Corresponding with my recent trip up to Aberdeen, Maryland, the most recent Real Men Don’t Wear Small update features Ripken Stadium, home of the Aberdeen IronBirds, the short-season A-ball developmental team of the Baltimore Orioles. Translation: a level below the minor leagues, for really, really young draftees and teenagers to get a taste of what professional baseball is like.
A visit into D.C. for Safeway’s Barbecue Battle turns into a celebration of smoky meat and other delicious barbecue, and then me asserting my dominance over the lesser beings of the food chain, by participating in a Man v. Food Nation eating competition of eating hot wings against the clock.
And then Huzzard and I travel up to Aberdeen, Maryland, to visit the home of the Ripken Family Baseball Academy, as well as the short-season Aberdeen IronBirds developmental Orioles team.
Continue reading “Photos: D.C. Barbecue Battle, Aberdeen Baseball Heaven”
Headlining this recent batch of photo dumping is the wedding of my big gay brother getting married in a sham of a wedding that to those who know him, will not fool anyone in thinking he is anything other than a magnificent homo. Other dumps are of my recent baseball trips to Lynchburg and Richmond, Virginia, that fewer people will care about, so clicking the image goes directly to the wedding album.
Two new minor league ballparks were added to Real Men Don’t Wear Small. Actually, it’s one new ballpark, and one redux, since the ballpark known as the Diamond in Richmond, the former home of the AAA Richmond Braves, is now home to the AA Richmond Flying Squirrels. Yes seriously. And preceding that was a trip out to the sticks of Virginia, to where I could see the new A+ affiliates of the Braves, the Lynchburg Hillcats.
While at the beach for Andy’s bachelor party, we made a visit to BB&T Coastal Field, to catch a game between the current Myrtle Beach Pelicans, as they took on the former Myrtle Beach Pelicans, who now go by the Lynchburg Hillcats. But more importantly, we wanted to see and meet WWE Hall of Famer, Jerry “The King” Lawler. It was cool to meet the King, but I couldn’t shake the feeling in the back of my mind that it seemed like he didn’t really want to be there, and was more or less just there for the paid appearance.
But anyway, details behind rest of the bachelor party, as they should be, are more or less not really worth talking about. Lots of drinking, and a whole lot of goofy shit at the dime of the groomsmen who hope they don’t have to do this shit again for this fucking homo.
Continue reading “Photos: Jerry “The King” Lawler at Myrtle Beach Pelicans game”
Another Minor League park was added to Real Men Don’t Wear Small as I venture up to Charlotte, North Carolina, to visit Knights Stadium, home of the Chicago White Sox’s AAA Charlotte Knights as they hosted the Gwinnett Braves. Except the Charlotte Knights don’t actually play in Charlotte, or North Carolina for that matter, and instead play in Fort Mill, South Carolina.
I went up to Charlotte to go watch baseball, despite the fact that the team from Charlotte actually played in South Carolina. Either way, it didn’t stop me from taking a few hours to try and explore the city of Charlotte on my own, before realizing that since it was actually on Easter Sunday, every fucking thing was closed.
After finding a place that actually had a normal breakfast, and not some $100 champagne brunch, I walked around, only to discover the aforementioned closures of pretty much everything, and instead went straight to Fort Mill, South Carolina, where I enjoyed the park, and a pleasant Gwinnett Braves blowout victory, despite getting my arms, neck, and ears brutally sunburned.
CLT Charlotte/Douglas airport is one of the worst airports I’ve ever been to, from a TSA security checkpoint standpoint. Each terminal had like one agent doing check ins, and the lines just to get through security were absurdly long. Hopefully, I won’t have to fly in and out of there for a while now.
Continue reading “Photos: Charlotte/Fort Mill Baseball Day Trip”
