Great American Ballpark (Cincinnati Reds)

Cincinnati Pictures

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Pictures

Ballpark Assessment

Category Score (0 to 10)					TOTAL (0 to 50)
Location	Atmosphere	Food	Exterior Architecture	Interior Architecture
7	6	7	7	6	33

"America's Greatest Ballpark" didn't quite live up to it's title although there were some good aspects of the stadium.  It faced the Ohio River and the great state of Kentucky, which provided a mildly picturesque view throughout the game.  I was impressed with the main entranceway into the stadium, which featured a fresh market that served healthy sandwiches, salads, sushi and fruit.  You could also get some locally brewed beer there as well.

Game Comments (courtesy of MLB.com)

Game Date: May 26, 2010

Attendance: 18,137

Weather: 81 degrees F, partly cloudy

Length of Game: 2 hours, 54 minutes

Final Score: Cincinnati Reds 4, Pittsburgh Pirates 0

Bronson Arroyo retired the first 11 Bucs hitters and earned his fifth win by allowing just five hits over 7 2/3 scoreless frames. Miguel Cairo and Chris Heisey each hit homers and Orlando Cabrera added two RBIs.

Stories from the Road

The morning of the Cincinnati game, my brother and I had planned on grabbing breakfast in the hotel.  To my chagrin, the hotel didn't offer a complimentary breakfast, but instead offered a breakfast that you had to purchase.  I didn't know that Courtyard Marriott's like that existed.

Before heading to Cincinnati from Cleveland, Dave and I stopped off at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for a few hours.  The R&R HoF was in a very picturesque location, right on Lake Erie.  The building itself looked very reminiscent of the Louvre in Paris.  After walking through much of the building (passing by retro cars, guitars and costumes drove, played and worn, respectively, by a rocker at some point in history), it quickly became apparent that the R&R HoF was less about the inductees and more about those cool cars, guitars and costumes. They did have a rolling 1 hour long video which profiled all of the inductees by year of induction.  The video felt very much like a VH1 70s and 80s greatest music special.  Where is Dave Matthews Band?  Where is Green Day?  U2 was inducted and they are still playing.  I'm sure my parents would appreciate it much more than I did.