Iowa Girl on the Go

I picked last Thursday, one of the hottest nights of the summer (so far), to attend an Iowa Cubs game that I didn’t really care about.

But it turned out to be fun. I have fond memories of attending Royals baseball games in Kansas City where I grew up. (Back then they were a good team.) In those days, I knew who all the players were. Baseball is one sport that doesn’t annoy me if my husband is watching it on television or listening to it on the radio. It’s a summer sound.

I’ve gone to two or three I-Cubs games before, usually with a group. This time it was a group of my husband’s co-workers, and we had access to a suite. That was especially nice since it was about 95 degrees outside with high humidity and no discernible breeze. At times, the inside action (air conditioning, food, new friends) was more fun than the outside action (minor league baseball game with lame between-inning entertainment).

Principal Park is definitely NOT Royals Stadium (that’s what they called Kauffman Stadium back in the day). But it’s easy to get to, easy to park near, easy to find your way around in, and super clean. I also like the proximity to downtown. If your seat is on the first-base side (look at me using baseball terminology!) you have a great view of the state capital among other buildings. The sunsets can be stunning.

Thursday night, not so much. I was on the third-base side so I mostly saw the backsides of the players in the outfield and had no view, unless you count being able to see the tippy-top of Mullets bar as a view. And there wasn’t so much a sunset as the haze just got darker.

Anyway, the game was sort of uneventful, as most baseball games are. We had one ball smack into the wall right below where we were sitting, so that was kind of exciting. We left right after the seventh-inning stretch so we didn’t see the end of the game. According to the newspaper the next day the I-Cubs lost to the Oklahoma City Redhawks 3 to 1, although as my husband pointed out, Iowa had more hits. Little good that did them.

I’d like to go back when the weather is nicer and the crowd is larger because I think it would be a more exciting atmosphere. The official attendance Thursday night was 6,407 but there’s no way that many people were really in the stadium. I’m guessing a lot of people had tickets to the game, took one look at the temperature, and stayed home.