Iceman Celebration Day 2016 - Lake County Captains

 

I set out to do a 7 Inning Challenge and I ended up drinking 7 (12oz) beers and eating 4 hotdogs. Not too bad if you ask me... but incredibly bad if you ask my Doctor. Shh... I won't tell if you don't. Apparently during the 9th inning I ended up getting 2 hotdogs for the road, putting my final tally at 6 hotdogs... falling 1 short of my goal. I don't know how I lived through that ordeal. Somehow I ended up getting a baseball when the game ended. It wasn't a reward for the beers and hotdogs I consumed. I promise you that. Some random ended up photobombing my picture but I allowed it because he's a Cincinnati Reds fan (and doesn't have too much to be excited about these days). I learned later that the Lake County Captains lost 7-2 to the West Michigan Whitecaps (which is a little racist if you ask me). But hey - it happens.

I wanted to stop about halfway home from Cooperstown to Milwaukee and also check out a Minor League Baseball game. I had plenty of options, but when I saw that the Lake County Captains (Single A affiliate of the Cleveland Indians) had $1 beers and $1 hotdogs, I knew this was the place for me. I took an Uber over to Classic Park but I got to the game late because I was doing cannonballs in the hotel pool. That meant that I had some catching up to do. But before that I bought a Captains hat and posed for a picture wearing my Rick "Wild Thing" Vaughn jersey from the movie Major League (which of course featured the Cleveland Indians). It seemed like a good idea.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Since it was $1 beers and $1 hotdogs, I decided to take the 7 inning challenge (1 beer and 1 hotdog per inning; even though the game goes 9 innings I set it at 7 because that's when beer sales cut off). When I was in line at the concession stand the 1st inning ended, so I had to doublefist beers and hotdogs to meet the quota that I established. I didn't mention that the $1 beers were domestic ones only. Normally that would be an issue because domestic is usually Miller or Budweiser. But since I was in Ohio, domestic beer means Yuengling (which calls itself America's oldest brewery, established in 1829 in  Pottsville, Pennsylvania and is only available in like the 13 original colonies). Since I can't get this beer back home in Wisconsin, I was hell bent on getting my fix out here today. Or else I would die trying. It could happen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Classic Park was a nice little ballpark and I certainly enjoyed my time here... or at least I think I did. I started drinking when I got to the hotel and I was enjoying a cocktail or two while I was doing cannonballs. Once I entered the gates this challenge became my obsession. Before I knew it, the 5th inning had just begun and I was buying my 4th hotdog and beer, so I was still behind. By the 5th inning I had another beer and I still hadn't sat down in my seat or watched any of the game. I ended up stopping at 4 hotdogs because my tummy couldn't handle all that processed meat and condiments if I was trying to drink a beer each inning. While purchasing my 7th beer I somehow started talking Dancing with the Stars with the old Bitty working at concessions. Wait... was there a baseball game going on?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is a guy who dresses up as a Captain at the games. I'm guessing he is employed by the team because what old man puts on a full uniform and hangs out here on a Monday night? On second thought, what does a retiree have to do in Eastlake, OH besides this? Hopefully I'm wrong and he was getting paid to take a picture with this drunken asshole.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They call the bathroom the Poop Deck. It fits the Nautical theme and also adds some much needed juvenile humor to my night. Not like I needed it. I would have laughed at anything.

 

 

 

 

 

The game ended and the Usher showed me the exit. It was time for this day to end. But how would I get back to my hotel? Thankfully Travis Kalanick and Garrett Camp invented Uber because that allowed me to get here safely and get back to the hotel alive. This ballpark and this town was really really good to me and I'm glad that I stopped here as part of Iceman Celebration Day. But now it was time to sleep it off and get ready for the final stretch run back home and back to reality. I didn't want to go there, but I suppose that I had to.

 

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