The Fives... Baseball Stadiums

The Fives... Baseball Stadiums

I love sports. That isn't breaking news or anything. Just a true statement that most likely applies to anybody who frequents this site. There is a reason that there is something like 492 different stations dedicated to sports. But that doesn't mean there aren't things about sports that infuriate me. And one of those things are fans. Not all fans obviously, that would be insane. But everyone has had experiences where some idiot fan has ruined there viewing experience. Those are the people that I'm talking about. I'm going to break down the five worst type of fans I have encounter over the years.

Read below....

5) The Excuse Guy- We all know him. The guy who always has an excuse for why his team lost. This guy's team was never outplayed. One of my friends is an excuse guy and I hate him all football season. It is always because the refs blew a call, or a player got hurt, or a ball took a weird bounce that would never happen again. An excuse guy's team could lose 48-3 and it would because they lost momentum when the ref missed a hold on the third play of the game. Just admit your team got outplayed and deal with it, shit happens.

4) "The Expert"- You all know the guy I'm talking about. The guy who watches 3 games a year but talks to you like he broke down film for 5 hours. He's the dude in your office that tried to talk curling strategy with you at lunch today, or talks about how Farrell needs to use his bullpen more but brings up Andrew Bailey as an example 3 weeks into his DL stint. I know part of being a manly man is watching sports, but your only making a fool out of yourself. It never really made sense to me. I don't even understand how they keep score in tennis, so I'm not going to explain why Andre Agassi was more suited to play on clay because he uses some weird sneakers. If you don't know much about a sport just enjoy watching it and learn.

3) The Sacred Cows- Living in the Boston area I have seen more local championships than the average sports fan, so this may not apply to everyone, but it really grinds my gears. The Sacred Cow refers to players/coaches who have had some success, and now fans act like you can't xl critique them. It's stupid. Around here it applies mostly to the Patriots, and specifically Brady and Belichick. I get it, they won some championships. But that means I can't call Brady out for missing throws in the AFC Championship? Or questioning Belichick as a defensive genius (I'm just saying for someone who revolutionized defense he hasn't been able to draft a decent secondary player since Asante)? Winning championships shouldn't make a player/team infallible. Have the fun of being a fan is second casing the decisions made. I will give you a 1 year grace period after a championship. Then it's fair game.

2) The Glory Days- If you listen to sports radio, you know the guy I'm talking about. For some reason 95% of these Uncle Rico mother fuckers are hockey fans. They call up to complain about the power play and say something along the lines of "Listen, I've played the game my whole life, and the first thing they teach you is to get a body in front of the net to screen the goalie." Really? You want to relate your time playing Bantam Hockey's in Quincy Youth Arena? You think coach Bill, a full time telemarketer who coaches his kid on the weekends was able to revolutionize the game? Your an idiot. Your just as bad as the distant relative MMA douche. You know, they guy who where's Affliction t-shirts to the bar and talk about how he's been training in Kung Fu or whatever. Your both idiots.

1) The Loyalty Fans- The worst of the worst. The people who talk about loyalty in sports like by not rooting for the local team your a member of Al-Queda. "Dude you got to root for the Patriots, it's your local team!" So what. I don't see you sporting a Revolution jersey. Bobby Kraft and John Henry aren't giving me a home town discount on tickets. Does me rooting for the Falcons or the Nationals impact your life at all? Of course not . So why do you give a shit who I root for.

So those are the five worst type of sports fans. If you agree/disagree let me know. You can hit me up @michaelrooney26 on Twitter

As Spring Training gets underway, it is a cruel reminder that we are slowly approaching the worst season in sports. The baseball season. It isn't that I hate baseball or anything, it's just a LONG season, and baseball games can be a little boring. And by a little, I mean very boring. That isn't to say baseball is all bad. Once you get to September and October, the season gets exciting. And there is nothing quite like drinking outside on a cool spring/summer night.

Spring training also marks the start of a yearly tradition for me and a few of my friends, which is talking about planning a baseball road trip that falls apart every year. Maybe it's because it's too expensive to road trip, maybe we are too lazy to do the work, or maybe we are all too irresponsible to actually plan because we are all afraid to book something for the inevitable moment one of us bails. Either way, I'm sure this season will be more of the same.

So for this weeks version of The Fives, I decided to breakdown the top 5 stadiums I would want to road trip to. So check it out, let me know what you think, and I hope you enjoy.

5) Camden Yards (Baltimore)- Every time I try to plan a s sport's road trip, Baltimore is on the top of the list. A lot of this has to do with location. Baltimore is an easy days drive from Massachusetts. But it also has to do with the location of the stadium within the city, not just the city itself. Everything I have seen makes it seem like a blast. Eutlaw Street seems pretty similar to Yawkey Way, and it's located right by a bunch of bars. I'm a bit of a sports nerd, so I'd love the check out the Sport's Legend Museum at the warehouse. But most importantly, it's affordable! You can get good tickets for much less then bleacher seats at Fenway.

4) Wrigley Field (Chicago)- This is a case of a stadium being on this list for nostalgia purposes. It's one of the few stadiums left that has some history. Wrigley has a shit ton of day games (who doesn't love day drinking), and the ivy looks pretty awesome. Granted people say the same stuff about Fenway and that's a piece of shit (Sorry purists who like to watch games with their knees in their chest and cranking their neck) so I will probably be disappointed if I ever make it out there,

3) Kauffman Stadium (Kansas City)- Kansas City? Really? You bet your ass I want to road trip to Kansas City. For baseball purposes I think it would be fun, just to see all the young prospects. But the stadium seems pretty awesome. The fact that they serve margaritas is a huge bonus. Also, it seems to have a nice change of pace for it's menu. I mean, they have brisket nachos! The fat kid in me thinks that would be delicious. And in left field you have the Royals Hall of Fame, which would be pretty fun to check out. They also have an amazing video board and fountain. Probably ranked a little high at 3, but I stand by it.

2) AT&T Park (San Francisco)- San Francisco is a bad ass city. I was out there during March and had an amazing trip. But I didn't get to go to the stadium and can't wait to get back out there. McCovey Cove is one of the most famous stadium features on the country, and the stadium brick is an awesome touch. Not to sound like a chick, but it gives the stadium a much more intimate feel. No lie, if San Francisco is on television I'm going to watch at least a few innings just because of the park.

1) PNC Park (Pittsburgh)- Just look at a picture of PNC Park. Go ahead, take a minute. It has the coolest skyline in all of sports. That alone gives it the top rank in my book. Between the bridges and the river there is no other stadium like it. But that isn't the only reason to go. Like most of the stadiums listed, it's a cheap game. They do a bunch of in game promotions and give aways (check out there calender once the season starts), and the location is right in down town Pittsburgh, giving you plenty of food and drink options. Definitely on the sports bucket list.

So that's my list. Hit me up on @michaelrooney26 with your thoughts.

Big Country

Thursday, February 20, 2014