Game #36- Seattle Mariners

Seattle Mariners vs. Boston Redsox
Safeco Field
September 13, 2010

The final game of a long but exciting trip to the Northwest. Eric and I are running on fumes. This morning we went for a long run (I am still training for Ironman Arizona which is two months away) to the Gasworks park which made for a very quick buzz at the Pyramid Brewery that we hit up prior to the game. By the time we got into the park the buzz was greatly intensified after 4 IPA's...Safeco field is awesome. The weather was fantastic today so the roof was open but because of the unpredictable weather the retractable roof can be closed within 15 minutes. Eric's friends hooked us up again, somehow one of the girls knows a scout for the team so we snagged 4 family and friends tix which were about 15 rows behind home plate. Since everyone was feeling pretty good from the beers we didn't sit in the seats very long (also because the game was really boring) so we explored the park for about an hour. This place would be amazing if there were any fans interested in the game because the park is beautiful. I really liked the bullpen area where players are only feet from the fans as well as the baseball memorabilia museum. Now back to the game, I honestly only knew one Mariner on the field and that was Suzuki Ichiro. He did manage to have a couple hits in the game but the Redsox pulled off the win 5-1.

Game #35-Seattle Seahawks

Seattle Seahawks vs. San Francisco 49ers
Qwest Field
September 12, 2010

Another great day in Seattle. Yesterday I spent the day running around Lake Union, tailgating at the U-dub game, then a good dinner with some friends from UCSB who now live in Kirkland, then to top it off we closed a bar called Rendezvous. Today we are running a bit slow. We headed over to the Seahawks tailgate around 11am which was surprisingly small. Ever since the Kingdome was taken down for the new Qwest and Safeco fields there is a lot less parking around the stadiums, but Eric's friends still do it up right. The epicenter has a suped up ambulance with the Hawks and Huskies emblems on the sides. There are plenty of BBQ's, TV's, and beer is definitely flowing. After hanging for a couple hours we were ready for the game. First thing you notice at a Seahawks game are all the 12th man flags. Every home team thinks they are the loudest, most dedicated fans but I will tell you...this stadium gets loud, REAL LOUD! At one point on a defensive stand I literally had to plug my ears because the were ringing so bad. As for the game, the home team had a rocky start. The first Matt Hasselback throw was for an interception which really ticked off first year coach Pete Carrol (formally from the dominant USC Trojans program). But as the game went on the Hawks picked up the intensity and at the end of the second quarter had two quick strikes in about a minute to take the lead. The second half turned into a blowout for Seattle. Hasselback threw for 2 TDs but even more impressive was 18 for 23, Jordan Babineaux and Marcus Trufant each had an interception from SF's Alex Smith, and the rest of the Seattle D was on fire. The final score was 31-6.

Game #34-Seattle Sounders

Seattle Sounders vs. Real Salt Lake
Qwest Field
September 9, 2010

Headed up to Seattle today for a great sports weekend with my next door neighbor Eric Johnson. He is from this area, went to school at the University of Washington (U-Dub), and still has a lot of friends in the city. So needless to say we were going to have a lot of fun over the next five days. Well on this Thursday our first game was the Seattle Sounders. This is their second season in the MLS but they have some of the greatest fans in the country. It is not unheard of to have thirty to forty thousand fans at a match, so I know this will be a great venue for soccer. The other great thing about this trip is that Eric's college buddy is a manager in the Qwest ticket office so he was able to hook up tickets for the game...and boy did he do a good job. After a beer at Elysian Brewery across the street we made our way into Qwest and promptly started going down the stairs...and down...and down...Yeah, front row seats right on the corner flag. The seats were amazing! As for the game, it was not the most exciting action. The best play of the match was a penalty kick save by Kelsey Keller which really fired up the crowd. Unfortunately there were no goals in the game and it ended in a draw. But again, the seats were unbeatable.

Funny part of the game. Everytime the Real Salt Lake goalie kicked a goal kick, the crowd loudly yelled "Fuck You Asshole!!!!" Ha Ha Ha!!

Game #33- Colorado Rockies

Colorado Rockies vs. Milwaukee Brewers
Coors Field
June 18, 2010

Ah, the yearly dudes trip. Over the past couple of years we have been to Las Vegas, Austin, Rosarito Mexico, and now Denver Colorado. We plan on hitting up a couple of breweries (New Belgium and O’Dells), some bars on 16th street, and frisbee golf on the campus of Colorado State. But the first night is game night! We all met up at Jackson’s, right across the street from the stadium for a pregame beer (the crew included Greg Kopotic, Wes Scott, Andy White, Tom Zglinic, Brian Iams, Rick Webber, Marshal Peden, Eric Iams, and Pete Oskin). From the time we hit the bar to the end of the game was non-stop boozing…so you know what that leads to, no one following the game. I toured the ballpark with Ricky since his is a die hard Rockie’s fan and he showed me the good owner’s seats he was able to score, the Rock Pile seats, the mural wall in center field, and the bullpen. By the time I got to our real seats it was already the 6th inning and we only got a couple of rounds of “Mound Ball” in before the game ended in a 2-1 win for the home team. Again, I really didn’t pay attention to the game. I did manage to catch Price Fielder completely whiffing on his second time up to bat, but that is all I can remember. Next time I hit up the mile high city I need to get to a Rapids and Bronco’s game.