It's official, I've fallen in love with Throwback Thursday. I will be asking Throwback Thursday's father for his blessing in the near future and you will all be invited to the wedding at the next Throwback Thursday.
If you've seen a movie at an AMC theater, you've probably seen their policy trailer "Don't Spoil the Movie by Adding your own Soundtrack."
I was thinking about creating a trailer like that for baseball ballparks. I'd show a player walking to the plate with Nickelback blaring. As the player dug in, the video board would demand that fans stomp their feet and make some noise using a high decibel and bone jarring automated clapping sound clip. Then the player would hit a home run and Zombie Nation, Garry Glitter and the rest of the Jock Jams soundtrack would all start playing at the same time with ever increasing volume. To cap it off, fireworks would be shot off, causing babies to start crying and old people to start choking. All the noise would reach an incontinence causing crescendo -- then it'd all stop....
You'd hear a faint noise in the distance "Peanuts... Cracker Jacks", the sweet mellow notes of an old timey time organ playing softly, the sound of a ball hitting leather and maybe most importantly authentic cheering. Then it'd say "Don't Spoil the Game by Adding a Jock Jams Soundtrack... Throwback Thursdays at Petco Park"
I can't recommend Throwback Thursdays enough. If you didn't go yesterday, you need to make it happen. The games are pushed back from 12:35 to 3:35, the players are in old uniforms and colors, the dugouts are covered with older logos, the video screen uses old fonts/colors and best of all there is nothing but real baseball sounds. Seriously you need to go.
I was talking to Kev and Jon without having to yell over the music and I didn't leave the game with my throat raw from yelling. I can't get over how nice it was. We all agreed that we loved it.
The only thing that I noticed is that the 16,000 fans might have fell into the Library Effect where they might have felt that because of a quieter experience that they had to be quiet and whisper themselves when that's not the case.
We ran into Tony the Gwynn after the game and Jon and I asked him a question. I asked him what he remembered about the 1984 brawl between the Braves and Padres. He talked about how he saved Norm Sherry by taking out Brad Komminsk. He very modestly said that he came out on top and won that battle. He also said that they were all fined $5000 but today they would have all been suspended and been faced with much harsher consequences.
Jon asked Gwynn if he thought anybody playing today could approach .400. Gwynn thought Joe Mauer, Albert Pujols and Ichiro might be able to do it. He also mentioned that a player like Barry Bonds could do it by walking 200 times a season, which was something that he thought of originally back in our interview with him. Gwynn says that Pujols is the complete player and the type of guy that if you see him come up to the plate you stop whatever you're doing to watch him.
Gwynn signed out hats and just like that, we had one of the best baseball experiences of our lives! All in all, Throwback Thursday was a rousing success. I can't wait until the next one.