The Klitzke Khronicles (Anything Goes! Ok, Almost Anything!)

Amy and I would like to send out a big “congrats” to my college roomie BC, and his wife Molly, on the birth of their baby girl, Madeline! 

Madeline made her debut yesterday morning!  Both mommy and baby are doing great!

I’ve got pics of baby Madeline, but due to stringent copyright laws, I have chosen not to publish at this time. Apparently, BC and Molly are in negotiations with both US & People magazine to sell the photo rights. If negotiations falter, I have been told that my website will then be the default publisher!

Anyway, congrats again! We can’t wait to see her!Â

 

Tonight, my daughter Sophie, took part in the “Little Miss Pemberton” Pageant in Pemberton, MN.  For those that don’t know, Sophie lives with her mommy in Pemberton, which is roughly 15 miles SE of Mankato.

Let’s cut to the chase….Sophie won! She was so excited! We all look forward to multiple parades (approximately 10) and other events to attend during the upcoming year!!!!

Click here for pageant photos

With the “games” about to start, I thought I’d dedicate 2 minutes of my time to take a couple of cheap shots at them.

Maybe I’m a minority here, but does anyone give a “rats-ass” about the Olympics? I can honestly say, that if someone gave me the choice of 2 tickets to the 2008 Summer Olympics or 2 tickets to watch “Stryper” play at the McLeod County Fairgrounds, I’d take the “Stryper” tickets everytime!

I mean, the Olympic games have gotten completely out of control. Dudes running as chicks; chicks running as dudes! WTF? If a “sex determination lab” has to be setup in order to determine if there is or isn’t “something down there,” then I want no part of it. I’m sorry, but it’s just not my kind of thing!

And to further dig into this, how the hell does one become a “Sex Determination Lab Tech” at the Olympic games? I mean, picture this…Some Chinese tech saying: “Excuse me, Mr. Lebron James…I need you to step aside here. I need to check, you know, your junk.” After a 2 second glance they follow up with, “Thank you, Mr. James….We’re just checking. For a second there, we thought you were Rebecca Lobo.”  Sorry, that was an extremely low cheap shot to Lebron James!

 

Is it possible?  

Up until this point, I have basically ignored this saga. I hate the “Pack” and have learned to despise “Favre.”

However, right now, I’m watching the live press conference (compliments of Kare11) being held by Mike McCarthy. McCarthy essentially just said that Brett Favre’s days in Green Bay are over.

I initially scoffed at the “Favre to Vikings” talk. But the more I think about it, it’s slightly intriguing. Whatever your opinion is on Favre, he’s an upgrade at that QB position.

The next 48 hours will be interesting.

 

Amy and I made our first and only visit to Shea Stadium tonight. After the season, Shea Stadium, along with Yankee Stadium, is facing the wrecking ball (the reason for our NYC baseball trip).

We took the subway to Shea Stadium. I can’t say enough on how efficient the subway system is. From the door of our hotel, it was about a 25 minute subway trip out to Shea.

The new Stadium, Citi Field, is being built directly behind centerfield @ Shea. The new stadium looks beautiful. I can’t wait to come back here in a couple of years to see the new Yankee Stadium along with the new Citi Field.

As for “old school” Shea Stadium; it’s exactly what I was expecting. I had been told it’s a “rat trap” from other New Yorkers, but I didn’t think that all. It was just an old stadium with an old design. I actually really liked the character this stadium had. From about 10 years old to 14 years old, the Mets were my favorite team. To be sitting in the first base box seats in the “Mets Orange” railing boxes, was a pretty cool experience.

About the Mets fans….Can you say passionate, bordering on obnoxious? I’d take Yankee fans anyday over Mets fans. If a Met player grounded out, these fans were yelling at the player telling them they “suck.” On the next at bat, that same player would get a hit, then they were cheering for them. I don’t get it. It was just a rougher crowd than at Yankee Stadium. To make matters worse, there were a lot of Phillies fans in the stadium who are equally obnoxious. And the language, whew! Pretty strong for a “family atmosphere!” Don’t get me wrong, I get into sports just like the next guy and on occasion, have been known to drop an “F-Bomb” with kids around. But this was like nothing I’ve ever seen. Nobody flinched! It was a sailor’s / truck driver’s dream! 

One last tid-bit about Shea Stadium; the “sausage and peppers” sandwich was fantastic!

Moving onto the game.,,The Mets won 6-3. Click here for the game recap.  We witnessed 3 homers, including a 3-Run Jose Reyes bomb. It was actually a pretty close game; closer than the final score showed. We got to see Billy Wagner come on in the 9th to close it out. Amy and I also almost got another foul ball. This one literally dropped about 2 feet to the right of Amy. Fortunately, I was sitting on Amy’s left side, otherwise I would have fought for the ball (and won) and some little kid would have went home with nothing. I’m a jerk like that!

Last but not least, this game was ESPN’s Wednesday night game. For the baseball fans out there, you all know what that means! Erin Andrews!  In the picture below, look at SS Jimmy Rollins, bench coach Jimy Williams, and 1st Base Coach Davey Lopes eyes. They’re all fixated on something, just not sure what it is!

 

Oh yeah….I once again ran into my cousin Lyndsay’s beer swiggin, Packer lovin’ husband, Jason.

Anyway, click here for the photos from tonight’s game

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The 2nd trip to Yankee Stadium was actually better than the first!

It was hotter than hell again today (mid 90’s). We took the train (subway) out to the stadium again, but left about 30 minutes earlier to beat the rush (it worked). I’m not a fan of crowds, let alone, being crammed into a subway like sardines.

Tonight we were sitting in right field, about 10 rows up. You’re much closer to the field in right field than you are in left field. Sounds weird, but it’s the truth.

Anyway, I snapped a ton of photos again (way too many), but as I mentioned in the previous post, this is the first time I’ve used a Nikon D60 digital SLR. It takes a little time to get used to it.  Click here for the photos from tonight’s game.

We got to the game about 2 hours prior, which meant, I got to watch batting practice. I stood about 10 rows up along the right field foul line, towards first base (right where the corner juts out). Again, I was the only guy in the area wearing a Twins hat and shirt. Denard Span acknowledge me (point his glove at me). I think he was more surprised that someone actually knew who the heck he was. Later, Jesse Crain and Joe Nathan played RF during batting practice. Jesse Crain acknowledge me and then threw me a ball. I caught it with my right hand, one handed. An old guy next to me ran into me trying to get the ball, but of course, because I have a slight build, I didn’t move. The poor guy fell backwards right into a seat. Being the badass that I am, I looked at him, showed him the ball, and spit on the ground. He was not getting that ball from me! 

Anyway, time for the “meat” of the evening.

The main story of the night was my almost brush with “immortality.” In the 6th inning, and the Twins leading 2-1, Bobby Abreu stepped into the batters box against Kevin Slowey. Slowey, so far, looked great, keeping Yankee hitters, including A-Rod, off balance. Unfortunately, Slowey made a mistake to Abreu. Abreu sent the pitch directly to the right field seats. Click here for the video of the homer. 

In case nobody believes this yarn, I can be seen in the video at the 45 second mark (58 second video clip). I’ve got my dark blue Twins hat on backwards and you can see my black and yellow Nikon camera strap around my neck.

I immediately stood up, as did everyone else in our general vicinity. Even though it was a rocket shot, the ball seemed to take forever to get to the stands. As it got closer, I focused closely on the ball. You know how people say they “get in the zone,” and tune everything out? Well, I did that. I didn’t hear anything. Right before the ball hit, I told Amy it was coming right at us; she immediately sat down! I reached up with my right hand (I reach up to 8 foot 2 inches standing flat footed) and watched the ball hit me in the hand. I semi-grasped the ball and started to bring my hand down. As quick as the ball hit me, it was gone just as fast.

I don’t know the exact cause of the drop, but I sure as hell am not going to blame it on my “skillz.” As I mentioned before, it was hotter than hell. Everyone there was covered in sweat (sweaty hands). I also am not convinced that someone didn’t brush my hand enough to jar it loose. All I know is it hit me square in the hand and I saw all my fingers on the ball for a split second. Then for the next 5 minutes, I proceeded to watch 3 old guys (60+ years old) duke it out for the ball. I have to admit, watching old guys fight for a ball like kids was almost as good as actually catching the ball. Final tally, 3 guys ejected, 2 with bloody noses.

After that drop, the Yankees fans in the area, who up to that point, were extremely courteous of the Twins fans present, proceeded to give me some good natured ribbing for dropping the ball. My comeback to their ribbing, “It’s a good thing I didn’t catch it, because it would have been the first time a Yankee player hits a home run at Yankee Stadium and had it tossed back onto the field!” The Yanks fans laughed and someone said, “yeah, it also would have been the first time a fan got tossed onto the field too!” The whole section laughed and I left it at that.  The Yankee fans liked us Twins fans; I didn’t want to ruin that, did I?

After that homer, the score got out of control again. The Twins wound up losing 8-2, but what I got out of the game tonight, was priceless. What are the odds? A jammed packed stadium and they hit the ball to me! It’s a shame I didn’t actually hold onto it, but in the end, it’s the experience that counts. Not many can say they actually almost caught a home run ball at a visiting stadium, let alone, Yankee Stadium! These are memories that will last a lifetime!

Lastly, I want to give a shout out to a fellow Twins freak who I saw out at Yankee Stadium.

 My cousin Lyndsay’s husband, Jason, was out in NY for the series as well. I knew he was going to be out there, but had no idea where he was sitting. I no more than said to Amy, “I wonder where Jason is sitting,” and bingo, there he was!

 

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