Notes...

I keep forgetting stuff, so here's a couple of notes from yesterday and earlier this week:

1) The Sox no longer tear tickets; they scan the barcodes on them (as the Cubs do in the bleachers, but then they tear the stub off anyway) and then just give them back to you. This is the same thing I experienced in Baltimore and Toronto; I know they also do this in Cleveland and Detroit. This isn't a big deal, but it will kill the market for "unused tickets" for historic events, milestones, etc. in such ballparks because it's impossible to distinguish any more between an unused and a used ticket.

2) The park never did quite fill up yesterday; at game time it was only about half full (I suppose due to traffic jams) and there appeared to be about 3000-5000 unused seats, mostly in the upper deck. Since the Sox no longer allow you into the lower deck without a lower deck ticket, these must have been no-shows.

3) On the way home I spotted a Cadillac with the license plate "DE PAUL"... yes, sitting in the front seat was Coach Ray Meyer, who I must say looked great. Not sure of his exact age, but he must be near or maybe over 90. His son Joe, the former DePaul coach, was in the back seat.

4) On Wednesday, one of the ballhawks who try to catch BP home runs came up to us and showed us what the Brewers were using for BP balls -- 2002 All-Star baseballs. Gosh, and I thought the Cubs were cheap.