Chasing the Chicken Man's 70 on a Northbound Train and that Son of a Punter

I had to take a break and while I have some pressing issues related to the plummeting Padres I must recap a couple of things first:

---Seeing the Padres on the road
---The kid who blew the U.S. Open

6/14/2009
I will begin with the train ride up to Orange County a week ago Sunday where The Ghost of Sid Going and I saw the Padres willingly submit to a weekend of domination by The The Angels Angels of Anaheim. The game sucked. It was another complete joke of a game where the little border town team looked very minor league. Chris Young completely sh*t the bed.......couldn't find the strike zone..... and when it was all said and done the board read 6-0 with CY headed to the DL.

Chris Young is incredibly frustrating....he is much like leaving the comfort of San Diego to watch the Padres play on foreign turf. I am now 0-5 lifetime.....two 6-0 losses on Sunday afternoon games to the Angels and Dodgers and the woeful sweep in NY last season at the hands of the Yanks. That being said: the fans were really nice, the stadium clean, and the lasting tribute to Nick Adenhart was touching.

When you willingly decide to follow around a AAAA team I suggest the following:

1. Expect that you will lose and it will BE ugly
   
2. Search out an ancillary storyline

Number one was achieved once again quite easily and for number two.......enter The Wade Boggs Effect. I had mentioned the drinking prowess of Wade Boggs prior to setting off for Anaheim and while The Ghost and I pushed the pace early (10:05 am-11:24 am) we fell dismally short of hitting the Magic 70. It was not to be on this given Sunday, however we quickly discovered the joy of taking the train to see a ball game and would like to give kudos to the designer of my Jansport backpack as it seems to have been engineered precisely for the purpose of transporting an 18-pack whilst still in the box.

'Twas good fun and I look forward to 2012 (?) when MLB's infinitely wise inter-league rotation deals us back into the AL West......why would we play a team every year that's but an hour train ride from San Diego? Anyways, I recommend the train for a good time as well as chasing after the Chicken Man and his Magic 70.

6/21/2009
I'm not a big golf guy but I do have a rooting interest in Phil Mickelson so this last Sunday I began my Father's Day by turning on the Open coverage at about 8 am where I caught an interview with then leader Ricky Barnes.

The viewer received all of the necessary Barnes background information: from LA, great Amateur player, high expectations but no results, athletic family......the son of a former NFL Punter:

Yes his father was a punter and he did his ball striking for none other than the New England Patriots. While this Patriot football talk was annoying to listen to as was the flashing of the ol' time football card (crappy facsimile--best I could do) it all became worth while at the end of the interview when Ricky Barnes simultaneously gave me a Happy Father's Day shout-out and a giant middle finger to Patriot Fan when he uttered one of my favorite phrases.......Go Chargers!

Suck it Patriot Fan! (although I can now see that I have opened myself up for ridicule as Barnes ended up choking horrifically down the stretch a la The 2006 edition of the San Diego Chargers who folded against the Patriots......but you can STILL suck it Patriot Fan!)

Go Chargers!