Playball!

We televised our first spring training game today on Channel 4, a 5-3 Padres victory over the Cleveland Indians. As part of the broadcast I watched the game from the dugout and interviewed players and coaches and front office types in between innings.

It has got to be the sweetest gig in Arizona.

Watching a big league game (even a spring training game) in a big league dugout is incredible. You hear all the conversations, all the cussing and all the jokes. It is the ultimate "fly on the wall" experience.

The really special part though was hanging with the Sonic Dog and Tatter Tot. Just a couple every day guys dressed like giant pieces fast food. There was a Shake too but he was a total prima donna so I made him take the photo.

In actuality these guys were part of the grounds crew and had to put down their rakes and wire mesh thingies for a half inning in the name of branding. Hey, I get it, it was a TV game...gotta pull out all the stops.

That's Aggressive

There are days when I struggle to come up with a good picture of the day...today was not one of them. In fact, considering that I went to my first Pro Bull Riding event tonight, the question was not if I could come up with a good picture today...but which awesome pic I would end up using.

After some careful thought...and to be honest a little soul searching...I landed on this beauty. I mean it's not everyday you come across a couple wearing floor length Chinchilla coats in San Diego.

When I saw these guys in the airport my first thought was New York...these two had to be from New York. Man was I wrong. Turns out they are from Houston on their way to Tahoe, via San Diego.

I have no idea if the coats were real or not, but it was pretty obvious that they were real aggressive. I just kept hearing the "Bud Light Real Men of Genius: Mr. Male Fur Coat Wearer" song echoing through my head.

For a look that's half street pimp, half Aunt Esther, and full of furtastic...I salute you sir.

Bald People Are Funny

Take my producer Jason for instance. He's bald...that's why this picture is funny. If you put a beanbag on my head and some chick glasses on my face, I'd just look like an A-hole. Jason does it and he looks like Mr. T...that's funny.

So what was the inspiration? Not exactly sure, but Jason did go to SDSU, and the Aztecs beat 8th ranked New Mexico tonight to all but guarantee their entrance into the NCAA Tournament. That means Jason was a little giddy...and that means we got pictures like this one.

We've got to do something to fill the time.

If It's Free, I'll Take 3

So I went to the opening round of the PASL-Pro North American Championships tonight at the Del Mar Arena. Anyone have any clue what I'm talking about? Didn't think so. It's indoor soccer...as in the 10 time world champion San Diego Sockers.

Well the Sockers are up to their old tricks, earning the number one seed and a first round bye in the tournament that will eventually crown a North American Champion. The tournament kicked off today in Del Mar and I went out to cover it for Channel 4, but I forgot to take a picture, which is stupid.

I'm 70 days into this blog, you'd think I could remember to take a picture when I'm actually doing something of interest, right? Well, wrong. Hey nobody ever accused me of being a Rhodes Scholar. But it wasn't a total loss, I didn't forget everything...I remembered to grab the free swag.

Now I realize everybody loves free stuff (especially T-shirts and floppy hats) but sports reporters and newspaper types seem to take it to another level. It's like a drug. I've got more free T-shirts then I know what to do with, but I can't say no when someone offers another one up.

By the time I left the Del Mar Arena this is what I looked like. Free shirt, free scarf (love it by the way) and bag of kettle corn. Sure some people use their celebrity status to jump the line at a trendy restaurant or a hot nightclub. Me, I use it for T-shirts and scarfs.

For the record, the kettle corn cost me $7. I just got one of those.

What's Your Sign?

We live in a world filled with signs. It's really kind of ridiculous when you stop and think about it. Sure not all signs are bad...Stop, Warning, Hey I'm a Taurus. In fact, you could probably argue that most signs are pretty okay...the problem is in the volume.

It's like Susan Sarandon's character Annie Savoy says in Bull Durham, "You get three ants together, they can't do dick. You get 300 million of them, they can build a cathedral." There is power in numbers...unfortunately that's not always a good thing.

I'm not trying to be all "anti-establishment" here and say we shouldn't have rules...or even that those rules shouldn't be posted for everyone to see. I'm just saying that there are a lot of signs out there and they're not the most interesting things to look at. When you're walking today, look around, you'll be amazed at how many signs you see and how ugly they are.

It's like the Five Man Electric Band said back in 1970, "Sign Sign everywhere a sign. Blocking out the scenery breaking my mind. Do this, don't do that, can't you read the sign?"

Say Ahhhh

Raise your hand if you love the dentist. Anyone??? You in the back...no? Oh just stretching, okay.

Well I get it...and for the record, I'm not one of those weird people that loves the dentist either, but I don't hate it. Not anymore.

For that I have Jason Bott to thank, he's the one that turned me on to Dr. Gagliani. Dr. G to you and me. Not only are his offices about 4 blocks away from my house, but they are also super modern and very comfortable. But really, there's nothing special about that. The special part is who works there. They really are all very nice people. I'm talking about the kind of people that you would ask to take care of your dog when you went on vacation and make sure your mail didn't pile up.

So when those kind of people shove cardboard in your mouth and ask you to remain still while they take x-rays...it's not that bad. And really, what more could ask for?

Why?!

Notice anything a little..."off" about this picture? Me too. So I did a little research online.

Turns out it would cost you anywhere from $26 (shipping included) for you to outfit your truck with the standard flesh colored Truck Nutz...and up to $48 (again, shipping included) for the more exotic Titanium Blue Plated Nutz.

In the interest of consumer awareness, neither of those prices include what it would cost you in terms of your dignity.

Still, that's a lot of money to spend just to tell everyone you have a small dinkus.

What I really have trouble wrapping my head around is why any women, anywhere, would ever ride in a truck with that kind of decoration. It happens all the time too, just spend a week in Arizona if you don't believe me.

So in the interest of open mindedness and acceptance, I would ask anyone reading this to please re-post it to your blog, or facebook page, or twitter account, or whatever it is you have...and keep posting it until it lands in front of someone who can answer the very complicated question of why.

Remember, this is for posterity, so try to be honest.