Following that awesome time in Miami, it was time to grab my stuff and make the long flight back across the country to what I guess is a “home-away-from-home” Los Angeles California to see LA’s “second team” (not at all) The Angels take on the defending Major League Baseball Champion Houston Astros (oh yeah and it was also game 30/30).
Gaining an extra three hours flying West proved to work well, as I landed at noon and quickly UBER’d North to Santa Monica to meet Bryan and Mindy and hit the “Santa Monica Brew Works” where we would wait for the rest of our crew (and usual suspects) Jesus, Nancy, Nancy’s son Gavin (another child who dresses sharper than me), Nancy’s friend from Texas Marie and familiar face and baseball buddy Fabian (who unfortunately was unable to make it to the Dodger game I went to back in May).
Given the size of our crew, Jesus went all out for us and rather than take public transport all the way down the 405 to Anaheim, our guy rented us a massive Ford SUV – certainly a great way to continue to the party all the way to the Stadium (note: Given Jesus was driving he also didn’t drink – huge shoutout and thank you for getting us there safetly)!
We were all pumped upon arrival and took our seats in the outfield to enjoy a Saturday evening of Southern California baseball (literally beautiful one day, perfect the next) at beautiful Angel Stadium.
With both teams wearing colourful “Little League” uniforms, including player nicknames on the back (where the last name would usually be) the game started off slowly with no runs being scored until the Astros gun short shot Jose Altuve blasted a solo home-run in the bottom of the third inning.
The Astros would then tighten the screws in the fifth by reeling in another 4 runs to make it 5-0 before the adding another in the seventh before some resitance came from the Angels with two runs in the bottom of that same inning.
Both teams would exchange a single run in the eighth to make it 7-3 heading into the ninth, but another run from the dominant Astros would be the final nail in the coffin as they ran out to a statement 9-3 win.
Despite the result not going the way of the home team, it was still such a great atmosphere with perfect weather in a beautiful ballpark and with some of my best mates. We got back into the SUV and headed back to the familiarity of Santa Monica and of course one of our favourite bars in Brentwood “Q’s Billiards” to end the night and celebrate life and the end of the Thirty before 30 journey.
I won’t go into too much reflection in this post about the entire journey (I’ll save it for another day), however the feeling of sharing it all and coming back to LA to finish it was a fantastic feeling (although somewhat bitter sweet).
The next day, as is tradition, we all assembled for brunch and were in bed by 6:00pm.
So with this post, the milestone has been reached and I have officially experienced a game at every Major League Ballpark in the United States (oh and Canada).
Looking forward to writing up a few more thoughts, going through the numbers and getting back to somewhat of a regular routine.
Hopefully you’ve all enjoyed reading these and getting a taste of what I’ve seen, experienced and felt – WE DID IT!!
Following a short flight South, I arrived in sunny Miami and beelined it straight to the hotel SLS in South Beach. Here I would meet up with Jill and get ready for game 29/30 at Marlins Park located downtown.
Much like the stadium in Tampa, the Marlins decided to build their new ballpark (opened in 2012) with an enclosed roof to ensure games could go on in the sometimes-unpredictable Miami weather.
While the Marlins are not known for having the highest attendance (a combination of a team performing poorly and there being so much to do in Miami), that night they were hosting the always high-drawing New York Yankees. As Miami is full of New Yorkers who make the pilgrimage South for retirement, Marlins Park was about 80% full and of this I’d say it was about 75% Yankee fans – this certainly made for an exciting atmosphere.
I guess you can see some similarities?
Upon arrival the first thing you notice (apart from the giant structure), is all of the cool Miami related things such as palm trees, bright colours and lights all over the place.
The other cool item within the stadium is the Marlins “Home Run Sculpture” – much like the New York Mets Apple – that is located in left-center field and stands about 20m tall. As you’ll see, the main feature of the sculpture is the two Marlins that jump in opposite directions surrounded by a whole bunch of colourful swirls and other wild shapes (very Miami). The base of the sculpture contains palms trees, flamingos and further colours – all very cool!
The game itself was not only a beauty because of the huge crowd, but also featured power hitting, base running and non-stop excitement.
Things got off to a slow start with 4-scoreless innings highlighted by ex-Marlin’s star (now at the Yankees) Giancarlo Stanton’s first at-bat in inning one. While there were a ton of boos, the Yankees faithful who were there drowned these out pretty well – even though Stanton would have nothing to show for it.
JUPITER, FL – FEBRUARY 18: Giancarlo Stanton #27 of the Miami Marlins poses during Photo Day on Saturday, February 18, 2017 at Roger Dean Stadium in Jupiter, Florida. (Photo by Eliot J. Schechter/MLB Photos via Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Giancarlo Stanton
Finally, the Yankees would make the breakthrough they were looking for with a run in the fourth inning and another in the sixth to make it a 2-0 game.
However, the Marlins would load up the bases in the sixth, and belt a massive home run into the left field (so we got to see the sculpture in action), as well as adding another run to turn the game on its head and make it 5-2 heading into the last three innings.
With both sides each adding a run in the seventh for a 6-3 game, the Marlins would not lay down and smack in another 3 in the eighth for a 9-3 lead that they would hold on to for the remainder of the game in a huge upset that sent the Yankees fans home disappointed but equalled party time for the Marlins faithful!
The following day, Jill, Ali, Nick and myself took the time to enjoy the sunny Miami weather by hanging at the beach, enjoying some parasailing, going out for some unbelievable food as just “living our best lives” (that’s what the basics say now right)?
I don’t need to go into too much detail about how fun it all was (it’s impossible to do anyway), so I hope the pictures do it some justice!
It was an awesome time in Miami once again surrounded by the best people (who have all featured heavily in this trip), food and accommodation.
Things are almost wrapped up with only game 30/30 left as I fly back to LA and hit up the Angeles down in Anaheim!
It’s a bittersweet feeling to have it all wrap up but I’m pumped to be seeing all of the people back in LA. Hope you’ve enjoyed reading it all as much as I have writing it!
Picking up where we left off after an awesome couple of weeks in Atlanta, and also the epic trip up to Bristol Tennessee for the NASCAR event (blog to come), it as time to make my way further down South to game 28 in Tampa Florida. This leg of the trip would be unique as it would involve the first game where I would not be with my trusty travel companion/transport/hotel the Dodge Nitro.
So leaving Atlanta early (shout Dave for dropping me off at the train), I got onto my flight headed for Tampa Bay airport and this beautiful stretch of country they call “Central Florida”.
Upon landing, I realized that to get to my hotel in St Petersburg I would need a rental car (no UBERs for me), and I’m not one to skimp out on things like that so naturally I asked for some muscle and got a Jeep (oh the reminder of home and ummmm beauty of this model).
First stop before the hotel, was to complete the fourth NFL stadium of the NFC South division, so I grabbed a quick bite, booked tour tickets and headed directly for Raymond James Stadium in Tampa Bay.
Despite this stadium being relatively old by NFL standards, a cool twenty years, it stands the test of time, with a very cool sunken field, not a bad seat in the house and probably the coolest feature I’ve seen of any stadium in any sport, the Buccaneers Pirate Ship that occupies the Western End Zone of the stadium.
As my tour guide informed me, the pirate ship was actually built by the Disney Corporation (located in nearby Orlando), and will fire cannons containing t-shirts and let off effects whenever the hometown Buccaneers make a big play or score a touchdown. On top of this, the area surrounding the ship contains bars serving all the types of drinks (margaritas) and food (classic stadium garbage) that you’d expect from a joint located in Florida.
The tour also took us through some of the private suits, the locker rooms and even onto the field to touch some of the legitimate turf that the Bucs play on each home game (again, according to our tour guide in an annual players poll this turd was voted number one to play on by not only the Bucs, but all teams who play on it each season – very impressive).
“Put me in coach!”
Fired up by the revelations on how cool this stadium was, I jumped back into my monster Jeep, and headed for my hotel located in downtown St Petersburg, where I would go for a quick walk around before getting ready for the big game between the Tampa Bay Rays and our friends from Kansas City the Royals (shoutout Katie Morris, Mackenzie, Tanja and Casey).
Prior to the game, I decied to get some refreshments in at the local spot located right next to the stadium known simply as “Fergs”. Here, I would indulge myself with some happy hour priced refreshments ($3 a pop) and also a MASSIVE burrito, served wet with rice and beans (FYI I ate the whole things – I will join a gym upon my return – shoutout James Mayor, please hook it up!).
Once this was all done, I’d make my way to the Rays home stadium “Tropicana Field” and be well…. Kinda underwhelmed?
Don’t get me wrong, the structure is impressive and was built back in the 90’s, but at the end of the day it lacked what every other ballpark had in terms of charm and incorporating elements of the city. Disappointing isn’t the word, but I felt the Tampa Bay / St Petersburg had some many cool elements that they could have done something to the exterior of the ballpark (like what the Bucs had done).
HOWEVER, after walking in and going direct to guest services to ask what I should see, I immediately had a change of heart, because the Rays had their own petting area near the field where you could walk up and actually pet a damn sting ray (shoutout Steve Irwin)!!
Obviously this was an extremely cool feature and despite it being full of kids, I muscled my way through the crowd of six and got my mits on one of those slimly bastards – truly a fun time but I had a game to watch.
Taking my seat, the struggling Rays were looking solid against the also struggling Royals.
With some solid hitting and getting guys on base, the Rays found themselves up 3-0 by the end of the fourth inning with the Royals unable to offer any resistance.
The tide would turn slightly in the fifth with a run to the Royals, however this was quickly cancelled out with the Rays getting one in the sixth to make it 4-1 as me and my 5,000 other friends (for a sure a low for any game I’ve been to on this trip) belted out a solid rendition of “take me out to the ball game” during the seventh inning stretch.
Both sides got some additional hits in the last two innings, however even with some borderline calls, the Rays were able to hold on and get the W with a 4-1 win sending all of us home happy, including me with my newly purchased bottle of dirt that was apparently taken from the original baseball diamond during the inaugural season of 1998.
Today, I’ve woken up and gone for a quick jog around town to get some sort of fitness back, before I return the Jeep back to the airport (I never knew ye’), and head further South to the tip of Miami and the cosmopolitan city of Miami. Here I will link up once again with a solid crew and usual suspects from Pittsburgh, and enjoy some sunshine, relaxing and game 29/30 down in South Beach before heading back to Los Angeles to wrap it all up.
I’ve had an awesome time in the Tampa Bay / St Petersburg area, and wish I had more time to hangout more. On the bright side though, it gives me a somewhat legitimate excuse to comeback soon.
Super pumped for Miami and the write-up that follows it. Hopefully you’ll enjoy reading it just as much as I have enjoyed experiencing it and conveying it all through this mediocre blog.
With 10 days between games, I’ve been able to catch up on some valuable (and much needed) rest and relaxation down in beautiful Atlanta Georgia.
I first arrived here at the beginning of August when I made my way down from Richmond Virginia, where I checked out their downtown area before the 6-hour trek down to Charlotte North Carolina.
In Charlotte, I would grab a quick bite to eat and also check out another NFL stadium “Bank of America Stadium” which is of course home of the Carolina Panthers (the NFL team is named this way to represent both North and South Carolina).
Once this was done, it was a straight shot down South on the 85 through South Carolina (where I made a quick pit stop to check out the University of Clemson’s football stadium “Death Valley”) before cruising into Atlanta and some of the heaviest rain I’ve ever seen in my life on the way to Dave’s place in Buckhead – a northern part of Atlanta about 20 minutes from downtown.
As mentioned in the opening stanza, I’ve had 10 days before the Atlanta Braves game (aka game 27/30), and have been able to do a whole bunch of cool stuff while being down South (which in hindsight probably warrants its own blog but with a whole bunch of stuff going on it was put on the back burner so you’ll get the high-level stuff here).
In order of what I’ve been doing:
– Hanging out with Dave and my other old friend Kyle at the local Buckhead bars
– Walking and hanging out with Dave’s awesome dog “Bear”
– Driving into Alabama and checking out the famous Talladega NASCAR track
– Driving deeper in Alabama and visiting Tuscaloosa, aka the University of Alabama, its campus, town and stadium (everything you’ve heard is true, the locals literally live and breath Alabama football and it is everywhere you go)
– Visiting the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons new Stadium “Mercedes Benz Stadium” and taking the guided tour. This place was incredible and will host this seasons Super Bowl (shoutout Larry Cohen – please get me on the field again)
– Drove to Athens Georgia where the University of Georgia is located. A great little college town with plenty of Southern charm
– Hitting Ponce City Market (an old warehouse that has been converted into an awesome multi-purpose space on the Belt Line)
– Witnessed some awesome progressive Bluegrass music at the Sam Bush concert
– Visiting “Stone Mountain Park” which is an enormous rock that has the carvings of three Confederate figures – Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson.
Dave and I discussed the carvings, and given the controversy surrounding it (as some commentators suggest it glorifies the Confederacy), many people in Atlanta recognise this and there have been suggestions that a carving of legendary Atlanta hip-hop duo Outkast be placed next to it – something I’m sure we can all get around!
– A Shabbat dinner at the Cohen household
After all of this over the last 10 days, it was finally time for game 27/30 where the Atlanta Braves would face off against the visiting Milwaukee Brewers on a warm Saturday night down in Dixie.
The stadium the Braves play in, “SunTrust Park”, is a brand new ballpark in its second season (with the Braves previously playing in the stadium built for the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
The park not only has everything you’d expect from a brand new stadium in terms of facilities and technology, it also includes a special section called “Monument Garden” that contains artwork detailing important moments in Braves history, memorabilia from past players and the centrepiece of it all a giant statue of Hank Aaron, who not only broke Babe Ruth’s home run record, but is still doing big things in statue form like caving in Dave’s skull!
Further to all of the cool things within the stadium, SunTrust Park is also surrounded by an area known as “the Battery”, where there are a whole bunch of restaurants, bars, shops and apartments with a lively atmosphere – they’ve truly done a great job and this multiuse area is likely what the future of all stadiums will be like.
Before I get into the game, it would be highly remiss of me to not mention how well the Atlanta Braves looked after me, specially their Guest Services expert Maryalice Roberts.
Not only did Maryalice hook me up with “Diamond Infield” seats on the third base line, but she also arranged for Dave, Kyle and myself to participate in the Braves Alumni Home Run Derby. This gave us access to the field during the pre-game festivities, where they gave us each a glove so we could catch the balls being hit by Braves legends (for the record I caught zero but Dave and Kyle were all over the place grabbing them).
It truly was a unique and incredible experience and I am truly grateful to Maryalice, the attendant who looked after us on the day Michael, and the rest of the Braves staff who made sure it was memorable and a whole lot of fun – thanks again!
After we’d finished up on the field, we met up with our other friend Matt (who was there in Chicago and Dallas), grabbed a couple of refreshments and settled in for the game.
The game started as hot as the Georgia sun, with both teams trading runs in the first inning to have the game tied up until Atlanta was able to get another in the fourth for a 2-1 advantage, sending the crowd wild and bringing out the infamous “Tomahawk Chop”.
Following this, both teams had difficultly getting runners on base and the game remained at 2-1 throughout the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh innings. This was until the Brewers were able to get some guys on base and with some exceptional hitting finding the gaps in the field, were able to bring in 3 runs for 4-2 lead.
Before the game ended, I had one of those moments where I was completely star struck as I got to meet a hero of mine “Marlins Man”! The guy is a lawyer who similar to me travels around the country visiting baseball stadiums always while wearing the vibrant Miami Marlins jersey (as that is where he was from). Marlins Man was extremely humble and it was a pleasure to meet him.
Back to the game, and despite the Braves best efforts in the eighth and ninth innings, the Brewers were able to hold on for a 4-2 lead, disappointing the Braves faithful and sending the scattered few Brewers fans in attendance into celebration mode.
While there was the aforementioned disappointment, it would not last long, as the four of us immediately hit one of the bars within the Battery and drowned a few of our sorrows before all returning back to Dave’s place and gouging ourselves on McDonald’s (3/10 and did not feel good the next day).
I’ll be hanging out in Atlanta for a few more days, before Dave, Kyle Matt and a few others will make the journey North into Tennessee and attend what will no doubt be a highlight at the NASCAR event held at Bristol Motor Speedway.
No doubt it will be a ton of fun and I’m looking forward to sharing the experience with you guys.
It’s been about a week since I’ve been able to properly sit down and pen some words about my time in DC and it feels like a lot has happened.
First off, I recently found out that the company I work for back in Australia, “foodora” (which is headquartered in Europe) has made the difficult decision to pull out of the Australian market.
While the exact reasoning for pulling it isn’t a simple linear explanation, I feel that given the current landscape and where we were positioned it is no surprise that the business was unsustainable and it was probably only a matter of time before tough decisions like this had to be made.
What this decision does impact is that it takes away my safety net for my return home, however I now have the opportunity to look into new ventures both in the United States and Australia (for the record I have no resentment to foodora as I understand the decision and it was a great place to work where I learnt a lot and met some awesome people), so there’s a silver lining there (shoutout Mitch’s tattoo).
Anyways, I want to keep the narrative of the blog on the “Thirty before 30” adventure and tell you guys all about DC and the awesome time I had while there.
So without further hesitation:
Picking up where we left off, I drove the roughly 1 hour South of Baltimore to the United States Capital Washington DC.
As I had two full days before the game (leaving Monday morning and the game was Tuesday night), I used my time rediscover this exciting city that I hadn’t been to since 2012!
First stop before checking into my hotel was of course the best named area of any city perhaps anywhere in the world. I’m referring to of course “Georgetown” which is almost like a separate village based in the North Western area of DC, just over the bridge from Arlington Virginia and home to Georgetown University (go Hoyas aka Bulldogs).
It is a beautiful part of the city, with houses that would not look out of place in San Francisco or the redeveloped parts of Surry Hills back in Sydney.
The University campus is also picturesque, and given the cloud cover and lower temperatures, I was able to spend a pleasant few hours checking out the entire area before getting back into the Nitro and checking in to my hotel – based right near the famous DC Zoo in the Woodley Park neighbourhood.
Once I was all checked in and showered, I drove down to the main “tourist” area of DC to once again check all the monuments and sites of town!
I remember the first time I came here, I was worried that I’d be bouncing all over town just so I could see everything. The beauty of this city however, is that everything is super close and walking from one monument to the next doesn’t take longer than 20 minutes.
After making my first stop at the White House, I walked down the street to the Washington Monument, and then visited everyone’s favourite President Abraham Lincoln at his memorial.
A weird thought I had while I was staring at Abe, was that what would Aliens or other intelligent life think if all humans were gone and they saw this giant statue in this temple? Would they think he was some god that we prayed to? Or just the ruler of the world or something? (shoutout Mark Williams who loves an Alien thought or two).
Praise our lord
As I left Abe and let this weird thought marinate in my brain, I saw the monument to the World Wars (underrated memorial in my opinion) and also Capitol Hill where the United States Capitol is located.
Following this, it started to rain, and hard.
So I made my way back to my hotel and prayed that this would stop and prevent a delayed game the next day as I had already planned to leave DC for the long drive down to Atlanta ASAP.
Alas, the next day I woke up and of course it was still raining. Not just any rain either, that heavy stuff and as luck would have it, it was now also getting really humid (which is great when your a guy like me who almost exclusively wears grey t-shirts).
I decided that I’d park my car near the ballpark anyway at about 1pm, and spend the next 6 hours before the first pitch checking out the botanical gardens, museums and just relaxing.
As always with museums, I’m pretty useless at explaining them. So please let the pictures below do the talking (as an FYI I went to the Native American and Air/Space museum – both were awesome with top notch air conditioning).
Finally, it was time for the game, as the hometown Washington Nationals were retuning to town from a month long road trip to take on division rival New York Mets.
Before I get into the game, the stadium that the Nationals play in is another classic ballpark. Opening in 2008 and being right on the Anacostia River, the stadium has a large walkway near left field for fans to congregate whilst also having MASSIVE grandstands that provide you with views of the water and city.
The park was also home to both the All-Star Game and Home Run Derby in 2018, and with its close proximity to the city and feeling of space inside, I can see why it was rated as one of the best ever.
The actual game itself? Well there’s not much to say except it was one of complete domination that is rarely seen in any sport, let alone baseball.
No sooner had I taken my seat in the first inning (after checking out all the facilities), that the game was opened up with a GIANT 7 runs scored by the hometown Nationals.
Then the second inning came and they put on 3 more. Then the third came and they added another 3. Then the fourth came and what do ya know, 3 more. Once the fifth rolled around and the Nats added another 3 it was a brutal 19-0 lead heading into the fifth inning.
Finally in the seventh the Mets showed some resistance with a solo home-run to reel it back to 19-1 (there is not respect in that scoreline), before in the eighth the Nats would again smack in 6 to make it 25-1!!!
While the Mets did get 3 in the ninth, to make it look like there was an actual baseball game on, the Nats would celebrate being back home in by far the highest scoring game I’ve ever been do with a dominant 25-4 win (shoutout Eli who is a lifelong Mets fan and sent me the text you see below the box score).
Once the game was complete, I had decided I drive down to Richmond Virginia (about two hours south of DC), so I could offset the 11 hour drive down to Atlanta (making it only about 9).
It was an awesome time in DC, and much like most of the cities I’ve visited, I felt welcomed and would highly recommend anyone planning a trip to the East Coast of the US to make the effort and get down there.
I’ll now be in Atlanta for a couple of weeks as the Braves are on a road trip themselves, so will use this time to recharge, check out some of the sites around the South, gear up for the Atlanta Braves game on May 11 and of course, something I’ve been looking forward to for a long time, the NASCAR Race in Bristol Tennessee on August 18!
Have a good one all, and if you got any job leads, send ‘em my way!
Thirty before 30 