Take Me Out To the Ballpark

America’s favorite pastime is well represented here in Tucson with the Tucson Sidewinders. This is the triple-A ball club affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks. I decided to attend a recent game against the Fresno Grizzlies. The Sidewinders play in Tucson Electric Park, located on the southwest side of Tucson.

A lot of people I know prefer triple-A games to the big league games because the atmosphere is a lot more relaxed. While there are hard core fans there, people show up mostly to have a good time. It’s a place you can take the kids, get some fresh air, and maybe even run into some old friends. While I was there I saw couples and families share “How’ve you been’s” and a couple of high school aged girls share a shy wave with two high school aged boys.

There were the usual fun activities you’ll only see at a triple-A game like the cheese shooter that shoots what looks like a sock full of cheese at the crowd from a moving golf cart. There was a race down the third base line while hoola hooping by two otherwise apparently grown men, and someone in the audience won a round trip airplane ticket because of a pop fly caught by one of the outfielders.

The temperature was hovering around 100 degrees when the game started and I was amazed at the fortitude of the person inside a huge furry Sandy Sidewinder (the team mascot) costume and another costumed character in a furry cow outfit promoting a chicken franchise (“Eat mor chikin”). I’m not sure what they get paid, but it can’t be nearly enough.


The opening ceremony took on special significance at this particular game as the American flag that was raised was donated from the USS Arizona submarine specifically for this game. As you can imagine, loud cheers and applause followed this announcement.

There was a pretty good crowd there as it was the night before the fourth of July. The official figure is 10,545 tickets sold.


The Sidewinders lost to the Grizzlies 6-3 but that’s not entirely the point. Most people were there to just have a good time out at the old ballpark. By that measure the evening was a great success.


I really like this shot showing the bright sun shining on the right outfield while the night lights are burning, both contrasting with the very dark skies that warn of a monsoon rolling in. The game was delayed for about a half hour due to rain but was able to continue.

While doing research on the Sidewinders I discovered that if you’d like to see the Sidewinders play here in Tucson you’d better do it in 2008. Tucson Baseball LLC sold the Tucson Sidewinders to SK Baseball LLC for $15 M in June 2007. SK Baseball is planning to relocate the team to Reno, NV for the 2009 season. [1]

[1] Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tucson_Sidewinders

Welcome to Tucson Living

In this blog I will share with you the various sights, activities and events Tucson, Arizona has to offer to anyone that decides to live or visit this beautiful city.


Not that I am an expert, by any means. I am a Midwestern transplant, and very new to the area. The one thing I realized immediately however, is the variety of activities Tucson has to offer. In the span of two weeks I’ve gone hiking, visited historic downtown buildings, listened to some excellent live music, and walked the path of a beautiful city park. This week I am attending a Freethinker Discussion Group, attending a triple-A ball game and visiting the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum.

If you have a favorite social activities you’d like to recommend to me please let me know, and I’ll report on them here. As my work involves various freelance projects, I will have opportunities to venture out at random hours of the day.

So I invite you to discover along with my new home town, “The Old Pueblo.”

First, a brief description of the city of Tucson.

The English name Tucson derives from the Spanish name of the city, Tucsón, which was borrowed from the O'odham name Cuk Ṣon, (pronounced roughly "chook shown"), meaning "at the base of the black [hill]", a reference to an adjacent volcanic mountain. Tucson is sometimes referred to as "The Old Pueblo." [1]

Tucson is surrounded by five minor ranges of mountains: the Santa Catalina Mountains and the Tortolita Mountains to the north, the Santa Rita Mountains to the south, the Rincon Mountains to the east, and the Tucson Mountains to the west. The high point of the Santa Catalina Mountains is 9,157-foot Mount Lemmon, the southernmost ski destination in the continental U.S., while the Tucson Mountains include 4,687-foot Wasson Peak. [2]

In other words, no matter where you look, you’ll always have a spectacular mountain backdrop.

You’ll almost always have a clear view too. The annual average percentage of sunshine is one of the highest in the United States, at 85%. [3] Compare that to the 46% [3] of my old home town. I am SO looking forward to living here!

That doesn’t mean it never rains in Tucson. As I write this it is monsoon season in Tucson. Storm clouds come up very quickly and I’ve already seen some fantastic lightning displays. The cloud formations are spectacular too, as you may have blue sky off to the west, bright white cumulus clouds overhead and dark gray storm clouds moving in from the east.

But just as quickly as they appear, the rain clouds dissipate leaving fresh air and cooler temperatures in their wake.


Since you’ll be seeing plenty of sunshine in future posts, I’ll end this one on a slightly different note. See you on the sunny side of the street!

Sources:
1, 2 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tucson,_Arizona
3 http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/online/ccd/avgsun.html