Sleeping at Petco Park with a bunch of Cub Scouts

I wish that somehow I could combine my love of sleeping with my love of the Padres, without being nudged by an usher or being awakened by deafening Gary Glitter or Zombie Nation music.  Some lucky Cub Scouts got my wish.

The new thing in family fun and entertainment is the age old sleepover.  The first I heard of this type of thing was with the San Diego Zoo and the Wild Animal Park.  You get special night time entertainment, sit around a campfire and then lay in your sleeping bag listening to animals trying to escape their cages so that they can eat you. 

The Padres did something similar over the weekend.  They allowed a mess of Cub Scouts from Point Loma to camp out on the field!  I remember a time where the Padres wouldn't even let their fans step on the grass on the field, so I'm glad they are finally relaxing their stance.

The initial idea was to allow 500 people – Scouts, siblings, parents – to spread out on the outfield grass and spend the night under the stars. But there was so much interest they raised the ceiling to 1,000. Even then, there was a waiting list.

Scouts stashed their gear in a nearby building before the game. They were allowed to bring sleeping bags, blankets, air-mattresses and pillows – but no tents or chairs. (They could damage the lawn.) No campfires, either, and despite the location, no baseball gloves, bats or balls.

The camp out at Petco Park sounds like a lot of fun or something that might constitute a violation of the Article 22 of the Geneva Convention and Article M of the Army Field Manual as it pertains to sleep deprivation.

"I'm tired," said everybody.

With good reason...

• The game ended at approx. 10pm
• They played "The Sandlot" on the big screen at Midnight.  The movie runs for 101 minutes.  Since the Petco Sound System is always dialed up to 11, you know nobody got to sleep until at least 1:41am.
• All the lights that surround the ballpark were left on the entire night for safety reasons.
• The grounds crew and clean up crew worked with blowers and power washers further disturbing nonexistent sleep.
• Then it was time for a 6am wake up call where everybody was chased off the field and force fed a Danish and Coffee.

"We're in the memory-making business, and not many people get to say they slept on a major league field," Andersen said.

I would have cracked under less coercion but I also wouldn't miss the opportunity to be involved in it.