One Fun Thing: Times Four

Josh-Vs-Lymphoma has been quiet for a few days now.  While I do apologize for that, the reason is good.  Sarah and I did "One Fun Thing" four times since last post.  Four Fun Things, I guess.  The reason was partially timing, and partially because I do feel unbelievably well right now.


Thursday night, we had Avalanche tickets.  Our company frequently offers great discounts to the Colorado Avalanche and we try to go a couple of times each season.   For those who haven't noticed, the Avalanche were expected to be terrible this season, but they are definitely hanging in there so far.  They lost 1-0 to the Minnesota Wild, however, on this night.


Friday night was dinner with a few friends in Denver.  This was great because we hadn't all gotten a chance to hang out for a couple of months.  Many great laughs were had.  As noted, I'm pretty much able to eat what I want right now without nausea, but I had a salad.


Saturday was two fun things.   Almost a month back already, Sarah had gotten us tickets for a Coors Field tour.  Many of you know that I am a huge baseball fan.  I had hoped to take this tour already over a year ago when I had a week off, but my week was wrecked by a nasty cold and some new carpeting in the house (necessitating me to stay home).

The Coors Field tour is a walking tour about 90 minutes long.  It cost us $7, but I think if you walk up beforehand, it is $3 or $4.   I would suggest it is worth it at either price if you enjoy baseball.


The first part of the tour was actually the boring part - seeing the upper deck.   I'd sat in the upper deck many times, and most of the fun facts we learned were not new to me.  What I was really waiting for were three specific features.

Although I work as a pharmacist, what I really wanted to do in High School was work as a Sportswriter.  So, I was excited to see the press box.  Many times I'd tried to peer in using the camera zoom lens, but this was neat.  I had a front row seat while our tour guide gave us the next set of factoids - very few of which I actually knew.  The view is tremendous - far better than what I'm used to when sitting at Rockies games, I can say that.

The next section I was very eager to see was the clubhouse.  The tour only takes you to see the visitors clubhouse, since the Rockies' clubhouse is actually in use, even now, as many of the players prepare for Spring Training.  After the tour, I asked the guide who she thought was the hardest working player, coming in most often to work out.  Not surprisingly, she felt like it was Todd Helton.


The Rockies' clubhouse is about 3x that of the visitors' seen below.  The clubhouse is about what I'd expected from the movie Mr. 3000, which has many different MLB clubhouse scenes.


As a pharmacist, I would have LOVED to have had more time to read these (pics should enlarge upon clicking on them).   I wish I could obtain a copy of the second one.  I should write Bud Selig another letter and see if I can get one for my basement.  (Or just call the number at the bottom of the poster).

It does say that "Anti-Estrogen" is banned.  That means you, Manny Ramirez. 


Here is what it would be like sitting in an MLB player's chair.  It is interesting to think of all the players that have sat in these chairs.   As you can see, I wore my official 5950 Rockies hat (free from the Rockies on another occasion), and sweatshirt.  Yes, I am that excited for baseball to start.

The tour ends in the dugout, and you can walk around part of the warning track on the field (which is now very much full of ice.)  Sitting in the dugout was fun.  


Standing out on the warning track looking at all the seats is pretty impressive.  You could almost gain a sense of how intimidating it would be to be a pitcher who has just given up a big hit or run.  As any baseball fan knows, Coors field is not the most friendly place in the world to pitchers -home or away.

Here you can see the snow and ice and current state of Coors Field, including where we were allowed to walk.   In a few weeks, heating coils under the field will begin to warm it up in anticipation of the home opener and the season.


In conclusion, the tour itself was a fun time.  We had a few oddballs on our tour who asked some absolutely outrageous questions, which are not worth printing here, but made Sarah and I laugh.  A quick trip to the Rockies store, and the bargain of the day I could not pass up was a "Rocktober 2009" sweatshirt for $25, made of Majestic's Thermabase material.  (Normally about $80).


One (last) Fun Thing was dinner with other friends on Saturday night.  Ann and Brandon made specific mention that they wanted to waive the Josh-vs-Lymphoma privacy policy and we had dinner at the Table Mountain Inn Grill and Cantina here in Golden, after we spent some time playing with Lucy.  It was a great time and we ended up just about shutting the place down listening to Brandon's stories from the road in California.


Today will be spent with lots of odds and ends preparing for tomorrow.