I must begin with my check-in from Facebook from this evening. The announcer spoke those words over the P.A. … “And the game time temperature is one hundred and two degrees!!” It was close to 7:30 PM. (Yikes!)
We we there to see the Boise Hawks, a Class A team affiliated with the MLB team, the Colorado Rockies. There are 5 other minor league teams that are connected to the Rockies … AAA is the best (Albequerque Isotopes), AA next best (Hartford Yard Goats), Advanced A (Lancaster JetHawks), then A (Asheville Tourists) , and finally A- Short Season, to which the Boise Hawks belong. We gathered that Memorial Stadium must be used for lots of events aside from baseball, based on the sign at the entrance to the parking lot:
(LOL)
We found our seats, which were in the nowhere-to-hide-blazing-sun section, and I never would have survived there. I scoped out where the shade was, and we got clearance to find a seat in the shade. The usher, dressed in cut-offs & a bandana, basically said, “I don’t blame ya! I’d move into the shade if I could myself!”
Once in the shade, the temps were tolerable, and we sat back to enjoy the game. Early on, they introduced the mascot, “The Boise Hawks BIGGEST fan, Wingnutz Humphrey!!!!”, and driving in on a golf cart is this big orange hawk, wearing a green uniform and cap. One of the team sponsors is a local chain of chicken wings restaurants called
…hence the first name for Humphrey. LOL (BTW, in researching the logo, I found that the Nampa, ID location of Wing Nutz got 1 star out of 5 on Yelp.)
The game was just fine, and a nice cross breeze began, so that it was almost comfortable! 🙂
The game was played against the Vancouver Canadians, and at one point during the Canadians’ turn at bat, the announcer said, “Now batting, Colon Large.” No, no, THAT is what he said!!!! People in the stands were more than chuckling over that one …! TURNS OUT, the guy’s first name is CULLEN. Cullen Large. (shaking my head)
In between just about every inning, the Hawks ran promotions and games on the warning tracks. Around the middle of the 4th inning, they announced, “Well, folks, Florida has oranges, New York has hotdogs, but here in Idaho we have POTATOES!!” They then introduced three mascots, The Tater Tot, the French Fry, and The SPUD! THEN, they announced that these three would RACE, from first base to second, and then from second to third.
High comedy, indeed! (ps~ the French Fry had it all the way!)
Oh, I almost forgot to mention: It was “Free Grill Set Night” … the first 1,000 people who showed up received a free grill set. Gerry thought they’d be giving us: 
but they ACTUALLY gave us something like: 
LOL Since we got two sets, we gave the extra set to our hosts in Oregon!
But the piece de la resistance was meeting Wingnutz Humphrey! The poor schmoe who hadda walk around in that suit, in the heat!, was wandering through the stands, high fiving and signing autographs. He came over to us, and I said we were visiting from NJ, and gave me the thumbs up “Fonzie” stance! LOL He gladly posed with ol’ Lulu!
Thanks, Humphrey …. as I said to you on the sly, God bless you for being in that suit!! 🙂
We decided to leave the game a little early, so we’d make it back “home” before dark. BTW, good thing we did: The game was tied when we left in the 7th inning, and I found out later it wound up going into extra innings, with Vancouver scoring 4 runs in the 10th and Boise lost. 🙁
Just as we were leaving, attendant at the gate presented us with coupons for a free ice cream at another local establishment …
Although we had neither the time nor the inclination to seek out a Freddy’s, it was a good ending to a fun night! It was then time to hit the hay before another long drive … to Oregon!!
Hilarious!! ❤️