On Friday night, I reviewed the Tim McGraw concert at the Forum In Tampa That Dare Not Speak Its Name.
Then on Saturday, my friend Alan came into town from Satellite Beach and we took Brian down to Bradenton to see the Philadelphia Phillies play the Pittsburgh Pirates in a spring training exhibition at McKechnie Field. It's a great little stadium.
Today, the itinerary calls for Al and I to go to Chain of Lakes Park in Winter Haven, home of the Cleveland Indians. They play the Tampa Bay Devil Rays today at 1:05.
Florida is an amazing place to live in the spring. From where I live, I have a chance to see any of more than a dozen teams within a two-hour drive, from Vero Beach (Dodgers) or Jupiter (Cardinals and Marlins) to Melbourne (Expos), Orlando (Atlanta), St. Pete (Devil Rays), Bradenton (Pirates), Clearwater (Phillies), Dunedin (Blue Jays), Port St. Lucie (Mets), Sarasota (Reds), Baseball City (Royals), Lakeland (Tigers), Kissimmee (Astros) and of course Tampa (Yankees). A little further south in Fort Myers, you have the Red Sox and Twins.
Tickets are ridiculously cheap - we bought our seats yesterday for $6 each. Today we'll break the $7 barrier for left field grandstand seats.
And you're insanely close to the field.
At one point yesterday, I saw a young boy who was sitting behind us run down and drape himself over the Phillies' dugout as they were running in from the field following the third out of an inning. The first baseman flipped him the ball from that inning.
So I told my son Brian to do the same thing the next time the Phillies came in from the field. The result? Bing, my boy has a major league baseball as a souvenir.
Not a bad way to spend the day.
I'll be sure to post pictures when I get a chance. You know, so you can be jealous and stuff.