Take me out to the ball game

September 9th was my birthday and I went to a ball game. The Cincinnati Reds vs. the Pittsburgh Pirates. The picture to the left is of Cincinnati's new baseball park. Compared to our old stadium, this place is an amusement park. The amount of bling in this place in unbelievable. We had great seats thanks to my lovely wife, and a good time was had by all. I was going to wax nostalgic for the good old days when a ball park needed only baseball to amuse it's patrons, but naaaah. It's a fun place, the view of the river and part of the city from the west plaza level of the stadium is fantastic. The kids have a little playground, I saw face painting and of course a radar gun to see how fast you can throw a baseball. All geared to keep the folks entertained when the game gets boring. Me, I don't need all that. The atmosphere, a cold beer, a hot dog or 2, that makes the game for me. Now keep in mind the wife and I have only been to 2 games in 16 years. In that time, hot dog prices have quadrupled, I spent over 10 dollars for 2 beers and between the 5th and 6th inning cheerleaders is skintight outfits popped up on the Red's dugout for a little T&A. Cheerleaders????? in baseball????? The fans are still the same. The guy next to me had a couple of lite beers (yuck) and he suddenly turned into Sparky Anderson. The little boy in front of me had his Ken Griffey Jr. t-shirt, Reds hat and baseball glove and desperately wanted a foul ball to come his way. The crazy screaming guy was there, not a drunk guy, just a superfan.... it said so on his baseball jersey. Today's modern ball park has a lot to offer, but as long as it doesn't change the atmosphere, and the fans can enjoy the game the way they want to, it's all good. Thanks again to my lovely wife, who took me to the ball game and is a gift to me every day. Thanks to Rob and Jo, who gave the gift of beer and a great card. Love you guys!

Marcus Fiesel

Marcus Fiesel was just 3 years old when he was killed by his foster parents. They have pleaded not guilty, which comes as no surprise to me. In case you haven't heard of this case, Marcus died locked in a closet after being deprived of food and water for 2 days. The house was not air conditioned and the boy was bound. His hands tied behind his back, wrapped in a blanket and further bound with duct tape around the blanket. The foster parents Liz and David Carroll claimed they didn't know doing this might kill the boy. I guess they're not very bright, or more likely, they're flat lying. Either way, it has always been my opinion that stupidity or incompetence (as in an attempted murder that failed) should not disqualify you from receiving the death penalty. I'm a little late blogging about this because I wanted to make sure that I really wanted to see these people dead, that it was not just the emotion talking. By the way, the Carrolls did this so that they could go to a family reunion without the burden of having Marcus along, which further demonstrates how utterly self absorbed they are. There are no words strong enough to describe how despicable these people are. The appropriate sentence for Liz and David Carroll is the death penalty. Let the punishment fit the crime.