Good Day in Goodyear

 My flight to Burbank had been come at the tail end of what seemed like a barrage of activity from mid February, starting with the trip to NewYork City, that followed almost immediately by the arrival in town of Jessica's father and his wife, who flew from Newark. We try to get together with them at least once a year. Last year we met up with them in New Mexico. This year they came to town, as they have done in the past, and stayed this time in an AirBnB in north Scottsdale not far from us. 

It was a great time seeing them.  On the Saturday of their stay, we went to a Spring training baseball game, of which there are many here, each in separate quaint stadiums, some of which are designed to mimic the grander structures where the teams play their regular season games. We were making. return visit to the same stadium as five years ago, which is the one far on the southwestern edge of Phoenix, in the community of Goodyear, where the two Ohio teams, Cincinnati and Cleveland, both play their home games in the training season. All of the trainig stadiums, I think, are doubled up in this way, shared by two teams. 

Jessica got us seats in the shaded section. It was opening day of spring training. As it custom, the two Ohio teams that share the stadium will play each other on that day, with this year at least, the Cleveland team being the official home team (which meant the stadium announcer had to behave as a Cleveland home announcer in front of many Reds fans sitting on the other side). 

That's where we were, because the shaded premium section was on the visitor side and we could see down at the Red's dugout. I knew some of the players because we had been watching the Reds last year. Jessica purchased a season pass to watch the Reds games on cable. It was fun to see all the players whose names I knew. The players are very friendly with the fans, and many people hang around the entrance to the training facilities, where the players interact with the crowd after the game.

Jessica's father is not a Reds fan, despite living in Cincinnati for many years. He is from northeastern Ohio, in the area of Youngstown, and he is a passionate suffering fan of the Cleveland team. Unlike the Reds, they have not won a World Series title in living memory, despite coming extremely close on several occasions, losing in heartbreaking fashion. He was wearing his Cleveland hat. They used to be called the Indians, but they had to change their name because of political pressure.

On this day, the Reds walloped the erstwhile Indians. I don't remember the score. We ordered chili dogs in the Cincinnati style using our phones to scan a QR code mounted on the seats in the premium section. They were perfect and delicious, and enjoyed in the shade of the canopy above us.