Yea, Spring Training has started!

In 2006, I was lucky enough to go to some spring training games in Florida with a very good friend. We're hoping to go back but just haven't been able to get it together. Maybe next year.

I took a lot of pictures during that trip. If I had been blogging then, I'd have had enough material for months worth of posts. I don't look at the photos much but I have my computer set up to pull stored images off the hard drive and show them as desktop backgrounds. This picture came up the other day. Click on any of the images to see a larger view.It's a game between the Astros and Phillies at the Phillies ball park. It shows a pop foul going into the front of the stands down along third base. Lets break it down. Here's the center of the photo.
You can't actually see the ball but it must be just in front of the Astro #86. Notice that there is no name on his shirt and the high number. He's not a guy who's expected to make the team. Why is there a guy in a Phillie's uniform with a glove there? I was there and I don't remember. Notice the big guy in the blue shirt. He looks like the only person in the front row prepared with a glove but his glove hand doesn't appear to be any where near where the ball must be coming down. And notice the girl on the right in the green and white striped top cringing away from the ball, much to the delight of the guy standing next to her. Hopefully that's her boyfriend or husband not just some creep. Here is the area to the left of the ball.
There's a woman with a glove but not making much of an effort. Next to her is another woman without a glove making a similar effort. You've got to stand up if you hope to catch a foul ball. There are two women between them and the ball looking like a dead fish has been tossed to them. And what about that guy near the back in the white shirt? Something else clearly has his attention. To the far right we have...
...a ball girl who looks like she's afraid she'll break a nail if she gets any closer to the action. What's with the guy in the second row with his hand on the hat of a guy in the front row? A little further to the right in the second row appears to be the Unabomber. And behind him is a another person engrossed with something other than a foul ball falling near her.
A little further back in the stands is this guy without a shirt. It was a pretty nice day in Florida for catching some rays. No need to spoil it by trying to catch a foul ball.
Finally, here are some people in the back rows of the shot. The guy standing up has a glove but he can only shout encouragement to the people down front. The guy to his right also has a glove. He's also wearing a Cardinals shirt. I'd criticize him but I wore a Phillies shirt to every game we went to, regardless of who was playing.