For It's One, Two, Three Snacks To Eat At The Old Ballgame

Friday was our annual trip to Elfstrom Stadium wherein our grade schoolers are rewarded for reading throughout the winter. Katelyn (7th grade) didn’t have the opportunity to participate in the Ozzie Reading Club. Apparently once you hit middle school you’ve read all you need to.

When we first arrived, Ally and Kristi grabbed a hot dog and drink while I snagged Geneva’s greatest underrated snack – the Super Rope. Two feet of red licorice goodness.

It was a packed house with tons of school groups. The thing I noticed is that with so many kids and school groups in attendance there didn’t seem to be all that much baseball watching going on. Most of the kids want to run around and find each other and a lot of the parents decided a seating section at a baseball game was the perfect place to stand and talk and hug and get reacquainted.

But what I will admit it is that what the kids lacked in baseball attentiveness, they made up for in volume. When one of the Cougars got a basehit, the kids would react with maniacal screaming and clapping, even if they weren’t quite sure what impact the hit had on the game.

A monster homerun to deep centerfield by Cougar Leonardo Gil, number 24 in your scorecard and number one in your heart, sent the noise level exploding even higher.

The Cougars hung up crooked numbers in the third and fifth innings to send 8800 fans home happy.

Throughout the game the P.A. Announcer kept promoting their first fireworks show of the year. “Stay with us after the game for fireworks set to Disney music!” I was expecting a little Hakuna Matata from the Lion King, maybe something from Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast and Toy Story, so I set my alarm clock for “Fun” around 9:30.

In between innings I perused the Grand Slam Gazette (the Cougars magazine) and had a few CFCL flashbacks. I noticed that Todd Benzinger and Sal Fasano are managers in the Midwest League. A far cry from being owned by the Copperfields and Rebels, but they have a dream to follow.

My youngest daughter, Kristi, started showing interest in the game this year. After a River Bandit basehit she wondered why there were two “red guys” on first base. I pointed out it was the batter and the firstbase coach talking. Throughout the game she would comment “that ball looked foul” or “he was safe”. Not exactly Steve Stone, but a few inches ahead of Ron Santo.

As the game wore on, the temperature dropped and it became fun to just huddle up, arms wrapped around each other and cheer each successive out that led to a Cougars victory.

A quick trip to the concourse for some Dippin’ Dots and it was time to settle in for the Disney Fireworks Show. Instead of the rockets being accompanied by the scores of animated movies, it was Hannah Montana, Selena Gomez and the Jonas Brothers, et. al. from the other side of Disney’s empire. Being the father of three young girls I was able to nail the first three artists in the set and even though it wasn’t Woody and Buzz singing, the display was awesome. After fifteen minutes of colorful explosions, we collected our program, jackets and left over three foot bag of popcorn and headed home.

Since this week’s Monroe Doctrine has been about family, I would like to cap it off by honoring the Lady Rebel as we celebrate our Mark Grace Anniversary.