Buy Me Some Peanuts & Saturated Fat

This last weekend, my cousin Celeste visited from Boston, the latest stop in her summer tour of following her beloved Red Sox. So, I was designated to attend last Sunday's game at U.S. Cellular Field against the Chicago White Sox, which meant I was viewing two teams that I cared nothing about, given my affliction of bleeding Cubbie Blue.

Not giving a hoot about the game's outcome had its advantages, however. I walked around the concourse behind the bleachers and graded the bathrooms, which were pretty nice comparitively to its counterpart, Wrigley Field's odiferous 'troughs-especially-for-men'.

And not having been to 'The Cell' in a couple years, I went to check out changes in food offerings since my last visit. Maybe they'd finally be catering to the latent healthy eater in your run-of-the-mill baseball fan. Hah! Yes, the scrumptious taste of Best's Kosher hot dogs are to die for, literally because they clock in at as much as 28 fat grams per wiener.

That's definitely your 'American instant gratification', but we aren't unique in this aspect. The stand that serves Mexican corn runs a close second, which serves up elotes, which are corn kernels in a cup, slathered with a mixture of liquid Parkay margarine, mayonnaise, chili powder & lime juice. As political talk show host John McLaughlin used to say, you had me and then you lost me.

When I got home, curiosity got the best of me. Is every baseball park like this, doling out express tickets for heart bypass surgery? I did find a great article in the New York Times archives that answers this question better than I ever could:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/08/travel/08baseball.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print

Read it, because other than items like the sushi tuna 'Ichiroll' at Seattle's Safeco Field, or the cedar plank salmon at the same place, there is a dearth of healthy choices at your average American ballyard. Sure, you have crab cakes in Baltimore, peppery clam chowder in San Francisco, or even Primanti Brothers in Pittsburgh that traditionally include French fries & cole slaw inside their sandwiches, but nothing good for the body like fresh mango or papaya---heck, I'd even take a bowl of fresh Michigan blueberries in Detroit.

And I thought being hit by a batted ball would be my biggest worry...

Later,

Jay