Greazy and I left the "friendly confines" of Wrigley and the north side of town to head down to US Cellular and the ghetto south side. Before we could get to the game we had to check in to our hotel in China Town (chinky chan chan China Town) which is affordable but small. We also had a delicious Chinese meal that we are both still recovering from.
The train ride to US Cellular was interesting even though it was only one stop down. I know this cliche is over used but it was like being in that cantina in Star Wars. Once we got off the train we proceeded to the ticket office to see what we could purchase for a reasonable price. What we found out is that the word reasonable does not exist on this side of town. They were getting $45 a pop for standing room and $31 for upper level restricted view. You're probably thinking "You've gotta be shitting me XL" and I say to you "I know...". Not liking either of these options I unleashed Greazy on the few scalpers that were about. The first guy thought he was cutting us a deal by offering us seats on the lower level for $100 each. Greazy instantly said hell no and he dropped the price by $20 a ticket. That still was out of our range so we kept looking. We ran into what appeared to be a gang of scalpers that had a roll of tickets to rival a mob guys roll of Benjamins. The best we could do there was $50 a piece for tickets in the 5o0 level which again was more than we wanted to spend. So in the end we wound up back at the ticket window paying $31 each for fucking obstructed view seats. A bigger rip off has not occurred since the O's traded Erik Bedard in the off season.
Once we got into the park we found out that because a douche bag ran out onto the field a few years back and attacked a 1st base coach if you have seats in the upper level you are not allowed to go to the lower. This kind of pissed us off because Greazy and I have strict rituals we like to follow when visiting a new ball park. We decided to go up to our seats to find the obstruction was a pole that completely blocked our view of home plate. When you stop and think about it it's kind of funny but at the time we were not amused. Chris Cheliose was on hand again to throw out the first pitch and it was Elvis night so what could go wrong. As it turns out, we found out that this game has been sold out since April simply because it was Elvis night. I guess the fans on the south side must have a soft spot for the King as they had him parachute onto the field with an American flag (no I'm not kidding) and then sing the national anthem.
We spent three innings in our obstructed seats learning where the best places in China Town to get Dim Sung (apparently a breakfast delicacy) for breakfast tomorrow. We then took to walking around the upper deck for the remainder of the game so we could actually see home plate as well as the rest of the park. It really isn't much to see and while the fans here are passionate they are also bigger douche bags.
I felt like we went from the friendly confines of Wrigley to Solitary Confinement at US cellular. I mean there is a reason the White Sox where black and white with all the ex cons that attend these games. In the end the Rays played solid ball and even after having two runners cut down at the plate in the 2nd inning managed to hang on and win 9-4. I don't think Greazy and I will be going out of our way to see this park again. First of all it's way over priced, everything was a $1 more than it was at Wrigley plus the feeling that someone was going to kill me every 5 minutes was unsettling. It was however a breath taking view of the city sky line off the smoking section in left field. All in all I'd probably say this would be like seeing an Oakland Raiders game, you'll be glad you saw it but watching your back from the stadium to your car.
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