Tuesday Night: Everything but the Game

I’ve told you about the awesomeness that is Everth Cabrera. Now it’s time for the rest of the story.

The Padres held their Preview/Media Opening Night on Tuesday. Director of Media Relations Warren Miller was kind enough to invite several bloggers, myself included, to the event.

I arrived at Petco Park around 5 p.m., got my swag bag, and headed onto the field. I don’t know many of the local media folks, but I ran into my buddy Tim and the guys from RJ’s Fro. We stood around sampling some of the new food the Padres will be offering this year (at the restaurants, not the concession stands) and talking. At one point, Channel 4′s Jenny Cavnar stopped by and we introduced ourselves to each other.

Then we took batting practice. I got in maybe a dozen or so swings, mostly fouling pitches off or dribbling weak grounders here and there. But I squared up on the last pitch and drove it to deep second base. And I didn’t fall on my ass. That is my basic approach to hitting: Remain upright at all times; everything else is gravy. I smell book deal.

After that, Tim and I went out and shagged fly balls. More accurately, we watched the Padres game on the video scoreboard while waiting for something to come our way.

It didn’t happen, so I glommed onto the RJ’s Fro crew again and we headed over to our second event of the evening, a most excellent meetup held by Steve Adler of The Friarhood at the Tilted Kilt, just beyond right field. There I got to chat with Steve, Peter Friberg from Padres RunDown, Flash Gordon, and Matt from Gaslamp Ball, among many others.

I usually watch games in my home or at the ballpark. For whatever reason (friendless much?), I almost never go to sports bars. But you know, we had a blast out there on Tuesday. When Cabrera hit his triple in the seventh, the place went nuts. It was so gratifying to be surrounded by folks who care about the Padres… sometimes I forget they exist and get discouraged; it is good to be reminded.

Big thanks to our gracious hosts for these two events. Thanks to Warren for hooking us up with some tasty morsels and the opportunity to run around a big-league field. Thanks to Steve for bringing a bunch of Padres fans together to cheer our team to victory. Really, it doesn’t get much better than that.

Tagged as: , , , , , , , , ,

3 Responses »

  1. It sounds like you had a blast. I guess it is time to start a blog about the High Desert Mavericks so I can get to visit beautiful downtown Adelanto. :)

  2. Dude! Awesome! Totally!

  3. @Gary: Yeah, it was pretty darned cool. Adelanto? I am still “enjoying” a meal I ate at Bravo Burgers several years ago.