Well, here it is spring, and it's only fitting that Carol & I head down to Comiskey park for a Season Ticket Holder Open House for the team to show-off what they're doing inside the park for renovations.

Lots of workers are outside, painting the ramps and the backs of the scoreboards. The ramps are all dark gray - the color that they're using for all of the concrete everywhere inside the park, darkening up everything. Speaking of darkening, they're painting the backs of the scoreboards and advertising black, to match the black light towers and black roof over the upper deck. The Open House takes place in the Stadium Club areas, as well as part of Club Level, which is good since we haven't been out there yet. Club Level was rehabbed last year and it's gorgeous. It's all climate controlled now, with doors at each of the aisles, and carpeted. They had one Club Level exit opened, so you could go outside and look at the changes.

The first change you notice, of course, is the main scoreboard. I was shocked! It was dark green! Could somebody have been listening to my lamenting? (I've always hated the blue seats and blue trim everywhere. The blue, with all of that concrete, made the place look like a giant swimming pool. All they needed to do was change everything from blue to green and the place would start looking like a ballpark.) The next thing you notice is the huge jumbotron that replaced the old one as well as the other lighted matrix boards in the main scoreboard. The only thing in that scoreboard now (other than advertising) is the jumbotron.

The next thing you notice is that there's something in front of the scoreboard. Above the Batter's Eye, on what was a large plaza last year, is now a large brick concession stand with a "Fan Deck" (read "Beer Garden") on top. This could be interesting. Looking around the outfield concourse, you notice that all of the changes they made to the main concourse are being extended out there - brick, canopies, new signage and new beer stands that look like they have pergolas on top of them. There are new scoreboards that are on the facade of the upper deck that are supposed to be LED boards that span over 300 feet, to be used for advertising, announcements, and I imagine, scores and statistics. All of the facing concrete had been painted gray. The entire park looked darker, so it's got to be easier on the players now to be able to pick up the ball when it's hit (they've always complained that the ball would get lost in all of the concrete and it was hard to see it - the ball and the concrete were very close in color).

Roger Bossard had come back from Spring Training to get the field into shape. He was running his little steamroller over the infield dirt, getting that ready. The field, quite frankly, didn't look all that great. You can see all of the patching from last season and the repairs from the rolling Stones concert. Oh, and it wasn't green either. How was he going to get it green in 13 days?

The other obvious thing - is what hasn't been done - there's not a single sign that says U.S. Cellular Field. It still says Comiskey Park everywhere. Let's see how they obliterate the name in 13 days.

It happened to me again. I was standing out on the Club Level ramp, just looking at the field, and I could leave. The weather was OK (not stellar - no sun, but hardly any wind), and I was comfortable being out there. But there it was, that damn pull of a ballpark. I just wanted to stay, look at the field, watch Roger tend to the dirt and grass. I don't get it - I just love baseball so much, that I didn't want to leave. Weird. It was just so... comfortable. Like an old robe. It just surrounds you and comforts you. Damn. Weird.

We ran into our buddies Daryl & Karen who brought 3-month old Payton with them. What a bruiser, but what a cutie. It was nice seeing them before opening day.