Baseball, who do you like?

Being on one of the ultimate man trips got me thinking, you have a lot of time to do that when you are not out of breath from walking 50+ blocks around Manhattan, who is my favorite baseball team. Getting to see the Yankees play the Red Sox in the House That Ruth Built helped me appreciate America’s past time, and walking around the warning track at Yankee Stadium made me realize I don’t have a favorite baseball team.

If you ask me who is your favorite NFL Team, I can easily say The Carolina Panthers! Favorite NBA Team, The Charlotte Bobcats! Favorite NHL Team, The Carolina Hurricanes! Favorite College Football Team, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and North Carolina State (sorry that one was a tie). Favorite College Basketball Team, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Favorite Rugby Team, no doubt its the All Blacks of New Zealand. Favorite football team, Manchester United. Favorite Fighter, Fedor of course, heck I even have a favorite Major League Soccer Team, in the Houston Dynamo, but baseball I just don’t have one.

I was thinking I could be a phillies fan, cause they have Shane Victorino, but how long will he be a Phillie. Same goes for the A’s and Kurt Suzuki. I was a Mets fan in the 80’s when my mom worked with Sid Fernandez’s Mom. I did go to school and live in Colorado and San Diego. So who do I pick? Feel free to chime in and make your recommendations for which team should be blessed with the honor of being the JohnJohn’s favorite MLB Team.

Smells Kinda Funny

New York is a pretty amazing place. It reminded me a lot of Europe, you know where people don’t drive in their lanes and drive really fast, and you feel like you are going to die in a horrible car crash any second. Actually it is a pretty nice place, with a lot of interesting characters and hmmm, personality.

The biggest thing I noticed though is that New York smells different. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but I think it has something to do with our hotel smelling like an ashtray, the area right outside of our hotel smelling like a dirty urinal, and the cab we took to the hotel, well I put this last cause there is no word to describe the odorous emminitions.

In spite of that it has been fun to ride the subway, eat the good food (although the food at Shea Stadium, not so good), and just be in a place that is so different than Home – Hawaii Nei. By the way the Mets game pretty good, pitcher almost pitched a complete game shut out, Delgado hit two three run bangers, and there were more double plays than homeless people in New York. Anyways the trip is off to a good start and should be even more of a blast once we actually get some sleep!

Phoenix International Airport

Our first flight, from Honolulu to Phoenix on Hawaiian Airlines, wasn’t bad. It went a lot faster than I expected, or at least it seemed that way. Which brings us to our first dilemma of the trip, not so much a dilemma as an inconvenience. Our booking required us to spend six hours in Phoenix, which wouldn’t be so bad, except we landed at midnight and our flight doesn’t leave until like six something in the morning. The airport doesn’t let you stay in the concourse area, but instead forces you into this central area which kind of sucks. Although there is a twenty four hour starbucks, which helps a little. The biggest discomfort though is it appears that the air conditioner is off, and as you all probably know I love air conditioning.

Anyways it is not that bad, it does have its good points. First and foremost is that there is free wifi (so I get to write this blog from the airport), the starbucks , it looks cool with a faux grand canyon by the elevator , a plane with a little history about some guy with the last name of Luke who won the Congressional Medal of Honor and a base just west of Phoenix is named for , and most of all it is clean and not ghetto like Reagan National or Oakland.

Twas the night before Christmas…..

I know you are thinking, what the heck? It is not Christmas or even close to it, but for me it kind of is. Tomorrow I will be on my way to New York City and Gainesville Florida for the ultimate man trip. Of course the planning wasn’t all that good so we have a ridiculous flight to get to the Big Apple, starting with a flight to Phoenix, an overnight brief stay in Phoenix, and then another long leg to the City.

As soon as we get to the city, we need to book it to the hotel, drop off the bags, and then we are off to Shea Stadium to see the Astros play the Mets. The next day, we are off to Yankee Stadium for a tour and then to see one of sports most storied rivalries in the House that Ruth Built, The Yankees vs the Red Sox. This is one of the last times the Yankees and the Sox will be plaing in Yankee Stadium. The next day is acting like touri with dinner at Old Homestead, the amazing steak house featured on the Food Network. The last night in New York will be spent watching a rematch of the Super Bowl when the Giants take on the Patriots in East Rutherford.

Friday, we head on to Florida. Saturday is game day. We are supposed to get a behind the scenes tour of Ben Hill Griffin Stadium aka the SWAMP, with hopes that we get to see, get some autographs, and take pictures with Heisman Trophy Winner, Tim Tebow. The Florida segment ends with a trip to Disney’s Safari thingamabobber, Wild Animal Park thingy.

It should be a fun filled week! Will keep ya’all posted with blogs from the frontlines.