I'm sitting here eating chips and salsa for dinner, and watching the Home Run Derby on High Def ESPN. I have never watched it before, but -- hey! -- it's high definition! Plus, it's in AT&T Park, and I've been there. Tomorrow is the All Star Game, and I'll probably just watch the first two innings when Dan Haren will pitch.
Today I met George and his daughter, Pamela, at Moscone West. It was supposed to be 11, but when I texted George, I got the amorphous reply, "Be there soon." While I was waiting at the roped-off entrance, I noticed a truck giving away Taco Bell tacos. I looked at my watch. 11:02 and he wasn't there yet. I got in line.
I was just finishing the very tasty soft taco when they strolled up....only to announce that they only had one ticket. George had to get another.
So Pamela and I went in....and I immediately went to the merchandise. George joined us in the meantime, excited in the fact that he saved $12 by buying in person with a discount ticket, and we shopped. I was the only one who bought some pins, and we moved on.
George wanted one thing at the FanFest. Well, maybe two. He said he wanted to spend time with me. And he wanted an autograph by Oakland Athletics great, Rollie Fingers.
We found Rollie's autograph line, or at least I think we did. We could almost see them on stage in the distance, but the autograph line (remember, everything is free once you get in) probably went on for an hour-and-a-half, maybe more. And it wasn't moving. So we moved on.
Pamela told me that Barry Zito had announced he was going to be here, but dropped out at the last minute. George and I both looked at each other, and commented on last night's performance. I wouldn't show up either.
Most of what we saw were virtual reality batting, photos taken with jerseys on, real batting cages, things like that, all with long lines.
The one really interesting thing was that we found Cal Ripken, Jr -- can you imagine?! -- teaching kids how to bat! It was on the 3rd floor, and I'm guessing a lot of people never made it up there. He was miked, on the big screen, and giving instruction on how to keep your shoulder down when you swing. I could see all the adults nod, yeah! while the kids kind of went, "Give me the bat!"
I think we were all kind of looking for freebies, handouts, goodies, but the only thing we got was a fake Mastercard and a snickers bar. But once we left we were given a drumstick and two snickers bars. "The freebies are better out here!" commented Pamela. So we went to Chevy's, where lunch was better out there.
Both Pamela and I agreed that the A's FanFest in recent years was better than this ultra-expensive FanFest. I'm sure a lot of people enjoyed it, especially if you could get near some of the ballplayers. But, truth in fact, most of the ballplayers who are all-star quality were getting ready for the home run derby or the all-star game itself. I enjoyed the walk-through, but that's really all it was. Mostly I enjoyed the company of George and Pamela.
I will watch a bit of the All-Star game, wondering how the Oakland A's can get players of that caliber. And why the A's only send one player a year to this classic. And then I'll look forward to Thursday night's game. Because THAT's baseball.
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