K&C Attend a Baseball Game

One of the first casual questions people ask when they get to meet you out here is "Cubs or Sox?" I can wholeheartedly say I am a Cubs fan, because of three reasons:

1. The Cubs haven't been in a World Series since 1945, and you all know I'm a sucker for a losing squad. Dang my empathetic-ness. (Unless it comes to Utah, and then it's DIE LOSERS DIE)
2. Wrigley Field is, in my opinion, way cooler. I mean, I've never been to the White Sox field. But Wrigley has ivy growing on the walls. That's awesome. 
3. The color palette/branding of the Cubs is highly superior to the White Sox. I mean, look at this: 

   

   Option #1

   Versus this: 

   

   Option #2

I mean, come on. One, or two. One... or two. 

Anyway. So one of the things I wanted to before I left this crappy place we call home for the next year was make sure we hit a Cubs game. And a couple weeks ago, we did! 

Wrigley Field

Where the rich people sit

Where we sat

Cool, no? Prepare for picture overload! There are a few notable things about Wrigley:

1. See the back wall? It's usually covered in ivy. The ivy was just beginning to grow when we went, and now it's fully green and all grown in. 
2. The neighboring businesses put bleachers/seats on their roofs and rent them out, so if you don't actually want to sit on the stadium, you can sit on the roof right next to the stadium. You can kind of see it in some of these pictures. I don't get the draw of it, but okay?
3. They have a really cool old signboard they change by hand. It's awesome. My camera isn't good enough to take great pictures of it but you can just Google a picture if you're filled with curiosity. It was fun to watch them change it whenever people scored runs or switched innings. 
4. You can see Lake Michigan if you look reeeeeeeally closely.

Cue the picture overload!

There's where the announcer and the organ player sit.

See? Cubs stuff just looks better on me. I can't help it.

He's so excited and he just can't hide it!

Oh! I got a curling wand and used it for the first time this day.
Obviously I have some work to do but you can kind of see the waves, no?
It was really windy and kind of rainy so we'll just blame the lack of curls/waves on that.

I know, #couplegoals

And now, we document the field preparation. I've never seen a sporting arena treated so carefully. It was fascinating. 

First, we have watering can guy, whose only job was to water the home plate circle of dirt. 

Then, a bunch of other people cover the diamond with some dirt. There's a fancy technique to it. 

Then they get that blue hose out and water everything again. I don't know. There must be a reason for these things.
They also rechalked the lines like five times.   

And then, the game begins! I didn't take a ton of pictures during it but these turned out okay. 

Before the pitch...

During!

I liked the atmosphere at Wrigley. It was pretty family friendly. There was a family with two kids right in front of us. Their parents had to have bought them like $60 worth of food throughout the game. Including ice cream. Why anyone would want ice cream on a 40* day is beyond me but I will withhold judgment. 

As far as the actual event of baseball went, by the end of the game, I'd seen my first home run, AND my first grand slam! And apparently, when the opposing scores a home run on your turf, and you catch the home run ball, you're supposed to throw it back on the field and then everybody cheers for you. Just an FYI if you ever find yourself in that position... 

The MLB atmosphere is really different. The only thing I can really compare it to was a game at Lavell Edwards Stadium, and this was better and worse in different ways. The advertising at Cubs games is a ton better than at LES. There's a lot less ads for the sake of ads and more... I guess I'd say more fun facts about teammates and behind-the-scenes looks that were sponsored by a company, but it was a lot more tastefully done. So that was a definite plus. But then you've got the guys yelling "BUD" every 30 seconds trying to sell you a beer. I don't know. You win some, you lose some. I enjoyed the fact that when they sell you a beer, they pour it into a plastic cup sponsored by Hefty trash bags. Haha...

And we got the win! Then they fly a white flag with a blue W on it, and everyone cheers and sings a song about Chicago. I didn't catch onto the lyrics very well.

"Go Cubs Go!" *random other lyrics*

It was *freezing* by the end of it. We persevered all the way to the end though! 

And of course, when we visit the city, we somehow always end up here... 

I'm the hostess with the mostest Costa Vida! 

So at the end of the day, it was pretty cool. I can say I've been to an MLB game. And who knows, maybe this is the Cubs' year...?

-K