Where do I start? I have family in Atlanta that I've been wanting to visit for some time and figured I should do it while thePadres were in town, even though it was in July and the humidity would be high. I hadn't been to Atlanta since high school when I was considering Georgia Tech. Atlanta is a great city and my relatives were excellent hosts. We hit up the Natural History museum with a great civil war display, went to the botanical gardens in the city (those were cool), and we went to rural Georgia (and Alabama) to see some grave sites of my family from the mid 1800s. We also experienced some great food including boiled peanuts, legit grits, sweet tea, and Atlanta's own Sweetwater IPA. Needless to say, my wife and I had a great time.
Now to the baseball. As I had mentioned, my relatives were great hosts. When I had mentioned that I would like going to the Padres game they went all out and won box seats through a silent auction. The box was the local radio station's and there was a guy there that was a cross between Scott, BR, and Hacksaw. Let's just say he was already having a good time when we got there. My wife thought he looked and acted like Kenny Powers and told him so but he misheard and said that all men are powerless haha. Anyways, it turns out that the guy wasn't even a radio host, but the sales guy. My wife and I were wearing Padres gear and I was wearing my Tony the Gwynn jersey from the giveaway earlier in the year. The guy gave me hell when I walked in but later gave his condolences about Tony which I thought was nice.
The game itself was excellent. I was doing my best to pay attention to the game which is sometimes hard in a box, especially with relatives that you don't see every day. Plus the free beer didn't help my memory. The Padres won and Jesse Hahn continued to impress. You all probably had a better view of the curve however it looked nasty, even from a ways away. He only allowed two hits for most of the game and gave up a third hit, along with a run, in his last inning. I also remember Deno having a good game.
I liked the atmosphere at Turner. The fans were into it and all pretty nice. The two things that I really liked were in game entertainment in between innings. The first is a look a like game where they take celebrities and find fans that look a like, it was a pretty good laugh. My favorite was "The Simba." It starts with the intro to Lion King (everyone loves that song) and then they proceed to show parents lifting their babies in the Simba pose on the jumbotron. That was awesome, I couldn't stop laughing. They also do the tomahawk chop every time they smell run(s), which wasn't a lot in Friday's game.
In all, I am very glad that I was able to go to the game. Turner field is closing after next year and they are moving the stadium to Dekalb county which is more suburban. While I didn't have the time to get the full stadium experience before the game, it was cool to be in the same place where all those teams of the 90s dominated. I'll leave you with some pictures, the coolest being the Hank Aaron one from the parking lot. I guess they kept the piece of wall of the old Atlanta stadium where Hank hit the homer and we happened to park right next to hit. Oh yea, and the following day my gracious cousin, knowing how much I love baseball, gave me an autographed ball containing Hank Aaron's autograph that he had gotten personally as a kid. I thought that was awesome.
Has anyone else been to Turner Field?
Hank Aaron's Wall in the Parking Lot
The View When You Walk into the Sadium
View from the Seats
View of the Scoreboard with the Skyline in the Back