Wednesday, January 9, 2008

With over 200 straight sellouts and the diminutive Fenway Park
(capacity 36,298) as their home, the Boston Red Sox are one of
the hottest tickets in Major League baseball (MLB). If you are part
of Red Sox Nation, the innumerable fans who live and die by each
pitch and swing of the bat, and can't get through the turnstiles of
the home park, there is an alternative-road trip!
Many fans have found it to be fairly economical to take a
mini-vacation on the weekend or use a week's worth of summer
leave and follow the team to opponent stadiums. Red Sox players
have noted that they get a lot of support everywhere they go, and
although many of those people are transplants from New England
or natives of that particular region who love their Sox Red, others
are part of a growing group of fans from the Boston area who can't
get enough of their team in the home setting.
Some away venues, such as Yankee Stadium and Citizens
Bank Park in Philadelphia are tough tickets to get, but there are
many stadiums where good seats are still available. Here are a
few places you may want to go to help make the away team feel
like they are at home.
Comerica Park, Detroit
Comerica Park is the home of the Detroit Tigers and it is
one of those venues that, with everything else it offers, also
seems to have a ball game going on somewhere. If you're used to
Fenway and you've never been to a game at a place like Comerica,
you may be overwhelmed by the amenities, spaciousness and
opportunities.
The park is in the center of an urban village that includes
shops, restaurants, offices and many other features. Yes, there is
a Ferris wheel and a pedestrian museum that goes around the
main concourse. Other attractions in the area include various
casinos and the Henry Ford Museum.
The Tigers have not had a good team in a long time and
that means you can get fine seats for just about any game.
Outfield boxes at $25 a seat are not difficult to get if you want to
go and see the Red Sox.
Rogers Centre, Toronto
The Blue Jays have certainly upgraded their team but great
seats are still relatively easy to get. The Rogers Centre has a
retractable roof, the J Force (a team of Hip Hop and Break Dancers
performing for fans), a season-long highest speed pitching cage
contest and a 50/50 drawing every Saturday.

If you're hoping to sing the national anthem at the Rogers
Centre, please note that your audition tape must contain the
American and then the Canadian national anthems. Be sure to
include contact information with your CD or tape and once you
send it in don't contact them; they'll call you if they're interested.
You can buy exceptional field box tickets between home
and first for around $42. Remember that hockey is king in Canada
and baseball is not this country's national pastime. So become an
international traveler, enjoy one of the most beautiful cities in
North America, and catch a three-game series in an open-air
ballpark where there's never a rainout.

Tropicana Field, Tampa Bay
The Trop has plenty of great, cheap seats all season long.
It's called ¡°the ballpark of the 21st century,¡± and about 10 years
ago the venue underwent an $85 million renovation. Like many
newer parks, it has a primary concourse-Centerfield Street-that
features various specialty shops and restaurants. Included in the
area, where you can still watch the game, is MLB's first in-stadium
cigar bar-the Cuesta-Rey Cigar Bar.
The park is under a dome and, unlike any other domed field
presently in the majors, has artificial turf and all dirt base paths.
All other in-door facilities have only areas around the bases with
dirt and then artificial turf on the rest of the running area.
Forty-seven dollars will get you a seat on the field level of
the Trop. Not only will you get to see two teams that have
developed a lot of bad blood between them, but you'll get to hear
the Tampa Bay Heckler, Robert Szasz, also know as ¡°The loud
guy.¡±
Szasz goes to every home game dressed in a Devil Rays
shirt and hat and loudly heckles the visiting team, usually hurling
his abuse at one player. He's loud (you can hear him on radio and
television casts), but he's also clean. If you're not up for a close
encounter with Szasz and his booming voice, don't sit near home
plate.

McAfee Coliseum, Oakland
Go west, young fan, go west! If you're California
Dreaming, then Oakland may be the perfect place for you to catch
your Sox. McAfee Coliseum is a multi-use stadium with 50,000
seats! Tailgating is permitted outside the park, something you
can't imagine doing around Fenway.
For a west coast venue, the stadium seems to have a rich
history, including claiming to be the first stadium where ¡°The
Wave¡± was first performed on October 15, 1981. Fenway fans,
which may be the only group that still performs The Wave, may find
a pilgrimage to the site a life-changing experience (then again,
maybe not). The bay area, including San Francisco, is easily
accessible, making this a great vacation trip.
Oakland teams are built on pitching and fielding. You
should see some fine ballgames at McAfee Park, the home of the
game changing, progressive GM Billy Bean and Money Ball. You
won't be sitting at field level but for $40 a pop you'll be able to
look down on the game from far above.
Turner Field, Atlanta
Want to see one of the best teams in the American League
take on one of the best clubs in the Senior Circuit? You won't get
prime seats like you will in Toronto or Tampa Bay, but you will find
tickets available for Inter-league play between Boston and Atlanta.
At Turner Field the Braves claim that there are 101 things
to do, including watching a ball game! Other things you can indulge
in include making your own baseball bat (think ¡°The Natural¡±),
engaging in the non-P.C. ¡°Chop Rally,¡± and taking a picture with
Scooby Doo. (Why would anyone want to watch Andruw Jones
play?) The venue also contains a very fine baseball museum.
The city of Atlanta possesses a rich cultural heritage,
historic sites and the CNN Center, which includes the news giant, a
shopping mall, convention center and hotel.
For $15 you can find a seat in the upper deck and enjoy a
bird's eye view of the BoSox battle with Atlanta. This is baseball at
its best, with your home team taking on one of the best home
teams in all of baseball.
If you are considering a short jaunt or a longer excursion to
one or more of these out-of-town settings, be sure to buy tickets
ahead of time. Presently, it's fairly easy to purchase seats for most
of these venues, with games that are scheduled later in the
season being plentiful.
It's baseball season-get away, enjoy a different city, and
spread the spirit of Red Sox Nation across the land. With Big Papi,
Manny, Schill and Tech taking the field, you'll feel right at home and
so will they.
This article was written by Paul Mroczka sponsored by http://www.stubhub.com/. If you're looking for baseball tickets to see your favorite teams live in action, look no further than Stubhub.com where fans buy and sell the hottest sports tickets. Reproductions of this article are encouraged but must include a link back to http://www.stubhub.com/.


Bringing The Fish Home With The Eagle FishStrike 2000C
The Eagle FishStrike 2000C is a high quality, dependable, and very wonderful tool to have on any type of fishing adventure. It offers some of the best features that you will simply wonder how you lived without them. In fact, is so packed full of them, that we have to jump into them right away! So, here are the features that make the FishStrike 2000 C so great.
We'll start with its screen. The 2000C offers an ultra bright seven inch screen with 256 color display. This LCD display is sunlight readable. That means that you get color, beautiful clarity and depth as well as the ability to read it in the brightest sunlight. So much better than trying to deal with the glare of sunny days!
Let's not forget to take into consideration the sonar on this fish finder as well. It has depth capability of up to 1000 feet that offers some of the best fish detection software. In other words, you can use it to locate your fish in some of the hardest to find places. Using features like FISH ID, COLORILINE, and FasTrack, you can see up to date sonar picture that are so detailed that you will be able to see your fish clearly, no matter where he is hiding.
Then, there is the recording. The 2000C offers waterproof slots for up to two digital memory cards. You can use this to record your trip so that you can view it later.
On top of this, the 2000C has GPS capabilities as well. That means that you can use it to locate your position to ten feet using satellite technology, find your way to the hotspots and to not worry about getting lost in the meantime. You can use pre-programmed maps or use details you saved from your last successful trip.
Remember the frustration of not being able to find that awesome hotspot from last month? That will never happen again thanks to the positionng and tracking technology of the 2000C.
Yes, this is the fishfinder you have been waiting for with the right balances of tools to allow you to bring your fish home!
Niall is a keen fisherman always looking at new tools to help him catch more fish. Visit Fish Finder Review for more information and great deals to help you find an Eagle FishStrike 2000C or other Eagle GPS and Sonar marine navigation systems. http://www.fish-finder-review.com
This article may be reprinted in full so long as the resource box and the live links are included intact. All rights reserved. Copyright Fish-Finder-Review.com


Golf Courses - Fun and Different Everytime
This interesting article addresses some of the key issues regarding golf courses. A careful reading of this material could make a big difference in how you think about golf courses.
Is everything making sense so far? If not, I'm sure that with just a little more reading, all the facts will fall into place.

One thing every golfer will agree on is no golf course is ever the same. While playing different courses is fun and challenging, playing ones home course, no matter how many times it is done, is always going to be different.
Yes, it is the same course, nothing has been changed, except for the position of the cup on the green, but no golf course is ever exactly the same two days in a row, or, for that matter, the same day.
Will Smith in the movie "The Legend of Bagger Vance" told his protégé how the grass follows the sun, which means a putt that broke one way in the morning will break in the opposite direction in the afternoon.
Another thing that makes the same course different every day is the weather conditions. Weather plays a big factor in golf, and how a course plays. A wet course will play slower and the ball will not travel as far after hitting the ground. On a dry course, the ball will roll farther after hitting the turf.
A course will also play differently in hot or cold weather. Colder weather keeps the ball from traveling as far, while a well hit ball will go further on a warm or hot day. Additionally, if an area has been dry for any length of time, the fairways, unless they are watered heavily every day, will become as hard as concrete and provide extra distance once the ball hits the ground.
Then comes the golfer's attitude. Yes, the frame of mind a golfer is in will have a direct affect on how well he or she plays and reacts to the course. Golf is a game requiring a calm, focused mind, so the player can concentrate on what he or she is trying to do on any particular shot.
One other thing that will make the same course play differently is how the grounds are kept. If the fairway is allowed to grow a little long, balls will not be able to roll as far, whereas, if they are kept trimmed close to the ground, the ball will roll further.
The rough is a whole other problem, as are other obstacles on the course, such as sprinkler heads. The rough is always going to be thick and hard to play out of, but a heavy, wet rough makes it almost impossible for a golfer to do much more than simply attempt to chip back onto the fairway. Sprinkler heads, which are positioned all over the course, will have an adverse affect on a ball that happens to hit them.
Believe it or not, who a person is playing with, or if he or she is playing alone when he or she normally plays with someone else will affect the way the course is played. So, this only goes to show how the same course, no matter how many times a person plays it, is never the same course twice.
Knowing enough about golf courses to make solid, informed choices cuts down on the fear factor. If you apply what you've just learned about golf courses, you should have nothing to worry about.
Author J. Brian Keith is a proud contributing author for
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Exercise Equipment and enjoys writing about
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