For the 3rd year in a row (and I’ve only lived here 3 years), I have attended Opening Day for the Memphis Redbirds, the Triple A affiliate for the St. Louis Cardinals. For 3 years I have sat in the front row behind homeplate. And for 3 years the stadium has not been close to being full – even though it was 70s degrees, Opening Day and the Redbirds are defending Conference Champions for the past two years. I expect Opening Day to be what I’m used to with the Baltimore Orioles – hard to get a ticket, crowded streets, sold out crowds, people take off work and arrive hours before the first pitch. It’s not like that here in Memphis for the Redbirds.

I arrived at Autozone Park about a half hour before the start of the game, and it was empty. By the time the game started, the stadium was about half full. And by the second inning, it was about 3/4 full, which I guess isn’t so bad. Just not what I expect for Opening Day. And I have to say that starting a game at 7pm and calling it Opening Day is just wrong – it’s Opening Night. Regardless, it was a perfect night for baseball. It was 70 degrees and just beautiful out! So great to be outside watching baseball. There is really nothing like that feeling of being outside on a beautiful spring night watching baseball.

The Redbirds have a B. Anderson who is left handed, but he is no Brady Anderson. He is Bryan Anderson, a catcher – and looks nothing like my Brady. The Redbirds also have a Robinson, who is number 5, but is no Brooks – he is Shane Robinson, an outfielder. It was a slow game – took 2 hours to play 5 innings. The game ended just before 11pm (4 hours!). Unfortunately, the Redbirds lost to the Redhawks of Oklahoma City 8-7.

Please watch the short video of my night at Opening Day http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fayFoYA4YPI