Time for the all encompassing Missouri-baseball-road-trip-blog. Or to our Spanish readers, El camino de viaje de Missouri de basebol. de blog?? For starters, we just want to say that many things both surprised and disappointed us. And Lincoln's quest for a new favorite baseball team just got a little more interesting.
Our journey begins in the Gateway to the West, St. Louis, MO.
Some quick highs and lows about the city before we delve into the sports aspect of this trip. First, City Diner is a great way to start a trip. Great food, nostalgia bursting from the seams. A on food, A+ on ambiance. Second, the Anheuser Busch tour kicks ass!!! It's free. It offers free beer!! You get to see beer being made. It offers free beer!! You see the crazy production line (albeit Natty Light, the bastard child of beer), and did I mention the free beer?!?! Third, the bar scene is strong to fairly strong. Right along the mighty Mississip, close to the Arch and to Busch stadium. Slight negative for the fact that it overlooks East St. Louis, runner up in the place that God forgot contest. Finally, the women of St. Louis are smoking hot! There wasn't a one place we went that a solid 8.5 or 9 wasn't at. Several 10's as well. In the words of the immortal Billy Bob, I'd give St. Louis women "a 10, a 10, a fuckin' 10."
Onto St. Louis sports, which consists of Cardinals baseball. Period. It is well documented that Lincoln is a fan of the Red birds. Or should I say was. The pluses. The stadium is very nice; a very new, urban feel to it. Nice view of the Arch in the outfield and I personally liked the ground entrance to the field. A highly anticipated match up between the Cards and the Barry Bondses.
The negatives. Side note, I could write a novel about them so this is the abbreviated version. Way too many people. Hot! (I must say, the monsoon season in Texas has really skewed my perception of weather in other places.) Getting to the game 2 hours early and never being told our standing room only seats now magically require a wristband. Being asked to move AFTER the game has started and only when Bonds came to bat. Being lied to numerous times just to get us out of the way. And finally, being asked to watch the game from a freaking stairwell on the 3rd deck, about 800 yards away from home plate. Pretty unreal. We did end up getting very decent seats which led us to another negative/possible positive. Annoying Taylor Hicks look-alike Cards fan who harassed the 2 Giants fans the entire game by spewing lies, erroneous facts, and just downright absurdities the entire time. It was very fun taunting him right back with facts and the such. Morons have a tuff time with facts. I must say, I have never gone to a game of any kind rooting openly for one team, only to leave rooting for the other. This actually happened. Mission accomplished St. Louis Cardinals. Polarize and turn fans against you. Hats off. All in all though, it was a fun game that with the passing of time isn't quite as bad as right after the game. Solid B/B+.
We now move to the second half of our trip, Kansas City, and the voyage there. Might I say that after being up for 37 straight hours, a mini road trip can do funny things to you. Like hallucinate, ramble, sleep-drive, and do a pretend radio show to practice for a show you don't actually have. Yes, indeed we here at Sports Bullies have grand dreams of some day making it to the show and casting our voices out there amongst the talking heads and prevailing senses of the sports world in hopes of actually bringing hard hitting sports talk with a great blend of humor. Basically, this blog spoken aloud.
Back to the trip. Upon arriving in the afor mentioned Blue Springs, we quickly realized there was a serious event happening. Summer, apparently the largest convention just outside of Kansas City had rented every room in every hotel not named the Econolodge. (The inside joke here being that is the actual reason given, SUMMER, for why there were no rooms available.) So we settled into the Econlodge, whose motto is, "Not even hookers come here, so it's family friendly." Once in our room, we quickly realized that not only did the lights not work, but neither did the T.V. At least the AC worked. Upon entering the bathroom, we saw that it had been converted into a duel bathroom/river resort as was evident from the half inch of water covering the floor. An amazing room indeed, worthy of the $49.99 rate.
Breakfast the next day revealed that the Bob Evans is very much the local hang out for octogenarians. It was reminiscent of the South Park episode 'Grey Dawn' where all the old people go to the Country Kitchen Buffet. Denny's was very similar to the BE (Bob Evans for our non Blue Springs readers.)
We settled on Applebees and were rewarded with a Jessica Alba lookalike for a waitress. This girl obviously was Miss Blue Springs for like 5 years running. Pretty sure a big tip and word we were from a place that had 3 stop lights could have pried here from the town. One last note form Blue Springs, the fireworks/blue spring art deco in front of the BE was a nice touch to the town. Kinda told you what you were in for if you stopped there.
The actual game it self was pretty awesome. Great seats, friendly fans, and an up close view of Alex Gordon. And I must say, the dude has forceps the size of my freakin leg. I think when he bunts, its actually a warning track shot. No lie. Pluses from the stadium include great views, very nice facilities for as old as it is, decent priced food, and drink give aways to designated drivers. The only negative would be the $25 baseballs in the fan shop; hopefully the Rangers don't read this and get an idea. As for the game itself, it was about as good as you could expect from a D-Rays-Royals game. A great way to cap off a decent little baseball trip in the great State of Missouri. Overall, I'd rate it a 8 out of 10.
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