Durham Bulls

Tonight we went to see the Durham Bulls in action against our local minor league team, the Gwinnett Stripers.  The last time we saw the Stripers in action was back before the pandemic, back on July 6, 2018. It was quite some time ago!  The score back then was a blowout, as the Stripers got 12 and the Charlotte Knights got nothing.  Tonight, Gwinnett got a taste of that, because they're showing up tonight was totally pointless.  Literally, they scored nothing.  Still, if they don't win it's a shame, and you can't win 'em all.  And it was still a great time at the ol' ball game.

 

As you can see here, Maddie brought along her friend Nia from church, who had never actually gone to a baseball game before.  The two had a great time, of course screaming out "Go Stripers!" or other hilarious chants from time to time, ones I didn't see coming.  We were laughing quite a bit at Nia's commentary.

The weather was perfect tonight.  We had an option to see a game on last Saturday, and there were even some free giveaways too, but we thought the weather was just too humid, and besides, there was a big chance of rain - which I think happened.  Tonight, however, it was still warm but certainly a whole lot cooler than it has been lately.  It was perfect.

We had all kinds of snacks along the way.  Of course there was peanuts and cracker jacks, but tonight was a "family night," which meant discounts on hot dogs and ice cream.  So we were munching all the way through.  You can see our view of the game, which was pretty close behind home plate.  As the end of the game drew closer, the seats became more empty with despondent fans, but diehards like us were still there with some enthusiasm.

The last two innings featured an ongoing gag with the entire stadium screaming out, "Woo!" over and over again for the rest of the game, all of us imitating Rick Flair because of a little video on the screens overhead.  

The sunset was beautiful, and at dusk, an enormous full moon slowly rose over the horizon in front of us, deep orange and glowing brightly as it ascended upwards.  We never hit any balls out that direction.  The Stripers got a total of four hits, with two of them being doubles.  That's the farthest we got, second base.

But again, it was a fun night.  The girls certainly had a nice time, talking away and watching or getting up from time to time to explore the stadium, and even the gift shop.

That's a big mouth bass, or a striper.  It has a baseball in its mouth, which could be problematic if anyone wants to actually use the baseball for gameplay.  It's certainly not hygienic.  Maddie was thinking of getting a few souvenirs here, but they were pretty pricy. Sort of like a lot of other things.  It's inflation, plus the usual high prices of going to the stadiums and events.  But the tickets were less pricy, at least less pricy than what it is to go to a Braves game.  It's been a while since we've done that and we may do that again soon, but for now, we were happy to see the Stripers.

Even if they didn't win.  It was funny, as Nia had sort of started cheering for the Bulls a little later on.  And this was sort of on my bucket list to go see that particular team, given their place in cinematic history.  So yes, it was a great night tonight, a lot of fun.  

The rest of the day was work, a bit of garden work, and some relaxing time for Maddie.  We got back late, and we spent time reading, even as late as it was, and then we said our prayers... and got to sleep pretty quickly.