Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 29, 1994 TAG: 9406290107
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Jack Bogaczyk
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
You do it when you begin hearing ``cha-ching'' as you pull a credit card from your wallet. Sports journalists, full of self-importance, are fond of saying there's no good time to take a vacation. That's wrong. When cousins invite you to the Maine coast to eat lobster on them, that's a good time to take vacation.
Besides, with Salem about to build a new ballpark for its Buccaneers, a scribe just had to go scout the home of the new Portland Sea Dogs. Sometimes you just have to go the extra miles for good column material. Sometimes you have to sacrifice. Sometimes, when all of the $4 general admission seats are occupied, you have to sit in an absent season-ticket holder's seat three rows behind the third-base dugout.
The greatest four-door sedan driver of them all - sorry, Ben Beagle - and your correspondent rode 2,400 miles across nine states in 16 days. We took scenic roads. We spent less time on the freeway than O.J. Simpson. We saw Revolutionary War sites, toured a dry-docked submarine, visited historical villages, looked at Plymouth Rock and managed to squeeze in an educational trip to a Portland establishment that has 36 beers on tap.
And when the trip was just about over, a relative asked how many ballgames we'd seen. When told ``only one,'' the response was a puzzled look. Why do Mrs. Bogaczyk and I have a reputation for going to ballgames on our vacations? Is it because we've been to parks from San Diego to Portland? Is it because we've been to Cooperstown 11 times?
Make it 12. Hey, the Baseball Hall of Fame has been remodeled again, OK?
And Portland's ballpark was worth the trip. The Sea Dogs had sold out the rest of their June dates and much of July at 6,000-seat Hadlock Field. The new park has much of what Salem should want in a stadium, except the aluminum risers in the general admission section. The lower sections are designed to make spectators feel like they're sitting just behind the baselines.
A souvenir store with entrances inside and outside the ballpark was well-stocked with Sea Dogs paraphernalia and other stuff. You can even buy a Salem Buccaneers cap there. The concourse along the concession stands and restrooms was wide enough for two lanes of truck traffic. If Salem can create the same first-class and fun atmosphere, it will be impressive.
And what did a columnist miss while on vacation? Upon my return, one colleague said I missed writing about O.J. Please. There's been enough newsprint and videotape consumed by the Simpson saga. What more can be said? A New York cousin asked if I knew O.J. ``No,'' I said, ``and apparently not many other people did either.''
What little I saw of the NBA Finals - which had less offense than the World Cup - it appeared the strongest performer was Marv Albert. And when you fill newspaper racks with quarters daily - the vacation record was seven in one morning - you can keep up with soccer's big blast, a revised bowl coalition and a tap on the wrist for Wake Forest's basketball program from the NCAA.
Vacations can be very educational. It's not often you can see the splendor of the Maine coastline, eat your first lobster roll and learn that former Virginia Tech star quarterback Don Strock is the head coach of the Massachusetts Marauders in the Arena Football League - all in the same day.
Did you know it's only 140 miles from the Baseball Hall of Fame to the Basketball Hall of Fame?
\ Write to Jack Bogaczyk at the Roanoke Times & World-News, P.O. Box 2491, Roanoke 24010.
by CNB