Baseball road trip review with two quick rants

You still have two months until football gets going in earnest and your kids are out of school.

The time is ripe for a baseball road trip.

Many companies like Big League Tours offer premium packages that will take you to half-a-dozen games over a week complete with great seats and first class lodging.  If you use this method, you will meet players, get a gift bag and will never have to worry about driving or securing tickets and accommodations.  It will cost you several thousands dollars per person, however.

I recommend the do-it-yourself model with a more limited goal of multiple games over a weekend at one location.  You can always expand your reach as you become more skilled in the process.  My son and I just completed our 2nd annual sojourn to Cincinnati this past weekend to watch the Reds play two games at Great American Ballpark.

The first thing you must do is create your check list.  I always like to have tickets and directions printed and you sure don't want to forget toiletries or a phone charger.  We did not think about sun screen and cooked ourselves as we sat on what felt like the surface of the sun on Saturday.

I highly recommend securing quality lodging in a hotel within walking distance of the ballpark.  A quality hotel bar and grill is a must.  This will save you time and energy hunting for a place to eat.

Do-it-yourself road trips allow you freedom from a standard schedule and the opportunity to link-up with geographically distant family and friends.  We "pre-gamed" the Friday night game at the hotel bar with a long-time friend, from Winchester, Ken., and had breakfast Saturday morning with my older brother George, from Richmond, Ind., at a local greasy spoon.

With Andy Cecil, of Winchester, Ken. at the Hilton Netherlands Plaza.  Andy and I attended a Reds game together in the summer of 1991.

Breakfast on Saturday with Maxton's Uncle George at the Red Squirrel along Colerain Avenue in Cincinnati.

Next up, buy souvenirs for family that didn't come with you in your downtime between games.  Then you can hit one quick historical site.  We went to the top of the Carew Tower, a National Historic Landmark, where you can see portions of Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana.

Atop the Carew Tower in downtown Cincinnati.  We were scared we were going to drop our phones.

It is always good to check for promotions on a team schedule prior to booking your trip.  Prior to the game on Saturday, the Reds unveiled a statue of Pete Rose.  While we couldn't secure front row seating for the event, everything, to include a pre-game Q and A with members of the Big Red Machine, were shown on big screens around the stadium and in the ballpark.  Plus, we got a statue replica to boot!

Tony Perez, Johnny Bench and Pete Rose participate in Question and Answer session following statue unveiling ceremony.

Finally, we had someone sitting behind us to take a great photo of us sitting in front row seats in leftfield last year.  So I now aim for front row leftfield for the Saturday game so we can recreate the snap shot as the years pass.  We were able to get that picture as we roasted on Saturday this year.

Front row, left field at Great American Ballpark...could have used some sunscreen.

One word of warning on the do-it-yourself road trip.  You need to make sure you have road side assistance.  Thankfully, we do, because we needed it on our way home when my truck overheated.

We ended up having to spend the night on Sunday in the Hampton Inn of Zanesville, Ohio as work on the truck couldn't get completed until Monday morning.  It was not how I planned to spend Father's Day, but we were safe.  So another baseball road trip is in the books, and we will be taking a different vehicle next year.

RANTS:

On our way to and from Cincinnati, we listened to a lot of national sports radio.  The main topic going to Cincinnati was the NCAA punishment levied on the Louisville basketball program.  On the way back, sports talk radio was dominated by the Indiana Pacers Paul George claiming he will leave for Los Angeles as a free agent after the next season.

Rant #1: Rick Pitino
The NCAA put Louisville on probation for four years and suspended coach Rick Pitino from coaching the first five games of the coming ACC schedule.  They were also ordered to forfeit four scholarships over the next four years and might have to vacate some wins.

Since this penalty is for one of his subordinates hiring prostitutes and strippers to entertain high school-aged recruits during visits to the campus on more than a dozen occasions, I think this is a pretty light punishment.  In response, Pitino claimed the penalty was "unjust" and "over-the-top severe."  He also said he had "lost faith in the NCAA."  Are you kidding me?

I have always admired Pitino and his consistent track record of success.  I even let myself forget about his adulterous transgressions in an Italian restaurant.  I think it is clear now that Pitino is incapable of taking responsibility for his subordinate leader's actions and is a grade A douche bag, period.

Rant #2: Paul George
Indiana Pacers fans knew this was coming, but Paul George made it unofficially official on Sunday.  George, who has one year remaining on his contract with the Pacers, will leave Indiana in free agency following the coming basketball season.  The Southern California native wants to play for his hometown team, the Los Angeles Lakers.

The rumors have been there since before the February 2017 trade deadline, but then team president Larry Bird was not able to get a deal done.  Now no team will give full trade value to the Pacers for George.  Any team other than the Lakers has to assume George would only be a one-year rental and the Lakers already know they can get him in a year.

I totally understand the draw of a childhood home.  That is what this blog is about half the time.  But George could have played this better for the Pacers sake. 

George was great for the Pacers, but screwed us on the way out.  As Gregg Doyel of the IndyStar said, the Pacers are now looking at multiple losing season in their immediate future.  Pacers need to work hard to get some sort of deal done as soon as possible.

Maybe I will take a deeper look at the NBA Draft on Thursday, but that truck trouble already put me a day behind.  Maybe the Pacers can work a trade and I can use my truck to help George move to Los Angeles.  I could just leave the truck in Southern California.