45-inning vacation: the first 3.5 of the third 9

Well, enough of the Saharan dust must have moved off to allow raindrops to form.

Tonight's game had a lightning delay first, about an hour after play began.

That developed into a full-blown summer thunderstorm within thirty minutes or so.

Hey, I didn't care! I was there to have fun!

Especially since we still got to have fireworks!!!

Seriously!!!

Like I told Professor Matt, we didn't EVER get to have fireworks in the rain!

It was spectacular!!!

That's him, in a blue-flowered jacket with blue sequined shoes, looking at me whooping and hollering in joy at the fiReWoRKs!!!

We even got the full 15-minute display!!!

(smile!)

I even enjoyed walking in the light rain back to my car, parked over on Beach Street.

I'd been to the 4 PM screening of "Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, The Journey, The Music", a documentary from last year.

I really like that Cinematique has declared Ray Bolger a National Treasure, compiling this short little movie about the song and dance man.

I truly only knew of him as The Scarecrow from "The Wizard Of Oz"!

Guess that confirmed I was right place, right time!

(smile!)

As for the Cohen movie, it was very good, but was quite slow for the first 40 minutes, but perked up for the titular song.

What the film showed me was that he was a lot like John Prine, meaning you couldn't dance to his songs.

(smile)

So, I know you're wondering:

what shirt was up for this game?

Well, as the theme was "Cancer Awareness", I had brought my purple Bananas especially for this bout of the Tortugas against the Flying Tigers.

The ribbon includes the names of six people dear to me and lost to cancer, starting with James Richard Lee, my only Grandpa.

The list includes Harvey Goodwin Smith, my Daddy; my Great Uncle Samuel Pasco Grantham; my stepbrother, George Deloache Barry; my mother-in-law, Patricia Elizabeth Landers; and my brother, Ronald Allen Smith.

There are also names contributed by others.

The shirt is also special to me because it was worn by my favorite Banana of all time, Bill LeRoy, catcher extraordinaire!

(smile!)

The shirt got a lot of attention tonight, too.

Folks at the movie talked to me about it, folks on Beach Street talked to me about it, and folks at Jackie Robinson Ballpark talked to me about it.

Or perhaps they talked to me because of it?

That could well be!

I know it provided a safe avenue of conversation for one and all.

That would include the mom and 8-year-old older brother of Alex the Warrior, a little boy who has been fighting cancer since he was 18 months old.

The shirt provided a safe avenue for the folks at the concession stand.

I had intended to have the Loaded Nachos as my dining option, but when the young man behind the counter described the Pulled Pork basket... well, how could I resist?

Plenty of pulled pork barbeque, smothered in sauce, topping a mound of french fries, with a bit of coleslaw on the side - yes, please!

I was never, ever, going to get this at Grayson Stadium!

Only $12, too, for the meal, including the bottle of Aquafina.

(That had been the cost of my movie ticket, plus chips and salsa, plus bottle of Zephyr Hills. The popcorn had been free since I am, again, a member of Cinematique.)

 

And, perhaps best of all, the shirt started a dialogue between me and the emcee, though I imagine the pulled pork helped.

That meant I had talked to someone at the concession, possibly his wife... and I had.

So Prof. Matt felt comfortable asking me about the shirt and the Bananas and asking where I was from.

And I found out he was the emcee for the Banana Ball World Tour when it hit Daytona for three games earlier this year.

Small world, isn't it?

(smile!)

And who is that elderly gentleman out there on the field with him?

George Bates.

He has the distinction of having been the batboy back in 1946, when Jackie Robinson played in Daytona.

Wow.

The Tortugas wore uniforms from back then, too.

Wow.

And this young woman caught two out of the three shrimp tossed as "Rock Lobster" played.

As Meat Loaf would say, "Two out of three ain't bad."

(smile!)

See all y'all tomorrow at 5:05 PM to finish this game and have another!

Woohoo!!!