State College 4th Fest

Ok, here is the deal. The people of State College love their 4th of July. And they like to cap it off with one of the most spectacular fireworks displays around. For those of you that don't know, I'm a pretty big fan of fireworks. Here is some details from the website:

"Close to 11,000 shells are shot during the 45-minute show. The grand finale features over 40 shells a second.....The 4th Fest is the largest all volunteer fireworks display in the nation.The Wall Street Journal ranked the State College show as one of the Ten Largest Displays in the United States in 1999. The Travel Channel and Discovery.com ranked the show #4 In The World in 2000!"


Last year I watched them from the roof of a parking garage in downtown State College. After the viewing I decided that I needed to be much, much closer for this years festivities.

Then I discovered the VIP seating. For $25 you can sit in a special section that includes a view of the coordinated ground show that not many people get to see. Now, 25 bones seems a little pricey for me. So I'm on a quest over the next few days to somehow, someway find a free VIP ticket to the fireworks.

And I need suggestions on all of the ways to increase my chances of getting one....so let's have 'em.

Lil' Turner

The State College Spikes - our fine Pirates A affiliate and member of the New York Penn League - had probably the greatest promotion ever at last Saturday's home game. To celebrate our new skipper - and former Pirates outfielder - Turner Ward, the Spikes brass decided that a bobblehead was in order. I know, this itself is great news. However, the Spikes decided to kick raise the ante on bobblehead promotions everywhere by designing a bobblehead to commemorate Turner's legendary catch at Three Rivers Stadium.

So let me introduce Lil' Turner....

Lil' Turner was not too pleased that this was the best shot of him that I got at the game, and wouldn't stop belly-aching until I assured him I would post some more later on. But I think that you can get the idea. Notice the door on the outfield wall that actually swings open and shut. And if you don't know why this is a totally awesome bobblehead than you obviously didn't follow the link for Big Turner's catch.

More to follow on Lil' Turner

One of my favorite artists - David Berkeley - has a new website. Check it out:

http://www.davidberkeley.com

Happy Birthday!!!!

Happy Birthday to my little sis Maggie!

At least I mailed your present on the right day....you should be thankful for that. Judging on how long it takes something to get to the west, your gift and I should arrive on about the same day!

Thanks for convincing me to try snowboarding...and being my source of strength!

birthday shout out

Just wanted to wish my pops a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Three of the things that I enjoy most in life were passed along to me by Pa Warner: baseball, hockey, and beer (don't ask me to pick an order).

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

drink it up before it goes bad

i just noticed when i took a drink from my bottle of water that there is a 'best by' date on it. i wonder what exactly happens to the water after it "goes bad." mold?

if you were stranded on a desert island - that didn't have a renewable source of fresh water - and a bottle of water washed up on shore, would you drink it even if it was well past its expiration date? i'm talking a bottle of water from the mid 1990s that had been floating around for some time. i guess i would probably take my chances.

Boys of summer

Took a little day trip to Pittsburgh yesterday to take in my first Pirates game at beautiful PNC Park. And for my first game of the season, it was really exciting. Here is a pic of our crew before the game started.

PNC Park is a really cool stadium. You'll often hear people say that they like a place because "there are no bad seats." At PNC this really is the case. Officially, the park can hold 38,496; however, it seems much smaller than this. I think it is because there are not many seats in the outfield. As the picture below shows, it really opens up nicely for views of downtown Pittsburgh.

And it is pretty cheap to catch a game. For $26, we sat in the 4th row of an outfield box. I was - as I am at every ball game I go to - certain I would catch a foul ball, but, as always, it didn't happen. Here is one of the view from our seats. Like I said, very good view from here.

And once night falls, the views are even better, as the following pic demonstrates.

The game itself was really exciting. Derek Lowe took a no hitter into the 7th inning before almost giving back all 5 runs the Dodgers had built up for him. After the first 5 innings I was starting to get pretty convinced that he might do it because he was rolling through the Pirates line-up. The defense behind him was both really good and really bad at times. Rafael Furcal made an incredible play on a ground ball up the middle to keep the no hitter alive in the 6th, I believe. The third baseman, however, was of no help; as he had 2 throwing errors in the same inning. The Pirates made a furious comeback, but fell a little short. They had men on the corners with nobody out in the 9th down by 2 runs, but could only get one across.

The only down side of the game was this guy:

A few times early on in the game he tried to get the "Lets Go Bucs" chant going, but nobody around us was all that interested. So it seemed he had let it go. But once the Pirates started their rally, he was back at it with a furry. I would say that for every Buccos batter from the 7th inning on he would yell: Lets....Go...Bucs. And I mean every single batter, and he would pump up the volume a little bit right before each pitch. But it was a little slower than it should be. When they tried to get the "Lets Go Bucs" chant going using the sound system, he couldn't quite keep up with everyone else. His wife tried to get him to stop a few times, but he wasn't having any of that. His voice is ingrained in my mind and I'm not sure it's going anywhere anytime soon.

But even with "Lets Go Bucs" guy trying to make me go crazy, it was a really good time and I can't wait to go again.