With apologies to the Troggs...
Another Minor-ity Report

Tonight's adventure in minor league goofiness: The Washington (PA) Wild Things. Washington, my home town, got a Frontier League team this year, finally making it the minor league town I always thought it could be. Tonight, Doug and I took in a game, after having been unable to make it in to the July 5th, though the first 90 minutes were spent in a rain delay. The Wild Things are surprisingly rich in coaching support as the pitching coach was Pirate legend and human pencil, Kent Tekulve, and the hitting coach was Indians legend Joe Charbonneau. It was surprisingly good and relatively free of hokeyness, though I did catch two little bits of weirdness. First, the team honored one of its pitchers, who threw a no-hitter on Monday, with the announcer asking us to recognize "this prehistoric event in Washington Wild Things history". Apparently history hasn't begun for them yet. The other odd thing is the logo and the mascot. The logo is definitely some sort of feline, but the mascot has a bear head. However, in both cases, it wears sunglasses. Somehow something called a wild thing should be a little too feral to wear Ray-Bans.

Other key facts: Actually got to see a delayed double steal of home and second in action from the perfect angle. (viewing down the 1st-2nd base line) What races in Washington? Dudes in giant rubber racehorse costumes. Minor league food cost comparison: Chili Dog, Onion Rings, Pepsi, $2 each. The guy manning the sound board had too much fun. One guy named Simpson got a four second full-echo full-volume "DOH" on every strike he took. However, he did manage to lay down one of the harshest choices you could ever put on a guy for his introduction music: Dancing Queen by ABBA.