Fun in New Jersey

Last night, Andrea and I had the opportunity to attend an Atlantic City Surf baseball game. They beat the Sussex Skyhawks with a score of 12 to 2. Here are some of the game highlights (and some lowlights interspersed for good measure):

      1. Splash, the AC Surf alligator mascot driving a tractor around the field at the beginning of the first inning

      2. Ryan, a youngster from St. Mary's Episcopal Church in Stone Harbor (one of the two churches I'll be serving beginning July 30th), racing Splash around the bases after the third inning - Ryan won! Way to go!


      3. Splash shooting baseballs out of a popper-gun and a young girl trying to catch the baseballs in a pair of over-sized sweatpants provided by the ballpark . . . this must be an odd New Jersey custom as I've never seen anything like it before! In any event, she "caught" one out of three


      4. A mother and her two daughters rolling the Comcast dice (which was nearly as big as they were) three times to see if they could win an iPod - they could not.


      5. Father John and I posing for a picture with Splash


      6. See #3 except this time a young boy had to catch the three balls in a butterfly net - and he did!


      7. The world's slowest fastest ice cream eating context


      8. Sussex Skyhawk pitcher (#24) hitting at least 4 players with his pitches and still staying in the game! Makes you wonder how bad the other pitchers must have been!


      9. Eating a funnel cake, lightly dusted with powdered sugar, with Andrea


      10. Meeting some fun folks from St. Mary's


      11. Fireworks after the 3+ hour game

      Comments

      Splash looks a like like Big Lug... the mascot for our local minor league team. At our games, there is a hot dog canon. Its shaped like a hot dog, and yes, it shoots hot dogs into the crowd.
      maybe we should begin a list of local ballpark customs . . . Anyone else have something to contribute?