If not already evident, I am wild about baseball. I adore the crack of the bat, the roar of the crowd and all the zillion different traditions of teams and stadiums throughout North America. There is no falling on the ball to run out the clock, there is no ditching of the ball, there is no onside kick; every out is played at its own pace.
One of the things we miss most about North Carolina is the Durham Bulls. Each summer, we usually bought an eight-game package and spent many hot summer nights at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park (DBAP), which has to be one of the nicest minor league ballparks in the country. Minor league baseball is, admittedly, an entirely different species than major league ball but on most days, I prefer it. The players are still humble and hardworking, the seats are close to the field, the tickets are economical, and the people watching is spectacular.
And the DBAP is just where it should be, in the heart of downtown Durham. The modest Durham skyline is visible from the seats and the trains that chug through the city just beyond the outfield always sound their whistles and disrupt the game. The food at the DBAP is great and I always started every game with a burrito from the Flying Burrito, washed down with a cold beer. There are many other tasty treats available but that was always my absolute favorite. And it wasn't a great burrito unless I ended up wearing part of it!
Out here in Green Acres, there are no minor league baseball teams within an easy drive. And, there is no way in hell that I am going to see the Atlanta Braves - 1) too expensive and 2) can't abide the Braves. So we have been missing our minor league baseball in a big, big way.
When we visited my mother in Knoxville in late July, J and I went to see the Tennessee Smokies, the AA minor league baseball team out in Sevierville. What a cute little ballpark, and "little" is the operative word. It was Natural Gas night and I was almost sorry that A had stayed home with Mom since he could be their poster boy (except the poster would be blown off the wall - the child is toxic sometimes). We had great seats in the second row behind home plate and had an excellent time, drinking beer and people watching.
Unfortunately, the food at that park is not even close to the great eats at the DBAP so we left hungry. Can you imagine? Leaving a ballpark hungry? Shut up! We stopped at a Krystal burger on the way back to Mom's house and let me tell you, that is a great place late at night when you have a slight beer buzz - everything is funny instead of scary. And believe me, in the clear light of day and stone sober, the sights would have scared me speechless.
So we had a fun outing to the ballpark but it didn't even remotely compare to our beloved Durham Bulls. Sigh.
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