Chick-Phil-A

#VisitPittsburgh - I did this past weekend.

I understand it's Flyers/Penguins starting round one of the Stanley Cup playoffs, so each city's fans are having fun on twitter with the #visitpittsburgh and #visitphiladelphia hash tags, but I can't really bring myself to get down on the city. I've visited the last three years for Phillies/Pirates and have always had a great time (even though the Phills usually end up dropping a majority of the games there).

This past weekend was no exception. While I wished for a better outcome of the games on Saturday and Sunday, I had a great time during my visit. Drank some Penn Pilsners, ate some local food, bought some funny shirts, and watched baseball in a beautiful stadium.

Anyway, here are some photos from the weekend. The rest can be found on my Flickr page.

Oh, and Let's go Flyers!!

Hunter Pence takes a warm up swing.

Herndon & Stutes shagging fly balls (really they are).

The Pirates' dugout.

Jimmy and Dubee messing around at the cage.

Thome does some running.

Wiggy and Pete Orr at shortstop.

 

Pittsburgh at Dusk

The Pirate Parrot

I enjoy mascots.

The Pirates Parrot is pretty good. He's large and green and has a beak, so I guess he reminds me a bit of the Phanatic.

Sometimes the parrot carries a giant cell phone.

Sometimes he does goofy handshakes with members of the team.

He messes with security.

HIS HAT COMES OFF! (this freaks me out a bit).

And he has his own human sidekicks

 

 

Phillies Opening Day in Pittsburgh

We made the trek out to western PA for the third season in a row to take in the Phillies/Pirates series. It's extra special this year, though, since it's also opening weekend for the Phillies.

The weather was great, the beverages were flowing, and Roy Halladay dominated as the Phillies squeaked by for a 1-0 win over the Buccos.

Here's a few of the photos I took, more can be found on my Flickr page. I'll post more as the weekend goes on.

Watch out for that ketchup, Chooch!

Beautiful view from our seats.

The full rosters, ready to play ball.

Pap warms up.

Papelbon's first pitch as a Phillie.

 

Opening Day!!

Painting the Phillies Mural

I was excited to see that the last community paint days for the Phillies Mural were going to happen down at Bright House field during the Spring Training opening day. I hadn't gotten a chance to paint it at all during the Phillies holiday event at the Majestic Store, so I was looking forward to some arts and crafts time before the game started on March 3.

As soon as we got inside the gates My mom and I found the printing area and went to work. We could either paint part of Jimmy Rollins or part Carlos Ruiz. Well, since mom's most favorite player is Chooch, it was an easy decision.

It was really interesting to see how they broke up the whole mural into table sized squares, then further into little blob outlines. It was like a huge "paint by letter" kit. Up close it was hard to see exactly what you were painting, but then when you took a step back, it really came into view.

Mom excited to paint!

There wasn't a whole lot left of Chooch to paint. The girls working the painting booth said that Carlos had painted a lot of himself the day before during player paint day.

 

Questionable Merch - Spring Training Edition

A long time ago, you could only get authentic MLB Jersey with a name on it by like, going to Herman's World of Sports, and special ordering one. And if you wanted some kind of special novelty item with the Phillies logo, you had to order it from a catalog and wait 6 to 8 weeks for delivery.

Nowadays, you can get pretty much anything in the world with a phillies logo on it, from belt buckles to cake pans, right at the stadium. Some of this merch is actually pretty cool, sometimes it misses the mark. I like to explore the latter of those when I'm browsing through the stores.

Clubs and marketers have figured out that girls like baseball too, and that these girls want some of their own Phillies branded items. While I welcome the addition of t-shirts that are cut longer with actual waist shape and softer cotton, I absolutely HATE a lot of the things that they are marketing to the female fan.

Like, Phillies thongs. Not just one, but 2 kinds of thongs were available for purchase at Diamond Outfitters.

Or how about a whole outfit of black and grey Phillies burnout knit pieces? No thank you.

Oh, we're still going with the whole "you're a woman, so you must want a pink jersey" thing??

Or possibly we can interest you in a faux mesh print Chase Utley basketball jersey type tank?

Over in Tampa, the Yankees were selling a chemise and some tap shorts for sleeping - these were actually a bit better, IMHO - at least they were normal team colors.

And don't worry, non-girls, there was merch for you too. Do you need a name and number shirt that screams "I went to Florida and saw some baseball!"?

In the random "funny" department (not so questionable) - a plaque to put your favorite Phillies' baseball card in. This one actually comes with a card of it's own (looks familiar, no?).

There were a lot more things in the questionable assortment this year but I couldn't grab photos of all of them. The light up hat I saw last year must have not been a good seller, as I couldn't find it anywhere this time.

What are some of your favorite "questionable" merchandise offerings that you've seen around?