"maybe you should shave those sideburns and put them where your bald spot is..."

Last night I had the awesome privilege of going to a minor league baseball game. The Cubs own a AA Affiliate in Sevierville called the Smokies. Minor league baseball is almost nothing like the majors. The players still play hard, so that was fun. But the fans could care less, with the exception of the drunk ones. So that's where our title comes in. There were 3 guys sitting like 5 rows in front of us who, over the course of the game, got completely smashed. We brought a bunch of the Ranch kids and they said by the end of the game, the guys had each downed at least 5 beers. Somewhere around the 4th inning, the guys stood up and starting yelling in their drunken slur, "Let's go Smokies, let's go." And so on and so forth. The third baseman for the other team, the Huntsville Stars, was getting pretty annoyed with them, following their cheers after another incident [which I'll fill in momentarily], and at one point, while the fans are yelling and the Stars are up to bat, Mat Gamel turns around and says to one of the guys, "Maybe you should shave those sideburns and put them where your baldspot is." Talk about a little slice of humble pie. It was pretty hilarious. Sadly, it only quieted those guys down for all of 3 minutes. So the aforementioned incident... One of the Stars players had just gotten a hit and was heading towards 2nd base. The Smokies 2nd baseman got the ball and tagged the base, thinking that would get him out. The problem was, since it wasn't a double play, the guy was just making it to 2nd, you can't tag the base for a force-out, you have to tag the player, which he never did. The umpire called him safe [because he was] and 3 of the Smokies players erupted. They were all screaming right in the ump's face. Then the Smokies manager came out and started screaming at the ump, making a fool of himself because everyone who saw the play and understands baseball knew the ump was right. So the screaming match ensures until the Smokies manager decks the ump in the face, in which case 2 more umpires storm the scene, trying to get the manager to calm down. The players have realized at this point they don't want to be involved in the fight and back off. Eventually, another coach comes out to drag the manager off the field- it's a miracle he didn't get thrown out of the game. Yet another anomaly of the minors. This whole incident had the drunk guys all riled up and seeing as they were 3 rows behind the Stars' dugout, all the Stars' players were annoyed too. It was quite the experience. I probably should've been rooting for the Smokies, but between their Cubs affiliation and their manager's poor attitude, my vote was for the Stars [they're owned by the Brewers]. Overall, it was a pretty entertaining game, and the Stars won 7-3. Alright, time for lunch. Camp staff arrives today- I could definitely use your prayers. My life is about to get crazy.