The Human Bowling Ball

This is one of the funny, hair-brained activities at the Pacific Coast League AAA Tucson Padres Baseball games. Man in ball runs and tries to knock down pins. Get a strike, win a prize. This guy was a loser.

A great day at the ballpark. Nothing better on a summer's (I consider it summer when it's 95F) afternoon than catching a game.

I grew up with baseball in my life. As far back as I can remember, hanging out with the neighborhood kids on the steps of Charlie's Texaco and General Store pitching cards and listening on little transistor radios, through the static, to our NY Yankee heroes - Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Roger Maris, Tom Tresh, Bobby Richardson...

I love being IN the ballpark, but I really only watch the World Series on the television these days.

When I was active in the National Education Association, I'd go to the annual convention each year. If the city we went to had a team, we were always lucky enough for them to be playing at home. My friend Kirby and I always took in a game.

Once, we were in Los Angeles (I'll spare you the total hilarity). After we bought two tickets from a scalper for three times the face value that weren't even in the same section, we ended up in an empty section right behind home plate.

Kirby went to get a hot dog - you've got to have a hot dog at the ball park. All of his 300 pounds came bounding down the aisle yelling, "Laurie, Laurie, come here. You've got to see this onion machine!"

Sure enough, on the wall was a big container of whole onions. You put your hot dog under the spout, turn the handle and grind yourself some fresh onion.

We each must have eaten five hot dogs at that game, just so we could use the onion machine. That was the only good thing about Dodger Stadium. I hope the Dodgers don't play there anymore - but I do hope they still have onion machines.

The Tucson Padres won today, by the way. They beat the Nashville Sounds 12-0. The best name on the team was shortstop Beamer Weems. I loved screaming, "C'mon Beamer! You're da man!"

Thanks to all of you the last couple of days for all of the time and thought you put into analyzing and critiquing my blips. I'm going to get one more opinion, go to an admission training next week and decide what to do. Best of all, I learned a lot that will help me take better photographs. So thanks for that, especially!