Bonus Baseball

(Little Rock)- I had a terrific evening in Little Rock. There's a new minor league baseball stadium here, and it's just fabulous. It has the feel of a small version of the Ballpark in Arlington. It's situated so that it opens to a great skyline view. (Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock)
I had dinner at a relatively nice restaurant which is in the stadium and overlooks the concourse as well as the field. It's situated along the third-base line. The steak was great and my old friend Irv had Italian food, which he prononced fit.
A distant thunderstorm backlit the skyline and produced a comforting breeze for the double-header between the Arkansas Travelers and the Tulsa Drillers. All together, a wonderful way to spend a springtime Friday: Good friend, good food, good weather, good baseball. What more could you ask for?
All that being said, it made me yearn for what might have been back home. We lost our Texas League team several years ago and now we have independent baseball. We are told it's about the same caliber of play, but it's just not the same. Our ball park is more than 20 years old now. While the seats are comfortabe and the sight lines are good, the amenities just haven't kept up with the times. The location has become a problem, as well.
I found myself imagining what it would be like to have a new ball park across the river from downtown Shreveport, just north of the Louisiana Boardwalk. We could try to lure the Texas League back to town. We could do what Little Rock has done.
For now, though, I choose to celebrate the experience I had tonight. Good baseball can make you happy. (More shaky cell-phone photos)

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