A long and fun day

What a long and fun day.
Between a fruitless wait in an attempt to attend US Senator Ben Cardin's Health Care forum,a fun doubleheader at the Muni between the Suns and the visiting Rome Braves,the "Superfan" comparing a player in the game (sorry not naming the player) in looks to Bozo the Clown and coming home to watch a replay of a great game between the Giants and Dodgers,this was one terrific day.
The only downside is that I missed the Pirates game in Colorado due to the length of the Doubleheader and it doesn't seem like I missed much in a 8-0 Rockies rout.

We arrived at the Kepler Theater on the campus of Hagerstown Community College around 11;30 and hoped to get into the door as we settled into the line.
At various times,we saw HCC employees checking the crowd to try to see where the limit for the line would be when the theatre reached its capacity,we appeared to be about 20 people or so ahead of the expected cutoff.
After standing in the line for 90 minutes,that we spent talking to some very nice people in the line that disagreed with us on some things but shared an enjoyable conversation,we were unable to to enter as the cutoff turned out to be about 15-20 people ahead of us.
It appeared that the difference was basically the dignitaries that had to see and be seen were not accounted for by the counters.
I would wager that between 200-300 people behind us also didn't get entrance.
I thought most people were civil although there were exceptions from the Lyndon LaRouche fringe that showed the President with an Adolf Hitler mustache and there were always the confrontations from fringe believers from both ends of the spectrum left and right.
Many news channels were there to televise some parts of the proceedings and there were the usual parades of grandstanders throughout looking to gain attention for themselves.
The left was a little more subdued,but the left always seems to feature these Woodstock looking rejects that appear to be little more than advertising for being way out hippies.
The right has people that look more mainstream and then blow that away with ridiculous signs like the aforementioned Hitler poster.
This whole thing could have avoided,if someone at HCC had thought about perhaps using the HCC Arena which would have held the entire crowd with room to spare.
However,people underestimated the turnout,but the issue in going to the arena could have one of lack of security and if that was the case then I can see why that was not able to be used.
Check out our friends over at Bag of Health and Politics from their viewpoint and from someone that was able to actually get inside and watch the presentation.

The Braves-Suns doubleheader featured wild chat,political discussion,two good games (Rome swept both) and a lot of autographs from visiting Braves.
The BOHP blogger was there and willing to swap debate with the Old Dominion "Superfan" David Sloan,who appeared without blue face paint and cape for the evening.
"Doug Hopkins" attended the game and enjoyed spirited discussion with the Superfan on topics ranging from autographs,religion and the Superfan's views on pornography.
I was able to get most of the Rome top prospects as second baseman Joel Campusuano,outfielder Luis Sumoza and pitcher Julio Teheran all signed among others.

But the best part of the night was seeing Rome pitcher Mike Mehlich,who you may remember for signing for me in Frederick after taking the time to stop and sign for me there and put down a tray of food to do so.
I mentioned this as Mike signed for others and he asked "did you write about that on the internet" and after I said that was me,his reply was that his mom saw the post.
So,Mike's Mom if you are reading this one,thanks for stopping by!
Later between games,I told Mike even though I have nothing left for you to sign,you are still my favorite here.
Mike was the winning pitcher of Game two in relief and tossed me a foul ball late in the game.
Looks like we have another entry in the player list that we follow here at the blog!

After returning home,I watched the replay of the Giants-Dodgers game that I started watching before going to the Suns-Braves game.
I was able to pick up where I left off and watched a game that featured a near brawl,the Giants losing manager Bruce Bochy to ejection and his replacement Ron Wotus to the same fate later in the game,some awful umpiring that forced the game to extra innings (costing Tim Lincecum a win) and a walk off game winning homer by Juan Uribe in a 4-2 10 inning Giant win.
Great game and a great day!

I hope to be back tomorrow with another feature and some misc. notes before tomorrow's return to work!

Photo Credits
Bozo:Unknown
Mehlich:MiLB.com
Giants-Dodgers:Ben Margot-AP Photo