Baseball, the way it was meant to be

I went to a Fort Worth Cats game last night at LaGrave Field with Robert & Sam (it was Sam's first baseball game). It was a baseball game stripped of the annoyances of a major league game: traffic-parking-crowds, high ticket prices, and nose-bleed seats that make the players look like specks on the postage stamp field. It was great baseball. We sat in the first row behind the home team dugout for $5 a seat (normally $10), there were 4,000 fans in attendance and the Cats beat the San Angelo Colts 12-2. Most of these Central League players may not be going to the majors, but they're still pretty damn good. We got to see it all; homers, stolen bases, double plays. And the Cats have their own stars, too, like Terrence Green, known to the fans as T-Dog, who gets cheered at the plate with 'T-Dog' chants and dog barks. There's a pretty amazing history to the team, too. After WWII and until they moved to LA, the Brooklyn Dodgers' farm team was the Fort Worth Cats. Some historic players have swung a bat at LaGrave field, including Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Jackie Robinson, Ted Williams and Stan Musial. Overall it was a blast & I'll be going back for more Cats baseball. [photos]

Robert Bechtle

There's a Robert Bechtle retrospective at the The Modern that really took me by surprise. You know, I certainly knew it had to be better than that Dan Flavin crap, but I didn't expect to get really sucked in. The exhibit is comprehensive and organized quite well. It was organized by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and its only other stop is here in Fort Worth. Bechtle is a Photorealist painter. His paintings are recreations of photographs that he takes. I really like them. And as stunning and cool as his paintings are, I think I might like his charcoals best. More on Bechtle @ Artnet, TFAO, and ArtScene.

Remembering independence

Whoa, I've been neglectful of my blog! And it won't be the last time. So, catching up...I had a blast over the Independence Day weekend and took some pics, too:

• 4th party at the Plumbs (July 2)
• 4th party at the McCurdys (July 3)

And here's some pics from the other day with Robert, Sam & Derian at the Japanese Garden.

Mineral Wells bike trail

I finally rode the bike trail between Mineral Wells & Weatherford. It's called the Lake Mineral Wells State Trailway; there's a good profile of the trail at TrailLink.com. I started in Weatherford and rode to downtown Mineral Wells and back; about 40 miles. A quick review of a topographical map would have told me that I started at the high end so my trip back was mostly uphill. I think I might start at Mineral Wells next time! About 10 miles from the Weatherford trailhead is the small town of Garner which has a Cafe/C-store and was a perfect place to stop and buy a Vitamin Water. Here's my photos from the ride, and here's a .pdf map of the trail.