Oriole Magic

We took Isabelle to her first Spring Training Orioles game today. Even Uncle Don has never been to a Spring Training game before. Ed & I saw the O's play at the Yankees facility many years ago but this was our first trip to the Orioles facility which is actually a new stadium in Sarasota called the Ed Smith Stadium.

It's a really small venue (most of the Spring Training facilities are) so there isn't a bad seat in the house. Unless you get the sunny side of the stadium on a cloudless day. Then you might be a bit uncomfortable. The concessions leave a little to be desired but everything else was just fantastic. The crew were awesome, bathrooms clean, whole stadium was clean, plenty of cool table seating and patio areas to hang out if you can't sit in your seat baking in the sun for hours.

If you ever end up going, be sure to bring a glove and you really must pay attention to the game. Every seat is prone to having a foul ball tipped it's direction so you have to be careful.

A women near us got hit by a foul ball in the 3rd inning today. The guy behind us looked up to see how bad it was. He sighed, turned back in his seat and said, "Eh, she's a Yankees fan. Totally deserved that.". Now I would NEVER say such a thing, Isabelle. But I did have to chuckle. She wasn't hurt THAT bad. And I think she really was over dramatizing the situation.

Anyway, we had a great day at the park. We're hoping to take Grandpa there next month when he comes to visit if Mother Nature plays nice.

Ya Win Some, Ya Lose Some

2012 hasn't started out on such a good foot. I'm hoping it's just a January stumble and it will start to get better in the next few weeks. Since our last post on December 18th, a lot has happened around here, nothing of which I want to write about just yet until we have more information.

Fast forward to this week. The Ravens season just ended this past Sunday in the AFC Championship game against the New England Patriots. The game was in New England and we outplayed them on most fronts. After finally taking the lead, we lost the game in the final seconds on a 1-2 punch after Lee Evans dropped an extremely important touchdown pass after it got batted away by a defender. Then, our Kicker, Billy Cundiff, totally muffed a very easy 32-yard field goal by shanking it way left. Game over, Ravens go home. See ya next year.

It was bad enough to lose the game. But to lose like that, Ravens fans have been devastated for the past few days. The fog is starting to lift. Life will certainly go on. But it's been a dark and dreary three days if you bleed purple.

When Ed and I were complaining and moaning about the loss, Isabelle feigned sadness as well for a bit. Then she reminded us of a very important life lesson. This is one we started very early with her when we play our family favorites of Chutes & Ladders, Candy Land, Connect Four, or Uno.

In every game, there is a winner. And there is a loser. But you have to be a good sport when you lose, congratulate the winner, and hope you win next time.

I'm not quite at the point where I can congratulate the Patriots (baby steps here), nor will I be ready to watch the big show by next Sunday. But I've accepted the fact that the Ravens lost. It was nobody's fault but ours. And I'm not going to be a sore sport about it. Thanks for teaching me something new every day, baby girl.