This year has been a cornucopia of delights. Despite the Arizona Diamondbacks having a dismal season on the field, it has been a great year to be a fan of the team. So many things have happened this year. But it is nothing compared to what 2011 will be.
Commissioner Bud Selig announced Chase Field as the location of the 2011 All-Star game meaning all eyes will be on Phoenix Arizona when the mid-summer classic takes place.
The Arizona Diamondbacks and the Colorado Rockies also announced they would be moving their Spring Training facilities from Tucson Arizona to Scottsdale beginning in 2011. This was very exciting news as it means I’ll add an extra month of baseball to my schedule without commuting all the way to Tucson.
I have been eagerly following the spring training news, scouring the Internet and looking for artist’s renditions of the facility and any tidbit of data about what it would look like and when work would begin.
Located just north of Indian Bend next to the 101 freeway, the new Spring Training facility will be about the same distance as Chase Field from my house. I have driven past the location several times and each time I comment to everyone in the car that the Diamondbacks will be playing there in 2011.
Earlier this week I was going through my email when I came across a message from the Diamondbacks. Any time I get an email from the team I start to do a happy dance around the living room, yet another reason why I am grateful that web cams and video phones are not widely used.
This particular email was something special. Inside was an invitation to attend the groundbreaking ceremony for the new spring training facility. How cool is that? I have been invited to go out into a vacant lot and watch civic leaders and team officials do manual labor!
I immediately clicked the play button on my iTunes, which oddly enough had the Chase Field roof-opening music queued up and began dancing around the living room.
“Mom, dad’s listening to that music again and trying to part the ceiling with his hands,” my son cried.
The family came into the living room just as I finished my Diamondbacks happy dance wondering what now. I was out of breath, partially from the dancing (I seriously need to get back into shape) and partly from excitement.
Ultimately, I got out that I had been invited to the groundbreaking ceremony next week. Surprisingl,y everyone was very excited (that isn’t always the case). We began talking about what an honor it was and how cool it would be to experience this.
While they were talking amongst themselves I was calling all of my friends spreading the good news. I talked to my friend Andre and invited him to go with me. At that moment the house went completely silent.
It seems my daughter Tiffany had already decided that she was going to go with me. Suddenly I found myself in a dilemma. Both Andre and Tiffany wanted to go and I had but one ticket to give out.
There were long negotiations and included more than one fatherly promise before I finally convinced Tiffany into not going. I’m sure this is going to cost me dearly over the long run. I felt a little guilty about not taking my daughter but I knew Andre would really enjoy and appreciate being able to attend.
After settling that, I turned my attention to preparation. I would definitely have to take my camera to document the event. I already had a spot picked in the family room where I would display the picture. I’m pretty sure Trina will be ok with me replacing the family portrait with one of four guys in a vacant lot with shovels.
Shovels, I nearly forgot. If this was a groundbreaking ceremony they are going to need shovels. I mean how stupid would I feel if I got there and forgot my shovel? I went out to the garage and realized that I don’t even own a shovel.
Oh this is just great! I get invited to a ground breaking and while everyone else has a shovel all I have is a plastic shovel and pale from when we took the kids to the beach. I guess I’ll be making a trip to Home Depot this weekend.
I wonder if they even make a Sedona red shovel?
I’m also probably going to need a wheelbarrow. I mean it doesn’t make much sense shoveling dirt if you don’t have any way to move it out of the way. Luckily I still had the neighbor’s wheelbarrow. It is a little scratched but it should work fine for this.
I need to get some garden gloves too. It would be kind of embarrassing to get blisters during the ground breaking. Man, I didn’t realize how unprepared I was for this event. It is a good thing the Diamondbacks gave me some advanced notice so I have time to get ready.
I wonder how much ground they are going to need us to break?
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