For the Love of Balls

Hey Sports Fans.

Decker's. The rendezvous point.

So the last few years or so, The Kings of the Hill have made it a point to travel out to the Dow Diamond for the Great Lakes Loons' Opening Night. Always the first Friday of April, the game kicks off at 6pm and usually runs until like 9 or 9:30pm or so. Some of the dads meet up to pre-drink and eat dinner beforehand, and the last couple years we've gotten together to do this we've met up first at Decker's (which is like a two block walk from the Diamond - works out perfectly.)

This year I didn't get out to Decker's until like 5:30pm, so I met up with the rest of the guys just as they were paying their bills and getting ready to set out. From there we walked to the diamond, grabbed some beers, and settled into our seats for about, oh, two innings of baseball before getting bored. Then we did what we always end up doing - walking laps around the diamond, drinking beer, meeting up with other folks, and otherwise just enjoying the start of yet another season.

Anyway, here's some pics and video detailing the evening. Enjoy. . .

Morgan had been the first to arrive to Deckers. . . at, like, 2:30pm.

Three hours later, Mitch and Morgan leaving the bar after an early dinner.

As we were leaving, Lonnie went to go move his truck. . . and totally rammed into the back of this random-ass boat that was parked out front. At the sound of the crash, a waitress ran out and asked who had hit the boat, then proceeded to tell the rest of us that that was like the third or fourth time that boat had been hit that afternoon. Can't make this shit up, folks.

A short walk later, we had arrived at Dow Diamond.

After grabbing some drinks, we went to go find our seats.

Same exact seats as last year - the first section, all the way to the back (so no one sat behind us.) 

Decent turnout for Opening Night (as is usually the case.)

Go Sportball.

Alayna and that Sebastian guy she's gone on a few dates with went to the game as well, so while we were there we made it a point to track them down and embarrass the holy hell out of her whenever possible (managed to do so a half a dozen times, thereabouts.) Parenting 101, folks.

From Left to Right: Mitch, Morgan, Yours Truly, Rob, Lonnie, Erik, and Steven.

Spying on the teenagers, yet again.

They have these phone charging lockers at the Diamond, which Lonnie was forced to utilize early on in the evening (because apparently he doesn't know how to keep his phone charged like an adult.)

Rob and Erik. Sharing gloves.

Morgan and Steven, waiting in line for another round.

On one of our laps around the playing field, we ran into the Cannonball and her new flame again.

Walking behind the scoreboard.

These puny-ass fires weren't doing much to alleviate the chilly weather this evening. It was in the mid-40s and windy.

Cannonball took this one, from across the field. That's me in the light grey hoodie and black vest, with the hood up (because it's zoomed in so much the pic is blurry as hell.)

Crappy solar panels, not pictured.

The Kings of the Hill

After an hour or two of walking around we headed back to our seats to watch another inning of baseball (considering we had paid for the tickets, it was probably wise to watch a little bit of the actual game.)

That didn't last long, though - we were up moving about again after a few minutes. Too damn cold out to sit still in the seats like that.

This game was a bloodbath. Loons got curb-stomped by something like 8 runs, I forget. Hooray for the home team.

By the 7th or 8th inning, the writing was on the wall - we definitely weren't winning this one. That, and all the restaurants and kiosks were shutting down, so we couldn't get any more beer.

So, not ready to call it a night quite yet, we decided to leave Dow Diamond and head downtown.

. . . but not before getting some obligatory pictures in front of the Loons train (or whatever the hell it's called.)

And one with me ('cause I'm usually the guy snapping the pics.)

Did you know Rob can do a cartwheel?  Neither did we.

Morgan and Lonnie decided they were all funned out for the evening and walked back to Decker's to get their cars. The rest of us continued on towards the downtown scene, and of course we had to stop and get a group selfie under these hanging lights.

(Erik wanted to try and get one with more of the lights in it.)

Decided to pop into Brinstar - the retro arcade bar we hit up from time to time - for some beers and their famous spring rolls.

They weren't too busy this evening, so we were able to get a table right away (which was weird, considering the game was close to letting out.)

The bathrooms in this place are down a super long, narrow hallway. The sort of place you wouldn't want to be cornered by a monster or a ghost or a rapist or something.

Seriously. Who designed this nonsense?

Some wall graffiti along the hallway.

Another dad selfie before we paid our bills and took off for the next stop.

I would straight up DOMINATE this trivia night.

Next up was Three Bridges - probably one of the shittiest bars I've ever been to, but it's popular with some of the people in our group so I just suck it up and deal with it.

We were lucky enough to nab a table at this joint, too.

There's not a whole heck of a lot I like to drink at this place - the liquor is over-priced and their beer sucks ass. I pulled the trigger on some 'brown ale' that ended up tasting more like a porter, and I loathe porters. Took me about an hour to drink this thing.

Steven had definitely had a few drinks over the course of the last several hours, and was putting his military-themed Loons hat on all the guys, trying to see who wanted it (I guess he didn't want it anymore, I forget why.) Not my style, that's for sure.

Ran into Kyro and his group of dads while we were there - him and his crew (some of which are in the guys' Fantasy Football League) always go out for Opening Night as well. All in all, a fun evening and one that we'll be for sure repeating next year. Gotta root for the home team, gang.

- Brian

Opening Night at Dow Diamond

What up, players.

Today probably signaled the end of 'Winter' (if we can even call it that this year) more than any other freakish, 72-degree day we've had over the last month or two. Not that it was particularly warm out this evening or anything - far from it, it was in the upper-40s and overcast - but nothing really cries 'SPRING' like Opening Day with the Great Lakes Loons at Midland's own Dow Diamond.

As most of you very well know by now, I'm hardly what one could consider a sports enthusiast by any means, but I thoroughly enjoy going to a game at the local arena (or whatever you call the place where baseballers play.) Our group of dads down a few 32 oz beers, we walk around the bump into other locals we know about town, and otherwise enjoy the bread and circus.

(We sat and watched the game for, like, 20 minutes.)

We occasionally watch the game, too.  Once and a great while.

This year we stayed until the end of the 8th inning, and left when it was obvious the Loons had the game in the bag (they ended up winning anyway. . . not that any of us really cared.) Afterwards, we walked downtown and met the wives over at, what I consider, the shittiest drinking hole in town - Three Bridges. I steadfastly refrained from buying a drink during the 20-30 minutes we were there, out of protest (I despise that bar but the wives love it), and probably due to my groaning we went over to Whichcraft and there hung out to close out the night.

So here you go, folks - Opening Day of Spring.  Sort of. 

Some edgy dude carved this above one of the urinals in the men's room. So hardcore.

Some of the guys met up earlier in the evening at Decker's (a nearby bar downtown), but that was about the same time I was getting out of work so I just had Kris drop me off at the arena (or whatever it's called) around 6pm. After meeting up with everyone, we grabbed some beers and made our way to our reserved seats.

Those empty seats there between Morgan and Tom is where we ended up staying for, like, 20 minutes or so.

Some sun would have been cool this evening, but it was in the high-40s/low-50s with little wind, so it was manageable. After sitting for a bit we got up and did a lap around the Diamond.

Morgan, Mitch and Tom

Getting a group selfie for Opening Night (Morgan, Lonnie, Erik, Yours Truly, Tom and Mitch.)

Coming back into the Concourse for another round of beers, we bumped into the legendary Captain of Z93 fame. I managed this pic of him talking to Erik about something-or-other Loons related (he does PR for them and the surveying company Erik works for is doing some work with the organization.) I got to pose for a pic with this dude last year (I grew up listening to him on a daily basis while in high school.)

After a few beers (and very little baseball-watching) we decided to leave and head downtown to meet up with the wives. 

On our way out Erik wanted to stop and check out the Midland County Sports Hall of Fame (which is just as impressive as it sounds. . .)

(Most of these people were local coaches, or else state champions or record-setters - not like pro-ballers or anything.)

When we arrived at super-shitty Three Bridges, it fortunately wasn't as packed the last time we had all been in there (after our St. Patrick's Day outing to Clare), and we were able to find an empty table. The wives were seated at the table behind us, so it kinda defeated the purpose of us even being there. But whatever.

Tom gets another group selfie. The other guys ordered a round here but I wasn't about to give this place one cent of my money - this place sucks.

Tom gets a group pic of the moms doing a round of shots (you can spot Kris there right to the right of Mitch's head.)

Susan, Courtney, Kris, Danielle, and Stephanie.

After one round of drinks there - maybe because I was boycotting it, who knows, but I'd like to think the other guys had come to their senses - we decided to peace out and head down a block or two and hit up my favorite downtown watering hole, Whichcraft.

Passed by the ol' Larkin Building on our walk down (our Masonic lodge meets on the top floor a few times per month.)

Whichcraft. We had sat at a much smaller table at first, as the wives were still finishing up the drinks at the last place, but when one of the larger, bench-styled tables opened up that could accommodate our whole group opened up we moved. For whatever reason, Tom - which you can see in the center, there - refused to move for a bit (he was a bit tipsy at this point.)

A few folks ordered some appetizers and snacks while we polished off a couple, last rounds for the evening.

We ended up staying there for about an hour and a half, before folks decided to call it a night around 11pm or so.

The whole group (sans Yours Truly, who - of course - was the one taking the pic.)

Everyone dispersed towards their respective cars at the end of the night, with the Johnsons and Griffins sticking together because they had parked on the same side street. When they were stepping onto the street, Stephanie tripped off the curb and totally ate shit on the pavement. . . directly in front of a parked cop car (which you can see right behind Lonnie.) Fortunately the guy didn't tail any of their vehicles home. . .

This is what Kris and I came home to. Alayna and the dogs asleep in bed, with Abby passed out on the living room couch with a movie blaring. Gotta love Fridays. . .

- Brian