Hoop Dreams (And The Return of Alicia!)

During my four days in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, I completed a total of three sports-related excursions. The first was my trip to the Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island. Then was another baseball park tour at Fenway in Boston. My final sports related outing was in Springfield, Massachusetts for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. And guess who made her second blog-related trip with me? My friend Alicia! You guys may remember her from my day trip to Annapolis, Maryland in 2011. I don't mind going places by myself, but having a friend there can be refreshing and enjoyable too.

The Basketball Hall of Fame

Again, here is where I start off by saying I'm not a big basketball fan. Pittsburgh doesn't have a basketball team, and while I enjoyed watching games while I was in college, I could really care less about the NBA and who got traded where or anything. I know more about the players because of their personal lives (and all the drama they have in them) than I do about their stats. I didn't even know the Charlotte Hornets didn't exist anymore until maybe 5 years ago (they left to become the New Orleans Pelicans *snicker* in 2002. Thank you Wikipedia!) As a kid I used to just cheer for whatever team had the cutest colors. It wasn't football, so I wasn't worried.

But, with such a cool looking building, a rich history to learn about, and a friend willing to tag along I made the trip. By far this is the most interactive non-traditional museum I've ever been to. Walk into the building and at first you think you've entered a shopping mall by mistake. It's noisy, and there are tons of kids (mostly boys sad to say) and rogue basketballs zipping around. That's because on the very first floor, just behind the admissions ticket box (that's what it looked like) there is a huge gym with swarms of kids playing basketball. 

No, I'm serious. This is just one corner of the gym.

Take an elevator up and you walk around a ring of knowledge with lots of photos above you of inductees (99% of whom I'd never heard of), and a timeline of basketball history with random artifacts built into display panels that circle the entire gym from above. 

A view of the "ring of knowledge" 

Once you go full circle, you go down to the next level which is filled with historic jerseys and information about the organization and exhibition history of the sport. You start with some pretty strange-to-us looking smock sort of uniforms (especially the lady ones!) all the way up through modern shoes and jerseys worn by players active today. I was very impressed that Grambling State University (an HBCU) had not one, but TWO jerseys on display in two different galleries. Because I wasn't alone I didn't get to take notes on the photos I was taking so I don't remember WHY those jerseys were in there, but I was proud nonetheless. 

Jersey from Grambling State University on display

Early ladies' basketball uniform

Throughout the displays (closer to the newer items) there were lots of interactives for kids. Such as testing to see if you could palm a basketball (it makes you wonder how freakishly huge these guys' hands must be in order to do so!), testing your vertical leap, and other games. It was noisy, but also really cool to see young guys no older than 12 or 13 so into the museum not even realizing they were learning something while having fun.

A little further down you get into less exciting displays that talk about media and the sport, referees, and a bit about college and high school programs that have become legendary. One part interactive there let's you record a TV news spot reading a (poorly written) script that plays back once you complete it. Proved to me that being a TV anchor isn't as easy as some would have you believe!

Once you get through all that, you have to fight your way through the gym (which SMELLED exactly like high school gym class if you can remember that) to get back out of the museum. I didn't learn a lot more about the sport than I knew coming in, but I got a deeper respect and appreciation for the sport that so many people enjoy.

More Rhode Island and Massachusetts coming up in the next few days! All of my pictures (including way more from the Hall of Fame!) are on my Facebook page. Thank you so much for reading along, and I will see you on the next adventure!

The Hidden Gem of Newport

I must admit, as little as I knew about baseball (which I admitted to when discussing Wrigley and Fenway) I knew even less about tennis. I knew there are cute skirts, that love means someone got zero points, that Wimbledon is a big deal, and I knew a few names: Gibson and Ashe of course, but only recently the Williams sisters, Agassi, and the chick with the Russian/Eastern European name that sounds like a fancy way of saying "Maury Povich". So when I first found out that the sport had a hall of fame right up the street from the mansions, I wasn't really that interested at first.

Rainy and soggy view of the grounds of the International Tennis Hall of Fame

But then I found out that because I am a member of the American Alliance of Museums the normal $12 admission would be totally waived and I could get in for free! Right then I altered my itinerary and reduced the time I wanted to dedicate to each mansion so that I could spend at least 30 minutes there- I mean, how big/interesting/exciting could it be, right? And if it's free, I at least wanted to show my face and utilize the privileges of AAM membership.

I mean, she looks excited, right?

How woefully wrong I was! You already learned how dreadful my experience at the Newport Mansions was, but it was highlighted even further by the fact that I had such an amazing experience at the International Tennis Hall of Fame! Probably the most professional and visually pleasing small non-art museum I've ever been to, I was thoroughly impressed with EVERYTHING. I got to learn a little bit about the history and origins of the sport of tennis (that pic above is one of the first displays you see after the actual hall of fame and depicts a woman playing the predecessor sport to tennis as we know it today: lawn tennis) and the impact that culture such as music and movies had on the sport- and vice versa.

Figure of a woman playing tennis in the 1920s, with a display about flapper fashion behind her

I enjoyed that not one decade or era was rushed through, there was just as much information about the sport from 1912 as there was for 2012. It also highlighted men and women equally, and discussed racial and cultural growth and progress as a natural part of the sport- not shucked off into a specialized gallery for minorities. There were plenty of shiny silver bowls, plates, and trophies all around (you know, prizes), and tons of memorabilia, including a specialized chair used by players who have lost their leg functions, lots of uniforms and shoes, and player endorsed and branded products throughout.

What was missing was extensive information about the current top active players. So yes, there were clips and stories about Venus and Serena Williams on the videos throughout the museum, but no dedicated displays to them- and rightfully so. They are still earning their spot in the museum and hall of fame, it would be a bit presumptuous to just throw them in there right away.

Had to show the guys some love-- I realized I had all lady pics up!

The staff was also super friendly and knowledgeable. Considering I got there first thing when they opened, I expected them to be a bit groggy. Quite the opposite. The guy who checked me in gave me a ton of brochures and information to take with me and tried to gage how much I was into tennis to see how to best direct me. While walking around, I overheard another woman telling a story about one of the enshrined players in a very animated and enthusiastic manner. The couple she was talking to was totally engaged and were hanging on her every word. It was clear that the people here not only know their sport and it's history, but have a true passion for it as well.

*Crap, I was looking for a picture of old tennis ball tins that I distinctly remember taking a photo of and now I can't find it on my camera or computer. Sorry, side tracked there!*

My admission sticker

In hindsight I have three regrets about my visit:

1. That I didn't double check to see if I had all the pictures I wanted before I left. Danngit I'm really upset about that!

2. That I underestimated this museum and didn't afford myself more time to read the displays and information in depth.

3. That it was so rainy and dreary the day I went that I wasn't able to walk the beautiful grounds and learn about the history of the site as well- because people still play tennis there and it's obviously well maintained.

Well, I'm still plugging away at these entries. Again, this was my most ambitious itinerary to date, traveling between four cities in two states in four days all on public transportation and seeing no less than two sites a day. More Rhode Island and Massachusetts adventures to come- thank you for reading along!

My Date With A (Green) Monster

I told you guys back in April that I was going to see Fenway this summer, and by golly, I did. I ran across South Station to make my train out there (something I haven't had to do since I moved from DC), lugged my suitcase in the rain across a gravelly parking lot, and nearly got hit by a car trying to rush and get my ticket for the last tour of the Friday I was in Boston. See, unlike Wrigley Field (the second oldest ball park in America), Fenway (THE oldest ball park in America) does not let you purchase tour tickets ahead of time. It's first come first serve, and you HAVE to buy your tickets no later than 15 minutes before the start of your specified tour. I was cutting it super close with my train not arriving to Yawkey Station (which is across the street from the park) until 4:41, four minutes shy of missing the 5:00 (and final!) tour of they day!

Fenway Park on Yawkey Way

So, to update you guys a little bit about my utter lack of baseball knowledge, I know a teeny bit more than when I went to Wrigley. Namely, as of today (8/1/2013 when I'm actually typing this up to schedule for a later publishing date) my hometown Pirates are number three in all of baseball (one slot above the Boston Red Sox) and are playing the best they have in 20 years. This means our local news media, which normally brisks past Pirates news and focuses on our more reliable Steelers and *cough* Penguins has actually been focusing on Pittsburgh baseball and it's history and what it all means for those of us (like me) who have no clue.

The tour starts off in the team store across the street. Whereas the Wrigley tour guides were friendly and enthusiastic, the Fenway guides started off a bit stand offish while getting themselves organized but cranked it up 300% once we began our journey inside the facility. They were obvious Red Sox fans (or really good actors) and had me ready to cheer for the team and they weren't even playing that day! We learned about the first ever victory in Fenway (versus the Red Sox's heated rival the New York Yankees who were then called the New York Highlanders) and about the historic significance of the teeny tiny wooden Grandstand seats, Pesky's Pole, the Lone Red Seat where some poor guy got molly whopped by a ball hit by Ted Williams in 1946, and about the Morse code in the scoreboard that spell the initials of former owner Tom Yawkey and his wife.

View of Fenway from the Grandstand seats

All of these parts had interesting stories to go with them, but the most famous piece of the park is easily The Green Monster, located on left field. A 37+ foot high wall, we were told it was erected when Tom Yawkey saw people watching his games for free from rooftops across the street and built "the biggest overreaction in sports history" to keep it from happening. They Red Sox have a mascot named Wally (who is a green monster- get it?) and the Monster has a ton of quirks that make it special to the stadium. Such as a ladder in the middle of it that no other ball park has (or can build), and again, the Morse code message in the manual scoreboard that takes up its lower interior.

View from the Green Monster. Seats weren't added until 2003

I had to leave the tour shortly after we entered the press box- moving 70-some people around can be a bit slow and I had to make sure I got back to South Station on time to catch my bus to Springfield. We didn't get to see the players lockers rooms (though we did see the visiting team's facilities), and I asked if the dugout would be a stop and was told that it would not be. You don't get to go on the field either. But that's okay, I was there for more than an hour and can say I've seen America's two oldest ball parks. Luckily Boston isn't trying to do away with their old field the way Chicago is. I think it's pretty cool that there are at least two teams playing in a traditional baseball park in this country.

The Fenway Press Box

Thank you so much for reading my blog, and for following me on my adventures across the 50 states! With this being August, I am two years into my five year goal and 25% finished as far as locations (by the time you read this I'll be packing up for Washington and Alaska, bringing my total states to 13 out of 52- don't forget DC and Puerto Rico!)

Apparently Mickey Mouse is a fan too...

Take Me Out To The Ball Game...

Howdy readers! Here's another installment of my awesome weekend in Chicago. The last touristy place I went to before I left was Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs baseball team. Let me first admit that I know very little about baseball as a sport so I took this tour strictly because of the history this place holds and frankly, I've never been inside a baseball stadium before, so why not? (In a cultural and historical context I know a bit more about baseball, but stats and team rankings and all that? Naw, not me!)

Wrigley Field Sign

I took a tour on a Sunday afternoon, and they are offered on a fairly regular basis. The tour guides were freakishly friendly and informative (I mean seriously, Chicago was absolutely awesome on the customer service front) and they all seemed interested in baseball as a whole. When they found out I lived in Pittsburgh they began telling me Pirates statistics and factoids about PNC Park (where the Pirates now play).

Super nice tour guides. My guide was Molly Phillips, on the far right

It was a bit chilly (and windy) when I took my 90+ minute tour, but I learned quite a bit. Wrigley is the second oldest baseball park in America (Fenway in Boston is the oldest- I guess I have a date with that place this July!) and is home to the first ever concession stand in a sports venue. Molly (my tour guide for those who didn't read the captions) gave lots of interesting facts about the Field. I kept getting distracted by the luscious looking grass- I mean seriously it looked fake it was so perfect looking- but I picked up quite a few tidbits. For example, there is an "elephant gate" that used to connect right to the street before a new outer wall was built in recent years, and it got its name because when circuses used to be held at the field, that was the entrance that they let the elephants in through. I learned a ton of sports legends- everyone from Babe Ruth to Michael Jordan- have come through Wrigley. I learned about why there are roof-top seats in adjacent buildings (and a little about the financial and contractual pros and cons of having them). I learned what a "bleacher bum" was, learned that the famed ivy that usually covers the wall can be an arm's length thick (the ivy wasn't there because it was still too early for it to sprout), and learned about the W and L flags that signal to everyone if the Cubs were victorious or not.

By the Elephant Gate

The tour was quite extensive, we went everywhere from the field, through the stands and bleachers in several different spots, both the visiting team and home locker rooms, the dug out, and the press box- everywhere pretty much! I thought it was a pretty decent tour, and loved all the history the place has. I know it isn't as flashy or impressive as a newer place like PNC Park, but to me I think that's what gives it it's charm. (Apparently I'm in the minority on this though. Here's a recent article featuring comments from people shamefully calling the place a dump!) I think that's a horrible way to view a place as beautiful as this and folks should feel ashamed for treating it that way. I hope Wrigley Field lasts another century (it will be 100 years old very soon!) and that they continue to give tours and educate the baseball-illiterate public (such as myself!)

View from the Press Box

Framed W sign in the home locker room that celebrated the Cub's 10,000th victory

Me in the dugout

I still have a little bit more to discuss about my trip to Chicago (The Sears Tower and the Frank Lloyd Wright row houses!) but those will come another day. Until then, please feel free to check out my (still uncaptioned) Facebook photos and follow me on Twitter and Pinterest. Very excited about the rest of my upcoming trips, but until then thank you for reading my blog, and I'll see you on my next adventure!

Football, Fowl, and Feces (Ohio - Part I (Canton))

PRO FOOTBALL HALL OF FAME

I had President's Day off from work, so I decided to take a day trip to Ohio. After a an initial debate on where I wanted to go (I had actually done a lot of planning for a Cleveland trip that fizzled out) I decided to go to Canton and visit the Pro Football Hall of Fame- and whatever else actually is in Canton, Ohio. Some Googling showed me that the William McKinley Monument and Museum and the National First Ladies' Library were both also in this small Ohio town. I'll have more on the Monument and Museum in a later post, but sadly I was unable to visit the First Ladies' location because it is closed on Mondays. Perhaps I'll go back someday because it seems absolutely intriguing.

As your Queen of Public Transportation, I took a Greyhound bus ($36 bucks round trip) to Akron, Ohio because a Greyhound ticket into Canton directly cost nearly double and took twice as long. Once at the Akron Transportation Center, I caught the SARTA 81 Akron-Canton Express bus to Canton (about a 40 minute ride) and from there caught the 117 Meyers Lake/Downtown Canton bus to the football museum (about a fifteen minute ride). SARTA bus fare is $1.50, and I received a transfer that allowed me to switch between the two buses without having to pay twice. I was very impressed with the SARTA service- everything ran exactly on time, and the drivers were friendly and helpful. When I let the 117 driver know where I was headed, she dropped me off at a non-stop that was closer to the actual museum and told me how to continue on. From that point I had to walk past McKinley High School (where the O'Jays got started, but more importantly for this trip, the luckiest high school football program in the world because they are RIGHT NEXT DOOR to the Hall of Fame!) 

Now, before I go into my impressions with the HOF, I feel the need to make two disclosures. One is that the museum is currently under massive renovations, so some of the exhibits were closed, which made a "jerky" transition between exhibits. So I won't hold that against them- especially since after my $22 paid admission I received a coupon for half off to return once the renovations are done in June. The second is...I am a huge Pittsburgh Steelers fan. More accurately, I am a PROUD AND LOYAL CITIZEN OF STEELERNATION!  So, most, but not all, of my pictures/interests deal with my team, or of people from the Pittsburgh area. I, in fact, care more about my team than I do about the actual sport of football, even though I do enjoy watching games. This bias DOES play into my review of the museum.

Terry Bradshaw's locker replica

The museum pretty much goes from the early days of football (with uniforms, pictures, and game balls from teams no longer in existence) and highlights achievements and milestones made in the early years. Of particular intrigue was the extensive look at African Americans in the world of professional football- it was much appreciated and enjoyed. From there you enter a room full of bronze heads sorted by years and decades of everyone inducted into the Hall of Fame (this is after all, why this place exists). There are computer interactives that give you detailed information about each man and helps you locate your favorite inductees. I took pictures of Terry Bradshaw, Franco Harris, Art Rooney, and Curtis Martin (who isn't affiliated with the Steelers other than he is from Pittsburgh and was in the same graduating class as a cousin of mine at Taylor Allderdice High School). After that there's another room of random historic objects and facts from the game, followed by a narrow hallway with life sized mannequins of some of the more popular and note worthy players in football history facing replicas of locker room lockers of others (including Pittsburgh Steelers "Mean" Joe Greene and Terry Bradshaw again).

Hall of Fame Inductees

The next gallery was closed, so I ended up in a room that highlights the "record makers" of the modern era of football. They have jerseys and information up for players that just made a splash last season like RGIII of the Washington Redskins or Tim Tebow from the Broncos the year before. After that you are whisked into what I call "Super Bowl Hallway", where you learn about the start of the Super Bowl, detailed information about the first four of them, and decade summaries after that. This is where the most recent Lombardi Trophy is displayed- or so the sign told me because it wasn't there. I will cut additional slack since the most recent Super Bowl was JUST won two weeks prior to my visit, and Tiffany's probably needs more than a few days to make the gleaming prize. There is a theater that takes you "inside" the Super Bowl...it was like a man cave dream with the volume and size of the screen. I was a bit disappointed though because I thought it would be a general movie about the Super Bowl history- and instead I got an overly detailed look at both Giants-Patriots games. Also, be warned, the theater moves, like the one from Jurassic Park. It scared the crap out of me to be focused on the screen and then be jerked into rotation unexpectedly.

"Mean" Joe Green

The theater lets you out to a display of all the Super Bowl Rings made to date (and yes, I took pictures of all six of the Steelers'- more rings than any other team in the league!). From there you go downstairs to a display that allows you to play Madden on Xbox (where a boy no older than 7 or 8 was OWNING his dad) and see small displays about officiating crazy fans. There is also a display about the Patriots and how they had the longest winning streak in League history. And of course, the massive store filled with NFL and HOF merchandise for you to purchase.


Overall I'm glad I went. I am interested to see the difference once construction is over, but I don't know if the renovations will take care of what I saw to be a big flaw: there is DEFINITE team bias here. I mean, STEELER NATION aside, how in the heck to the Patriots get a display just to themselves, when teams like the Cowgirls (I mean, Cowboys, sorry! It's a habit), Bears, 49ers, Browns, and yes, Steelers among others have just as much of a rich history- if not richer- than those cheating bum Pat-rats? On the crazy fan display, there is a video showing clips of Oilers fans (a team that no longer exists) and artifacts from Chiefs and Texans fans. Um? What?! Are those really the most loyal, obnoxious fans in the NFL? I don't think so. I also would have liked to see more information about how teams are started, moved, or branded. I took a picture of the old Buccaneers helmet because to me it is absolutely hilarious that they picked an orange and red  Robin Hood looking guy with a knife in his teeth to represent their team. Thankfully they have since changed their colors and logo- but no mention was there of this. Maybe even a list or map of the colleges that produce the most NFL players. And a cafeteria or someplace to eat a meal would be nice also, as there isn't really anywhere close by to grab a meal and vending machines seem kind of tacky. Perhaps a restaurant featuring the best stadium food from around the NFL? I know many people would LOVE the Allegheny Burger from Heinz Field...but again, I could be a little biased!

Seriously? This trumped the all mighty STEELER NATION?!

Well, we shall see what their new face lift brings. I still haven't finished editing the Facebook photos (I have been SUPER busy the last week or so) and I will explain the title of this blog when I review the Monument mentioned earlier. Next trip (for sure!) is Chicago, Illinois!

See you soon!

Go Team USA! 2012 Olympics

Just realized this is the only Olympic Games that will take place during my five year quest. I don't have much else to say except I thought it fitting to show my support for all the athletes in the Olympics, and especially cheer for my homeland, the United States!

This website I found gives information about our Olympic team, and what states they are from! Hope you enjoy!

Team USA