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| I still occasionally flick to a country and western station when the spirit moves me, and have to sniff heavily when I hear the story of the mother dying before her youngest son could get the rig home through the snow. But best by far are the more light hearted songs. For weeks now I've been hearing "I'd Like to See the Other Side of Your Butterfly Tattoo", which contains the immortal line "and I'd like to check you for ticks". But this is about to be replaced in my affections by this morning's new songs, "Tequila Makes Her Clothes Fall Off." Again my hotel has no broadband, so I head for Little Rock to see if I can find any there. Unfortunately the Starbucks is brand new, and hasn't had it fitted yet. So I arrive at the ballpark ridiculously early, and find a beautiful new stadium sitting on the north bank of the river. I park up and stroll through the park and over the bridge towards downtown. My only knowledge of Little Rock is that the Clintons come from here, and, back in the 50s, it was where a high court ruling insisted that a black American should be admitted to an all white university. The grainy black and white footage of the time suggests it wasn't a nice place to be, but this afternoon it's open and attractive. But also very hot, so I wander back across the bridge in search of shade in the park. Arriving at the stadium, I notice that start time is 6.30. I was expecting 7.10, so in I go for a look around the stadium. Full marks to the architect, especially as the right field bleachers incorporate a beer garden, which stocks the locally brewed Diamond Bear Pale Ale. Game time, and the home team, the Arkansas Travelers (that's how they spell it), jump out to a 3-0 lead, holding on to win 3-1. In the sixth, the announcer informs us that, since this is a double header, the game will last only seven innings. Now a double header is when two games are played on the same day, usually to make up a game that has been rained off, so I assume that the first game took place earlier, and feel slightly cheated. After the seventh, as the game ends, we are informed that the second game will start in thirty minutes, so I haven't been cheated after all. During the interval, the children in the ground are invited onto the field to run the bases, and chaos ensues. Obviously the phrase "once and once only" is not taught in local schools. Early in the second game there are a couple of thunder claps, and the group behind me, whose entire conversation has been written by Tennessee Williams, decide to leave, as they don't want to get wet. We are then treated to an impressive display of lightning over the city skyline, but no rain. This game is the inverse of the first, with the away team, the Tulsa Drillers, taking an early lead. Tomorrow I will be travelling to Oklahoma, and the away team will become the home team, so at the moment I am, actually, 24 hours from Tulsa. Mind you, I don't think when he "stopped to rest for the night" he was in Little Rock, or else he would probably have kept going, and then Gene Pitney would have had nothing to sing about. So I wonder where he was? Back to the game – and as it is again only seven innings, and we didn't bother in the first game, we have a fifth inning stretch, which could be considered a twelfth inning stretch. The announcer is obviously a big fan of the late Harry Caray, as he opens the window of the booth and leads the crowd in singing "Take Me Out to the Ball Game", without accompaniment. The home team fight their way back into the game, and after seven innings, the score is 4-4. So we go to extra innings and the away team wins it 5-4 in the eighth. Honours even, we could all have stayed at home – the game finishes at 11.45!! |
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