So a while back I made a post about high school football fields in Iowa I've been to. That is linked HERE. 60 of them for football/track.
As for baseball, to the best of my recollection, I've been to 66, if I include 3 fields to watch high school games that normally have other tenants (Principal Park, Bucks Field in Waterloo, and Grandview College)
First let's start with the fields I recall playing on. Most of these school are consolidated, but I presume the fields are still there.
Sanborn, Hartley, Primghar, Milford, Paullina, Sutherland, Alta, Aurelia from the Sioux Valley Conference. Not as many games played back then as now, so the non-con list isn't that big. Cherokee, Western Christian-Hull, Little Rock, George, Melvin, Storm Lake St. Mary, Everly, Ocheyedan, Arnolds Park, Sibley.
Next let's go with HS fields I have umpired on. Roland-Story, South Hamilton, Blairsburg NE Hamilton, South Hardin, Ames, Boone, Ogden, North Polk, Glidden-Ralston, Collins-CMB, Zearing Colo-Nesco, Dayton-SE Webster Grand, Gilbert, Des Moines Christian.
Then there are a bunch where I've watched Jerald play, either in school ball, or spring ball. Nevada, State Center-West Marshall, Marshalltown, Gilman-East Marshall, Waterloo Bucks, Ft Dodge Dodger Stadium, Ft Dodge St Edmond-Harlan Rogers Park, Jefferson Greene County, Prairie City-PCM, Carroll Stadium, Rippey East Greene, DM Roosevelt, DM East, DM Hoover, Johnston, Saydel, Ankeny, SE Polk, Newton, Waukee, Woodward-Granger, Bondurant-Farrar, Principal Park, Belmond-Klemme, Grandview, Van Meter, Mason City Newman, Martinsdale-St Marys.
Then I recall a few more, where I just went to watch for one reason or another, that didn't involve me, or Jerald. Floyd Valley in Alton, Granville Spalding, Sioux Center, Manson NW Webster, Slater-Ballard, Lawton-Bronson.
I don't know if I have a favorite. Probably Carroll Stadium, it just has a cool old time vibe to it. Not to be a homer, but I really like Norsemen Field. Coach Hill takes such nice care of it, and the grass baselines between home and 1st, and home and 3rd are a bit of an oddity.
My HS home field had its own oddity. Light poles in the field of play in right and center fields. They were there for football and in the way for baseball. I seem to recall you couldn't catch the ball off the poles, but you could the electric lines.
Martensdale-St Marys has I think an old brick bus barn as a home run "fence". As close to Camden Yards as you can get in Iowa I guess.
Back to my high school days, Ocheyedan didn't have a home run fence. Just a big open field. Run Forest, run! Lawton-Bronson has stadium seats, which is really cool for a small high school. SE Polk has the only all turf field of the bunch. Clean bounces, and clean jerseys.
Ames has a new field now, that I haven't been to. Their old field is kinda cool too. Lotta history there, including Satchel Paige pitching there. I'll leave with a photo of Jerald at bat there, back in 2015. I love the 4 legged light standards (and my cell tower in the background).
It didn't quite rise to a bucket list item, but I've always wanted to see Joe Jackson in concert. When I saw his show was coming to Des Moines on June 20, I cleared my calendar to hit the concert. I have always been a fan, and appreciate that he has done a lot of different "sounds" and musical styles. Even though I am partial to his "New Wave" roots.
The show was at Hoyt Sherman Place in Des Moines. I'd heard about it, but had never been there. Hoyt Sherman is a theatre that is probably 90 years old or so? Beautiful place, and the acoustics are really good. It is attached to a house, and pre-show, you can walk around and look at old trinkets and artifacts, so that was kinda fun to do. The theatre holds maybe 1000 people? I'm guessing it was 2/3 full. From my seat in the balcony, I didn't get a good view of the lower level.
No parking at the place unless you do $15 valet. So you need to park on the street. Vicki and I got something about a block away, so no big deal. I saw tickets were available, so I didn't get them ahead of time. Was going to walk up, but saw some selling on StubHub. There were a pair of front row tickets for $50 a piece this afternoon, but somebody snatched them before I pulled the trigger. So I held off for some desperate person that was selling a pair for $9 a piece in the balcony. Bought them 2.5 hours before the show. So I got a hell of a bargain, as their face was $27 a ticket.
The show started about 8:15, so a bit after the scheduled start time of 8. It was a very spartan stage. No light show or pyrotechnics or anything fancy like that. Just Joe's keyboard, and elevated drum set, and then all the packing crates just left on the stage.
Joe came out solo to start the show. He mentioned he was his own opening act. So just Jackson and his keyboard. He opened with "It's Different For Girls". That's probably not a well known song by the general public, but listeners to XM's 1st Wave channel would certainly recognize it. He did 3 more songs by himself.
The remaining 3 musicians made their way out during songs, which was kind of a cool way to bring them out. They just jumped in as they got out there. The lead guitar and bassist were certainly competent guys. They didn't particularly do anything to steal the spotlight from Joe. Both Vicki and I were impressed with the drummer all night. He was tight, and really added to the performance. Saw him break a stick, and he didn't miss a beat, just grabbed another and kept going.
I think it was 5 or 6 songs in, Joe played "Is She Really Going Out With Him", which was his first hit to chart in the US, back in 1979. Probably my favorite song of his (or Breaking Us in Two, which Jackson didn't perform tonite). I got to holler "Where?" just like at 1:30 into this video.
So obviously Jackson had his biggest commercial success in the 1980s. And like most any band/artist that is a few years removed from their hits, that's probably what most people go to hear. So when the band goes, "And here is a song from our new album..." everybody groans and heads to the bathroom or to go hit the beer line. Jackson was no different, and mentioned he was going to play some songs from his latest release "Fast Forward". But ya know what? They were some really good songs. I enjoyed them as much as any of the "oldies". I didn't hit the merch table on the way out, but I will be looking to purchase. Again, that is why I like Joe Jackson, there's always a different song/sound. Some slow, some that rock out pretty good.
Of course he played "Steppin' Out", his biggest US hit. And while that was a big hit, I probably wouldn't put it in my top 10 favorite Joe Jackson songs. Just not a big fan of that song. But tonite, he slowed it down, didn't have that fast synth sound to it, and it sounded really cool. Not really sure why, but for some reason, as they were playing it, it reminded me of Phil Collins "In The Air Tonite". It was paced like that, and just had a good sound.
The show also had a couple of covers in there, including a David Bowie song, and that was fun little departure. The concert as a whole was not overly "slick". Which actually was ok. Joe goofed up a couple times. Missed some lyrics on a song, and had to start over. Also missed a note while singing, and croaked it out. But that is live music, and performers and fans took it all in stride.
Jackson wasn't overly chatty, but talked a bit about his songs, and his bandmates. He did answer one question I had, and that was if he had ever been to Iowa before. And he said in the show he had never performed here, so that was kinda cool to be in Iowa show #1.
So the show ended a bit in reverse of how it started. The band members just stopped playing during a song, gave a wave, and walked off the stage. And so Joe was left by himself, just as he had started. The show ended with the song "A Slow Song" which was a good one for he and his piano. The show clocked in at just under 2 hours.
I don't think Joe Jackson was ever a great vocalist. He has a distinctive sound, and he uses it well, but I've never thought his greatness was in his singing, it was more with the instruments and lyrics. And tonite was no different. As mentioned above, he squeaked out a wrong note once. Not sure if that is just the voice box getting older, or if maybe he has a sore throat, or maybe just one of those things. With that said, a good effort, and certainly was worth my money, and would have been had I paid full freight, instead of vulturing off some poor person on StubHub.
Also, just have to play social scientist here. I've been to many concerts, and typically my concert genre is a bit harder. But even so, most concerts have a core demographic probably, but I see lots of different ages and people there. But this may have been the least age diverse concert I have ever been to. I saw no kids, and 95% of the people there were between 45-55. Another thing I noted. This seemed to be a higher income crowd that concerts I typically go to. Most people were really well dressed. Didn't see any tats. Only saw 1 concert t-shirt (I saw a dude in an AC/DC black t-shirt, go figure?). Not sure what that all means, but just an observation.
So anyway, glad I went. Vicki isn't a big fan, but she enjoyed herself and had a good time. So I'm calling today a win, and glad Joe Jackson made a stop in DSM.
I just went to a track meet in Clarion to see my niece run. Never been there before. Interesting set up for the fans, as the entire home bleachers had a wooden grandstand. I've seen a few wooden grandstands at high schools for baseball, but never for football. So I got to thinking, how many Iowa High or Junior High School football fields have I been to, to have never seen that.
I started going through them in my mind, and it is a big list, so I decided to put them down on the computer. So here is my list. This is actually attending a football game, or a track meet. (with my travels for work, I have driven by many more, but not gonna count those). The list will include schools that are now departed due to closings and mergers. So this will be high schools, and possibly junior high schools.
(JH) will indicate a Junior High game or field. (Ref) will be fields I have refereed on (which adds to the total)
So let's start with my younger days, I was at every field in the Sioux Valley Conference. Sanborn, Milford, Hartley, Primghar, Paullina, Sutherland, Alta, and Aurelia. I'll throw in a bonus of Calumet (JH) of Sutherland. The only "bowl" I've been to. The field was not flat, it actually had a big dip in the middle.
Here are the remainder from my high school days in NW Iowa:
Boyden-Hull (Hull), M-OC (Orange City), Sibley, George, Everly, Estherville.
So when I moved back to Iowa in 1997, I got to see some new ones. Then I started writing for the Story City Herald, and calling games on Norsemen Network/The Rocket, following the Norsemen around. I also covered girls track for awhile for The Herald, so that added some tracks. I also started reffing, so that has added some others. By 1997, there was no longer conference football, but districts, and that changed every two years. So that was a chance to add to my list. So here goes:
Roland-Story (Story City)(Ref), Roland-Story (Roland)(JH), Colo-Nesco (Zearing)(JH)(Ref), Colo-Nesco(Colo)(Ref), West Marshall (State Center), East Marshall(LeGrand), South Tama(Tama), Union(LaPorte City), BCLUW(Conrad), Dike-New Hartford, Aplington-Parkersburg, South Hardin (Eldora), Iowa Falls-Alden, South Hamilton(Ref), Webster City, Eagle Grove, Clarion-Goldfield, Ft Dodge St. Ed (Dodger Stadium), Prairie Valley (Gowrie), SE Webster Grand (Ref), Southern Cal (Lake City), Carroll Kuemper(Carroll Stadium), Greene County(Jefferson), East Greene(Rippey), Ogden(Ref), Boone(Ref), Ames, Ames(JH)(Ref), Ballard(Huxley), Bondurant-Farrar, Van Meter, Prairie City-Monroe, CMB-Baxter, CMB-Maxwell, North Polk(Old and New fields),Nevada(Ref), Gilbert (Old and New Fields) (Ref at both), Hampton-Dumont, Central Springs (Manly), Osage, North Fayette Valley (West Union), Hudson, Grundy Center.
So if I counted right, that is 60 different school facilities I've been witness to an event. Most are football, some are track only. And if I counted right, I've reffed at 11 different fields.
This has intrigued me for baseball now. I'm guessing that will be a higher number. But that will be for another day.
I do want to throw in a quick review. My favorite place is Eldora, at least from the visitor's side. Great view over a valley to the west. Really pretty in the fall. Twins: My high school field in Sanborn, and CMB-Maxwell. No track, so cars pull up right next to the field. Great way for fans to get really close to the action. Good looking places I haven't seen a game: Really like the looks of Emmetsburg's facilities as I drive by. And Colfax-Mingo looks kinda cool built into the side of a hill. Quirks: Nevada has a steep hill in the back endzone. as they try to cram it inside of a track. Sanborn and Primghar had baseball infields on the field, Primghar at the 50, and Sanborn in one endzone. Worst: North Polk's old field was the worst. Just beat to death, and something like a 3rd world field. Their upgrade to the new turf may have been the biggest upgrade in the history of Iowa high school sports.
Track quirks: Van Meter and Ogden, just like Drake, have blue ovals. Boone's track is more round, so it has huge sidelines for football, but the track curves are really close to the endzones.
Always happy times when you can fix a techy problem. And always nice to find the answer from helpers on the internet.
I discovered my cable internet provider, had upped my speed from 10 Mbps to 20Mbps at no charge (Stratford CCS). So that was nice. However, when doing speedtests, I could never get more than 10 Meg, no matter the device I tried.
I hooked a laptop directly into the back of the cable modem, with no router, and there was the 20Meg service. Worked great. But back to my router, and whether I was hardwired in it, or via the air, it was never more than 10Meg.
I found my answer on the net. I had Media Prioritization set for 10Mbps on my computer. As the master of the house, at least techy wise, I wanted my computer set to be the boss for moving whatever I wanted moved back when the router was initially installed, and we had 10Meg service.
However I forgot all about that setting. So when we got bumped to 20Meg, everything still was throttled to 10. I changed the setting, and I am now moving a nice 20Meg download on any device. Hooray!
And good job for Stratford CCS for coming out just to check. And I have good luck with them delivering their advertised speeds all the time.
Tis Christmas time, and of course all the classic movies are playing...It's A Wonderful Life, Elf, Die Hard...and A Christmas Story.
A Christmas Story is a good movie, but there is one thing that drives me cuckoo. The mom's hair. The movie is set in the late 40s/early 50s. Women didn't have hairstyles like that. The movie does a great job of reconstructing that time.
But seriously, they couldn't change out her 80's hair?
Just wanted to give a mention to the director of the NLCS Game 6 broadcast on Fox Sports 1 of the Cubs/Dodgers game. Like most everybody, I don't want to hear Joe Buck. But I thought the director did a spectacular job of showing the situation. Obviously the Cubs haven't been in the World Series in 71 years. And they have passionate fans. And the director knew enough to show those fans.
Most people don't think about the director or the camera work. But I've always had an interest in that, so I probably pay a little more attention to that kind of stuff. And in the case of this game, the game was not the only story. An equal story is the pain and misery Cubs fans have had for all these years. And the director and the camera folks really found those people in the stands and their emotion. Young/old, men/women, didn't matter. The smiles and nerves of the fans were as fun to watch as the game.
The original top notch sports director was Chet Forte, the first director for Monday Night Football in its heyday. That guy was ahead of his time in game presentation.
And last night, that game showed why sports is the best TV property there is. It is unscripted, and you never know what is going to happen. So while not a Cub fan, I really enjoyed watching the game and the Cubs fans last night.
Was taking a trip to Luxembourg via Brussels, Belgium on United Airlines. Wasn't really looking forward to the 7 hour plus flight there, and almost 8 hour trip back, so decided to give United's Economy Plus a try. I've read various opinions on it, that it is worth it, and that it is not. So now, after experiencing it, I come down on "depends".
I bought the tickets about 5 months prior to the trip. About a month out, I decided to buy the Economy Plus add-ons. I first bought it on my outbound flight from Des Moines to Chicago. It was an extra $42 for that segment on a 737. 45 minutes in the air from DSM to ORD, so no problem to sit that long. But I had a 1.5 hour connect, but I really wanted to make sure I made my connection, so Economy Plus got me on the front of economy, and an extra 5 inches (I think) of leg room. So would I do it again on that segement? If Chicago was my final destination, no way. For a short flight like that, at 5'10" I could handle a regular economy seat like that with no problem. But in my case, the extra $42 was worth it, to know it would buy me a couple extra minutes to get to my connecting gate.
On the flight to/from Brussels from Chicago, it was around $170 extra each way. To me, that is a noticeable extra amount of cash, especially when buying upgrades for my wife and I. The advantage of getting on or off the plane sooner was not an issue in this case. It basically came down to an advantage of having an extra 3" on the 777. Also, the gamble of my wife and I having a 3 seat section for the 2 of us. I'd been watching the flights to/from Brussels, and at united.com, you can see the taken seats on a given flight. And I had noticed that Economy Plus seats on the Brussels flight frequently was way less than full. So I was also hoping that nobody would take that 3rd seat by us. (as an aside, the Boeing 777, in economy, has a 3-3-3 layout for seats).
I thought it was going to pay off on the flight to Brussels. Pretty much everybody was on the plane, and no more passengers were getting on, and nobody was sitting next to Vicki. Joy went to despair when a lady holding about a 1.5 year old baby started walking down our aisle, and she stopped at our seat. Shit! The last thing I want is a lap baby next to us for the next 7.5 hours.
Then the grandma showed up, and they called a flight attendant, because they thought they were in our seats. After much rigamarole, the flight attendants asked a guy sitting by himself in a row behind us, if he would move next to Vicki, and the mom, baby, and grandma could go back there. Fortunately the dude agreed (probably so he wouldn't be by the baby), and we had a decent flight. The extra 3 inches bought us some extra leg crossing.
The flight home was full, so no empty seat next to us this time either. So the question is, would I again spend an extra $680 total for my wife and I, to each have an extra 3 inches of legroom for a total of 16 hours in a plane seat? Initial thought? Yes, I would. Since I'm an Economics major, I'll break it down with a math equation. Between my wife and I, we had 32 person-hours in that seat for $680. That is paying $21 an hour for that extra 3". That is a little more painful with that factoid. We probably could have used the $680 for back massages and physical helps.
My wife and I are both 5'10", so we fit into economy seats ok. If it was my 6'4" son, I'm sure it would definitely be worth it.
Here are two pics I took. One is the leg room by itself. And then a pic with my magazine pushed up against the seat in front of me, and where it is in my lap. As a reminder, I'm 5"10.
As for my United experience overall, I know they are one of the lower rated airlines. But for me, it went about as smooth as possible. Flights on time. And I know people like to bag on airline food, but I thought it was pretty good. Hot and tasty. Free beer on the international flights. Bags arrived quickly and undamaged. Only minor complaint is that the flight attendants on ORD/BRU were a bit surly and seemed like old bags that were easily annoyed. But on the way back, they were typically older flight attendants, but they seemed happy and ready to help customers.
