Welcome to the Bay Area and the completion of the first day of the World Baseball Classic road trip! Today was a long day with many activities and experiences around the great city of San Francisco. It was the perfect beginning to this road trip, and set the stage for the next two days.
For the first time in a long time, I had a difficult time sleeping on the train. Usually I take two Tylenol PMs before sleeping, which allows me to sleep like a baby. Naturally, I forgot to buy some for the trip, so I had a pretty rough night. Fortunately, little sleep is a norm on baseball road trips, so a quick cup of coffee and a bagel was all I needed to return from an insomnia-induced zombiness.
I got into San Francisco at about 9am. I met my old college roommate at the Ferry Building where we went and got a bite to eat. We went to the Buena Vista Cafe across the street from Ghiradelli Square. The Buena Vista invented the Irish Coffee, so we felt obligated to order one. It was a little too early for me to have an alcohol laced coffee mix, meaning that if I had to do it over, I would pass on the Irish Coffee the next time.
We had to make a detour back up to my old roommates house after breakfast, so we didn't get a chance to ride the cable cars. My roommate lives in Marin County just across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco. It took about twenty minutes for us to get to his house, but the drive across the bridge and view of San Francisco, the Bay, Alcatraz, and everything else is just gorgeous. I can see why some people consider it one of the modern marvels of the modern world.
Going back to Marin did have a benefit: being able to take a short nap. It rejuvenated me for the rest of afternoon.
We decided to drive down to the Larkspur ferry terminal and take the boat back into San Francisco. I'm always down for new modes of travel on road trips, so I was very interested in setting sail, so to speak. The 45-minute ferry ride afforded us views of Alcatraz, Angel Island, and the skyline of San Francisco. Another gorgeous spectacle.
Once we got to San Francisco, we proceeded to walk down Market Street towards the Civic Center. The main drag through the Financial District was a great place to experience San Francisco and soak in the cultural vibe. It was a long walk, but I saw the tall buildings and suit-clad bankers intermix with the homeless population and gentleman's clubs. This juxtaposition makes the cultural study of this city even more interesting. Right next to the headquarters of Fortune 500 companies are people sleeping on the streets.
We hitched a ride on one of the antique streetcars up to San Francisco City Hall. I wanted to see how the big city governs itself and if we could learn anything from them. To begin with, San Francisco City Hall is a beautiful building that rivals the US Capitol in grandeur. It was completely destroyed in the 1906 earthquake and was rebuilt bigger and better than before.
We only stayed for about twenty minutes, but the Board of Supervisors (that's what they call their legislative body here) honored numerous women in the city for Women's Appreciation Month. The one honoree was a woman who had set up a crisis center in a neighborhood of San Francisco that had seen a huge increase in gun violence amongst youth gangs. In accepting the award, she mentioned the struggle it was to talk to the families of the families affected by the violence. I got the sense that this award wasn't necessarily validation of work, but rather an impetus to continue doing good work.
After the meeting, we walked down to AT&T Park. I had been to AT&T before, but seeing this spectacle was totally different. The entire stadium was decked out in World Baseball Classic regalia. It really did have a tournament vibe to it. Walking up, a number of soca bands were playing, which made sense considering Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic were playing.
Our seats were way up in the third balcony. As the game started, I said to myself 'why did I spend so much to get seats way up here when there are a ton of empty seats lower?' I had bought the tickets last week because I was worried the US would make the championship and the prices would skyrocket. Well, the US got bounced right after and failed to make the championship round meaning the tickets fell off dramatically in price. Trying the beat the market didn't work for me.
My trepidation didn't last though. A steady rain began to fall as the game started meaning our seats were the only ones covered by the small overhanging roof in the third deck. We were joined by thousands of people scrambling for dry seats. I guess this one of those situations where we had the last laugh. In the end, everything worked out.
The Dominican Republic used a strong outing from their starting pitcher, got some key extra base hits from Edwin Encarnacion and Erik Aybar, and had Fernando Rodney shut the door in the ninth to beat Puerto Rico 3-0 to win the WBC championship. The Domincans finished the tournament 8-0 defeating Puerto Rico three times and the US once.
It was a good game, but of the hundreds of baseball games I have been to, I felt out of place. I was amazed at how much nationalistic fever was at the game, especially for Puerto Rico. Their fans were waving flags, pounding on drums, and chanting in Spanish the entire game. Combined with all of the announcing done in Spanish, I really felt I was watching a game in San Juan or Santo Domingo. This truly was an international event played in San Francisco. I loved the cultural aspect to it and it got me thinking about one day visiting these countries and doing a baseball road trip there.
After the game, we met up with one of my roommates friends and went to a bar called the Blue Light. We wanted to take advantage of Taco Tuesday with food and drink special. I ate six tacos and bought three drinks for less than ten bucks. Here in San Francisco, and even elsewhere, that is a steal of a deal. I scarfed my face, had some cheapo Corona, and visited for the rest of the evening.
Today is a scheduled off-day for me. Even still, I have plans for the day that aren't baseball related. My roommate is going to take me into San Rafael so I can tour the mission. This is always a fun activity, and while I have been to this mission on an unrelated trip, it fits in perfectly with the baseball road trip philosophy.
After lunch, I'm going to help my roommate with his coaching duties at the local high school here. I wanted to do some community service while here, and what better way than to pass on my knowledge of the high jump to local athletes?
To conclude the day, we might hit up a local watering hole for some drinks with the San Rafael crowd. If we're lucky, we might hit up In N Out Burger after.
It's going to be another long day, but I can't wait to tell all of you about it.
Always take on a 3-0 pitch ;)
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