A little over a week ago we planned on a road trip to Niles Ohio to see the Muckdogs play. As things will happen, plans appeared to change and the trip was called off. That was until Friday afternoon when we decided that we would go. We left about three hours later than originally planned and not half as prepared as we would have been if plans had stayed as before. But, that seems to be the nature of the beast, at times.
We already had the directions to Eastwood Field thanks to Yahoo maps. One confusing direction was how to get to the stadium once we were in Niles.
'Turn right on Eastwood Mall Blvd."
Turn right on Eastwood Mall Blvd."
Turn left on Eastwood Mall Blvd."
Could the directions be right? That mystery was explained after we arrived at Eastwood Mall. The two right turns and the one left took us directly to the parking lot for the stadium ($2.50 to park or $2.50 for walk ins - that is over and above the price of the ticket).
We purchased our tickets online which turned out to be the right thing to do. We arrived at the end of the ifrst inning only to see a long line still waiting to buy tickets.
The stadium (which is very nice) is one of 350 businesses located at the Eastwood facility. Once in the stadium you wouldn't believe that you were sitting in the midst of a huge mall complex. The tree line, visible from the stadium seats, gave the impression that we were sitting in a rural park.
Unfortunately the Muckdogs lost both Friday and Saturday's games.
On Saturday afternoon we caught the attention of a group of Muckdog players as they were walking back to the stadium from one of the mall buildings. We hears, "Hey, look! Muckdogs!", as we drove past the group. They has spotted the Muckdog cushion in the back window of the car. We stopped and gave a wave to let them know we were there to see them play.
Sitting in a sea of Scrapper fans was fun. We even had the people in front of us, on Saturday night, decide to cheer for our guys right along with us. We did get the oft asked question, "what is a muckdog?" both nights.
Friday was the perfect day to travel. The weather was beautiful. Friday night's fireworks and Saturday's Jimmy Buffett night were nice endings.
Speaking of the stadium. The electronic scoreboard added a lot to fan participation. Each Scrappers' picture came up as he came up to bat. The live pictures of the boys at bat was also nice.
All in all, it was a fun (albeit, hot) weekend. So glad we went.
Just an additional note: We ate at a restaurant called Charley's after the game on Friday night. The menu was typical steak house fare but the spinach and artichoke appetizer was out of this world. Not the normal frozen, pre-made, throw in the micro-wave and serve dish. This was fresh spinach, chopped fine and identifiable chunks of artichokes. The sauce had a hint of garlic, but not overpowering. While we enjoyed it, I still believe that Larry's has the best chips to go with their dip.
