Of Baseball and Birthdays

Yesterday was my father's Birthday, which we celebrated in true baseball style.  The day started with a college baseball game of UC Irvine versus UC Davis.  My brother attends the first school and I the second.  The weather was a force to be reckoned with reaching  102 during the middle of the game but being tried and true baseball fans we stayed.  I gave my father the films Bleacher Bums, and Bang the Drum Slowly as presents and he loved them! After the college game we drove to Sacramento for dinner and a River Cats game.  I have always wanted to go to a River Cats game  and this was the perfect day to do so with several big league guys rehabbing there.  Our car tells the temperature outside and at one point on our way to Sacramento it read 108! Yikes!

We ended up at the world's strangest and possibly most awesome restaurant, Joe's Crab Shack.  There is the most bizarre amalgamation on the ceiling of sharks, fish, crabs, lights, TVs, records, beer signs, and other oddities.  Halfway through out meal strobe lights came on and the waiters proceeded to perform a country line dance in the middle of the restaurant. It was very funny but hard to concentrate on your food or conversation.  Since it was my fathers birthday they told the restaurant he was turning 21 (yeah I believe that) and that he had always wanted to be a cow boy.  They put a cowboy hat on him and as we sang Happy Birthday wanted him to ride around on a horse*.  (It was really a kid's toy of a horse head on a stick) My dad gave me the most evil look and slowly got up swinging the horse around like it was a bat and he was a ball player.  After the song he came back to the table and proceeded to playfully hit me with the horse.  This lead to many promises of getting me back on my birthday. Next year.

We walked back to Raley field and they were playing out song Glory Days by Bruce Springsteen! It was meant to be.  The outside of the stadium is landscaped and is so beautiful as is the inside.  It turned out to be Daric Barton bobble head night so it was exciting to get something so awesome for free!  Once inside it truly felt like a minor league park and I loved it.  The stadium was just the right size and they had good food! The field was so pristine and the announcer had an extremely funny way of announcing players.  In between innings there were the most campy, silly and absurd events going on.  They had an American Idol type contest, a hit the water balloon contest, a catch the fly ball contest, and a stroller race.  It most certainly felt like a minor league park.  Eric Chavez, Travis Buck and Lenny Dinardo were al playing in the game and it was fun to see some of the big leaguers.  Chavy hit 2 doubles which was exciting! It was also military appreciation night and the River Cats had camo print jerseys.  My father and I kept score as usual the entire game and just enjoyed each other's company a lot.  All in all it was an amazing magical night and as alays it reminded me why I love baseball so much.