Whine & Cheese

Diamond"Sucks"

I would not be surprised if Todd blogs about this since the household is in a general state of crabbiness over it. Over the weekend, we received our new seat assignments for our Arizona Diamondbacks season tickets. Our jubilation was almost instant as we thought we moved a section closer to home plate and a chockful of rows closer to the field. Fast forward to a day later and the bubble-bursting moment of discovering the seats were actually a section further away from home plate. Our "upgrade" instructions were not followed...this was confirmed with a Monday phone call when a rep offered that maybe a 2 was misinterpreted as a 1. Of course, our existing seats of the past two years have already been re-assigned to someone else -- and the only two "remedies" offered were slightly worse seats in the very section we have been in OR seats further back (we are already fairly far back) in the next section closer to home plate.

So needless to say we are pretty pissed. We wait two years for a seat change and when it happens it all but amounts to a downgrade. We are talking about a serious chunk of change as well ($20+ a seat, 80+ games...you do the math)...also we have to worry about "re-sale" value as we are only able to get to 20-25 games per year. So seat desirability is a pretty important issue...if not to us, the people looking to buy. Ugh! We have found talking about it doesn't help either (nor does blogging about it apparently)!
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Continuing the "that sucks" theme, finally caught the cute new "reality" series Airline on A&E. Life generally sucks for pretty much everyone on this show which follows the troubled travails of Southwest Airlines staff (or should I say team members?) and passengers. From drunk passengers to smelly ones, from irate parents to the C.O.S (that's "customer of size" who are required to purchase two seats due to their weight)... this is every imaginable travel nightmare tidily tucked into a half hour. I am definitely glad I am on this side of the TV screen though...since I have an abysmally low tolerance for a) bad "public" behavior and b) poor customer service. Though I have to say the Southwest staff handles everything infinitely more calmly and professionally than I could (well, at least with the cameras rolling). Worth a look or a TiVo Season Pass.

Goodbye Curt

If you follow baseball (or perhaps even if you don't), you are probably aware that the AZ Diamondbacks traded Curt Schilling to the Red Sox. It was the first in a series of moves to improve last year's anemic offense while reducing payroll. This past week the Dbacks organization declared "mission accomplished" (tho, no banners on air carriers) with the signing of statuesque slugger Richie Sexson.

I have mixed feelings about the loss of Schilling. Despite a lackluster 2002-03 season (mostly due to an injury), there is no denying that he is still one of the top pitchers in baseball. When he is on, he is lights-out and his game preparation is impeccable (he has a software program that analyzes hitters!). And he was largely responsible for what will always be one of the highlights of my life - attending the 2001 World Series. Schilling pitched Game 7 with the Diamondbacks dramatically winning in the bottom of the 9th inning.

But with that talent also comes a little bit of ego. There is certainly more than one plateful of "diva" in Schilling -- from influencing whether the Bank One Ballpark roof was open or closed to bashing a camera that looks at the strike zone to his superstitious jumping over the foul line on his way back to the dugout. In subtle ways, it is clear to me that Schilling likes attention. During the trade talks, he seemed to glow at press conferences held outside of his house. Rumors flew that the trade hinged on family time off, guaranteed days off, pitching rotation position, a new manager being named, and holding onto his jersey number.

This morning in The Arizona Republic there was a full page "ad" (I am assuming it is an ad since it is not published on the newspaper's website) entitled Goodbye Arizona - a very lengthy farewell letter from Schilling. Pictured with his family, Schilling give thanks as well as expresses his glowing thoughts about his teammates, the organization, and the community. I could not help but get goose-bumps over his descriptions of the 2001 World Series. The letter certainly did not lack sincerity -- and Schilling, in a self-effacing closing, noted it was "long winded as usual"...but the cynical side of me could not help but ponder whether this was Schilling's last "look at me!" Arizona moment.

But I guess I should let him slide this time around. This is not a bad guy. He is a top-notch professional, a devoted husband and father, and actively involved in charity work. In sports, the astronomical salaries and fan devotion often do not include those type of things in one package.

So Curt, a genuine thanks for the memories and good luck in Boston!

Random Musings

Just some (okay, many) random musings...

The Bette Midler concert situation (see Nov 13th entry) resolved itself nicely this morning. I was "this close" (visualize two fingers almost touching) to paying the $60 annual fee for pre-sale access to tix (and potentially others for the next year), but received a pre-pre-sale offer since I am a season ticket holder to the "Broadway in Arizona" series. So that was cool, got $89.95 lower level tix (prices ranged from $44.95 nose bleeds to $154.95 floor) two days in advance of the regular pre-sale and five days before the "general public." As I said a couple of days ago, I think it is probably impossible these days to get great concert tix on the day the actually go on sale to the public!
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Watched All The President's Men over the weekend since Todd had recently read a book about Richard Nixon. Everyone knows this is a good movie, but it was really interesting to see how far things have come in 30 years... people using typewriters, dialing phones, and [gasp!] smoking in the workplace. Also, keep your eyes out for small roles played by Polly Holliday ("Kiss My Grits" Flo from the sitcom Alice) and Meredith Baxter (from Family Ties)... now I am really showing my age!
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Speaking of feeling old, the tennis season finally drew to a close this weekend. The pretty much year-round season is tiring to the players and even for tennis fans such as myself. This year I really took a step back from being a tennis fanatic... stopped writing for an online tennis magazine, attended a couple of sessions as a paying "fan" vs. practically every session for two weeks as media at the local tennis tourneys, and did not religiously watching every match that turned up on the TV. I think part of the reason is that I no longer relate to the players on a peer-level. With the exception of Andre Agassi and the seemingly ageless Martina Navratilova, the bunch of young 20-somethings lighting up their tours seem so far removed from this mid-30 something guy. Now, don't get me wrong I still watch waaaay more tennis than the average American, still check out the tennis scores/news daily, and still try and outwit, outplay, and outlast hundreds of other players on the coolest tennis contest site on the Web.
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Hey, I have the same vintage travel poster hanging in my house as Kate Fox (played by Alicia Silverstone) does on Miss Match! I am trying to figure out if that is a good thing?!?
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Kinda bummed about Karen Sisco getting shelved by ABC until March. Let's hope the network keeps its promise to give this show another shot on a new day/timeslot. Just don't put it up against another show I am TiVo-ing... I just hate having to watch "live" TV these days (like Friends vs. Survivor).
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So, the word is that Debra Messing's pregnancy will NOT be written into Will & Grace...so will she just "get fat" when her marriage to Leo (Harry Connick Jr.) hits the skids as this coming week's previews suggest? There is also talks that NBC is developing a sitcom for Connick... ummm, do they realize he is really not that funny?!

October B-Ball

It has certainly been a thrilling couple of League Championship series, huh?! The dream World Series match-up between the Chicago Cubs and Boston Red Sox faded last night as the Marlins broke the hearts of a city (and perhaps a nation) with yet another comeback win over the Cubbies. I not-so-boldly predict a Yankees win tonight for a totally anticlimactic WS showdown.

Regarding the unfortunate Game 6 fly/foul ball guy, I really hope he does not turn into this century's version of Mrs. O'Leary's cow. You do not have to attend too many baseball games to realize that people will do just about ANYTHING to get their hands on a baseball. Heck, I have seen many a middle-age guy turn into a 7-year old in order to catch a free Blimpie sandwich coupon dropped from the mini-blimp before a game!

The "incident" made me think back to one of my own ballpark experiences. I was fortunate enough to attend four games of the 2001 World Series (Diamondbacks vs. Yankees). In Game 1, the Diamondbacks' Craig Counsell hit a homer to our section in right field (about 5 rows away -- I think, like a fishing tale that ball gets closer and closer to me as time goes on). It was literally a "sea of humanity" -- everyone stood up, a quiet rumble swelled into a roar, and you could literally feel hundreds of people (ourselves, uncontrollably included) sway towards the direction of the ball. Beer splashed, popcorn flew, the guy next to us was covered it mustard. It was a thrilling and terrifying all at once. So hopefully everyone will just chill out about Mr. Chicago Left Field Guy -- catching a baseball is a natural instinct -- falling just slightly below the need for food, clothing and shelter.

Customer "Service"

Just some random "pet peeve" bitching for today...

Over the weekend I attended the last AZ Diamondbacks game of the season. We have season tickets and with that have certainly had plenty of experiences sharing our "air space" with obnoxious fans of the opposing team. But on Sunday, a particular St. Louis Cardinals fan just pretty much threw me over the edge. His constant supportive yells or disses/jeers had me continually jumping out of my seat. I don't think I could possibly raise my voice to those levels even if I was trapped in a room with Bill O'Reilly *AND* Ann Coulter. One time, I even felt a "whoosh" of fist pump air breeze past the little hair I am still fortunate to have on my head.

I know that I am asking WAY too much for people to actually be polite/respectful at a sporting event. The guy had the right to cheer on his team as much as anyone else in the ballpark. But did he have the right to make everyone around him miserable? But then again, maybe it was just over-sensitive me. I seemed to be fairly alone in sending off my own negative non-verbal volleys -- so maybe I just need to bring an extra dose of patience or buy a beer (or two) next season.
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Kudos to my most recent dental hygienist. She was able to use both her hands during my latest cleaning! For about a year's time, I seemed to have hygienists who would leave the suction tube dangling from the side of my mouth for what seemed like hours. I know it is difficult to efficiently work with two hands (I certainly could not do it), but I really hope that this would be a skill that is looked highly up in dental school.
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What do you think is the primary reason someone walks into a Super Cuts hair place? Yesterday, I walked in and was eventually asked "Can I help you?" I responded with the hopefully the standard reply "I'd like to get a haircut." This was greeted with a somewhat blank stare... as if I asked the poor girl that I wanted her to rotate my tires. We eventually settled that I just wanted your basic/no-frills 8.5-minute chop and began what was a thankfully chit-chat-free quickie cut.