Legends Game and Gun Show

Last Tuesday we went as a group to an classic showdown between the Lexington Legends and the West Virginia Power. These two Single A baseball teams squared off in front of the nearly sell-out crowd of 237 people and played their hearts out. The game started off in the first inning with the announcement of 35 cent hot dogs. Many people fled their comfy stadium seats for the cheap wieners. I only had two because nickels were in high demand. I ended up giving my nickel to my roommate Josh so he could buy his third hotdog. Until the fifth inning, very little happened. Some kids spun around bats and raced. And a few runs may have been scored. The sun was also shining just right, making the ballpark the perfect place for a nap. But at the start of the fifth inning it was announced: "One Dollar Beer! Get it while it's cold!". This caused the majority of the other REU students and most of the crowd to once again leave their seats and open their wallets. Many came back holding three or even four dixie cups of the clear warm light yellow liquid. Somehow a cup ended up in front of me. It contained a mixture of beer, dippin dots, and pop. Needless to say, I didn't try any. The next bit of excitement was when the McDonald's girls started throwing things out to the crowd. I'll let you guess what they were passing out:

Figure 1. What they should have been throwing to the fans.

 T-shirts?. . .  No. . . . Baseballs?. . .  No . . . Hotdogs? . . . No . . . Souvenirs? . . .  I guess? . . . Lumps of coal?. . . You betcha! One of the lumps of coal sponsored by Friends of Coal landed in the middle of our group. There were many cries of "wtf?" and "what is that? I don't remember who took the coal home, or if it was just left in the bleachers. The final exciting moment in the game occurred when two kids squared off with inflatable ponies and raced. The ponies were very large compared to the boys and the ponies had no legs, which meant the boys had to bounce along, rather than run with it between their legs. It was rather comical when one of the boys face-planted because he was trying too hard to go fast. He ended up winning, but kept falling off his pony. In the sixth inning two kids took over for the announcer and believe it or not did a better job announcing. The seventh inning proved too much and we headed back to the dorms. It was such an intense match-up that none of us can recall the score or who won. 

Figure 2. What they were actually throwing to fans at the Legends game.

On Saturday we went to the Lexington gun show. I saw some pretty cool guns, including a number of AK-47s and some pretty cool tactical firearms. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take pictures at the gun show, so I don't have any cool shots. In addition to guns, they had a lot of knives. I checked out some pretty nifty switch blades, which were only $20. I also saw an authentic Nazi police helmet and some Nazi knives. If I knew more about gun and knife prices, I may have invested in something, but I wasn't going to take a gamble. The only thing that tempted me briefly was a stun flashlight. It's a high-powered LED flashlight with a stun tip. Apparently it takes over two hours for the effects to wear off. It was only $45 and I could use a new flashlight, but I decided it wasn't worth it. We also saw some very interesting people there, including one girl who was napping face-down on a rolling dolly inside one of the booths. It took us quite a while to notice her. That night we had fun playing sardines and capture the flag with some electrical engineering REU students, which capped off a pretty fun weekend.

Figure 3. AK-47s. Similar to some displays at the gun show. 

Image Sources:


Figure 1: http://lexington.milbstore.com/store_contents.cfm?store_id=19&dept_id=-1&product_id=7981

Figure 2: http://geraldmceachern.blogspot.com/2011/05/energy-you-put-in-is-energy-you-get-out.html

Figure 3: http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/11/ff_ak47/