Hostylefax Albuquerque:
I’m in town on a special assignment, which is almost as fun to say as it is to do.
The highlight of Day 1 was being drafted into a media softball game between the local print and broadcast guys. I wore a hideous Hawaiian-shirt style uniform with a pitcher’s number on the back. I played Right Center and spent most of my time demeaning my own performance to my teammates and others. But I also got a hit (an opposite field bleeder that fell in to break a five-year softball drought) scored a run and caught a line drive (two-handed) in the field. This led to a joke that what I really do is travel the country and play as a ringer in media softball games. There’s probably not much of a living in that. Press Box meal: Chicken Cordon Bleu. Outstanding.
It is strange being back in Albuquerque. I was here three times during our time in Southeastern New Mexico when it really was the beacon of urban cool (a positive city on the hill when compared with Lubbock). It strikes me now that Dallas was probably just as close as ABQ, but it was just too Texas to mean much to me. Driving around town today, I was struck by a vague nostalgia that I believe is fairly specific to me: geography flashbacks. I’ll see a group of signs, or a street name or a freeway exit and I’ll be flooded with memories. Today I drove past the burrito place that Alice took us to in our first visit to town. I drove down University Ave. and was flooded with the happy memories I had of covering events at The Pit. I crossed Central (Rte. 66, I believe) and remembered driving all the way up and down the boulevard, all the way into the foothills of the mountains.
I also enjoyed my first look at the new baseball stadium. When I came to town for the state basketball championship in March 2003, I saw plenty of the outside of the building, which was as colorful as The Pit was forbidding. The designers took pretty much every opportunity they could to splash the place with color. That’s important, I think, in a town like Albuquerque, where so much of the landscape is brown and harsh. I thought the inside was even better. There’s just so much there in terms of interestingly shaped seating in the outfield. The sightlines are fantastic. It’s a really nice ballpark.
3 Comment(s):
- Posted by
at July 26, 2006 6:11 AM |
Permanent Link to this Comment - Posted by
Alice at July 27, 2006 1:41 PM |
Permanent Link to this Comment - Posted by Unknown at July 28, 2006 10:31 AM |
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RE: your use of the phrase, "amost as fun." Remember what happened to Florence Zeo for a similar locution." What's wrong with the word "much." It's a perfectly nice little word, comes in handy, especially when it could prevent an abomination. But I love the idea of a Proustian moment created by road signs. Trixie
When I was your guide to that beacon of exurban cool, I couldn't think of much else to show you and Anna besides Route 66. The inside of the Isotopes' stadium is really cool. Who were the other players in the media softball game?
There were some sportswriters from the Journal and one from the New Mexican, who I recognized from my days on the preps beat in town. I didn't know any of the broadcast guys.
The funny thing about being here is that I've styled myself as the resident New Mexico expert among the travel party. I've taught a bunch of people about the state question and have even dropped Nob Hill into a casual conversation. It turns out that I have really warm feelings about this city. I'll be writing more on that later.
