The Minor League Experience

"There are only two seasons - winter and Baseball." — Bill Veeck

Having lived in Colorado Springs for almost a year, it made some sense to embrace a little bit of our new surroundings. Over the Memorial Day weekend, lured in part by the promise of $.50 hot dogs, we decided to attend a Sky Sox game.

I like baseball, but I don't love it. It's probably my third favorite sport. I have, however, been to a few live professional baseball games. But I haven't been since college. And I've never been to a minor league game, so it seemed exciting to visit Sky Sox stadium. Even more exciting — the Sky Sox were hosting the Fresno Grizzlies, the AAA team from Lindsay's home town, this long weekend.

So Sunday, after church, we changed and headed to the stadium for an afternoon of fun. Here's some of my take aways from the first minor league experience.

1. The Sky Sox mascot is a Fox. This shouldn't really matter that much, but it was pretty cool and pretty fun. I don't know why, but that made the whole experience a little bit better.

2. $.50 hot dogs are awesome, but concessions are expensive. We're talking $4 for a little bottle of water... I don't remember concessions being this much when I went to baseball games, but it's been a while. Let's just say this sort of made movie theater concessions look like a bargain.

3. The entertainment is more consistent. I haven't been to a major league game in a while, but I don't remember much going on between innings. That's not the case at the minor league game. There was something interactive for fans between each half inning and it kind of added to the wonder of the show.

4. The crowds are looser. There is something relaxed about a minor league game. Most sporting events I've been to are intense, but this was more of a fun, family atmosphere. I kind of liked it.

5. The stadium isn't what I expected. It's kind of like a nice high school stadium or a college stadium. I don't know quite what I expected, but it was a little simpler than I thought it would be. It was fine and it was nice, just a little more plain than I expected.