We rolled into Anaheim Monday afternoon and had a few hours
to kill before a 7:00 pm start, so we decided to look for a laundry mat. Even
though we have a washer / dryer on here, it made sense to stop and get it all
done at once. Laundry mats, sort of like pay phones, are something you don’t
really think about until you need one. It seemed like everyone we found was
recently closed. But, we lucked out and found a neighborhood laundry shop with
parking for the motor home right in front. This worked out perfectly as I went
for my run and my mom was able to knock out all the laundry.
We arrived at Angels Stadium a few hours before game time,
and were able to get great parking right by the stadium. We all showered up and
get ready to check out the ballpark, and of course, Albert Pujols playing
(struggling) for his new team. The fan experience started out on the wrong foot
as we got stuck on an elevator for 10 minutes with one of the players’ wives.
The way she was complaining, you would have thought we were taking gun fire.
This certainly kept everything in perspective as we kept in good spirits. Hell,
we thought it was a positive because we got dropped off on the field level and
could walk right onto the field.
After getting to our seats, we quickly realized that going
to a baseball game in St. Louis is pretty special, and I’m not talking
aesthetics. Both the fans, and the players, seemed to just go through the
emotions. People certainly didn’t follow every pitch, and seemed to be more
interested in socializing. Not a bad thing, just different than what we are used
to. And boy did they love booing Albert. By the end of it, I felt bad for him.
He didn’t look comfortable and didn’t appear to have the same fire he did in
St. Louis. I would imagine, if he could do it all over again, he would take the
St. Louis deal instead of playing in front of 20k fans who don’t appreciate
baseball the same way Cardinals fans do.
The stadium itself was nice and the waterfall feature in
center field was pretty cool. It seems like they are really trying to clean up
the area around the stadium with new retail destinations, high-end rentals,
etc, but I’m not sure it will ever have the feel of ‘destination.’ I suppose
winning can change all of that, but they aren’t doing a lot of that right now.
After Anaheim, we were looking for a classic baseball park with a rich
tradition. We would find it at Dodger Stadium.
Overall, my Dad gave Angels Stadium:
Pros: Albert Pujols, the waterfall in center field, tacos.
Cons: Albert Pujols, disinterested fan base, straight bill hats.
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