USRT excursions have been few and far between lately, so we take what we can get, and a quick hop to Frontier Field in Rochester to see the Bisons play the Red Wings is always a real treat. Tonight we invited our bud Drew Smeltzer to join us and made the trek 70 miles east for a night of baseball.

It was just about a packed house in Roch-cha-cha tonight, with a perfect weather evening, the Zooperstars entertaining the fans, and the beginning of the Fourth of July holidays underway.

For the Bisons and their fans who made the trip, it was a great outcome - a 4-1 win which put them up three games in the IL North Division standings. Aaron Laffey pitched a real gem, allowing just 6 hits and striking out 9 in 8 1/3 innings of work. He tried to pitch the entire game but labored a bit in the ninth, throwing a lot of pitches and allowing two baserunners before finally being pulled. Mike Koplove came on to finish and earn the save. Ryan Mulhern had two RBI’s, including a solo shot in the third, his 12th home run of the season.

After the game, Manager Torey Lovullo praised his pitcher, mentioning especially the final two outs in the eighth, where Laffey made acrobatic leaps on the mound to snare the ball and get the put outs to first. “Plays like that tend to lift the entire bench and Aaron has shown again and again that he’s a gamer” Lovullo said.

While we have made the visit to Rochester many and many a time, this was Drew’s first trip ever to Frontier Field, so being the big sports fans that he is, we asked him for his objective impressions of the ballpark experience there. Said Drew “It really is an amazing place, very clean and such a great atmosphere. But the truly great thing there is the food. Most ballparks have one unique or distinct signature food item; this place has like… ten.”

To top things off, we took Drew down to the Bisons clubhouse after the game so he could see the set up for himself and also got him in on the postgame interview with Torey. See? These are the cool things you experience when you kick with the USRT!

Peter, Drew and Andrew checking out the ballpark

Harry Canary of the Zooperstars sings the 7th inning stretch

Top it off with blue cheese and a little hot sauce… Available at the Black Angus stand on the first base side at Frontier Field in Rochester.

We’re mad as hell and we’re not gonna take it anymore!

For long suffering Pittsburgh Pirates fans, it has been 15 years of futility and mediocrity for this once proud franchise. Even a new ownership group hasn’t done much to change things… the team plays in beautiful PNC Park and revenues are splendid indeed, not to mention the big fat revenue sharing check that comes in each year, making this team one of the most profitable in MLB. Why do anything to change things, like *gasp* make an effort to spend money to field a winning team?

So tonight a grassroots effort is being launched to do a mass protest… Fans will be encouraged to wear green, symbolizing the color of money, and to leave the stands for the entire 3rd inning. It is hoped that an empty seating bowl will send a message to team management that their loyal fans have had enough.

Apparently the team management is none too happy about this coming protest. From the Allegheny Times…

Sources close to the situation say the Pirates have instructed Fox Sports Net Pittsburgh not to mention or show anything about the protest during the telecast of Saturday’s game. The Pirates also removed all references to the protest on the fan message board on the club’s official website, pirates.com, Monday.

Evidently, the Pirates will, however, allow local television stations to film and report on the walkout, although nobody with the team wants to formally acknowledge that this is even going on.

Ultimately, nothing is going to change, until the owners decide they want to make a change. Canning GM Dave Littlefield, who has made one blunder after the next, would be a good start. Oh and by the way, with a $38-million payroll, guess who is the team’s highest paid player? It’s Jason Kendall, at $5.5-million…who pays for the Oakland A’s, and the Pirates are paying the bulk of his salary. Unbelievable!

Some Major League teams have adopted a certain sing-a-long song that they play after the classic “Take Me Out…” For example: the Houston Astros play “Deep In the Heart Of Texas,” the Milwaukee Brewers go with polka number “Roll Out The Barrel,” and the Boston Red Sox belt out “Sweet Caroline.” Now the Royals have asked their fans to select the special song that will be played at their ballpark. The fans’ choice will then be played during every 7th Inning Stretch following the All-Star break.

Here’s the list of choices, although fans can also suggest others:
Last Dance, by Donna Summer
Son of a Preacher Man, by Dusty Springfield
Kansas City, by The Beatles
The Limbo
Cotton Eyed Joe, by Rednex
Ring of Fire, by Johnny Cash
Dancing Queen, by ABBA
Come on Eileen, by Dexy’s Midnight Runners
Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground), by Michael Jackson
Sweet Caroline, by Neil Diamond

My pick for the Royals? I’d go off the list and choose “Everything’s Up To Date in Kansas City” from the musical “Oklahoma”. Great clap along song. But what do I know anyway?

More info on the Kansas City Royals website.

Remember the last ditch negotiations during the NHL lockout of 2004-05? Mario Lemieux and Wayne Gretzky were riding in on their white horses, hoping to save the day. When the two sides finally met in February of that year, the NHLPA had their sights set on a $45-million salary cap, while the owners were firmly planted at $42-million.

How quaint and cute this all seems now.

According to TSN, the salary cap will rise to a maximum of $50.3-million. That is a $6-million increase from this past season when the cap was set at $44-million.

Under terms of the collective bargaining agreement, teams must spend at least $34.3-million on salaries next season.

No major television contract…attendance figures alarmingly low in numerous markets. One has to wonder where this is all headed. And one more question… explain to me again why the hawks in the NHLPA were digging their heels in, and why we had to lose a season of hockey because of their obstinance.

Next Tuesday’s Fourth of July extravaganza is all set, as the Bisons have sent out a news release outlining the postgame program.

“The concert will begin with a several tributes to American stage and motion pictures. There will be medleys to celebrate the 15th anniversary of Tony Award winning Beauty and the Beast, the 25th anniversary of American Film Institute’s 25th Greatest Movie of all time, E.T., and the 50th anniversary of West Side Story. The BPO and Chorus will also perform several sing-alongs from Mary Poppins to honor its 2007 Broadway revival.
Next, fans will be able to pay tribute to the 231st birthday of out great nation as the BPO and Chorus present the “Star Spangled Spectacular Sing Along” and “God Bless America.” The “Armed Forces Salute” will allow the fans in attendance to honor the brave men and women that are fighting to protect our freedoms both home and abroad. Finally, Independence Day classics like “Overture 1812” and “Stars and Strops Forever” will lead into the Largest Fireworks Show of the season.”

What do I like most about this event? Mostly seeing a packed house at Dunn Tire Park, which only happens a couple times a year.

What do I like least about this event? This happy happy concert has too much of a feel of a paramilitary rally - Pledge of Allegiance, the Dead Fat Woman croaking that Irving Berlin song, military themes… Last year I stuck around some, but when they flashed the photo of Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts on the Big Board, I had seen enough and decided to leave.

Take this to the bank… you will NEVER see an image of Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg or John Paul Stevens at a Bisons game.

Tickets and 4-packs still available… weather outlook looks promising… no surprise there it hasn’t rained in what… Two years?

See you at the ball game!

The Rigases are heading to prison on August 13.

The word came down just today that all their appeals have been exhausted, and now it’s just a matter of the Bureau of Prisons determining where Adelphia founder John Rigas and his son Tim will be housed.

I take no pleasure in this news, only sadness - Western New York invested so much of its faith and hope in these people - the promise of thousands of new jobs for our area; a new skyscraper at the doorstep of HSBC Arena and related development which should have had the Cobblestone District hopping by now; a secure future for our NHL hockey franchise. We all bought into it. We thought they were the real deal.

But at the end of the day they were just thieves and crooks consumed by greed. And while I feel some pity for the old man, who I think was misled by his sons, I feel none whatsoever for the kid.

So Tim, how many yachts can a man own to be happy? How many golf courses do you have to have title to? How many speedboats can you water ski behind? How many mansions does a person really need to have? I guess the only thing you will need to worry about now is if those prison issue fatigues fit right, and what it’s like to crap in toilet without a seat, and have everybody and anybody watch while you’re doing it. Bon voyage fellas!

Here is the link to the Associated Press story.

Billionaire Jim Balsillie is putting up huge piles of money to buy the Nashville Predators… as much as $238 million for a franchise worth at best 2/3 of that figure. If his strategy here is to raise the bar for the value of all NHL franchises, then certainly he should be able to grab the attention of all the owners.In today’s Toronto Star, we are told again that both Buffalo and Toronto will be seeking compensation for territorial right infringement. But while Buffalo will take their payment and move on, things are much more complex with Toronto.

“But the owners of the Maple Leafs will ask for a much larger cheque, for several reasons. For starters, if there are politicians, even in Hamilton, to be hoodwinked on arena deals, Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment claims first dibs. Then look at all the brands MLSE needs to protect. The masses have yet to acquire a taste for the Raptors. Introduce another NHL team, considering the hold the NHL has on the population around here, and what happens to basketball numbers? Similarly, what happens to LeafsTV? To RaptorsTV? To the soccer team?”

Sounds like deja vu from the 60s again. Back then it was Leafs owner Stafford Smythe who was doing everything in his power to block Buffalo from obtaining an NHL franchise, claiming territorial rights and predicting severe and dire financial consequences for the Leafs if Buffalo entered the league.We all know how that turned out… the Buffalo/Toronto rivalry is one of the best in the NHL and has everyone across Western New York and the Niagara Peninsula riveted year in and year out.I say welcome and bring on an NHL team in Hamilton, where the word is that 14,000 season ticket deposits have already been pledged through ticketmaster.ca should the Predators elect to relocate from Nashville.

In dealing with the ultimate fate of the Aud, Buffalo can learn a few valuable lessons from the folks over in Detroit, who are planning a mammoth sale of artifacts, fixtures and memorabilia to collectors and scavengers before the building meets its final demise.

When fixtures from the old Busch Stadium in St. Louis were put up for sale in 2005, that project offered more than 27,000 items, which included seats, flagpoles, batting cages, hot dog stands, barroom fixtures and furniture from the luxury suites.

Now think about Buffalo’s Memorial Auditorium. Do you think for a moment that the sale of seats, concession canopies, ad panels from the corridors, dasher boards, not to mention the main scoreboard, would not fetch a lot of interest and raise a good deal of funds? My bet is that the interest locally would be huge.

Here is the article from the Detroit Free Press.

The Buffalo Bisons have held first place in the International League north division standings since May 5, which is somewhat remarkable considering their lack of dominance on the field these past six weeks. But despite Buffalo’s occasional stumbles, the two teams pursuing the Bisons, the Rochester Red Wings and the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees, have failed to seize the opportunity to grab the division lead.

Well don’t look now, but Rochester has been on a real streak of late, and going into today’s play, are just half a game behind the Bisons in the standings. When the two teams met in mid-May there was just a one and a half game separation between the two, and Buffalo took 3 games of the 4 game set played in the two cities.

Well here we are again, neck in neck, and the two teams will play another four game series starting this weekend. The first two will be played at Frontier Field in Rochester before the series switches to Buffalo. With the weekend and then the pre July 4th festivities in full swing, look for big crowds and perhaps first place on the line. Won’t that be great?!

Here’s the schedule:
Sat June 30 7:05pm Frontier Field
Sun July 1 7:05pm Frontier Field
Mon July 2 7:05pm Dunn Tire Park
Tue July 3 6:05pm Dunn Tire Park

This fall the Miami Dolphins will be playing the New York Giants at the new Wembley Stadium in London, England, and it is a very hot ticket.

While tickets are being made available to Miami season ticket holders, fans purchasing seats must pick them up in person at the will call window at Wembley only. Turns out that the NFL is taking extraordinary measures to prevent fans from reselling the tickets, but that also means that anyone with a last minute change in plans or wishing to buy tickets for a friend or family member is essentially screwed. More from the Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinel.

Yep, as expected Buffalo’s own Patrick Kane is selected with the first pick overall in the NHL draft tonight. Since Chicago picked him up we assume that the smile for the cameras was almost as real as Eli Manning’s was after being selected by the Chargers.

Great for him, and congrats on being (to the best of my recollection) the first Buffalo born athlete to be taken first in an amateur draft in one of the four major sports leagues.

The amazing thing about that last statement is that the second one could be coming up next Thursday night. Ohio State’s Greg Oden (born in Buffalo) is the odds on favorite to be selected first in this season’s NBA draft. What are the odds on that? Have to wonder if the possibility of two top draft picks from the same city/geographical area in the same season has ever occured before.

There’s gotta be a photo op for these two sometime soon……

The price tag of a new Minnesota Vikings stadium is expected to flirt with $1 billion by 2009. The projected cost of a stadium with a retractable roof on the site of the Metrodome is $954 million, based on 2008 costs for materials. But this week the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission, owners of the Metrodome and the Vikings’ public partner in pursuit of a new stadium, said that stadium costs would rise by about $41 million if the Legislature approves a new stadium in 2009, rather than next year. That would bring the total cost to $995 million.

Meanwhile, the Vikings are movng ahead to acquire four blocks of land immediately to the west of the current Metrodome site, at a cost of $45 million. The plan is still to build a new stadium on the footprint of the current Metrodome and then redevelop the surrounding neighborhood as part of a comprehensive plan.

Faith Night at Dunn Tire Park this Saturday.

This act got booted from Turner Field in Atlanta last summer, and yes this was the event where pitcher John Smoltz delivered his famed “sermon on the mound”. Fans attending that game were greeted by religious pilgrims from Focus on the Family passing out materials outside the stadium about its programs. Some of the brochures highlighted at the game, according to the Focus on the Family’s website, included its Focus on Parenting program, which features a “Hot Topic” about children and homosexuality and how gay activist groups are “targeting” public schools. Other materials passed out included a packet on its endorsements of reparative therapy, or the “ex-gay” movement.

And there was more… our Lord and savior Jesus Christ, or someone who was a dead ringer, was also in attendance outside the ballpark grounds that day, wearing his white robe, thorny crown and dragging his heavy cross, while his entourage passed out slingers urging support of a ballot referendum defining marriage in Georgia as between a man and a woman. So those pesky homos in Georgia want to get married??? Oh, the horror of it all!

The Braves and their owners, Time Warner, received so many complaints from fans that they pulled the plug on future Faith Nights. Yet the Buffalo Bisons apparently see fit to open up our ballpark for these traveling clowns.

I think I’ll pass on Faith Night. Call me instead when the Bisons bring in these two as headliners:

“Good Eats At The Ballpark”

This week’s Play Ball. Check it out!