Place: Frisch's Mainliner
Lunch: Big Boy (with extra tarter sauce), chili, Coke
Frisch's Mainliner is a modern Frisch's Big Boy that sits on the lot of the old Mainliner drive-in, the first restaurant Frisch's sold the Big Boy sandwich at when they became a franchisee to the Big Boy system back in 1946. The signage dates back to the 1950's, but the Mainliner originally opened in 1939. The current building, recently remodeled, went up in 1988. To avoid further confusion, I'll just send you to my Big Boy page for more information here. You will be unexpectedly fascinated.
I'm in Cincinnati for a special one-off Over the Rhine show tonight. I won't go into why Over the Rhine is my favorite band again because you don't care. Anyway, I've been here a couple of days relaxing and getting my fill of my Cincinnati favorites (LaRosa's and Skyline Chili mostly) and last night did something I almost never do...I allowed my childhood to emerge and fulfill a fantasy. I went to a Reds home game.
For those not familiar with baseball (and God bless you), it's a horribly boring sport that acts as background fodder while people drink beer and socialize. But it was kind of a big deal the one summer I collected baseball cards, which may have also been the one summer I played in the triple-A version of Little League. If A-D-D was a recognized disorder back then, I would have been the textbook case from that experience. Anyway, the Reds were my team (this was in the days of Pete Rose and Johnny Bench so they were a LOT of people's favorite team) and seeing a game at Riverfront Stadium would have been the ultimate fantasy that summer.
This actually ISN'T my first major league game. I attended a Mariner's-A's double-header in the Kingdome on a youth group trip. Billy Martin was the A's manager at the time, and there was a bench-clearing brawl. Can't ask for much more than that at a Billy Martin game. I've also been to a few triple-A games for work-related functions mostly...one because Huey Lewis and the News were playing after the game. I couldn't tell you a single thing about those games, let alone who won.
The experience was surprisingly reasonable...I spent a total of about $70 on the whole outing, including the ticket, fees, parking ($5 downtown a few blocks away), the prerequisite ball park hot dog, and a large soda. And I had an awesome seat along the first base line practically parallel to home plate in the lower section. Attendance was around 32,000. It was "Irish Heritage Night" and they had all sorts of pre-show festivities. And the Reds wore green caps. Yes, out of the roughly 80 home games I could have happened upon this year or any of the last several, I choose to attend the ONE game the Reds are wearing GREEN FREAKING CAPS.
Modern sports stadiums tend to have a lot more specialty food available than they used to, and while there were more choices than the usual peanuts and Cracker Jack (which WERE here), there wasn't anything particularly goofy. The hot dog stand here was a monster of a facility with a variety of dogs and brats. LaRosa's and Skyline were present making pizzas and chili 3-ways. SuperPretzel had a kiosk. And somebody was making big hamburgers that I didn't see, but some people in my row had them. The whole stadium smelled of ketchup.
The Reds defeated the Indians 10-3. I got to see a couple of home runs. Neato.
I don't think I'll do it again anytime soon. The heat...and last night was actually pretty nice with a breeze and lower than normal humidity...bothered me a lot. The walk back to the parking garage was all uphill. I felt sick by the time I got there. And let's face it...I pretty well lost interest by the bottom of the 2nd. I DID stay the whole game, but not the after-show fireworks.
Tonight's festivities are slightly more intimate (seating is limited to 200) and indoors, so that should be OK.
In the meantime, I'll be relaxing in my room for the afternoon and probably ordering in another LaRosa's pie before the show.
