Indiana Palms and the Temple of Baseball

With much trepidation, I wanted to try to take the entire family to a Cubs game this year. It's a quest fraught with peril, because you have to first find tickets, then get to the game, keep the younger ones entertained so the rest can enjoy the game, and finally, you have to get the whole exhausted brood back home. Oh, and you have to finance the adventure, but fortunately, rates are reasonable right now.

The hardest part is the first one, finding the tickets. Finding five tickets together, either online or over the phone, is impossible for two reasons: the games are near sell-outs and the system for purchasing the tickets isn't really designed to be helpful.

Everything is based on the date of the game, which makes sense of course. Most people want to go on a specific day or, say, weekend. We had a lot of flexibility though. We wanted to go to just about any day game. To get tickets online, you first pick the date. Then a screen comes up to choose a pricing level (or best available) and the number you need. Then you are taken to another screen to enter one of those security codes, where they put numbers and letters in a box that has lines and stuff in it to make it hard to read. Then, you can finally get to the screen where you can buy the tickets - or in my case, find out that what you need is not available.

Not very useful. Now imagine doing that for every day game, for three or four different pricing levels, and you can see how frustrating that can be. I didn't do that of course. I eventually gave up and called the ticket folks.

That didn't work either. It appears that they have no better way to find tickets for you than you can do for yourself online.

So I turned to a friend who I had hoped might be able to put me in touch with the right person. One of the many people who regularly interview me during basketball season is David Kaplan of WGN in Chicago, which just happens to be the station that carries the Cubs. He did better than put me in touch with the right person. He found me tickets for some pretty nice seats.

When you have four kids, going anywhere, even places like the grocery store, is an adventure. Wrigley Field is tough to get to by yourself. You can drive, if you don't mind the traffic and paying $40-50 to park within walking distance of the park. The other option is to take the L (train), which is very crowded, but much cheaper and drops you a block from the park. That's the way to go, even for us. Our biggest problem is getting a double stroller on a crowded train, but we have always managed it so far. We also still have to pay to park downtown, but that is much cheaper than parking at Wrigley. And the kids, especially the younger ones, love riding the trains.

Another place the stroller can be an issue is the ballpark itself. Last year, when we went to a game, we sat upstairs and stashed the stroller in a corner by the bathroom entrance. That actually worked surprisingly well.

This year, as we walked in, the ticket taker said we could check the stroller for free at the customer relations office. That's a nice feature.

The ballpark staff was generally very nice, which includes the Octogenarian Ninja Ushers. If you have ever been to Wrigley, you will have undoubtedly noticed that the ushers in the seating area are all very senior citizens. I even saw one wearing one of those oxygen backpacks.

Don't let the grandmotherly (or grandfatherly) look fool you though. They are not pushovers and they'll get after you if they need to. If you go where you don't belong, they go right down there and grab you by the ear and take you away.

I wanted to get down by the wall to say hello to another media friend of mine who was on the field before the game, but the ONU wouldn't let me get there. I got out before I got the ear-pull though.

We saw the Padres when they were in town on May 15th, which is back before Spring started around here. Spring this year was from May 25-June 3. It's now Summer, but I digress.

The point is, it was cold. My wife and kids were all in their winter gear. I refuse to wear a winter coat in May, and especially to a baseball game.

The weather kept the crowd down a bit. There were a lot of no-shows around us, and a few of the people were clearly not interested in the game. Like, for example, the lady across the aisle from me who was there by herself and doing her knitting.

We also had the requisite loudmouth half a section behind us, but fortunately, he kept it clean. Even better, he ran out of hot air half way through the game.

Most people wear Cubs gear to the game, but one young lady in front of us must not have had anything, so she wore a blue Cub Scout neckerchief as a bandanna. I guess that's the best she could do.

We sat about 15 rows from the field, looking right up the first base line. We were just at the edge of the net, which was nice because with the kids, we can't spend every second watching for line drives to come back at us.

The game itself was pretty good. The Cubs won 4-0, getting all four runs in one inning off of former Cub Greg Maddux. He got a standing O as he left the field because many of his think it might be the last time he pitches at Wrigley. The game was played quickly (under 2:30), so we weren't out in the cold any longer than we needed to be.

Our younger kids were entertained by the two kids sitting in front of us that were about the same age. Although, I have to say, my two-year-old daughter liked the game itself. She still doesn't talk much, but one of the first words she ever said was "ball," and she loves playing and watching anything with a ball. She's the only two-year-old in America who would rather watch Big Ten Tonight than Teletubbies. At the game, when she would see someone swing the bat, she would swing her arm across her body to mimic that. Now, when ever she sees the Cubs logo, she yells "Ball!" and swings her arm.

After the game, we waited around for the crowds to die down so we were among the last ones out. Before we headed to the train, we walked over to check out the new Ernie Banks statue, just on the third base side of the entrance at Clark and Addison. The sculptor did a great job capturing Ernie. It's a great tribute to Mr. Cub.

Getting home was relatively easy, except for some rush hour traffic. The car was a lot quieter as some of us slept. A great time was had by all, and it was definitely worth the effort.

Don't spend it all in one place

Last week, I was among the many who received property tax rebate checks from the county as a result of a cap passed by the state legislature a few months ago. However, even something good like this provides another example of how inefficiently our local government operates.

Thousands of Lake County taxpayers received rebate checks for $0. The county spent whatever its postage rate is x however many people got those checks to let them know they got nothing. I wonder if anyone tried to cash them.

And speaking of incompetent customer service resulting in paltry rebates, I heard back from American Airlines. They supposedly sent me a check for my hotel for the extra night I spent in San Antonio. I should have stayed in a nicer place.

The e-mail I got announcing that my reimbursement was on the way said, they would work hard to prevent future schedule disruptions. Of course, that completely misses the point. Schedule disruptions happen. It's the insufficient response to those problems that needs to be prevented.

We're so sorry, but go pound sand

That's the basic message I got back from American Airlines after I wrote them about their policy that assured that people who were stranded by the MD-80 inspections remained that way.

To review, my flight was one of the first ones canceled when the FAA ordered AA to inspect their entire fleet of MD-80s. When I called the airline to ask about getting home, all they were willing to do to me was rebook me on another of their flights the next day. That flight was also on a MD-80, which meant it had zero chance of leaving as scheduled, and we both knew it. It also meant that I would have to go through the same run around for yet another day. I believe it was four days before AA flew out of San Antonio again.

So, while the chairman of American was going on television telling everyone how American was getting people on their way, even if it meant rebooking on another carrier, I was left to fend for myself.

I eventually got home on Southwest the next day. Ironically, Southwest had a similar problem a couple weeks earlier.

American wrote to tell me that they were "sorry that you found our rebooking policy to be less than convenient," but that since I was unwilling to spend an indefinite period of time in beautiful San Antonio waiting for them to get their act together, all they would consider reimbursing me is my hotel cost for the extra night. They aren't even promising that, just that they'll consider it if I send in the proper documentation.

"Less than convenient." That's a big, steaming pile of something less than pleasant.

Oh, they did refund my ticket for the trip I never made. Big of them.

I will send in my documentation, and perhaps before my kids go to college, I'll get a refund for my hotel. You'll pardon me though if I don't hold my breath.

Stuck in San Antonio

I came to San Antonio to cover the Final Four for CSTV.com, but like so many folks, I'm stuck here due to American Airlines being grounded. Actually, it's only their Super 80 planes that are grounded, but that's all they fly out of here.

The airport was very full yesterday with people trying to leave, but at 3:30, AA announced it was canceling all of its flights. All they were willing to do for me was was rebook on another of their flights the next day, but not only were many of those full, but they were on the same type of plane.

Some people waited hours (yes, plural) at the AA counter in the hopes of getting rebooked and perhaps a hotel room for the night. I wasn't going to wait hours, only to have to do the same thing again today. I did manage to get my flight refunded over the phone though.

So, my brother-in-law worked the internet at home (I had no access myself at SAT) and got me a reservation on Southwest and a hotel room here, so if everything goes well, I'll get home sometime tonight.

Meanwhile, here in San Antonio, internet access has been difficult to find. My hotel is near the airport, but in a light industrial area, so even finding food meant a long walk.

Today, while making that walk, I went about a mile and a half before finding a Denny's (as if I didn't have enough of that this week - our hotel was right next to a Denny's). I had no luck finding places with internet access.

After giving up, I started the long walk back to my hotel thinking one of my favorite phrases, "could be worse, could be raining," when - you probably guessed - it started raining.

Fortunately, there was a car dealer nearby, with a rental car company inside. It turned out to be relatively cheap to rent a car for a few hours and drop it at the airport, so I did. Now, I could check out of my hotel and search for internet access.

I drove a little ways before finally coming upon a McDonald's. That's perfect for me because I can access the internet there for free. However, it didn't like my id and password, so it took a half hour on tech support before we could figure it out and get me online.

So, to review, rating the degree of difficulty of some of the things I did this month while covering the tournament from easiest to hardest:

Getting into Canada without proper documentation

Getting my credential to get into the Final Four

Getting out of San Antonio (although this has not actually happened yet, so it could fall down the list)

Finding internet access in San Antonio

If you would like to read some of my other coverage from the NCAA tournament trail, you can go to CSTV.com's Hangtime blog for my off-day adventures, and the Posting Up blog for my in-game coverage.

False and Shameless Advertising

If I were a lawyer with too much time on my hands, instead of a computer geek with too much time on my hands, I would sue Dell for false advertising.

You have probably seen the ad by now. A guy is lying in his bed talking on the phone with a Dell technical support rep. The guy wants to make sure they are always there, and the rep assures him that they are.

That isn’t false advertising, as far as I know. The part that’s false is that the Dell tech support person speaks perfect English. If you have ever dealt with Dell’s tech support people, you know that is not the case.

I’ve had more than a few occasions to call Dell’s tech support in the last six weeks, and I have yet to speak to anyone who does not have a very thick, middle Eastern or Indian accent. During every conversation, everything the tech support person says has to be repeated twice before I can make it out.

The most comical part of these service calls, however, is when the tech support person introduces themselves as “Jack” or “Amy” or, my personal favorite, “Sabrina.” If “Sabrina” is her real name, then I’m the Dalai Lama. I suppose it’s like phone sex in that regard, only less satisfying (I’m guessing here. I have no personal experience in this area. So far as you know. :)

I suppose I shouldn’t complain too much, as my problems have all eventually gotten fixed, but it irritates me that service calls take three times longer than they should.

On the shameless advertising front (is “shameless advertising” redundant?), McDonalds is offering rap and hip-hop artists $5 every time a song mentioning “Big Mac” is played on the radio.

Some rap and hip-hop songs have included other brand names, like Courvoisier, Dom Perignon, Porsche and Bentley. Add “Big Mac” to that list and we can play a Sesame Street game: (go ahead and sing along) Which of these things is not like the others? Which of these things isn’t the same?

Those brands get mentioned because the artists are bragging about their riches. How many are going to brag about their Big Macs?

The sandwich, that is.

The answer is none, and if any of them tried it, they’d get laughed out of the rappers union. Also, can you imagine a radio station playing that song? Only if they wanted to stick Mickey D’s with the bill, but I doubt it would get played much if that’s the only motive.

I can't see how anything good comes from this.