This collection of entries is from April 15, 2003.
Nooooo!!!!!! Kansas City comes to town to play the White Sox... and another fan jumps out of the stands, this time he attacked first base umpire Laz Diaz. Shades of the Tom Gamboa attack by the shirtless father and son team last September. Know what's the pisser??? This was the fourth time during the game when fans ran out onto the field!!! We are soooo screwed. I wouldn't be surprised if Major League Baseball made a formal complaint, or at least a request, to get the whole security "thing" under control before the All-Star Game rolls into town. This just so pisses me off. These weren't baseball fans. these weren't Sox fans. these were assholes that decided to go to a baseball game and just screw around. Well, buddy, I hope your ass gets thrown in jail for a while. Stay the hell out of my park!
Note: I blame the White Sox for this. Look, I know these kind of "fans" exist at Wrigley, but you don't see this happen nearly as often. Why? The design of the park. The walls are brick, usually a good height, and depending where you are located, your seats may be a bit above the ground, all making it difficult to get onto the field. A few years ago, in their zeal to squeeze more revenue from the fans that actually show up at TPFKAC™, the White Sox added rows of seats down each line. By doing that, they brought the level of the seats down to field level, and put up a rail that - if you stand right next to it - hits you below the knee. That's right - to get onto the field, all you have to do is step over a rail that is only as high as your knee. WTF???? Who the hell's idea was that? Well, guess what? There's more fan incursions now than there used to be - gee, I wonder why??? So, White Sox, what are you going to do about this??? I am sooo pissed...
Look, I'm going on record here... I can't get myself to call that place US Cellular Field yet. It's still Comiskey to me, so cut me some slack until I "transition". Maybe I should be calling it "The Park Formerly Known As Comiskey™" or TPFKAC™.
OK, maybe bliss is the wrong word, but, damn it's nice outside! I just couldn't stay inside at lunch so I went out to grab am italian beef sandwich. I just don't know what to think with two days in a row having temperatures in the 80's. OK, so it's a little windy today, but after the crappy weather we are prone to have, this was like paradise! Well, OK, not paradise... I mean, this is Chicago after all, and it's April and the temperatures are supposed to drop like a rock into the 40's, just in time to go back to Comiskey for another series this weekend...
I know today may be Tax Day, but this day holds another connotation for me. I worked for a company 7 months shy of 20 years when I was let go. That was 5 years ago today. Being with a single company for almost 20 years (especially when you're in the IT industry) isn't heard of very often anymore. Nonetheless, I was one of the few. I'm finding it hard to believe it's already been five years. You get used to a company, an industry, your coworkers, that it just seems part of you, even though it's already been five years on...