My family has a few traditions.
We go camping in Mammoth every 4th of July.
Whenever we travel to any city or country that has a Hard Rock Cafe, we have to go to it, if only for a drink.
Every Saturday we eat at Y’NOT, only the best place to eat in my hometown of Torrance.
But probably the most memorable and important Howard Family tradition of all is the Summer Vacation.
My parents believe that traveling is a key part in raising my brother and me, helping to make us more well-rounded and aware. As a result, I have traveled all over the United States and visited other countries such as England, France, Russia, Mexico and the Dominican Republic.
Yet in all the traveling my family has done, we have never gone on a real road trip. So for this summer’s vacation, we decided to combine a road trip with another family love: baseball.
As a family, we are trying to visit every baseball stadium in the country, and through careful planning of driving distances, we went on a 12-day, 2,335 mile excursion to visit seven baseball stadiums: St. Louis, Milwaukee, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Cincinnati and the Chicago White Sox. (We’ve already been to Wrigley.)
It was 12 days of driving through miles and miles of farms, vegetable fields, Circle K’s, Hardee’s and toll roads in a gold Kia minivan.
But it was one of the greatest vacations I have ever been on.
While on the trip, I took some notes that I thought I would share with you. These are just some musings of a writer on a sports fan’s fantasy vacation. Enjoy.
““ First off, let me say that I am a huge Los Angeles Dodgers fan. I’ve been to at least three games a season since I was born. My BlackBerry malfunctions because I follow so many Dodger games on it and continually refresh it. That said, after seeing all these parks, Dodger Stadium needs some renovations.
I love Dodger Stadium, have spent a large part of my childhood there and consider it one of the greatest parks in the M.L.B. But it needs some work. One word of advice: statues. Most of the stadiums I visited had statues of some of the team’s greatest players in front of the stadium. The Dodgers have had so many great and influential players (Jackie Robinson anyone?) that they deserve to be honored with a statue. Statues give a team a historical status and add a bit of awe.
““ If you are looking for the greatest baseball fans, look no further than St. Louis. I love Dodger fans but they don’t even compare. Fans lined up in front of the stadium two hours before the gates even opened! That’s at 3:15pm! And Dodger fans have trouble showing up before the 2nd inning.
Also, they rep their team hard. Walking through the city, it seemed like everyone I saw had Cardinals gear on.
““ I don’t understand Hardee’s. You have the same colors and symbol as Carl’s Jr., but you’re different. Why do you exist?
““ The people of Wisconsin are the kings of tailgating. There were hundreds of people tailgating for the Brewers game “¦ at 10:30 a.m. “¦ on a Wednesday.
““ It was in Milwaukee, driving back to the hotel that I found out my Philadelphia Eagles signed Michael Vick. “¦ Good luck to the rest of the NFL trying to contain that offense.
““ I loved Detroit. It’s not as bad as people say it is. Sure there are at least three buildings per block that is deserted, and you are no more than 10 minutes away from the hood wherever you are, but I liked it. It had a unique vibe to it. And the people of Detroit love to party until 4 a.m. every night. Didn’t know that.
““ My tour guide at the Motown Museum compared me to Motown great David Ruffin. And then I had to perform a song in the actual Motown studio for the rest of the tour. No joke.
““ Best walkup song: Andrew McCutchen of the Pittsburgh Pirates. His song was “Ice Cream Paint Job” by Dorrough.
““ Best city: Pittsburgh. Hands down the best city I went to. The passion of the fans for their sports is unbeatable … except for the Pirates. But nonetheless, I’m an Eagles fan and simply being in the city made me want to root a little for the Steelers.
““ Thing you have to do before you die: Go to Peppi’s in Pittsburgh on Western Ave. and try a Roethlis-burger. Named after Steelers’ quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, it is a sandwich containing burger, sausage, egg, grilled onions, lettuce, tomatoes, American cheese and mayo. Amazing “¦
““ There must be secret cameras at Cleveland Browns Stadium. My brother and I walked up to the gate in order to get a view of inside the stadium. My brother wanted to see if he could see the actual field so he put his foot on the gate and stepped up a little. No more than three seconds after he did that, a voice came over the loudspeaker saying: “For the safety of those around you, please do not climb the gate.”
““ Chicago White Sox fans don’t like Dodgers fans. My brother was wearing a Dodger sweatshirt at the game, and the ticket-taker at the gate took his ticket, glanced at his sweatshirt, and gave my brother a look of such disgust you would have thought my brother was decked out in $C gear painting the Bruin Bear cardinal red. Here’s the conversation:
Ticket-taker: “The Dodgers?”
Brother: “Yeah. First-place team. What’s wrong?”
Ticket-taker: “Everything. That team.”
Brother: “Just take my ticket and get over the fact that your team sucks.”
““ Best newspaper: tie between the Chicago Sun-Times and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Worst newspaper: the Cincinnati Enquirer.
““ Between my brother and me, we got four home run balls during practice on the trip. I’ve never got one before.
““ I had a hat of every home team I saw “¦ yeah I’m cool. I highly encourage anyone who is able to go on a trip like this. You won’t regret it.
E-mail Howard at ahoward@media.ucla.edu if you got pumped up just by listening to the chorus of “Ice Cream Paint Job.”