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Fox Cities Stadium |
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Appleton, Wisconsin |
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State # still 22 To Go: 28 |
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Number of Games: 0 |
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First Game: April 6, 2007 |
game postponed--frigid cold and wind |
SPRING BREAK...WISCONSIN STYLE!!!
Make no mistake...we were ready. We were set to dress in multiple layers. We were going to sit in our front-row seat and hang there in the cold with my Baby Mariners.
Just as we were set
to climb into our long underwear at the hotel, I thought to call the team to see
if they'd wimped out of the game. They had...the game had been postponed.
What? Come on! What's a little sub-zero windchill between friends? Play ball!
We asked the question: "Hey, we're in from Seattle for the ballgame, and we're not coming back." (This usually confuses people.) Can we get a refund? The answer: No. But they can trade it in for merchandise if we get to their store before it closes in 15 minutes.
Needless to say, we booked
down to the store. When we got there, the cashier was amazed...he said
there was no way we could exchange the tickets for merchandise. He hunted
down the guy who told us we could, and I guess pummeled
him
into submission, because he showed up, tails between his legs, and said "Well,
we can get you a free cap from last night's game." Well, it's something.
While he spent 15 minutes
looking for a cap (how could he have misplaced them so quickly?), we checked out
the park. I approached the beautiful "Wall of Fame" prepared for a look at
Appleton baseball history and big moments. Instead, in the central three
panels of the display, all I saw was loads of hats, balls, and bats...honoring
rich sponsors. Ick. (There was a little bit of baseball-related
display, but only on the periphery of the display.) But then, what can one
expect from a place so
pimped
out that its name is officially Time Warner Cable Field at Fox Cities Stadium?
Double ick. I can't judge the place since I didn't see a game there, but
I'm concerned it would have felt like San Jose:
baseball not as baseball, but as a promotions transference device.
Idea: "Girls Gone Wild: Appleton." We hang out outside Appleton-area bars and look for drunken hot college-aged women. They sign releases and, while we film them, open up their overcoats to show us the parkas underneath.
15 minutes later, the guy found us...we had ducked out of the stinging cold and into the office. He never found the hats...so he brought us baseballs. Better than nothing, I suppose. We donated our tickets to whatever charity they team up with--way, way better than our comically sad experience with Huntsville--and headed back to our warm hotel.
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Written April 2007.