Mik's Food Scrapbook: Champion Stadium

There were quite a few food items that appealed to Mik as we walked around Champion Stadium.  At first he was really into getting the brisket sandwich basket.  However, once he found out there was a cheese pretzel dog he had to have that, as he is a huge pretzel dog fan.  He really enjoyed it, although it ended up being quite messy with the cheese oozing out as he ate it.

The evening was a little windy and cool, so he also was glad that Dad found hot chocolate for him to warm up with.  He did not say what he thought of it, but it must have been at least okay or he was really cold because he downed it pretty fast (Dad taste tested to check it was not too hot before giving it to Mik).

Accessibility Review: Champion Stadium

Tonight we went to see the Nationals play the Braves at Champion Stadium located at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World.  We were staying at Disney World, so we could have taken the bus transportation they offer from resorts to the ESPN Wide World of Sports, but Mik does not particularly like riding on buses and there can end up being a bit of waiting for them at times.  Thus, we drove from the resort and parked at the complex, which is at least free, although you can pay $20 for valet.  The lanes are clearly marked for disabled parking as you enter the parking area, however, there are not that many rows of actual handicap spots and like our Disneyland experience they always seem to be full and it is just a close to park/tram section of the parking lot.  Since we need the handicap space to be able to unload Mik, we just parked between two spots like we normally do when handicap spots are full.


For the game we sat in section 104 along the first base foul line.  The wheelchair rows are nicely marked on the ground for each spot.  The ushers are good about bringing out chairs as needed.  They only allow you to buy one companion ticket and oddly our ticket for the row in front was for a space on the opposite end of the row and not right in front like we thought because the bleacher row starts with 1 on the right and the wheelchair row behind it starts with 1 on the left.  It did not end up mattering, though, as they had no problem bringing us two chairs and sitting together.  It is nice they enforce the one companion spot for the wheelchair rows while also being flexible to allow you to sit together on gameday when it is not crowded.


Overall, though, Mik quickly rated the accessibility low.  Mainly he did not like that the handicap section was not raised more than the typical row above the regular seating.  This meant that his view was easily blocked when people sat in that row.  Of course, he also did not like there being no cup holders, but that is something lacking at even some major league regular stadiums, especially when you sit in the bleacher sections.

Most annoying to him, though, was when there was a bunch of fireworks after the National Anthem.  He was totally ready for potential ones to go with rockets red glare, but he was pissed when there was a mini show of mostly really noisy fireworks after the anthem.  Between that and it being a somewhat windy and chilly evening, his opinion was tainted a little more than normal, so I think his low rating is not as low as he made it seem, although it really does make a big positive difference in enjoyment when the wheelchair seating at the top of a section is raised up more.

Kj's Baseball Collection: Curly W Spring Training 2013

I was kind of disappointed that they do not really have an unique Grapefruit League logo and the Spring Training 2013 logo is for both Arizona and Florida, but I still decided to get the baseball to for my collection.  Certainly better than the plain white ones they had with the Curly W.  The Strasburg and Harper ones were more interesting, but I am not much into collecting the player specific baseballs.

Spring Training 2013: Space Coast Stadium - Miami Marlins @ Washington Nationals

Today Dad and I went to see the Miami Marlins play the Washington Nationals at the Nationals spring training home, Space Coast Stadium.  The first stop was the Team Shop to get Dad a Nats shirt, so he did not keep wearing his Cubs shirt to the games.  Also, got some pics outside with the Casey at Bat and space shuttle statues, although the car salesman kind of made it not worth going near the Casey at Bat one.

For the game we sat in the bleachers (219).   The view of the field was good and the bleachers are not bad since they do have backs.  Dad found the $10 deal for a hot dog, fries, and souvenir cup of soda pretty good.  I was disappointed to find them have stands advertising cheese and pizza pretzel only to go up to order and find out they only had plain ones this season.  How hard is it to cover up the options no longer available?

The game itself was nothing special, as spring training usually is not.  Mik actually almost wished he was going when this morning he heard Dan Haren was starting, as he liked him when he played for the Dbacks, but he never has been into spring training ball even when the Dbacks used to play down in Tucson.  We actually only ended up staying through three innings for the order to go around once.  It just was not much fun sitting in the hot sun (they have pretty much no shaded seating in the whole ballpark) and no reason to stay when we gave up scoring spring training games years ago since it gets annoying with all the lineup changes.

Overall fun to see the Nats play some baseball and looking forward to them playing at the Braves Friday, but still anxiously awaiting some real baseball come April and seeing if they can be good again.

2 Grapefruit League Games for Spring Training 2013

As a Nats fan I have been wanting to see some Grapefruit League games for years.  By the time Spring Training rolls around this year, for the first time since I lived in D.C. that the Grapefruit League is the closest spring training to go see.  Thus, this year we are going to go see the Marlins @ Nationals on February 27 and the Nationals @ Braves on March 1.

Mik is now quite picky with what games he will go see, since he is still rather ballparked out.  However, he has decided to go to the Braves game, as he is thinking of it as more of a Disney thing to see than a baseball thing and I somehow have not Disneyed him out!  Of course, he is also tagging along to enjoy some time at Walt Disney World, especially some lefse.

Kj's Baseball Collection: Dbacks Spring Training 2010

The ball I got for the final spring training season of the Dbacks in Tucson says Spring Training Dbacks Tucson, AZ 2010 on one side. The other side has the Dbacks D logo.

Mik's Food Scrapbook: Tucson Electric Park

The main thing Mik had at TEP was a bean and cheese burrito. Overall he liked it, but he thinks they should just call it a bean burrito because the cheese is so minimal you cannot taste it.

Mik also had a shaved ice that was mango flavored. He liked it as something different than Dippin' Dots for a warm Spring Training game day.

Spring Training 2010: Dodgers at Dbacks at Tucson Electric Park

Today we went to Tucson Electric Park to see the Dodgers face the Dbacks. The weather was much better than last weekend and we did actually see part of the game, but overall it was way worse and we actually left in the 6th inning. It just is not any fun to watch spring training anymore.

It was a sold out game and they cannot handle the crowds, which makes no sense because we have been to White Sox and Cubs sold out games at TEP and never found it this ridiculously handled. Dad went to get me a pretzel and came back an inning later with nothing because there were at least sixteen people in front of him and in that time only one person was served. That was the last straw for me. I was bored with the crappy playing of the teams of mostly players I had never heard of and hungry because I had assumed even though expensive I could eat at the ballpark.

Mik actually did not want to go at first, but all he was doing was sitting there playing his PSP and not even watching the game. He finally said he was bored, too, as he was not getting to see any of his favorite Dbacks play.




The funny thing is the program talks all about it is a bittersweet thing the team is leaving and that they promise this to be a great season for the fans. Well, the only thing that did not stink was the pin giveaway when we first came in. The team shop was okay, as I did get a nice Spring Training Dbacks baseball, but overall it was pretty dismal. It was nothing like how it used to have a lot of different things to chose from and more like it was when the Sidewinders were leaving. They just do not seem to care about were the team started or the fans down here anymore despite what they say in the magazine.

Kj's Baseball Collection: Rockies Spring Training 2010

I got an okay looking Spring Training 2010 ball with a Rockies logo on it. One sides has the CR Rockies logo. The other side has the logo in a circle that has cactus in the background and says Tucson, AZ. The other strip has a Spring Training 2010 Arizona/Florida logo.

They had no mini bats, except the exact one Mik got this summer, so he ended up with a Rockies flag design ball he thought was cool.

Spring Training 2010: Hi Corbett Field

Today we went to Hi Corbett Field for Spring Training. We were planning to see the Dbacks at the Rockies, but at game start it was raining, windy, and cold for Tucson standards in March, so we let Mik make the decision. He may be a Dbacks fan, but he sure did not want to stay. Turned out to be a good decision, as it ended up being called after 7 innings and was mostly drizzling and raining all afternoon anyways.

On the trip rain delays did not stop us from sticking it out, but it does not really matter to us when we have been to the ballpark countless times in the fifteen years we have lived in Tucson. It is sad that the ballpark is going to no longer be used for spring training when it is the last remaining field in use that was used when the Cactus League started back in 1947. That streak will end after this spring training and as far as I am concerned the Cactus League loses its touch with history and becomes entirely worthless. They should at the very least rename the Arizona Diamondbacks to the Phoenix Diamondbacks next season, as the team is no longer for the whole state.

Spring Training 2010 Plans

This is a sad year for spring training for us, as it is the final year of having teams in Tucson. I was totally surprised to find out about the Dbacks and Rockies moving to a new spring training facility in the Phoenix area when we went to our final 2009 game (Dback Encore Game). I do not think I will go to a Dbacks home game this season due to the team moving their spring training, but I might still go for the a Nats game at Chase Field.

We have rarely gone to more than one spring training game in a season. Last year we did not even go to one game, as we could not decide on what game to go to since the White Sox left and we had been going to the Cubs @ White Sox game for most of the seasons the White Sox were in Tucson. This year we have tickets to three games. Mik only wanted to go to two games (one at each park), so the three of us are going to the March 7 game with the Dbacks at the Rockies at Hi Corbett and the March 13 game with the Dodgers at the Dbacks at TEP. Dad and I are also going to see the Cubs at the Dbacks game. That game is in the middle of the week and Mik has school, so we did not even give him the option to go if he wanted.

Getting tickets to the spring training games were so easy, as we could go do it in person. The Rockies are at a rather old ballpark and the wheelchair seating is very limited. Tickets have been on sale for almost a month there and we were happy that we were still able to get wheelchair seating for the game we wanted. They do, however, only allow one companion seat (the other ticket is for the section above), but that is a good policy to allow the maximum amount to be available to those that need them. The Dbacks spring training facility has a good amount of wheelchair seating, although it can be tricky to get seats together still.