(Almost) Live from the Hard Rock at SkyDome

On Wednesday night while I was in Toronto - I went over to the Hard Rock Cafe at the SkyDome because it happens to be one of the best places to watch a ballgame.

There is a $5.00 cover (per person) to sit at the windows that overlook right field but keep in mind that this is $5.00 Canadian - so that's only about $3.75 US (which is a great price to pay to watch a MLB game - wouldn't you agree?).

This is the fourth Blue Jays game that I've seen from the seats at the Hard Rock but it is the first time I've gone to a game alone. My business associate's sister is in Toronto so they went out to dinner and I was left alone to pursue my passion of baseball.

It is pretty cool watching a game from the Hard Rock perch. You have a clear view of the Jumbotron in centerfield and you can also turn around and watch replays on the TV's at the Hard Rock bar. Waitress service is prompt and the food - well the waitress service is prompt. Tonight's beverage of choice is Ricards Red (which is like a Killians with more bite).

I got to the game about 45 minutes before the first pitch. I was there in time to see them vacuuming around the bases before the game. (Call me a purist but vacuuming has no place in the game of baseball.) It was a beautiful night and the dome was open. Here are some thoughts and observations from the game:

- this is the third time I've seen Seattle play. Over the years I have seen them at Fenway (opening day when the Sox came back from a huge deficit and Mo Vaugh hit a blast to ruin Pinella's day), at Camden Yards and now at SkyDome

- the only word that can be used to describe the crowd is "sparse"

- I wonder if those Japanese tabloids that were offering a huge reward for pictures of Ichiro nude ever got their picture (I didn't really wonder this but I figure that me writing the words "Ichiro nude" or "Ichiro naked" has to be worth a couple hundred random Google hits).

- Randy Winn is doing much better than I thought. I figured he'd hit about .260 this year but he's at a respectable .288 with 12 HR and 63 RBI (Mike Cameron meanwhile is hitting just .236 but has 28 HR and 70 RBI). This is just an observation with no editorial comment attached.

- Ichiro is clearly the best player on either team by a wide margin.

- the song Hotel California is played inside the Hard Rock and it puts a damper on my mood. I can't hear that song now without thinking of very bad Chris Berman metaphors or Don Henley preaching to his audience about Walden Pond after soaking the fans for $250 per ticket.

- Bucky Jacobsen is a big guy. Even from 4 stories up he's a big dude. For some reason he reminds me of the big brother from the movie Weird Science.

- I watch a big transport plane fly over the Toronto sky and I am suddenly chilled by the thought that a transport plane filled with gasoline if crashed through the open roof would cause a fireball that would kill thousands more than died on 9/11 (even though the crowd is sparse).

- I start to think that tonight is "every fan gets a foul ball night" at the SkyDome. For a game with so few hits - it's really dragging on.

- before the sixth inning the "world's fastest grounds crew" sprints out onto the field to rake the dirt around the bases and to tidy up. Then they sprint off the field as a group. It sounds corny but I got a kick out of it.

- I was struck by the fact that the game is in Canada but yet the distance markers on the outfield fences are in feet with much smaller numbers for meters. BTW - 328 feet equals exactly 100 meters - I know this because thats the distance down the left field line.

I would like to tell you that I stayed for the whole game but the truth is I cut out early so I could catch Zell Miller's speech at the RNC. Overall an excellent night.