Checked out Progressive Field on Monday night....as I wrote before, the downtown area of Cleveland is pretty small....everything is within walking distance, so only a 10 minute walk from the hotel to the game....
Decided to head to a bar before the game since I had a couple hours before gametime and there's a strip of bars just a block away from the stadium....ended up at Panini's and sat down at the bar....
Started to talk to one guy about the various teams in the city....
Me: Indians are off to a tough start this year...
Guy: Yeah, well, they always find a way to blow it....
Me: At least the Cavs had a good year....
Guy: Yeah, but Lebron is just waiting to leave after 2010 to go somewhere better....
Then he got up and left....maybe he was just had a bad day.....I noticed the other guy beside me peeling labels off the bottles like there was no tomorrow, so I find out what's happening....all he's trying to do is win a t-shirt by spelling the word "Ohio", but he let out this gem...
Guy: Why am I even bothering? They'll never let someone from Cleveland win anyways....
I was beginning to think there was a trend....I had enough of the pessimism for one day and decided to head to the game....I never let negative people in my life because I'm not going to allow them to ruin my day by bringing me down with them....
Got to Progressive Field and it's a nice ballpark, but it fell into the same category as the rest in the middle 10 do....it's nice, but it's not something that makes your jaw drop....it probably didn't help that Wrigley Field preceeded it, but there wasn't much to the stadium except for a nice looking scoreboard that covered all of left field.....
As I said, the location was good as it's downtown and the atmosphere is good when the team is doing well, but even then, there's still the air of pessimism within the crowd....you can overhear people saying, "When are they gonna blow it?" and things of that nature....turns out they were proven right as they gave up 5 run lead in the 7th to lose to the Brewers, but I wonder how much of that negativity rubs off on the players....
Listen, I understand that the sports history of Cleveland has not been one of winning, but when you allow for your team's failures to creep into your everyday life and start bringing you down, that's where I have a problem....
Unfortunately, that will be my lasting impression of the city....nice area with a lot of surly, negative people....
So, here's the new list with only Cincinnati left on the schedule:
1) AT&T Park - San Francisco
2) Wrigley Field - Chicago Cubs
2) Wrigley Field - Chicago Cubs
3) Petco Park - San Diego
4) Miller Park - Milwaukee
5) Chase Field - Arizona
6) Minute Maid Park - Houston
7) Camden Yards - Baltimore
8) The New K (Kaufmann Stadium) - Kansas City
9) The Ballpark in Arlington - Texas
9) The Ballpark in Arlington - Texas
10) PNC Park - Pittsburgh
11) Comerica Park - Detroit
12) Citi Field (New Mets Stadium)
13) Fenway Park - Boston
14) Yankee Stadium
15) Citizens Bank Park - Philadelphia
16) Angels Stadium - Anaheim
17) Dodger Stadium - Los Angeles
18) Progressive Field - Cleveland
19) US Cellular Field - Chicago White Sox
20) Busch Stadium - St. Louis
20) Busch Stadium - St. Louis
21) Safeco Field - Seattle
22) Coors Field - Colorado
23) Rogers Centre - Toronto
22) Coors Field - Colorado
23) Rogers Centre - Toronto
24) The Metrodome - Minnesota
25) Turner Field - Atlanta
26) Tropicana Field - Tampa
27) Nationals Park - Washington
28) Oakland-Alameda Coliseum - Oakland
29) Dolphins Stadium - Miami
