Keeping Up WIth the Smiths: Play Ball!

If you're not from the Birmingham area, you may not know who the Barons are. You also may not know that they got a new baseball stadium that opened this week. But they did.

Growing up in Birmingham you don't have many options of teams to root for. It's either Auburn or Alabama. That's it. There aren't any pro teams in the state. The closest you can get is to become a minor league fan and root for the Barons! Obviously, Britt and I {he more than I} are Braves fans. But it doesn't always fit into our schedule to drive to Atlanta for a Braves game. It also gets pretty pricey when we make a trip to Turner field.

So, this is where the Birmingham Barons new facility comes in. Prior to this year, the Barons have played in Hoover at the Hoover Met. It wasn't in a great location and it had no intimate feel to it. It's old and there was never a great crowd Britt and I were so excited when we heard the news of a new baseball stadium being built downtown. A new home for the Barons. We are huge advocates of reviving Birmingham's downtown area. We see this new facility as another spark to get the city moving in the right direction. We went to our first game at Regions Field on Friday night. It is a beautiful park with an intimate feel. It is located right cross the street from a local brewery, Good People Brewery, another great perk...business for the brewery and the Barons.

Before the game we went to Good People and Britt enjoyed the beer while I sipped some H2O.

We bought cheap tickets for all of $27.00 and had great seats behind home plate. We had bratwurst and and fries for dinner, then some peanuts for a snack. Who can go to a baseball game and not have any peanuts?! The crowd was great. It wasn't a sell-out, but it was mostly full. The only complaint we had was that the food and beer lines moved TOO slowly. I see it as a minor glitch that will have to be worked out. The employees are new and will have to learn to work a ~~little~~ lot faster to get people through the lines. All in all, we enjoyed our night cheering on the Barons and plan to go back several more times this season!