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General Discussion => Talk Zone => Topic started by: Gizzmonic on January 16, 2009, 11:11:27 am

Title: Ballparks in Winter
Post by: Gizzmonic on January 16, 2009, 11:11:27 am
The folks at Home Run Derby have set up a nice little gallery (http://homerderby.com/archives/3176) that answers the question: what does the ballpark look like in winter?  We Astros fans don't really see much change, but the pictures from the northern climes are interesting.
Title: Re: Ballparks in Winter
Post by: S.P. Rodriguez on January 16, 2009, 12:16:13 pm
You know, I like snow much better in pictures or when I'm skiing.  That said, I saw the Cleveland stadium last march, covered under about 8 inches of snow.  It's a beautiful park from what I saw (driving by and flying over).  Too bad the rest of the city is nasty.  And what they are doing to Lake Erie (I think) is a crime.  It's just disgusting.  I had to ask the locals, that's not really frozen trash in the ice covering the lake is it?  Unfortunately they confirmed it. 
Title: Re: Ballparks in Winter
Post by: Bench on January 16, 2009, 12:25:50 pm
When I was living in Boston I went to the .406 Club in Fenway Park one February evening for a fundraiser.  It had been snowing for a few days, and I was in that near-desparate state the end of the Void puts me in every year, so I figured it would be good for me to visit where the game is played, and listen to an erudite speech on baseball (or so I assumed).

Maybe it was the fact that that speech ended up being about conflict in the Middle East, but gazing at Fenway covered in snow left me more bummed out than when I had arrived. 
Title: Re: Ballparks in Winter
Post by: WakePhil on January 16, 2009, 01:07:34 pm
I've strolled by the park in Nov./Dec on nice days and it is beautiful. Too bad we can't have more days with the roof open.
Title: Re: Ballparks in Winter
Post by: Gizzmonic on January 16, 2009, 02:03:00 pm
When I was living in Boston I went to the .406 Club in Fenway Park one February evening for a fundraiser.  It had been snowing for a few days, and I was in that near-desparate state the end of the Void puts me in every year, so I figured it would be good for me to visit where the game is played, and listen to an erudite speech on baseball (or so I assumed).

Maybe it was the fact that that speech ended up being about conflict in the Middle East, but gazing at Fenway covered in snow left me more bummed out than when I had arrived. 

I guess it is a little bleak.  But remember, baseball's not dead, it's just sleeping...
Title: Re: Ballparks in Winter
Post by: strosrays on January 16, 2009, 02:06:34 pm

"Not nearly as yuppie as other baseball sites."  Nice.  When you are dealing with Cub fans, you really have to spell things out for them.

And I knew the roof at Miller Park had some leaks, but goddamn.
Title: Re: Ballparks in Winter
Post by: Ty in Tampa on January 16, 2009, 02:26:50 pm
I drive through the campus of the University of Tampa every day to get to my job. I pass right by the ball fields and Monday the team started their workouts. The end is near.
Title: Re: Ballparks in Winter
Post by: Col. Sphinx Drummond on January 16, 2009, 06:32:04 pm
"Yankee Stadium.  That place looks like a giant frozen bedpan. Usually it just looks like a giant bedpan."

Nice observation.
Title: Re: Ballparks in Winter
Post by: Frobie on January 17, 2009, 11:52:22 pm
You know, I like snow much better in pictures or when I'm skiing.  That said, I saw the Cleveland stadium last march, covered under about 8 inches of snow.  It's a beautiful park from what I saw (driving by and flying over).  Too bad the rest of the city is nasty.  And what they are doing to Lake Erie (I think) is a crime.  It's just disgusting.  I had to ask the locals, that's not really frozen trash in the ice covering the lake is it?  Unfortunately they confirmed it. 

If you think Cleveland is bad now, you should have seen it in the 70s.

Neat gallery.  Thanks to the OP for sharing it.
Title: Re: Ballparks in Winter
Post by: HudsonHawk on January 18, 2009, 10:10:00 am
I drive through the campus of the University of Tampa every day to get to my job. I pass right by the ball fields and Monday the team started their workouts. The end is near.


Is that a nice campus or what?  My niece is a freshman there, BTW.
Title: Re: Ballparks in Winter
Post by: Ty in Tampa on January 19, 2009, 05:59:39 am

Is that a nice campus or what?  My niece is a freshman there, BTW.

Very nice, and it's grown like crazy the last 10 years. Having Plant Hall/The Tampa Bay Hotel (http://lh4.ggpht.com/_nO3FOWetpYY/RrOK7qtyesI/AAAAAAAAA5Y/M-DN_fPp5A0/Figure+100.jpg) as the centerpiece ain't too shabby.

Great, now I'll be wondering if I'm gawking at your niece every time I drive through there.
Title: Re: Ballparks in Winter
Post by: HudsonHawk on January 19, 2009, 09:41:06 am
Very nice, and it's grown like crazy the last 10 years. Having Plant Hall/The Tampa Bay Hotel (http://lh4.ggpht.com/_nO3FOWetpYY/RrOK7qtyesI/AAAAAAAAA5Y/M-DN_fPp5A0/Figure+100.jpg) as the centerpiece ain't too shabby.

Your link doesn't work.  But here's one for those who've never seen the University of Tampa.  Plus it's downtown, right on a really nice part of the Hillsborough River.

http://www.ut.edu/gallery/index.html



Quote
Great, now I'll be wondering if I'm gawking at your niece every time I drive through there.

Don't let me catch you buster....Actually, my niece is the sweetest thing since Cinnabon, but she's not the one you'd be gawking at while driving by. 
Title: Re: Ballparks in Winter
Post by: Ty in Tampa on January 19, 2009, 09:44:28 am

Don't let me catch you buster....Actually, my niece is the sweetest thing since Cinnabon, but she's not the one you'd be gawking at while driving by. 


I read somewhere that the school population is something like 70/30 female to male. It sure seems that way.
Title: Re: Ballparks in Winter
Post by: HudsonHawk on January 19, 2009, 09:48:21 am
I read somewhere that the school population is something like 70/30 female to male. It sure seems that way.

I believe you're right.  And might I remind that those 70% are females, aged 18-22...in south Florida.  Aside from my niece, who no one should be oggling anyway, you'd be hard pressed to find a more dense area of "talent".
Title: Re: Ballparks in Winter
Post by: Ty in Tampa on January 19, 2009, 09:50:31 am
I believe you're right.  And might I remind that those 70% are females, aged 18-22...in south Florida.  Aside from my niece, who no one should be oggling anyway, you'd be hard pressed to find a more dense area of "talent".

While through the campus is the most direct route to my office, I could get there faster going a different way.
Title: Re: Ballparks in Winter
Post by: Bench on January 19, 2009, 09:50:59 am
I believe you're right.  And might I remind that those 70% are females, aged 18-22...in south Florida.  Aside from my niece, who no one should be oggling anyway, you'd be hard pressed to find a more dense area of "talent".

Tampa is considered south Florida?
Title: Re: Ballparks in Winter
Post by: HudsonHawk on January 19, 2009, 09:56:22 am
Tampa is considered south Florida?

Eh...depends on who you ask.  Some would say that anything in the penninsula is "south Florida".  Some would say "South Florida" = Miami area.  I consider it south Florida, mainly because it's not "West Florida" (the panhandle) or "North Florida" (Tallahasse, Gainesville, Jacksonville) or really even "Central Florida" (Orlando area).  I know, more than you were asking.
Title: Re: Ballparks in Winter
Post by: Ty in Tampa on January 19, 2009, 09:56:56 am
Tampa is considered south Florida?

It depends. Most call it west central Florida but the University of South Florida is located in north Tampa.
Title: Re: Ballparks in Winter
Post by: HudsonHawk on January 19, 2009, 09:58:29 am
While through the campus is the most direct route to my office, I could get there faster going a different way.

And so that no one thinks you're only interested in hot young co-eds...the University of Tampa has an outstanding baseball program.  They're a Div II school, usually ranked in the top 10 and have recently won several DII National Championships.
Title: Re: Ballparks in Winter
Post by: HudsonHawk on January 19, 2009, 10:03:34 am
It depends. Most call it west central Florida but the University of South Florida is located in north Tampa.


And the University of Central Florida is in Orlando, but Florida Southern College is in Lakeland, only a few miles from UCF. 

BTW, I read recently where UCF is now the 5th largest school in the country.  It's bigger than UT-Austin now.  Unbelievable how much it's grown. 
Title: Re: Ballparks in Winter
Post by: Ty in Tampa on January 19, 2009, 10:06:02 am
And so that no one thinks you're only interested in hot young co-eds...the University of Tampa has an outstanding baseball program.  They're a Div II school, usually ranked in the top 10 and have recently won several DII National Championships.

2 in the last 3 years. Their park (http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=27.949417,-82.467209&spn=0.003511,0.006974&t=h&z=18) is squeezed into a space next to railroad tracks and 2 residential towers and there are ~50 ft. fences surrounding the whole thing. Very odd. BTW, N. Boulevard is the road I take to work.
Title: Re: Ballparks in Winter
Post by: HudsonHawk on January 19, 2009, 10:20:49 am
2 in the last 3 years. Their park (http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=27.949417,-82.467209&spn=0.003511,0.006974&t=h&z=18) is squeezed into a space next to railroad tracks and 2 residential towers and there are ~50 ft. fences surrounding the whole thing. Very odd. BTW, N. Boulevard is the road I take to work.


When I was a kid, we used to go to the swimming pool there (one of my friend's dad was a professor there).  Also, they used to have a football team, and I my dad used to take me to a few games.  They played at Tampa Stadium, before they expanded it for the Bucs.  In fact, the Bucs were kind of the final nail in the Spartan football coffin.  When Tampa was awarded an NFL team, the University decided to drop football, fearing it would eat away at what little support they had left.
Title: Re: Ballparks in Winter
Post by: Ty in Tampa on January 19, 2009, 10:25:46 am

When I was a kid, we used to go to the swimming pool there (one of my friend's dad was a professor there).  Also, they used to have a football team, and I my dad used to take me to a few games.  They played at Tampa Stadium, before they expanded it for the Bucs.  In fact, the Bucs were kind of the final nail in the Spartan football coffin.  When Tampa was awarded an NFL team, the University decided to drop football, fearing it would eat away at what little support they had left.

The pool is very, very nice. See above.
Title: Re: Ballparks in Winter
Post by: chuck on January 19, 2009, 11:17:59 am
... you'd be hard pressed to find a more dense area of "talent".

Miami.
Title: Re: Ballparks in Winter
Post by: HudsonHawk on January 19, 2009, 11:56:33 am
Miami.

Perhaps a more detailed study is in order.
Title: Re: Ballparks in Winter
Post by: chuck on January 19, 2009, 12:15:09 pm
Perhaps a more detailed study is in order.

I have conducted an exhaustive survey, but data is malleable and inputs are constantly changing. Additional research is always indicated.
Title: Re: Ballparks in Winter
Post by: strosrays on January 19, 2009, 12:28:49 pm
And so that no one thinks you're only interested in hot young co-eds...


I, for one, would prefer that he is only interested in coeds, rather than the other 30% of the student, um, body (NTTAWWT.)
Title: Re: Ballparks in Winter
Post by: Col. Sphinx Drummond on January 19, 2009, 01:00:49 pm

When I was a kid, we used to go to the swimming pool there (one of my friend's dad was a professor there).  Also, they used to have a football team, and I my dad used to take me to a few games.  They played at Tampa Stadium, before they expanded it for the Bucs.  In fact, the Bucs were kind of the final nail in the Spartan football coffin.  When Tampa was awarded an NFL team, the University decided to drop football, fearing it would eat away at what little support they had left.

John Matuszak went there.
Title: Re: Ballparks in Winter
Post by: Ty in Tampa on January 19, 2009, 01:03:06 pm

I, for one, would prefer that he is only interested in coeds, rather than the other 30% of the student, um, body (NTTAWWT.)

While I enjoy watching the UT baseball team, I do not gawk at them.
Title: Re: Ballparks in Winter
Post by: HudsonHawk on January 19, 2009, 01:20:34 pm
John Matuszak went there.

As did Freddie Solomon.  He played QB at Tampa, but was a WR in the NFL.
Title: Re: Ballparks in Winter
Post by: HudsonHawk on January 19, 2009, 02:18:13 pm
John Matuszak went there.


The University of Tampa has also produced two famous professional wrestlers:  Joanie Laurer, aks "Chyna" of WWF/Playboy fame, and Mr. Wonderful, Paul Orndorff.  Orndorff played football there.
Title: Re: Ballparks in Winter
Post by: Ty in Tampa on January 19, 2009, 02:37:10 pm
Many know this already but Tino Martinez was a standout at Tampa as well.