Semi-long story here:

Friday, my buddy Jeff came into town. He was here to cover the races
that took place at the Kansas Speedway over the weekend. We decided to
go to the Royals game against the Angels Friday night. He has a friend
named Tim, originally from England who is becoming a big fan of
American sports and wanted to come along. He has lived here for 2 1/2
years in the Anaheim area, so he follows the Angels pretty regularly.

We get to the ballpark, it was absolutely perfect weather for a
ballgame. It was about 75 degrees at gametime and got cooler as the
game progressed. Tim has a pretty good grasp of the game for a guy who
is so new to it. That being said, there were some rules that were
confusing to him and it was interesting explaining some of the nuances
of the game - the infield fly rule and why a ball is foul if it starts
out in fair territory, then goes outside the lines.

The strangest thing to explain was something that tells the story of
why the Royals are in last place in their division and have one of the
worst records in baseball. The first batter to go to the plate was
David DeJesus. He promptly slaps a hit to left field - looks like a
good start for the home team. One slight problem: the leadoff batter
on the scorecard was Angel Berroa. What a friggin' mistake! I haven't
seen that since Little League. Anyway, the Angels manager points out
the mistake and Berroa is called out. DeJesus has to *go back* and hit
again. He hits it hard, right at the center fielder. There are now 2
outs, but only one man has been to the plate. Jeff & I had a bit of
trouble explaining that one because we weren't sure what happened
either. At first it looked like it might be an illegal bat, but when
they called Berroa out it made sense. Just bizarre, to say the least.

We ended up going to a local strip club afterwards, a place called
"The Show". Let me say, there were some *talented* young ladies there.
Really just drank beer and watched, but that was okay with me. One of
the dancers came over and sat on my knee, and was having a good little
chat with me when Tim chimed in. So much for talking to *me*. She
stayed perched on my knee, but she was talking to that Limey bastard. ;)
A couple of the girls there were totally digging his accent. We ended
up staying until closing time, which was 3 AM.

Tim was a pretty cool guy. Definitely would hang with him again. Hope our paths cross again someday.
I'm buying the first round.

Thanks for indulging me if you made it this far.....