Indians Home Opener! Wahoo!

Ahh.....one of, if not my most favorite day of the year! Baseball season is finally back and the Tribe is back in town. Once again the GPACKK headed up to Cleveland early on Friday to get a head start on the festivities. We stayed at the Aloft hotel, which is really nice and I got a good deal on Priceline for it. Turns out though when we got up to our room we had one king bed for six people. We called to try to change but apparently all the double rooms were booked. Let's just say two of us slept on a deflated air mattress and the other four slept uncomfortably in one bed. 

We headed downtown and made a stop at Panini's for some beer and food.  We had the cheesiest best pizza ever. At least it seemed like it at the moment. Yum. We headed down toward the stadium and just as we were about to enter we got news of the rain delay.  We were already there so we headed in anyway. That delay ended up being almost two hours and while we waited there was a downpour. Once it passed the game got started and since it was becoming later and the sun was going down, it got ridiculously cold.  I toughed it out until about the 5th inning but I needed some warmth.  We went across the street to the bar to finish watching the game.  After the game was over we stopped in at the casino for a bit before heading to our usual opening day dinner spot, Great Lakes Brewery. We had a super fantastic day and I'm already looking forward to next year! <---- Typical Clevelander huh?

Opening Day! Go Tribe!

This year marks the 7th year in a row that Paul and I have attended the Indians Home Opener! This year we brought Morgan and Rylee with us since the game was on a Monday and we didn't have plans to stay in Cleveland like we usually do.  I was thankful for good weather, great seats and the return of baseball!

It's Tribe Time Now!

Today is the day I've been waiting for since last October.  Baseball is back! More importantly Tribe baseball is back!  This day is like having another birthday during the year and it marks the 6th year in a row that Paul and I have attended the home opener.

This year we were without Kelly and Greg aka Hulk. :(  The Super Six became the Fab Four. Still, a good time was had by all!

I can hardly contain myself.

We assumed the traditional position in Centerfield by the bar.  It was a nice day until the sun went away and then it got a bit chilly.  Had we finished the game off in the 9th like we should have we would not have encountered the cold but alas we couldn't close it out and headed to extra innings.  Extra innings in which we of course lost. :(  I'll be honest, I wanted to stay but we were so damn cold and my cousin Allison was waiting for us across the street, so we left around the 14th.

A little out of place in this post, but here is the view from our hotel room! We headed back here after a nice dinner and drinks at Great Lakes with Allison.

The kids spent the night at my parents and as you can guess they always get in the opening day spirit as well! I'm raising little baseball lovers. It's a toss up in the house between Slider and Brutus.

Go Tribe!  2012 is our year!  If not, there's always next year!

4/2/11: Post Gameday

Today was a slow moving rough day in our world.  So I'm just going to show you the 2 magnets we got from GLB and the one we got from the home opener.  They've taken up a nice spot on our fridge.  Looks nice! Enjoy!

4/1/11: Let's Go Tribe!!!

This is one of my favorite days of the year.  The Indians home opener.  I've been attending every year since the Blizzard of 2007.  I have a collection of schedule magnets on the side of my fridge that I get every year. This year was a family affair and the 6 of us decided to go (sans children).  The last picture here would have been even more awesome if I was in it.  I wasn't even attempting to get the 5 of them in the picture I just wanted a clear shot of the 00 days until opening day sign.  When I looked at the picture I had taken all 5 of them were perfectly there.

We were staying the night in Cleveland so we headed up early, checked into the hotel and headed down to the Jake.  I know it's called Progressive Field but I really just can't call it that.  We arrived at our post (Batter's Eye Bar - again not called that anymore but I don't care) which is right behind centerfield around 1:00pm. Beer is now $7.75 at the stadium. Although you can get your "dad's old beer" for $4.50! We got some beers watched a little of batting practice and then all the pregame festivities.  Then the game started.  Well it started for the White Sox not necessarily the Indians.  Before I knew it it was 14-0. Yikes! At least we did end up seeing some offense from the Tribe as they tried to come back but fell short 15-10.  All in all it was a great day with great weather and some great people!

Later that evening we decided to eat at Great Lakes Brewery.  This was probably a mistake since we started drinking darker beers and eating heavy food. Not a great choice but sounded good at the time!  We had to wait for a while so we went on a tour.  A few of us had been on the tour before but it seemed like a good way to pass time.  We had a good meal and a few of us got some stuff from the gift shop. After that we headed back to the hotel and the plan was to hit the bars.  I had some mac-n-cheese from GLB and it put me in a food coma.  I was not about to go out.  They tried to sway me. Ashley begged me, Greg flipped my bed, you know how you normally persuade people to get up.  In the end every one decided to stay in and that was probably the best idea we made.

Can't wait for next year and the rest of this season!! Go Tribe!!!!!!!