Monday, June 11, 2018

Me and a few hundred friends out at Sarpy County's "Trailer Park"

I finally did it.

Sunday, I finally attended my first baseball game down in Sarpy County 

Why so long?

Well, it's just never bubbled up to the top of my agenda.  I'm not a Kansas City Royals fan, so it's never been something that particularly enticed me.  And for me, it's pretty much out of the way; the only time I go that direction is driving to Lincoln. From my home in West Omaha, the "Trailer Park" is about the same distance south as TD Ameritrade Park is east.  And since I work downtown, I've been to the downtown ballpark many times, whether it was for baseball, football, or yes, even hockey.  (Man, I wish UNO would try this again downtown.)

"Werner Park?"  Not until today.  A family friend gave us some tickets, which finally pushed me from my inertia.  So this afternoon after lunch, my son and I headed south.

It's pretty much the same as it was the last time I drove by there five years ago, other than a few more houses north and east of the stadium. That whole "Pennant Place" development, which was supposed to provide the economic justification for this whole boondoggle, remains to be a dream.  In it's eighth season, the stadium remains a lonely outpost surrounded by empty fields. Eventually, as Papillion grows west, something will sprout there; it just won't be because of the ballpark.  ("Told you so!")

My son had fun at the wiffle ball field before the game, though I'm glad he's outgrown the Merry-Go-Round or bounce houses.  ($7 for that???)  And since nobody was playing miniature golf, it was easy to get him past that. (Another $3 saved...)

In fact, what struck me was that the stadium was pretty much empty today. It probably was the heat, though frankly, it wasn't that bad out there.  (AccuWeather said the high was about 90.)  But as the game got started, I realized that I probably could count the number of people in the stands.

At first pitch, there couldn't have been more than 400-500 people out there. As the game got started, a few more people emerged, but at most, maybe 700-800 on the afternoon. Since it was my first game out there, I don't know if this is the usual summer afternoon crowd or what; I've heard that they draw better on weekend evenings. But I was really surprised.

Other than promotions and contests every half inning, it wasn't a particularly entertaining game outside of the baseball.  (Maybe I should have went and played mini-golf?)  My son was disappointed that after we spent a half-inning getting a sno-cone, we were informed by people nearby that two foul balls had landed right nearby.  But that disappointment relented as the game went on; one nice lady gave my son a foul ball a couple of innings later.  (I suspect that's one that we missed earlier in our sno-cone excursion.)  And then he grabbed a t-shirt in a contest and then won a iPhone fan in another giveaway.

I guess extra swag is one of the advantages of going on "dress as an empty seat" day.

Will it be another eight years before I go to another Omaha AAA baseball game?  Probably not.  (Though before I go again, I've got to explain that he can't expect to come away with a bunch of free stuff every time...)

Friday, June 08, 2018

John Cook Stumbles Into A Trump Controversy

In a now-deleted tweet, Nebraska volleyball coach John Cook put out a public request on Tuesday night for a White House visit for his volleyball team.
Nebraska would love to go to the White House! Huskers would be honored and proud to visit our leaders in DC and represent Nebraska and the Natty! #gbr
Nothing wrong with a White House visit, per 'se. Husker volleyball has been to Washington after each of their previous national championships; they deserve the trip.

But the tweet rubbed a lot of people wrong.  Myself included.

Why?  It was the timing.  Tuesday was supposed to be the day that the Philadelphia Eagles were supposed to visit the White House, but when many players passed on the visit in response to President Trump's criticism of NFL players, the event was scuttled.  Instead, Tuesday was filled with all sorts of back and forth.  Criticism of the NFL and it's players.  Criticism of Trump.

And suddenly, there's John Cook and Nebraska volleyball, seeming to side with Donald Trump in the debate.  ("If the Eagles don't want to go, we'll do it!") Whether that was Cook's intention or not, Nebraska volleyball was now thrust into the noise and disorder of American politics.

Cook expressed surprise to the World-Herald that this was controversial.  I kind of understand how that could happen if he pays little to no attention to politics. (That's a blissful position, to be honest, considering where we are in this country.) But by that same manner... why is the most successful active coach in the state of Nebraska begging for a White House invitation on Twitter?

Why weren't our Congressional representatives already working on this?  Both U.S. Senators and all three House Representatives belong to the same political party as the President.  These visits after previous championships had been all arranged and set up in the spring.

John Cook shouldn't have been tweeting for an invitation for his volleyball team; he probably should have been more aware that there was a reason why this was all over the news Tuesday.

But just the same, he shouldn't need to request something like this on Twitter. This is something that should have been handled by our elected representatives in Washington.  All five members of Congress bear responsibility for this mess.

Yes, John Cook is better than this.  But more importantly, Cook and his volleyball team deserved better.