ARRRRRRRRGH!!

I had quite the drive from Chicago to Pittsburgh. There was one road closure after another and Karen was having an absolute fit. There was nothing I could do though, so she just had to deal with a lot of “recalculating.” I saw some interesting stuff on the way over though. Have you ever seen a truck with THREE trailers?? I’ve seen a lot of double trailers but these things were massive and they were everywhere. How do they take corners?

I drove past the exit for Notre Dame and legitimately thought about stopping by. I was obsessed with the school/football team growing up (to the point that my 7th grade wardrobe consisted of nothing without an Irish logo or blue and gold colors) but grew a bit sour on them once they didn’t let me into their school…twice.

You know what’s a good idea? Electronic billboards. I’ve seen a bunch of these things now but not yet in the northeast. I think whatever company is putting them up could make a lot more money due to the multiple sponsors thing and we don’t have to see the faded, peeling advertisement for “County Fair ’98!”

West Virginia has HILLS. I decided to stay there for a night just to add another state to the trip and I was only an hour outside of Pittsburgh for the game the next day. Well, my little V4 pissed off a lot of people behind me. I’d be flying down a mountain into a valley and when it was time to make it up the next mountain I stayed to the right, closed my eyes and prayed. My engine got a workout that day the likes of which hasn’t been seen before and may never be seen again.

As for PNC Park, I think the best part was the Pittsburgh skyline in the background, and that’s being generous.

Game Notes:

Parking in downtown Pittsburgh was a bit tough for a day game in the middle of the week but once I realized I wasn’t supposed to be trying to find a space in the middle of the city my life was made much easier. I walked around the entire outside of the park first because I remember when the home run derby was there a few years ago it looked really cool on TV being right on the water and with all the bridges in the background, etc. It was pretty nice, like I mentioned, the skyscrapers make for an impressive backdrop.

Once I got into the park it immediately struck me that I had been there before, except not. The layout on the inside was remarkably like Detroit’s Comerica Park. The scoreboards are in almost the exact same location and built the same way, and both parks use the city skyline as a backdrop. I thought this was a nice shot.

Also, both stadiums have very open concession areas which always help with traffic/congestion. If I was in for a repeat of my Detroit experience I would have been pumped! Unfortunately, PNC Park was severely lacking in most other areas.

Looking back over my notes for this game I have five separate lines dedicated to the same basic idea. “No special places to watch game.” “No fan activities.” “Not a lot to write about.” “Shell of a stadium, looks OK but just nothing to do.” “Nice setup, new, etc. but nothing to draw you in.” Even all the pictures I took were boring and I struggled to find anything worth including. I can tell you right now I’m not getting bored with reviewing stadiums as a park still to come really blew me away so I think PNC just didn’t have a lot going for it.

The highlight of the day, whether good or bad, was the “Pittsburgher.” I can’t believe I initially didn’t know this was a hamburger, that’s my bad. Anyways, I ordered this thing and holy crap did I regret it. I think this ranks right up there with the half-pound hot dog in Arlington, TX. I asked what came on the Pittsburgher first so I knew what I was getting into and I was met with a harsh reality: hamburger, cheese, French fries and cole slaw served on white bread. UGH. Oh well, when in Rome, right??

It was a disaster. The ketchup and mustard cart I went to had been sitting in the sun all day and I think that somehow affected the pressure inside because those condiments came exploding out. Then I added the jalepenos for flavor and found a seat (btw, ushers didn’t care where I sat as there were roughly 15,000 people there for a mid-week, day game) to enjoy my bounty. In the words of Simon Cowell, it was a complete and utter mess. I should have taken a picture in the immediate aftermath but food was everywhere. This was taken after a trip to the bathroom and using multiple paper towels soaked with cold water. I think you get the idea.

Since there wasn’t much else to do I checked out some other food options. I found an “all you can eat” section (and there has to be one of these in at least half the parks in the country) and I really want to try one but I’m not sure if the remaining stadiums will afford me that opportunity. I’ll let you know. Otherwise there was the “Bucco Taco” but, as you can see below, that looks like a disaster waiting to happen as well so I steered clear of that and went for a simple hot dog. I have to hand it to Pittsburgh on that one; $2.25 was their regular price and that’s one hell of a deal. No other stadium has come close. Granted, it was served on a stale bun and it sure as hell wasn’t real meat, but it was only $2.25!

I think that’s about it. I saw a barge on the river pushing tons of coal but otherwise my lap around the park yielded nothing else worth wasting key strokes.

High Points:

-They had a pierogi race! I remember grandma used to make pierogies. I’m not sure what kind of population Pittsburgh is known for but that was pretty cool to watch! They mixed it up a bit from the standard condiment fare.

-The scoreboard did include a lot of relevant information. I like the new boards with the newer statistics included as well as the scoring of the last play and who might be up next and all of the pitchers season and in-game stats. Good stuff.

-Fans were allowed to bring snacks and one bottled beverage into the game (providing it was factory sealed – that means you 20 year old Matt trying to sneak in a mixed drink!).

-Everywhere around the stadium the “Let’s go Bucs” slogan can be found. For $20, what other team name/nickname can be found across at least three professional sports (Milwaukee Bucks, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Pittsburgh “Bucs”)?

-I’ve now seen this at a handful of stadiums but Pittsburgh is yet another to use a tee shirt launcher to shoot hot dogs into the crowd! I think that is so neat.

-The Pittsburgh mascots were a pirate and a parrot. That works.

Low Points:

-Hey Freddy Sanchez, did you forget about your cup of coffee with the Red Sox? If you want to come on the PNC video board and say that Pittsburgh fans are the best in baseball you go right ahead but I know, and you know, and I know that you know that I know, you’re only fooling yourself.

-The bullpens at PNC Park were close enough together where coaches could check out the opposing relievers and see what kind of stuff they had that day. Also, they were close enough that I expected a brawl to break out. Unfortunately, no such brawl materialized. Seriously though, look how close these things are!

-I don’t know if there were any more specific low points about the stadium, it was just lacking in general.

That’s a bad way to go out though. Here’s a high school band (they weren’t very good).

Ahhhh…much better :-)

Overall Grade: C+

Game Stats:

Teams: Pirates vs. Nationals
Final Score: 7-5 Pirates
WP: Tom Gorzelanny
LP: Jason Bergmann
S: Damaso Marte
Time: 2:59
Announced Attendance: 16,306
Ticket Price: $9.00
Parking Price: $10.00

Trip Stats:

Home team record: 18-6
Best Anthem: Tropicana Field
Miles Driven: 9108
States Visited: 21
Countries Visited: 2
Beds slept in: 28
Highest Gas PPG: $4.19 [$4.81 if you count Canada]
Next Stop: Baltimore Orioles
Favorite Park: Petco Park (Padres)

Stadium Grades:
Marlins: D
Rays: B
Braves: B-
Rockies: B+
Mariners: B
Giants: A-
Athletics: C
Angels: B-
Dodgers: B+
Padres: A
Diamondbacks: B
Rangers: B-
Astros: B-
Blue Jays: C
Tigers: A-
Indians: B-
Reds: B+
Cardinals: B
Royals: B
Twins: B-
Brewers: A-
White Sox: B
Cubs: B+
Pirates: C+