Fat Tuesday Fill-up

Happy Fat Tuesday everyone! I hope that the grocery stores out here have paczkis (they're these Polish doughnuts that go on sale on Fat Tuesday), but since I'm in the desert and there are no Polish people out here, I doubt it (plenty of Mexicans though, but not that there's anything wrong with that. Wonder what they have for Fat Tuesday fare...). Normally, I don't eat doughnuts, but I'll put aside my diet restrictions for these. As a transplant, the loss of local culture is something I must frequently cope with.

So lets see, Omar Vizquel gets to wear Luis Aparacio's old number 11. It was brought out of retirement just for him. There wasn't a whole lot made about this story, but then again, what's the big deal about it?

Here's a big story! JD might be retiring! Frank Thomas, who I vaguely recall from my youth, has recently retired (or something like that. He's been outta baseball for a long time) and had a conversation with JD. JD told Frank that if the right offer doesn't come along, he will retire. With Spring Training around the corner and JD still has no prospects, retirement might actually not be a bad idea. Although JD is just 36, he's had a good career.

But thats not to say that JD's had a miserable offseason, waiting for a contract to come along. He rejected a 1-yr, $3.3 million offer from the Cubs, but the Atlanta Braves are still interested in his services. With pitchers and catchers reporting to Camelback Ranch next week for Spring Training, time is running out.

And this is your Fat Tuesday fill-up!

Happy Mardi Gras everyone!

GO WHITE SOX!!!
tamtam

camelback ranch

ok, i know ive been slacking, but i've been kinda busy this week. i had a test in bio which prevented me from writing an entry about my boys in black.

since im on spring break, my uncle decided to treat me to a baseball game. no trip to phoenix is complete without a baseball game (when its in season, of course). we decided on camelback ranch, as i had not yet been there, and i wanted to see if it was really all the hype.

the facility is nice, but i dont know that i would have picked glendale, or that particular design for a ballpark. for 1 thing, glendale is a little out-of-the-way, and the stadium is located in kind of an isolated area. but im probably speaking too soon cuz knowing arizona, they never stop developing. within a few years, there will be more houses and shopping malls surrounding the park. personally, id disapproved of the sox moving north cuz 1 of the reasons i chose to go to u of a was to be near the white sox for spring training!! it should also be known that before hightailing north to phoenix, the sox had a contract worked out with the tucson park district about staying in tucson electric park (to which i have yet to pay a visit) all the way till 2010. since the sox broke their contract, they worked out a deal to reimburse (sp?) the tucson park district for what the remainder of the contract was worth. if they hadnt done this, the city of tucson could have sued the white sox for a breach of contract, which is totally legal. i know, i know, kenny (thats our gm, for those of you unfamiliar with the white sox management system) had his eyes set on phoenix for a while, but it would have been economically, and legally less of a hassle to just wait until the contract expired, and dont bother to renew it. although i know a lotta players make their offseason homes in phoenix and it is a far drive to and from tucson (its 2 hrs going there and to come back is another 2 hrs), i wonder if tucson electric park is located in a dumpy area, and maybe kenny really wanted to get outta there just cuz of the neighborhood.

but enough legalspeak bitching and on to BASEBALL!!! todays game was white sox vs. texas rangers. and no, josh hamilton was not playing, so carlos quentin couldnt eat him (see 'hopped up on hamilton' for this one (note-each word is a separate image), courtesy of the ever-amazing carl skanberg). i got to see my boys stretching and doing batting practice.

before the game, however, some team in the white sox minor league organization won some championship, so the sox honored them. while the team was honored, i was taking pix of my boys engaged in some roly-poly-style-stretching

this over here is the team that the sox were honoring.

and this below is my boys doing roly-poly stretching :)

first 1 on the right is paulie, all curled up and rocking back and forth like a japanese wobble toy :)

this next one was ba. he was literally going head-over-heels during his stretching routine. as the guys at south side sox might suggest, the 'honies' (or alternatively spelled "honey's", basically a slang term for cleat chaser groupies) that ba likes to pick up after games are gonna have a good time taking advantage of his flexibility (and wallet, among other things).

finally, my favorite stretching pic.

aside from that gorgeous man in the middle on his knees (none other than my boy, carlos quentin :D), i liked the groupshot of jd getting a real rubberband man workout from the trainer along with ba.

the game itself was a thriller. our miracle man, john danks, got the start for us. the sox were down 3-1 at one point, but came back to win 8-4 after consecutively scoring a run in the 7th, 8th, and 9th innings. the 9th inning was the best cuz my boy q, after having a rather dismal game, got a rally going. he hit a double, and then scored on 2 subsequent singles, tying the game 4-4. after the pitcher walked the bases loaded, ba came on and hit a grand slam. it was the 1st grand slam id ever seen live. i was glad i went.

as for the stadium in general, the food isnt too bad. for lunch, my uncle bought me a hot dog with all the fixin's. basically, that was a vienna beef hotdog with relish, onions, gardinia (at least i think thats how you spell it. its that italian hot pepper salad that you find in the grocery store in the glass jar), cheese, chili, jalapenos, and finally ketchup and mustard (although i didnt put mustard on mine. i dont like mustard). it was messy, but it wasnt bad. id definately have it again. for dessert, i had this italian ice dessert, i think its called 'sorbeto'. it tastes like a popsicle, and was actually kinda refreshing. it got rid of the peppery aftertase left behind by the hotdog.

the giftshop was REALLY CROWDED!!! they were selling the st. patricks day green jerseys of various players. the special was of my boy quentin. well, the man does have some irish roots, so it was appropriate (i remember reading a tribune article about him, and that little tidbit was mentioned, among other things). my dad went to the game on tuesday, and told me that in the team store, you could find a manny's-dreadlocks wig, complete with bandana. i couldnt believe it, so after the game, my uncle and i went to the team store and fought the crowd to see if we could find it. unfortunately, the store was sold out of those wigs, but thats ok. the next time i go to camelback ranch, they'll probably be in stock. i dont intend to get 1, but i just wanted to see it cuz i couldnt believe they existed.

that was my day at camelback ranch. i would love to go back in the near future :)

GO WHITE SOX!!!

tamtam