Summer Holidays & Punk Routines

There’s a never-ending level of noise and voices that overtakes my daily life in the industrial setting I call my place of work. When there’s a rhythm to it, such as when a finely tuned and properly operating machine is running  it can be quite soothing. When it’s the crash and bang of the unexpected or the  incomprehensible yet loud voice of another it can be rather off-putting. However on occasion that which is unexpected can be soothing as well. Such is the case when my fellow working class heroes engage in conversation regarding the world of sport. I’m surrounded by toxicity and Cincinnati Reds fans ten hours a day, which is quite alright with me.

Tonight the noise in my head has forced me to deviate from commentary on Derek Jeter’s quest for three thousand hits and my hopes of seeing it in Cincinnati before his recent injury, as has been the case in the last few times I’ve tried to sit and write. The Dodgers and Reds game in the background has captured my attention from time to time as well, and quite frankly became that unexpected noise that soothed me and inspired me to pursue another quest of and on my own.

I wrote a piece on April 2nd, 2011 entitled “Bucket Lists: Grocery Shopping For The Living Dead” in which I made the following statement;

I think if you’re making a list and checking it twice of things you haven’t done yet that you’d like to do, you’re probably never going to do them. You don’t make lists, you make it so. If you’re waiting to do things, but have no motion or emotion to support it, you’re already dead. The world’s full of zombies grocery shopping for a feast of sunshine and happy, but lack the courage of their convictions.

It would now appear that my previous position on the matter has taken a hard left and now I’m flip-flopping on the issue faster than Newt Gingrich after an interview on Meet The Press. Perhaps a better way to phrase would be, my general theory on the premise of making a list of goals is great if and only if you intend on following through with it.  Justifications aside, what really motivated this was my realization that I’m not as much the spider sitting in the middle of the web waiting for the next fly to get tangled up as I like to pretend, I’ve had my fill. So I need to focus on my first love as I did in March with Spring Training only amp it up a bit. I need live baseball on a massive scale and it cannot be controlled.

I’ve decided I’m taking the advantage of my 4 day ten-hour shift work schedule and using the three days I have off on a weekly basis to visit as many MLB stadiums as I can with the remaining schedule of the 2011 season. Why not? Nearly half of the league is within 8-12 hours driving distance. I’ve been to several already, but some were not for games or I had tickets and didn’t go for some  ridiculous reason. As a fan, this has become unacceptable to me. So, I’ve broken it down as such:

The Drive List

Progressive Field – Cleveland, Ohio

Great American Ball Park – Cincinnati, Ohio

Wrigley Field – Chicago, Illinois

U.S. Cellular Field – Chicago, Illinois – 394 miles

PNC Park – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania – 212 miles

Comerica Park – Detroit, Michigan – 275 miles

Busch Stadium – St. Louis, Missouri – 460 miles

Citizens Bank Park – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – 494 miles

Oriole Park at Camden Yards – Baltimore, Maryland – 396 miles

Nationals Park – Washington, D.C. – 376 miles

Miller Park – Milwaukee, Wisconsin – 488 miles

Kauffman Stadium – Kansas City, Missouri – 695 miles

Turner Field – Atlanta, GA – 526 miles

Fenway Park – Boston, Massachusetts – 776 miles

Yankee Stadium – Bronx, New York – 574 miles

Citi Field – Flushing, New York – 576 miles

Rogers Centre – Toronto, Canada – 506 miles

Target Field – Minneapolis, Minnesota – 806 miles

The Fly List

Tropicana Field – St. Petersburg, Florida – 953 miles

Sun Life Stadium – Miami, Florida – 1067 miles

Ameriquest Field- Arlington, Texas – 1036 miles

Minute Maid Park – Crawford, Texas – 1134 miles

Coors Field – Denver, Colorado – 1301 miles

Bank One Ballpark – Phoenix, Arizona – 1917 miles

Dodger Stadium – Los Angeles, CA – 2286 miles

Angel Stadium – Anaheim, CA – 2281 miles

Overstock.com Coliseum – Oakland, CA – 2468 miles

Petco Park – San Diego, CA – 2310 miles

AT&T Park – San Francisco, CA – 2467 miles

Safeco Field – Seattle, Washington – 2460 miles

I’ve got games in Cleveland and Cincinnati coming up starting next week, which are stadiums I’ve obviously been to on several occasions. On Friday of next week I’ll be purchasing some very good tickets to Pittsburgh vs the Reds at PNC Park and Detroit at Comerica Park  vs the Texas Rangers and possibly a Orioles and Nationals trip if I can find tickets where both teams are at home during a period when I can go soon. I was planning on heading back to Cincinnati at the end of July in order to see the Giants play as I really want to see Brian Wilson as soon as possible and get some photos. B Weezy is definitely on “The Good” list here at my Diary of a Mad Fan blog and I’d like to get some shots of him to add to my “church photos”.  I’m going to try to knock as many of these places out by the end of the season as I can. I can tell you already though that it won’t all happen this summer for various reasons, take the White Sox for example, I just went to Chicago last summer so I’d rather visit a city I’ve not been to first.  So the midwest and east coast teams will be the main focus for now.

I’m tired of just commenting on various news stories, my gambling trends,  games I’ve watched, television and trending twitter topics. I need the road, the room service, and the various aspects of the old-time religion of fanaticism just like back in March. Fuck a bucket list…call it what it is, I know I’m going to die so I believe in living well.

Until next time…