Maria met my parents this past weekend, and it seemed to go well. Everybody liked each other, and I got to have two long days with Maria and it was very nice. We also attended a Kansas City T-Bones game, something my family first experienced on the Fourth of July LAST year. This is baseball at its most... corporate-sponsored. Okay, it's a lot of fun and every seat in the house is close to the field and the food is great (much better than at the Royals games), but dude. Everything is sponsored, and the announcer is always there to declare said sponsorships. Not only do you get little games and commercials in-between every single half-inning, but if a foul ball flies over the roof, that foul ball is sponsored by somebody (an auto glass company, in reference to the idea that the ball could break a windshield). A double play? It's sponsored. It becomes comedic rapidly. Maria and I began writing our own imaginary sponsorships. "Ooh, that line drive seems to have knocked a behind the first-base dugout woman out cold. Her concussion and possible brain trauma is brought to you by KCDocs.com, the complete physician directory of Kansas City." And so on.

For all these reasons and more, I prefer going to T-Bones games over Royals games. It's a small venue that's more personal, cleaner and just more fun. Plus they won the game 9-4, courtesy of an awesome grand slam. And then there were fireworks, so good times were had by all.