Sweet Home Runs, Chicago

What's wrong with this picture? Oh, right: you can't see the batter. He's behind the big metal girder. And in case you think you might just lean to the left: yes, they've stuck a camera on the girder at pitch height.
There are two baseball teams in Chicago, but we went to see the Cubs because Wrigley Field is supposed to be a classic stadium. And it is nice, if you have a seat with a view. I'm pretty annoyed that they didn't list these tickets as restricted view when I booked them. Cubs: for that reason you suck, to use the local terminology.
They play a *lot* of baseball here. We went on Thursday, the Cubs' third consecutive day in action against the Oakland A's (and they played against the LA Angels the next few days). It was an afternoon game, a lovely sunny day (not that we got much of the benefit underneath another stand) and Wrigley Field was full - a good effort for a 1:20pm game.
Despite the full house, it felt more like a day out than a sporting event. Apart from the occasional vocal A's fan, the crowd chatted amongst itself, and I didn't get the impression that anyone was watching every ball. Not that you can really see the pitches, they go so fast - if the batter hits it, the satisfying crack echoes around the ballpark and you generally have plenty of time to look up and locate the ball even if you weren't paying attention. The crowd is always getting up and wandering about, so to add insult to injury our aisle seats meant that we had to stand up a lot, and there were people standing in the aisle blocking our view more often that not - if not spectators, then the many food and drink vendors. Still, watching it live you do get a real sense of just how far a home run has to travel - a long way - and how easy it is to catch with a big glove on - high balls made to look easy, and a few impressive catches from fielders that initially looked too far from the hit.
The game meandered along, Cubs scoring first, A's getting two back, until the seventh inning, when the crowd suddenly got a bit interested and in between innings the whole park stood up and sung 'Take Me Out To The Ball Game'. The Cubs tied it up in the eighth and in the ninth, with bases loaded, the pitcher walked a batter and the Cubs won (a rare event, I am assured*), and the crowd was very happy. But not much of an atmosphere - a full house, a tight game, but a 10% full Maracana for a match that the teams were treating as a friendly had a better atmosphere.
* In fact I think their next two home games were lost 12-0 and won 12-1.
Not a bad afternoon out, but I would have enjoyed it more if I'd been able to see properly. Don't worry, though, Chicago is great! More soon.