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Opening Day at Petco Park

By jbox

I went down to Petco Park with Jonny Dub and his one-year old today to watch the game. We thought we'd be able to camp out on the grass in the Park at the Park and watch the game on the back of the batter's eye, but when we arrived the gates were closed to the public.

We walked around the front of the park instead, visited with a special friend then entered a members-only event. No one asked for our membership cards, so we just walked through the turn stiles. I was wearing my Padres retired numbers shirt which must have shrunk in the off-season. It felt like I was wearing a baby tee. I was really self conscious with all the muscles bulging out. It left nothing to the imagination. Maybe that's what distracted the gate crew.

First things first, we put Jon's kid into a Padres branded bounce house. He has a bit of a cold and is teething, so he wasn't in the best mood. The employees watching over the bounce house exclaimed "OMG! So cute!" and Jon's kid gave them this zombie stare, with an Elvis lip and blew a snot rocket. I was like "Ewww! Dude!" Even the bounce house couldn't get a smile out of him.

We went down to some seats along the First Base line and watched the game. The glare made it tough, but we managed.

Between innings the Pad Squad rallied the fans, they gathered information for Friar Feud and they played music over the PA system. There wasn't really anybody in our section so I cut loose in an attempt to get on the Jumbotron.

After that we finger waved at new Fox Sports host/reporter Megan Olivi. She was delightful. We visited for an inning or so about the Padres. She told us about her first meeting with Dick Enberg. I told her how I've been reading his biography for 4 years. We also tried to pitch her ideas for her show Padres POV. One thought was to have Andrew Cashner teach viewers to field dress a deer carcass and reenact his injury. I feel like we had a few other good ideas too, but I forget them now. They're lost to the ages.

Megan had to go shoot some more footage and Jon's kid was getting fussy so we went our separate ways but pinky swore to remember each other forever.

On our way out we spotted a pitching area by the Mercado. "What's another few minutes?" Jon went first. The radar gun wasn't really working. Everything he threw whether it be hard or soft read 55 mph. I took my turn, my arm was wild as ever but was able to settle down and break the day's record, which impressed all the ladies.

Fun times at the ballpark.

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