Other
than steaks there wasn’t much going on in Omaha so I decided to leave early and
head to Kansas City. There also wasn’t a
reputable steak house that served filet mignon for breakfast.
Before
going on any further, let’s take a moment of silence to reflect on the noble
pig who sacrificed half his ribs for my tasty dinner. His ribs were soaked overnight, then slow
barbequed with a dry rub and served dry at Arthur Bryants (here) arguably the most famous rib joint
in Kansas City. I then added some BBQ
sauce to them to make them both wet and dry.
They were meat-fall-off-the-bone succulent and I just thought it proper
that the pig that donated them be recognized in this space.
Kaufman
Stadium, the home of the Kansas City Royals, is my new favorite baseball
stadium. Having now been to about half
of the major league stadiums, I am replacing Camden Yards in Baltimore with the
K, as my new favorite. While Camden
Yards has more aesthetics in the surrounding city and its placement in downtown
Baltimore, the K inside blows it away.
Every detail is tailored to the fan.
The entire outfield area is surrounded with rides for kids, miniature
golf, pitching, hitting and base stealing and water attractions for when it is
hot. The seating is spacious and given
the amount of ribs served in this city, it is a good thing! The employees at the stadium were properly
trained in customer service and were genuinely happy to see the people that
came out for the game. There was plenty
to buy at the stadium but no pressure to do so.
I didn’t feel like I was being “marketed at” or asked to open my wallet
every 6 seconds. The stadium is clean and
the entire outfield is adorned with waterfalls with seats mixed in between. Getting in and out of the stadium is a breeze
as it sits right on highway 70 next to the football stadium where the Chiefs
play. This also means ample parking.
I
was fortunate I got a seat in the first row just past first base. To my right were sitting a young couple who
turned out were on their honeymoon. They
were psyched to be sitting in the front row and told me they hoped to get a
ball. They were Twins fans. I told them that if I got a ball that I would
give it to them. So in the third inning
with Ryan Doumit of the Twins at the plate and the couple up getting a beer, I
got a ball hit to me. I have been to
about 200 pro baseball games in my life and have never gotten a ball. I wanted to keep the ball, badly. But, I didn’t need the ball. I took a picture of it, put it on Facebook,
and gave it to them. Given the karmic
forces that got me to the Omaha game for free (read here), I figured that I would pay this
one forward.
As
for the game itself, I am one of the few people in recent history that can say
that they have seen the Twins win 3 games in a row. The Royals, on the other hand, have lost 11
in a row at home and some of the fans were less than happy. The Royals currently start 3 of the worst offensive
position players in the league in Moustakas at third, Getz at second and the
neverending Jeff Francouer experiment in right field. Although today, only Moustakas and his .165
average were in the game. The Royals
were punchless and mustered 4 hits in a 3-0 loss.
The
Royals were also kind enough to put my tweet on the scoreboard for all of
Kansas City to see, or at least the 20,000 people at the game. It said @garyrbeebejr, “First time at the K,
visiting from Seattle, fab stadium. Go Royals.
#royalstweets”.
Four
down, four to go, see you in Saint Louis.
No comments:
Post a Comment