriors had 68 wins at this point.  Crazy.



Well it is good to set goals in life, so I guess the 76'ers might have a goal to at least get to 10 wins for the season (albeit, setting the bar pretty low).  The Pacers on the other hand are clinging to the last playoff spot in the East and a win is a must.  Early on, it looked like it was going to be an easy win for Indiana as they took a 61-49 lead into halftime.  However, Philadelphia showed some life in the 3rd quarter by outscoring the Pacers 28-13 to take the lead fueled by a franchise-tying 16 3-pointers for the game.

Philadelphia's chance of winning was quickly squashed in the 4th quarter as they fell apart and were outscored by 16 points.  In the end, the Pacers came away with a 115-102 win.

Despite the awful season the 76'ers are having, the crowd was still very excited to see them play and very loud as they made their run in the 3rd quarter.  Perhaps some of this was because the entire city was so excited for Villanova's win earlier in the day.  Turnout was much better than I expected for this game.  My seats were decent (lower level, behind the basket), but I fully intended to be able to move around and find other open seats.  I'm sure if I really tried, I could have, but decided to stay put. 

To be honest, the game was actually very entertaining.  High-scoring and a total of 9 players in double-digits (4 of them with 20 or more).  Yes, I like stats, so here is an interesting one:  Indiana's CJ Miles scored 25 points in less than 22 minutes.  That is the shortest amount of time in team history for a player to score 25 points.  Random.  I want to know who tracks this kind of useless trivia.

Although I was at this venue earlier in the day, I still spent some time walking around checking out the attractions.  It does amaze me at how quickly they can change over not only the floor from ice to a basketball court, but a lot of the signage and merchandise as well. 

Although it will go as a loss for the home team in my record book, it still generated $217 for cancer research, which is extremely important.  For more information, please go to:
http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/christopher-apel/



I had a little drama trying to get home.  I still do not know how I did this, but my return flight was booked for 10:30 PM, instead of AM.  I normally check these things two or three times.  I didn't actually find out until I was trying to find my flight on the board.  I considered renting a car and driving to New Jersey for the Nets game, but instead was able to get on an earlier flight.  Back home to Wisconsin and the April snow showers!

Game 49 - Memphis Grizzlies

Game 49 - Sacramento Kings vs. Memphis Grizzlies @ FedEx Forum in Memphis, TN (1/30/2016)


The first game of 2016 was a memorable one!  Sandwiched between curling and baseball practices, we had a free Saturday so Ryan and I decided to go watch the Grizzlies in Memphis.  Exactly 5 years ago today we sat in the 4th or 5th row at the Indiana Pacers game....this one topped that.

When we arrived at our hotel across from the arena, we were told that our room was not ready yet due to a large group that was still checking out.  We didn't think anything of it at the time and instead decided to walk over to the famous Beale Street (recently voted the most iconic street in the United States) for some Memphis BBQ.


Back at our hotel, our room was still not ready but we quickly realized why.  That large group still checking out of the rooms was the Sacramento Kings themselves.  For the next hour we watched the players check out and get on the team bus.  We took a bunch of pictures from a distance (to the left is Rajon Rondo).  Also got to see Demarcus Cousins, Willie Cauley-Stein, Duja Dukan, Seth Curry and many others we didn't recognize.  One player, who will remain nameless, refused to get a picture taken with Ryan.  It was a bit disappointing, but nonetheless Ryan thought it was pretty cool to see the players up-close.  We didn't realize just how close we would get to see them later that night before and during the game.

We met up with a friend of mine and walk over to the game.  Ryan and I both had such a great time.  We started off by going into the tunnel to meet some of the Memphis Grizzlies and watch them get ready to go onto the court.  Ryan got to shake hands with Zach Randolph (he said they were the biggest hands he has ever seen).  We tried to get a few autographs, but were unsuccessful.  Ryan had to settle for some pre-game high-5s.

Then it became time for us to go to our actual seats.  Impressive!  That is all I can say.   1st row on the baseline near the visitor's bench.  it is amazing how big these guys are up close.  We even saw ourselves a few times on the highlights of Sports Center and on the jumbo-tron at the game....it helped that Ryan was wearing a yellow headband, which made it very easy to pick him out. 

The game is a lot more violent up close than TV shows.  These guys are up to 7 feet tall and weigh 250+, but all they do all night long is push, shove and bang into each other.  The referees let them get away with an awful lot of contact.  The photo to the right shows Demarcus Cousins shooting free-throws.  This guy might be the biggest person I have ever seen at 6'11" and 270 pounds.  His shoulders are so wide.  He had a decent game with 17 points and 14 rebounds, but he spent most of the night complaining about getting fouled and looked like he wanted to punch someone all game long.  Believe me, he was doing his share of getting away with rough play.  He ended up getting hurt right in front of us and left the game with an ankle injury, but not before screaming the f-bomb....luckily Ryan didn't hear it.

The game itself was very exciting, especially for the Memphis fans, who are great and very excited about the Grizzlies as they scored a season-high 65 points in the 1st half.  The Grizzlies dominated the game for 3 1/2 quarters before they got a little sloppy, lost their cool with a few technical fouls and let the Kings back into the game.  Late in the 3rd quarter, the Grizzlies held a 21-point lead, but a huge 40-point 4th quarter brought the Kings to within 1 with 18 seconds left in the game.  Luckily for the Grizzlies, they hit a few free-throws to hold off the charging Kings and win 121-117.  It was a big night for Jeff Green (29 points) and Marc Gasol (22 points). 


While watching sports theses days, I start to feel a bit old as often times I'm watching the children of players I grew up watching.  It is refreshing to still see Vince Carter playing in the league at 39 years-old.  Not a bad night for him either with 13 points. 

We did get to meet one semi-celebrity....Leigh Anne Tuohy, who is the real-life women for which the Blind Side movie is based.  She was sitting right next to me.  She was very nice and we discussed the fact that she is going to the Super Bowl this weekend to see her son (Michael Oher) play for the Panthers.  She even was kind enough to take a picture with Ryan.

FedEx Forum is an excellent venue to see a game.  It is conveniently

located downtown near all the action on Beale street.  We didn't get to spend a lot of time on this trip walking around as we had too much excitement going on right in front of us on the court - players, cheerleaders, Griz (the mascot), amazing high-flying dunkers, etc.  I also caught a ball that was swatted out of bounds.


In the end, it was another $238 raised for the Jimmy V Foundation for Cancer Research.  To find out more about my mission and / or to donate, please go to: http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/christopher-apel/christopherapel


The home-team record on my sports tour is now 29-20.  A special thanks to George for taking us to the game.  Ryan and I both had a blast.  It will certainly be something he remembers for a very long time.

Game 48 - Houston Texans

Game 48 - Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. Houston Texans @ NRG Stadium in Houston, TX (9/27/2015)

In my previous post, I talked about how little things seemed to work themselves out on my trip to Tampa Bay with Ryan.  This trip to Houston was quite the opposite.  Nothing too terrible, but after a great deal of planning, Taylor and I did run into some unexpected changes.  In the end, it all worked out for the best and Taylor and I had a great weekend in Houston together.

For starters, the plan was to fly in Saturday afternoon in plenty of time to go see the Houston Astros.  We had booked a hotel next door to the stadium.  A week before the game, Major League Baseball decided to move the start time to noon; therefore, we ended up missing the Astros game and although I was able to resell my tickets on Stub Hub, but it did cost me a bit.

The fortunately thing about missing the game is that it allowed Taylor and I to visit the Space Center Houston (which in reality was probably a lot more fun for her than watching silly baseball game).  After getting our rental car and driving the 45 minutes south, we still arrived with just enough time to see all of the exhibits at the museum.  Both of us really enjoyed it as I think we both learned a lot.  The nice thing about this sports tour is that it has allowed me to visit a lot of places I might not otherwise visit...the Space Center is one of those.

After an afternoon of checking out space history, rockets and shuttles, we checked into the hotel and looked for a place to eat dinner.  The aquarium was just a short cab ride away so we eat dinner there and checked out a few exhibits.  The main restaurant was way too busy and we were too hungry to wait so we ate at the outside bar.  The restaurant itself was pretty cool with an enormous fish tank to view.  Finally, we stop into the sting ray exhibit.....ironically this is the second trip in a row that the kids got to pet sting rays (see trip to Tampa Bay Rays).

On Sunday it was off to the Houston Texans game at NRG Stadium.  Again we ran into a little problem on our trip...this time with parking.  I should have prepaid for a parking pass, but figured we would not have any trouble finding a lot, like most stadiums.  I was wrong and in the end we over-paid for parking close to the stadium....one well, it was a short walk, which was good since it there was a light rain.  The rain of course did not matter inside the stadium as it has a roof.

The stadium itself reminded me a lot of Lucas Oil Field in Indianapolis because of the large retractable roof; although it does not have a cool endzone wall that opens like Lucas Oil.  I thought the concourses were nice and wide, the food options were exceptional and there were plenty of small team stores; as well as a larger one on the lower level. 

I read a lot of negative comments that the escalators were crowded, but Taylor and I decided not to bother with that and took the ramps each time we went up and down.

This was the first NFL game played at this stadium on field turf.  Prior to that, all games were on real grass, but after some issues, they decided to change it to turf for the rest of the season.  It is kind of weird because only the Texans' games were on grass and when a college or high-school team played there, they changed it over to turf....seems like a lot of work to me.  However, it seems that they will go back to natural grass next year after fixing some of the problems they had earlier this year.

I didn't realize the AstroDome was next door as well (photo on the left is from inside NRG Stadium)....that place looks like a dump.  Once nicknamed the "Eight wonder of the world" because it was state-of-the-art, it has recently been the topic of much debate around what to do with it now.  It seems the city of Houston is split between raising it or preserving it.

Our seats for this game were definitely in the nose-bleed section, but
has Taylor pointed out, you can really see so much more of what is going on from up here.  I am always a bit nervous about taking the kids to games because you never know about the crowd.  All-in-all, outside of a little language a few times, the crowd was great.

The Texans and Buccaneers have not started the season out very well.  This was a very sloppy game, but in the end the Texans did win 19-9.  It was cool to get to see the Buccaneers' rookie quarterback and #1 overall pick in the draft, Jameis Winston.   Here are some sad statistics about the kicking in this game. 
Total FGs made:  3
Total FGs missed:  4
Total XPs made:  1
Total XPs missed:  2
There was also a total of 16 penalties accepted in the game.
Don't get me wrong, despite the fact that it was a sloppy game, it was still very entertaining and I think Taylor really enjoyed her weekend in Houston....I know I did.

Only $28 raised for the Jimmy V Foundation for cancer research this weekend, but every little bit helps.  To find out more about my mission and / or to donate, please go to: http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/christopher-apel/christopherapel

Game 47 - Tampa Bay Rays

Game 47 - Tampa Bay Rays vs. Texas Rangers @ Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, FL (5/9/2015)

This post is very late (and a bit short) as I forgot to finish and post it back in May.

It seems an open weekend is a rare occasion lately.  Most of our weekends are spent at Ryan's baseball games, but this particular weekend happened to be 1 of only 2 weekends from May until August that he did not have a baseball game / tournament.  With that said, we decided to make a last minute trip to Tampa to catch a Rays game.  We were literally in Florida for only 13 hours.  It was very interesting how many things fell into place on this trip.  For starters, since I booked the flight at the list minute, Ryan and I were not scheduled to sit together, which caused a bit of panic for him.  However, after negotiations with both the gate attendant and other passengers, I was able to get us seated together. 

Then while boarding another plane, one of the flight attendants asked Ryan if he would like to sit in the cockpit and meet the captain.  As you can see from the picture, he really enjoyed it and the captain was extremely friendly.  Then, when we were checking into the hotel, they accidently gave us a room that was not yet cleaned.  After discussions with the hotel desk, we were upgraded to a suite over-looking the ocean.  Finally, the last thing I worry about on all these trips is finding tickets to the game.  I bought the tickets last minute and didn't really even pay attention to where they were located.  As it turns out, we were in the 2nd row over the right field wall.  Nice.

This stadium gets a lot of criticism as one of the worst venues in all of professional sports.  Sure it is not in the best area of town, it is a rather old-looking dome, the turf looks awful and players sometimes have to play fly balls off the catwalk.  There is also so much signage inside that it almost gives you a headache from sensory overload.  However, if you are traveling with small children and don't mind missing some of the game to take time to explore it is actually a fun place to visit.  The sting ray tank is of course a must-see and a fun experience, but there are a ton of other fun things for the kids, including craft areas, photo opportunities to get your picture on a baseball card, etc. 

The best part of the experience was by far the Ted Williams Museum and Hitters' Hall of Fame.  Ryan and I could have spent hours here checking out all of the various displays and information on all of the inductees.  The level photos, history and level of detail was terrific and it was much bigger than expected.  If you are into sport history, it is a hidden gem.  http://www.tedwilliamsmuseum.com/

As for the game itself, there was not a lot of excitement.  A small crowd of barely 20,000 watched the Rays win 7-2.  The one interesting thing to note is that all 9 runs were scored via 4 homeruns.

As many of you know, I'm using this tour to raise money and awareness for cancer research.  To date, I have raised over $4,500.  If you would like to donate, please go to the following link.  Thank you.

As for this weekend, another $201 ($1 for each point scored in both games) raised for the Jimmy V Foundation for Cancer Research.  I encourage you to donate. http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/christopher-apel/christopherapel

 

Games 45 & 46 - Cleveland Indians & Cavaliers

I had a free weekend on the schedule before Little League baseball begins so I decided to check off two more games on my quest.  I was able to catch up with a good college buddy of mine, Matt Aiken, to join me in Cleveland.  He was kind enough to even pay for the tickets....much appreciated Matt!  We attended both games on the same day, a first for me.

 

Game 45 - Cleveland Indians vs. Detroit Tigers @ Progressive Field in Cleveland, OH (4/10/2015) 

After a slight delay, I landed at the airport just 40 minutes before game-time.  I grabbed a cab and met up with Matt at the hotel bar.  From there it was a short walk over to the Progressive Field.  It was the Indians home opener, which made for some expensive tickets (once again, thanks Matt!).  For opening day, the crowd was not as rowdy as I anticipated.  It was nothing compared to opening day of the Atlanta Braves I attended in 2012.  Read about that game here.  That game is, by far, the most out of control crowd I have ever witnessed.  Perhaps it had something to do with an evening game and 80 degree temperatures all day in which the fans had plenty of time to tailgate.  The weather in Cleveland for the Indians game was better than expected.  Earlier in the week I thought we would be sitting through cold, wet weather, but it turned out to be sunny and high 40s, which wasn't awful.

The game itself was rather exciting if you like offense.  A total of 28 hits and 12 runs scored.  However, for Indians' fans, it was not so fun as their team was on the losing end of the scoreboard, 8-4.  We spent a good deal of time walking around the stadium and checking out all the sites, which is half of the fun for me.....seriously, who wants to sit there all day and watch the Indians?  Progressive Field is a great ballpark.  I really like the design and the outfield offers a nice view of the Cleveland skyline....although not as nice as PNC Park.  The upper deck of right field (pictured) is a bit odd with a bunch of "small walls."  It is like they are trying to create mini-Green Monster seating (like at Fenway); however, after reading a bit more about the stadium, I understand this was recently done to give a better view of the field and city.  They removed about 5,000 seats to do so, but perhaps additional seats to watch another Cleveland team is not necessary.....stated by a die-hard Pittsburgh fan.  There is also a wind turbine in right field that helps to power the stadium, but I did not see it.  There is a nice monument park (Heritage Park) in the outfield with statues of legendary Indians.

 

I'm not sure what was more exciting for Matt - the fact that he found his favorite beer (PBR me ASAP) or that he was interviewed by a local TV crew.  Those of you that know Matt, know that he is never short of words.  He seemed to be right at home during the interview; although I have no idea what he was saying.  Great weather, great game, great ball park and a great friend as I check off game #45.  We left the game a bit early so that we could get to the Cavaliers game, which is literally right across the street.

Game 46 - Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Boston Celtics @ Quicken Loans Areana (the Q) in Cleveland, OH (4/10/2015)

It is late in the season and the Cavs did not have much to play as they already secured the #2 playoff seed regardless of what happens the rest of the season.  I had a fear that the Cavs may rest all of their stars, but they did play both Lebron James and Kevin Love.  Kyrie Irvin sat out the game.  It was a very important game for the Celtics as they were fighting for their playoff lives.  Ironically, they made the playoffs and will have to play the Cavaliers in the first round.