Park #2

August 3-Pittsburgh, Pa.
Well, after yeasterday's brush with superb mediocrity, I was looking for a big show, and I GOT IT. PNC Park is great. You get within a half mile of the stadium, and everything is sports. Much to my happiness, there are statues all around the park, of Clemente, Stargell, and Honus Wagner, absolutely fantastic. The whole motif (spelling) is great; all baseball all the time. The park itself is beautiful, let me tell you something, being able to look out into center field and see the whole city's skyline is a beautiful thing. The only thing better is a plateful of chicken wings covered in nacho cheese. seriously, its a wonderful thing. Furthermore, the left-center field wall is 410 feet, which means that it is ideal for triples; and if you didn't know, the triple may be the most exciting thing to watch in sports (with the exception of the loch-ness monster of baseball, known as the inside-the-park homer). Also, its only 315 down the right field line, which is abutted by an 18 foot scoreboard, which means that lefties get plenty of homers and doubles. quite awesome to say the least.
So, anyway, I went to the game with my brother, who lives in Pittsburgh. We get to our seats, and who is seated 5 rows behind us, but Richard Schiff, a.k.a. Toby Zeigler from the West Wing. We got pictures with him, fantabulous!!!!! Then, you wouldn't believe it, my grandpa shows up at the game (after declining an invite from me), and was there with 2 of his friends. He brought us over to his seats, which were about 8 rows behind the dugout, OH MAMASITA, what fabulous seats.
Now, onto the important stuff, the FOOOOOOOOD. Well, Pirmanti brothers has a stand at the game. For those who dont know, Pirmanti brothers are the originators of the panini-style sandwich, and Cleveland's Paninis is nothing but the bastard child of those style sandwiches. These Pirmanti brothers sandwiches are grizz-eat. mmmmmmmmm. Well, i also had a hotdog, it was one of those dogs on the grills with the peppers and onions. Definitely the right color, and all the flavor.
In addition, the Pirates won over the Padres 9-8 on a dgame winning double by Brad "Big Country" Eldred. Also, your pal and mine, Jose Mesa got the win. And with other players like Brian Giles, Dave Roberts, Damian Jackson, and Jody Gerut, it definitely felt like Chief Wahoo was in the air (or that may have been the hot dog making a second appearence).
However, the MVP of the game would have to be the Pirates First base coach, not only did the 4 calls he made to have guys stretch singles into doubles help the Bucs win, but his name is Kuntz. I mean, that guy is my hero.
So, between the great park, fantastic food, West Wing encounters, and the walk-off double, I'm gonna give PNC park an "A".
Well, pictures will be up in the next two days. Stay tuned. I'm heading to Cleveland tomorrow for a couple days, then it's off to Detroit.
2 down, 18 to go.
LAZ