The Old Ballgame

BACK TO BASEBALL: Thursday afternoon we made our pilgrimage to the Sodo (south of downtown) district of Seattle to the Mariners' ballpark. Finally, the long winter was over and baseball was back!

In the off-season, the park was renamed. Safeco Field is no more. Now, it's T-Mobile Park.

It's worth noting that T-Mobile's corporate color is magenta. And from first-day impressions, it wasn't just a matter of renaming the stadium. It's a whole corporate make over, in magenda in this case. ...

We bought the cheapest seats possible for opening day. That put us under the Blue Jays' flag in left field. We quickly abandoned that spot, as we were penned into the end of a 20-seat long row.

 Before we got too crowded and abandoned that place, we watched the field crew get their acts together. 

Earlier, when we were standing in the bullpen area, we checked out the turf farm and the future garden.

Pre-game festivities included Seattle's own Macklemore performing. 

He performed two songs. Up first was "My Oh My," his tribute to Mariners' broadcaster Dave Niehaus.  

It was nice to see Dave's widow Marilyn on hand for the ceremony. 

We watched the Mariners' team introduced. They ran out on the 'red' carpet. When they rolled it out, I thought, "Geez, the Mariners' need to spring for a new carpet. That one is faded." 

Turned out the new carpet is T-Mobile magenta. Ugh. 

After the intros, it was time for the national anthem. It was performed on guitar by Mike McCready, of Seattle and of Pearl Jam. 

 He shredded it, as always. 

Right after the anthem was a fly over. 

A pair of EA-18G Growler from Naval Air Station Whidbey Island buzzed the stadium.

There was a ceremonial first pitch, of course. This one was super special. My photo is awful because of the smoke from the fireworks that proceeded it, but it was Hall of Fame inductee Edgar Martinez.

 You know, the Mariners' hero, the guy the American League batting championship is named after. That guy.:)

The Mariners unveiled a Countdown to Cooperstown banner. 

We're looking forward to late July when Edgar is inducted!

As day edged toward night, the stadium edged even more toward magenta. I'm not down with that so much, but we do love the fact that the Mariners are 3-0 and in first place. 

And that makes us tickled pink. :)

ROCKET MAN: Part of CJ's homework for his Washington Aerospace Scholars program involved watching an hour-long documentary about Wernher von Braun. Naturally, Annabelle and I watched as well, because who doesn't want to know more about the Rocket Father?

The program we watched was called "Missile to Moon," made by Alabama Public Television. It covered more than the Rocket Man, though. The program also showed how Huntsville, Alabama evolved from the "Watercress Capital of the World" to "Rocket City, USA."

Annabelle can tell you a bit more about it.

"Missile to Moon" is a documentary about Wernher von Braun and his part in the Apollo missions that helped the United States begin the space race. Though it shares its name with a 50's Science Fiction film, it's much more grounded in the fabric of reality. The documentary goes as far as to show film feeds from the launches without narration, really bringing the viewer in and making them feel as though they're watching live coverage of something that happened years ago. It also does a great job of informing the viewer on exactly how von Braun was instrumental to the programs and his journey to joining NASA. It's definitely worth a watch even for those who already know the story, as it may be able to provide a fresh take.

You can watch the documentary for yourself on YouTube: