We're having company over tonight - a perfect time to get out of the house to let Carol clean it without ME being around.
Besides, I've got places I need to go and see.
After all, the World Series is in town for the first time in 47 years.
I drove down to U.S. Cellular Field. Note to self: don't take the tollway. Though the oasis is a plus for drinks and snacks, but the construction at the River Road Toll Plaza to start the conversion to Open Road Tolling is going to screw things up - cost me over 15 minutes today, can't imagine what it'll do tomorrow.
There's no traffic around the park, but there's sure a lot of people out and about. I stop and take a picture of a huge banner that's covering the ramps at Gate 6. It's a Grinder Rules ad:
GRINDER BALL RULE #162:
CRYING IN BASEBALL --
ONLY ACCEPTABLE IF CHAMPAGNE BURNS YOUR EYES
Priceless.
I take a right onto 35th. I hadn't planned on stopping at the park to take pictures, but there's just too much happening. I notice that there's a group in the southwest corner of Lot B. Us Flags, City Flags - What's going on? I pull into the lot and walk over - only to miss the end of a Press Conference by Mayor Daley, talking about the Ceremonial Bet of Lou Malnatti's Pizza, Eli's Cheesecake, Atomic Fireballs and Tootsie Rolls. There's a fiberglass cow painted/decorated in Sox colors. And, of course, what everybody in the city has been looking for - Ozzie Guillen cardboard masks. Everybody is taking their own Eli's cheesecakes, and pizza's. Took pictures of the mayor and cow. I walk toward the park and find out that the grounds crew took the World Series stencil that's used on the field and painted a duplicate on a piece of grass outside the park so people can get their picture taken on it. (which I did, thanks to an elderly lady that decided - on her own, mind you - to stand on a bus stop bench to get a better shot (she was right!). Walked around the property and found all of the exterior souvenir stands open and busy, both with customers and with stocking the shelves with new product. After gathering a few things, I walked back to the car and drove just a few blocks west to Grandstand, the world's best White Sox souvenir stand on the face of the planet.
Grandstand had a huge line formed outside the building, running down Wallace. It took me 45 minutes to get into the building - and then I felt like the proverbial "kid in a candy store" and ran around just grabbing those things that I just wanted. Hundreds of dollars later, I escaped the building.
The day wasn't over, however. I heard about what the city was doing with the well known statuaries around town, so I drove over to Michigan Avenue and went to the Art Institute. I parked my car on Columbus and walked along the front of the building.Took pictures of the huge lions that flank the entrance to the building - with large White Sox hats on their heads. Walked to Daley Plaza and took pictures of the Picasso Statue, also with a Sox head on top of its... "head"? Walked back to the car and headed home... and accidentally found the third statue involved on Congress: The Bowman and The Spearman is a statue of an Indian on a horse... that's wearing white socks with White Sox logos on them.
Everybody I saw all day had White Sox stuff on. I saw maybe two people with Cubs stuff (obvious psychopaths).
This is really friggin' cool...
2008
2004- Maybe next week
2003- Fixing a Hole
2002- Damn sniper...