On my way out to Chicago, I was thinking about how my excitement levels for going to Pearl Jam shows had fallen off a bit. I wasn’t looking forward to fighting my way through the merchandise lines to snag a poster, I wasn’t looking forward to dealing with all of the obnoxious super fans (yes, there are MUCH crazier fans than Mundis and I), and I hadn’t really been listening to too much PJ in the lead-up to the trip. I was feeling like going to the shows had become more of a tradition than something truly exciting. After night two, though, I was reminded of why we travel all over the place to see these guys play.

Night one was a really good show, albeit a bit shorter than usual (about 2 hours and 15 minutes). It was Megan’s first PJ show, and Mundis won the ticket lottery – landing him in the tenth row – so it was a pretty exciting night from the beginning. We even checked out the pre-party down the road from the United Center, which was a lot less irritating than we thought it would be. The setlist included some songs that I had never heard live before (Needle and the Damage Done, The Fixer, Got Some, The Real Me, Supersonic), which is one of those things we always hope for in going to the shows. I think their new songs, The Fixer and Got Some are awesome live. They’re so full of energy and the crowd really responded well to both. I’m reserving my judgment of Supersonic until I get to hear it on the album. It just didn’t sound tight live…or maybe I just need to hear it to get used to it. Other than that, the show was a nice reminder of why I’ve spent so much time and money going to see them. The experience is worth it. Jeff also had us sing happy birthday to a friend of his who had passed away, which provided a lot of insight into his poster design for that night. We weren’t thrilled about the design until we learned more about the meaning behind it…the appreciation is much deeper now. Regardless, night one was a really nice show, and it left me excited for night two.

Night two was destined to be better than night one. Why? Well…because on my way to grab food and do some shopping we ran into Jeff Ament. I typically don’t bother famous people when I see them, and I didn’t want to bother Jeff, but I had to at least say hi. With Jeff being essentially the only person that Mundis would want to meet (Mundis was being a tourist and visiting the Field Museum instead), it would’ve been rude to not say anything. Jeff was totally cool with us interrupting his shopping excursion and kindly let me get a photo with him. We thanked him for an awesome show the night before, and moved along. I was nervous as hell, so I didn’t really know what to say, but it was nice of him to be so chill.

Then the show ended up being one of the best, if not the best show I’ve seen them play in the 22 times I’ve seen them. The first set was hands down the best I can remember. It had a very vintage PJ feel, with nothing but raw energy carrying the band. You could see that the band was having a blast on stage. While they didn’t play anything that I hadn’t heard before, there were 21 different songs from night one. Even songs that we’re typically sick of hearing were really good…almost like a fresh start. Better Man and Daughter were finally exciting to hear again. I can only hope that when PJ puts the bootlegs on sale, that it sounds as good as the show we thought we experienced. It was amazing. It was also cool to get a poster by the same artist who designed the Backspacer album art – Tom Tomorrow.

On my way out of the United Center on Monday, all I could do was think about how floored I was and how much fun the shows were. Getting posters wasn’t a problem, the crowds were awesome, the set lists were great, and the performances were amazing. It’s exactly what I needed to get me pumped for Halloween…when I’ll be traveling to Philly to see Pearl Jam rock the Spectrum!

Another PSL season came to a close Sunday. Only this time, we got to taste a little bit of glory. Not as a team, necessarily, but Megan bowled her highest game ever to earn her the Queenpin title in her first ever shot at it. She almost had her first clean game, too, if not for an open 9th frame, but her 196 was nearly 40 pins higher than any other girls in the competition. It also happened to be her highest game ever. It was an awesome achievement and showed a marked improvement over her 107 average from the Spring season.

The team struggled in the first round – bowling a 640 to miss our chance at another top 10 finish (647 was the cutoff). With our team eliminated, our only chance at any victory celebration was in the Kingpin and Queenpin competitions. This was the first time that all four members of our team were able to compete in the competition, so we had to represent our team well.

Megan obviously bowled out of her mind to win the whole thing and restore some pride into the Nine-Dash Heroes, but the dream 1-2 finish for both competitions wasn’t to be. Sam bowled a 135, which she was bummed about, but wasn’t really a horrible game since she was the only person to not go practice on Friday after our awful Thursday performance.

Meadows and I were bowling with a group of 5 bowlers…of which 4 were in the top 5 of the Kingpin standings. Overall, we both bowled strong games. For the first half of the game, I thought Meadows was going to pull it off as he had a 165 in the 7th frame after a 4 bagger, but failed to hit another strike, finishing 5th overall with a 206.

I ended up bowling a 219, which was a solid effort, but an effort only worthy of a 3rd place finish. I figured that I needed at least a 230 to even challenge for the top spot, which still wouldn’t have been enough. I finished behind a 243 & 240…bowled by two bowlers with a 180 & 181 average, respectively. It marked the 2nd straight season where I finished at the top of the Kingpin standings after 8 weeks, but got crushed in the only game that matters. Oh well…maybe next time.

My goal for next season is to finish in first again, so I’ll aim for a 215 in hopes that it’s the magic number to stay above the returning talent that skipped the summer session. I’m setting Meadows’ goal at 200 – which I know he can do since he had a 200 until the final couple of weeks. I think Megan and Sam should aim to break 160, but I won’t be surprised to see averages closer to 170 in their second season throwing the hook. That sets our team average goal at 735, but I’m thinking that a 710 average would be awesome. We’ve improved every session, so I see no reason to expect a plateau yet…even with me basically flattening out. It’s going to be a struggle to finish with a high team average and win the whole thing, as evidenced by this session, but our goal should be to take highest average in all leagues again.

I can’t wait until the next session!

Last night was one of most comically bad nights that our team has had on the lanes in a long time. Our scores for the night: 566, 694, 585. We got close to our average in game two, but everyone except Meadows bowled under average guaranteeing that our team would go winless in the final week. In fact, Meadows’ game two score of 215 was the only game of the night above average. Period.

Meadows bowled better than the rest of us, but his 549 series was 101 pins shy of the 650 I was hoping he’d roll. His 2-pin drop in average still gave him a marked improvement over last session, a top-5 finish (5th), and his first chance to compete in the Kingpin competition. If anyone from our team has a shot, it’s Meadows. He’s typically bowled really well in the playoffs!

Megan and Sam were both off, too, but they managed to stay ranked 1 & 2 in the final Queenpin standings. The only difference is that Megan dropped to number 2 and Sam overtook the top spot. Everyone was missing easy spares, but throwing good first balls – unlike myself, who couldn’t throw a good first ball to save my life – so they just have to pick up spares Sunday to see an increase.

For me…I should’ve known it would be a long night after failing to find any rhythm in warm-ups. I threw 5 warm-up frames, failing to strike in any of them. I then failed to strike in the first 9 frames of game 1. 14 consecutive first balls without a strike would seem inconceivable in my mind if I hadn’t watched it happen. Adding insult to injury, I finished the night with 10 opens…5 in game one. Considering that only 3 were splits, it’s an accurate assumption that I choked on 7 easy spares to end with more opens in one week than I had in the nearly the last 3 weeks combined. I finished the night with a 498 series. Awesome! At least I was able to keep my 200 average for the season despite an awful night. I needed 488…got 498. Success-ish.

Unfortunately, our collapse this week cost us our team goal of a 700 average…dropping us to a 698. A solid 11-pin drop in one week. The one benefit is that since we’re going to be setting the handicap for the playoffs, we’ve dropped every other team’s handicap by 11, too. That could honestly be the difference Sunday. We still would’ve preferred to stay at our 709, but some weeks just don’t work out. I just hope we bring a better game than last night. After a 4th place finish last time around, we need to improve…especially with the smaller pool of players/teams in the Summer session.

In the 3+ years that I’ve lived in Pittsburgh, I’ve never gone to a “Skyblast” night at PNC Park. Skyblast is basically where the Pirates have crazy fireworks and some musical act play post-Pirates loss (or win…). Call me weird, but I’m just not into fireworks…and DEFINITELY not into them as much as your average Pittsburgher. Regardless, it was pretty cool.

The fireworks were 10 times better than the crappy 4th of July show, with fireworks going off on the Clemente Bridge, Highmark building, the outfield, etc. It was definitely a more impressive display than your simple barge-in-the-water thing last month.

For the musical guest, the Pirates brought in O.A.R., which was actually a nice change from the typical, washed-up-but-still-adored-in-Pittsburgh bands like Styx that are practically Gods here. Like Dimar said, “I know you think those bands suck, but there are a lot of people in Pittsburgh that think those bands are awesome”. Sorry, Styx…I forgot that Renegade will keep you paid for eternity thanks to Steeler fans inherited acceptance of it being thought of as an “awesome” song.

Anyway, I’m not an O.A.R. fan, but it was cool to at least see a band that was still somewhat relevant playing at PNC Park. I was actually impressed with them for the most part. Here’s a band that has 2 decently popular radio hits, both which are major departures from their normal sound, and they opted to save those songs for the end. Instead they played their reggae-inspired jam stuff for most of their hour-and-fifteen-minute set. Of course, they sort of HAD to jam a lot…

Why?

Well, because the lead singer lost his voice about 3 lines into the first song…maybe less. When the band first started, the sound was awful, but unlike John Legend’s sound guy, O.A.R. fixed the sound before the end of the first verse. Too bad he couldn’t restore the lead singer’s vocal cords. Picture Dicky Barrett from the Bosstones singing Crazy Game of Poker, and you’ve got what we heard. I was highly impressed with the band’s ability to jam in an attempt to carry the show without vocals. At one point, the keyboard player decided to give the words a shot, and he did a good enough job to get the crowd back into it, but it was still a tough scene to witness.

Regardless, the show was solid, and I’d rather see that 10 times over than the Zac Brown band. They’re a good group of musicians – nothing spectacular – but talented enough to hold my interest with their simple jams. The fact that they carried on says a lot about their fortitude, and the courage of Marc – the lead singer – to come back and sing anyway to finish the night was impressive. There aren’t a lot of bands that could continue on without a singer. I mean…what the hell would Pearl Jam do if Vedder lost his voice? Have Stone sing? Not a promising thought in the least. So, even with the human malfunction, I will say that O.A.R. put on a good show. All poppy, chart-climbing songs aside, they’re not bad and actually sound really good live. I sort of hope they get a chance to come back and redeem themselves soon…unlike the Pirates…who AGAIN were completely outplayed, outclassed, and shown what real baseball is in a 5-2 beat-down courtesy of the Cardinals.

Last night was another so-so week in league for our team…well, at least as far as our win/loss record goes. We were bowling against the dummy team, so we only had to better our average of 710 by 1 pin to take each game.

Easier said than done…

After a solid team effort in game one where Me, Megan, and Meadows bowled above our average for a 723, we slipped up in games 2 and 3 to drop both. Sam bowled 20 pins over in game 2, but it wasn’t enough as our 697 kept us 14 pins away from a victory. I guess that simple 3-6-10 spare that I missed cost us the game. Game 3 saw Megan and I bowl over average, but we still dropped that game by 8 pins (703). Our failure to pick up an extra 22 pins over those two games leaves us with a 9-9 record going into the final week of the summer PSL session.

With two teams sitting above us with an unreachable 13 wins, we’re going to be coasting into the playoffs on average alone (top 2 averages and top 2 records get in)…which is totally fine with us. Right now, our 709 team average is 114 pins higher than the closest team, so we could technically bowl nothing but gutters, finish our season with a 622 average, and STILL finish with the highest average. Gotta love PSL bowling league. Ha ha.

Individually, Megan and Sam’s in-team competition is still close despite Dimar picking up pins this week. She’s has 37 more pins than Sam, but both are still 1 & 2 in the Queenpin standings! Barring an crazy charge from the 3rd place girl – who has a 141 average – and an insane collapse from both Megan and Sam, our two girls will finish in the top two spots!

With the guy who was #1 a few weeks ago with a 211 average dropping 10 pins over the last two weeks, I’m back to the #1 spot with my 205. For all of the struggles with the dry lanes and not having my spare ball for two weeks this session, I’m somehow still bowling consistently enough to keep my head above the 200 mark. I just need 488 pins next week to finish my 2nd straight 200 session. We shall see. This past week was only the second week that I bowled 3 200’s…a rarity this session, where I’ve only bowled 12 200 games out of 21 so far (57%). Last session I bowled 18 200’s (75%).

Meads has tailed off a bit the last two weeks, but he’s still only 6 pins away from 2nd place in the Kingpin standings. I’d love to see him have a sick final week and finish above 200 for the season…even if that means he bowls a 700 series before I do to get there (he needs 695 pins)! He’s bowled 11 200’s this session, so if he can roll 3 in a row anything is possible!

I’m seriously looking forward to next week. Thursday is our last match before Sunday’s playoffs and I’d love to see us keep our team average goal of 700!

Oh…and it was hilarious that Sara requested The Right Stuff by NKOTB, and about 1 minute into the song, someone paid the DJ $5 to stop it…he then played Weird Al’s The White Stuff… Gotta love 80’s night at Arsenal!

I understand that not everyone can be a model (nor should they necessarily aspire to be), but regardless of build, everyone has the choice to dress in a way that flatters his or her body. This may very well become a theme on my blog…

Anyway…leaving the house in an open-back shirt that exposes not only your bra, but your fabulous back rolls is neither flattering for you or attractive to…well…anyone. Frankly, that outfit on a “thin” person would still be awful.

Sound quality can make or break a performance…as demonstrated by the John Legend show last night at the Palace Theater in Greensburg.

When he came walking down one of the aisles singing Bob Marley’s Redemption Song, I was excited. Not giddy wannabe groupie excited, but optimistic that this show was going to be really intimate and truly highlight his voice – similar to the Vedder show we had seen recently. Unfortunately, the sound laid down to begin the show disappeared quickly as the full band joined in and Legend made his way to the stage.

Once the band started playing, the mix quality became something that I just couldn’t ignore. Here we were, trying to listen to an artist who’s voice is the focal point of his music, and we could barely hear him. While I’m sure the band was filled with phenomenal musicians, you would barely be able to tell with the way the audio was mixed. The vocals were drowned out by the bass drum level, the guitar player might as well have been playing air guitar since you couldn’t hear his solos, and the drummer’s solo was more fun to watch than listen to with the bass drowning out every nuance.

The few songs that Legend did solo with just the piano were really good, and I’m sure all of the songs on the stage monitors were awesome…just not what was delivered to the audience. I know it’s not the sound quality at the Palace, because I’ve seen Buddy Guy and Social Distortion there and those shows were really good. If I ever see John Legend again, I hope he has a new soundboard guy…otherwise, it won’t be worth the price of admission…despite his great stage presence, crowd interaction, and talent.

Saturday marked my 3rd participation, in the Kickball for Hope tournament. 3 years ago was our best outing, as we finished runner-up, but the last two years haven’t gone nearly as well, with this year having the most obnoxious ending for our team.

We started the day brightly, dispatching the first two teams 6-0 and 7-1 to set up a match-up with last year’s winners to close out our group play. Displaying the same solid defense that helped us win games 1 & 2, combined with our ability to get runs early, helped us send off last year’s winners with a 3-2 loss and a 1-1-1 record, and gave us the 3-0 record needed to reach the quarterfinals.

Unfortunately, all of the fun we were having quickly disappeared in our quarterfinal game. We went up 1-0 in the top of the 1st inning, and kept them from scoring in the bottom of the first…or at we knew we kept them off the score sheet. Somehow, the “official scorekeeper” thought the other team scored. We didn’t find this out until a few innings later, after some fielding blunders gifted them a 3-run inning and a 3-1 lead. Going into the 4th inning, we were told that the score was 4-2, which caused a bit of an argument between the two teams, the scorekeeper, and the umpire. It turns out that the ref didn’t know what happened, the scorekeeper refused to accept her fault, and the other team refused to admit that they hadn’t scored. The fun quickly left the field, and was replaced with a disgruntled vibe.

I’m cool with losing…not a big fan…but I can handle losing just fine – I just hate losing to teams lacking sportsmanship. The team we played wasn’t going to correct the scoring, which didn’t end up mattering, but their lack of class matched their meathead attitude and appearance. This team didn’t care how they won, nor did they care how they acted in winning. They were just complete jackasses, celebrating with “you suck” cheers after getting one of their outs and complaining when I threw a ball at one of their girls to get her out. Sorry…there’s no rule in kickball stating that I can’t throw a ball at a girl as long as I’m not aiming for her head. Then they complained when someone did hit one of their girls in the head when she was sliding into first. That, too, isn’t considered a head shot because she put herself into a vulnerable position, and couldn’t be avoided by the thrower. Whatever…there’s a reason why I choose to avoid the watering hole where these people work…and they kindly confirmed that my judgment wasn’t far off at all. Thank god they didn’t win the whole thing…proving that at least there was some sportsmanship justice left in this world. Ha ha.

Also, while there’s clearly no way to handle inconsistent rulings on the field, it would be nice if the umps actually knew the rules…and the scorekeepers knew how to keep score. We tracked down the mystery run to the bottom of the first, when they had a player on third with two outs. We got the force at first base, but she counted the runner crossing from third. He was the only person on their team to get near my base (third), so it’s the only explanation. Note to scorekeeper: that doesn’t count as a run. Now…I know it’s a charity tournament, but no one really wants to lose, and no one wants to lose because of bad calls or poor scorekeeping. In the end, we didn’t lose because of a bad call or moronic scorekeeping, and it was definitely our fault for letting something like that kill our focus, but throughout the day the confusion shown by the umps really left a lot to be desired. Special rules for certain fields that weren’t communicated to the teams until those particular rules became an argument, confusion over the number of bases you’re allowed if a ball is overthrown, etc. It wouldn’t surprise me if a game or two were actually affected by misunderstandings of the rules. It’s just the unfortunate thing with having only volunteers run the show, so it’s a major obstacle that every team needs to deal with.

Regardless of that nonsense, the tournament has always been a blast. You can’t affect the a-holes who bring teams and act like idiots, and you clearly can’t affect the quality of umpires, but you can enjoy the free food, free beer, and the pure fun of getting out and playing some schoolyard sports for a good cause. Looking forward to next year, and hopefully a better result!

I finally got to sit in the Lexus Club seats at PNC Park last night thanks to Meadows’ auction victory a few months back. We’ve been discussing getting tickets in that section for a long time, but considering how poor the Pirates have been for the most part, and the fact that tickets in the Lexus Club are $160-210/ticket (for individual game prices), it just never made sense.

Regardless, the Lexus Club experience was fun. The indoor club section is really nice, with a delicious complimentary buffet, comfortable furniture, a nice bar, etc…you know…all the things you would expect for a ticket going for nearly $200 at PNC Park. While the food was pretty good, it wasn’t anything that I’m going to be craving in the future, and I didn’t eat nearly enough at the buffet to justify the cost.

Above: Pork tenderloin on top of sausage gumbo, with caesar salad, red & yellow tomato caprese salad, and a scalloped potato casserole…

After crushing a few plates of grub, we walked down the long hallway, past the low-lit jerseys hanging on the walls, through the glass door and took our seats. I feel like I’ve sat in nearly every section of PNC Park for a game, except for right behind home plate. While the proximity to the action was definitely pretty cool, I don’t think it’s worth the money. Especially when there are seats right next to the Lexus Club – same distance from the field – for $35/ticket. Plus, those seats don’t have a net in their way. Of course, I tried to make up some more of the ticket price by eating and drinking complimentary ballpark favorites – hot dogs, water, soda, pretzels, etc. delivered to your seat – but I still didn’t do the damage I would’ve liked. At least the free hot dogs are all beef and delicious, which is a drastic departure from the $1 dog night version that Meadows and I housed during our hot dog eating contest.

In the end, we decided that it’s a better deal to go to Atria’s for dinner and get tickets in nearly any other lower section. You would still be full of comparable food, and since there really isn’t a bad seat in PNC Park, you won’t really care that you’re not right behind home plate…and it would be more affordable.

Of course, that doesn’t mean we didn’t have a great time in our first experience. Meadows and I snapped a ton of photos, the weather was great, and the Pirates – in all of their new prospect-laden glory – beat the lowly Nationals to make it a great night for our little crew. The only thing I was left wondering was who won the pierogi race…we all placed our bets, but I think we got distracted a) by the fact that the Nationals’ Presidents were also in the race, and b) by Potato Pete coming out of nowhere to tackle the President who was in the lead – allowing Sauerkraut Saul to win. I picked Oliver Onion, so I probably own someone a dollar.