The National Trip: Day 11

DAY 11

START TIME: 10 am Central
STARTING CITY: Cedar Rapids, IA
STOPPING POINT: Des Moines, IA
STATES VISITED: Iowa
MILES DRIVEN TODAY: 128
MILES DRIVEN TOTAL: 2,532

Sometimes I seriously hate people. Especially those with a New York Inferiority Complex™. But we'll get to that in a moment.

The day started out just fine. Or at least comparatively well compared to later. I was hoping to see the first house I ever lived in, but it was about a 30 minute drive to get there, then probably another 20 back to the ballpark, so we skipped that. We got to the stadium in Cedar Rapids, met up with Larry from the Facebook groups... and it starts raining. Just soft enough that it wouldn't cancel the game, just hard enough to make it hell on us graphing. Down next to the Beloit dugout, I was at least able to get Nick Allen and Webster Garrison each on 1/1.  After his pitcher warmed up, Don Schulze came over and signed 8/8.  Up on the concourse, the Kernels had a couple of players signing, so I got Randy Dobnak and Andrew Bechtold each on a card, along with Tyler Watson who was charting.

Funny thing about Watson, we went and asked him to sign just before the national anthem, and he said he'd sign after. I thought he meant after the game, so we sat back down. Turns out he just meant after the anthem, and actually walked over to our section and signed. I've never seen that before.

By the end of the game, the rain had cleared off so we went out to the bus out back and hoped for the best.  The tough part about 'graphing outside is you have no jersey numbers to help you out. So you have to figure out heights, weights, and distinguishing features to have any hope. We did alright though: Cibney Bello, Toby Gardenhire, and Trey Cabbage each signed 1/1 and Bailey Ober 2/2 from Cedar Rapids. For Beloit, Austin Beck signed 1/2, and Lazaro Armenteros signed 3/5.

We didn't see Akil Baddoo, and missed Blayne Enlow, but Larry offered to help us out with Baddoo.

From there, it was a two-hour drive to Des Moines, and we arrived only 15 minutes after gates opened. Las Vegas was finishing up batting practice, but we weren't able to get anyone just yet.  Having zero luck early on the Iowa side, we went over to try the Vegas side and at least got Patrick Kivlehan on 4/4 and Bryce Brentz on 3/3-- putting me past my stated goal of 300 for the trip.

And this is when my trouble began.

Arron and I are down doing our thing, minding our own business, chatting with a couple other 'graphers when over comes this guy in an Iowa Hawkeyes shirt, 51s hat, and beard and glasses that make him look like some hipster candyass.

"SO, WHICH OF YOU ARE VEGAS FANS? METS FANS? THEN YOU NEED TO GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE RIGHT NOW."

Clearly I don't take well to that, so I just look and scoff at his arrogant douchebaggery. So he doubles down...

"YOU A METS FAN? I DON'T SEE IT ON YOUR HAT. YOU'RE SOME BANDWAGON CUBS FAN AREN'T YOU?"

Oh. Hell. No. I don't bandwagon anything, much less the Cubs. So I told him to go sit back down. Repeatedly

"SO, WHAT, YOU'RE HERE TO GET THESE AND SELL THEM, AREN'T YOU?"

I told him yeah, exactly, I'm that desperate for a dollar. Sarcasm clearly doesn't go over well with him. Meanwhile Jeremy Accardo came over and signed 2/2, followed by Dominic Smith on 1/2. So Mets Fan Cockwagon goes and sits back down for a bit, telling everyone around that I'm a dealer. On my way back out of the section, I called him out for the fact that it's amazing that this "bandwagon Cubs fan" knew all of his team's players better than he did.

By the way, this dude was getting a computer-printed team logo sheet signed... and didn't even fit it onto a single page.

So he strikes back at me-- of course-- this time loudly dropping F-Bombs that are echoing throughout a couple of sections, with a kid right next to him. When I pointed that out he expressed the fact that he "didn't give a fuck" who was around. Meanwhile one of the other decent 'graphers notified security, who... did absolutely nothing except check his ticket and tell him to tone it back. I was hoping he'd be escorted out and I probably would try to needle him into punching me on the way by.

Even two Mets fans at the top of the section were on my wide in the whole thing seeing it all go down. Most Mets fans I know are decent people. No idea why this guy was looking for a fight or why he went after me for it, but as the former penalty minute leader of a few floorball leagues, I think most people I know are well aware I don't back down from an altercation if I'm in the right. And every witness agreed that I was.

Postgame went better. One of the 'graphers who saw it all go down said "Geez, you're really getting it tonight, aren't you?" He said he had never seen that guy before, so he wasn't remotely representative of the Des Moines 'graphers. Over at the bullpen, I got Casey Coleman on 2/2 and as the teams left the field it was Peter Alonso on 2/3 and Glenn Abbott on 3/3 as he was heading off the field.  Closer to the dugout I added Ryan Court on 1/1.

Outside it was too dark to see at the Vegas doors, so we went for the Cubs side. I got Chesny Young on 1/1, Dillon Maples on 1/2, Cory Mazzoni on 2/2, Kyle Ryan on 2/2, James Norwood on 1/2, and Rob Zastryzny on 1/4. The coaches came out last, as Marty Pevey signed 1/1 and Desi Wilson 3/3.  Or at least we thought they were last:  Stephen Bruno was close behind, signing 2/2.

So, despite the near-throwdown with some total asshat, it was good. Day 12 will consist of hopefully more of the same, but with different names and hopefully no throwing of hands.

RUNNING TOTAL: 326 autographs