Taking caffeinated photos of the Mets score

The latest poll results are in. And they express very little confidence in the future father of Baby Hanley. It's a terrible shame, really.

Nearly three quarters of you, the voting public, believe Matt will take too many pictures (probably true), get in trouble for checking the Mets score (definitely true) and drink 33 Diet Cokes in 33 minutes (not even a personal record).
And almost half of you, the voting public, believe Matt will be unconscious at some point during Baby Day. That may be related the 28 percent of you, the voting public, who believe Matt will try to deliver Baby Hanley himself. Not a good idea.
Finally, a quarter of you said Matt will drive to the wrong hospital. Well, what do you, the voting public, expect when he's hopped up on Diet Cokes, trying to take pictures while unconscious?

On Baby Day, Matt will..
try to deliver the baby himself. - 28 percent
get in trouble for taking too many pictures. - 71 percent
pass out. - 42 percent
get in trouble for checking the Mets score. - 71 percent
drive to the wrong hospital. - 28 percent
drink 33 Diet Cokes in 33 minutes. - 71 percent

A visit to Citi Field

A few weeks back, Matt and his dad got a chance to go out to New York to see some golf, some baseball and some family.
The Men watched the U.S. Open, which was played at Bethpage Black, a very difficult course. (And one that Matt's Dad has played while growing up on Long Island.) The Men had been to the U.S. Open at Bethpage in 2002. That was a great tournament -Tiger edged Phil. This year didn't have a brand name winner and it had plenty of rain, but it wasn't any less fun. The Men saw all the big golfers and saw them up close. Plus, there was random sightings of Rudy Guliani (walking with Phil) and former Mets catcher Gary Carter (watching golf, oddly enough).
The Men also had a chance to check out the Mets new ballpark, Citi Field for a game against The Rays. The park opened this year, replacing that overgrown behemoth, Shea Stadium.
The outside of Citi Field is supposed to resemble Ebbets Field, the former home of the Brooklyn Dodgers. The centerpiece is the Jackie Robinson rotunda, which lines up behind home plate. The rotunda includes video and images from Robinson's career and a huge blue No. 42 that you can get your picture with. The space was impressive although the meanings were a bit jumbled. The area seemed designed to invoke storytelling. And, if you know the stories, that's great. Sadly, Matt didn't get a very good picture of the rotunda.

As for the stadium itself, Citi Field is huge and beautiful. Players are complaining about the dimensions and understandably so. The Men saw David Wright launch a ball - for a double. But the park itself is stunning. It's similar to Coors Field, with sightlines from every part of the ballpark. You can watch the game while standing in line for your hot dog. And, the Mets let you walk around in - or look into - every level of the park, rather than forcing you into your ticketed seats (like the White Sox do to upper deckers). Even sitting in the upper deck, The Men had a great view.

The food was average for baseball food and the prices weren't outrageous. The staff there was exceptionally friendly, which goes against some of New York's reputation. And all of the items in the gift shop came out to even dollar amounts so the lines moved faster, which was sort of ingenious.

The only downsides to Citi Field was the surprising lack of baseball history in the stadium. There was very little to commemorate the Mets' two World Series championships, and no team artifacts or tributes to the great Mets. Matt had the feeling those will be added in the future, during special events. (Tom Seaver Day!)

The Mets were generous about keeping the stadium open, even after a night game so The Men got to walk down behind home plate and visit the Big, Big Apple. The Apple used to emerge from the ground of Shea when Mets' players homered, and it has been transported to Citi Field where you can take a picture with it. After that, Matt got to run the bases of Shea Stadium, which are marked in the parking lot.

Overall, a nice park and only going to get better.

So, Matt's baseball stadium total remains at 12, because Matt's goal is to visit the stadium of every team, not every stadium ever. (Matt's dad has been to many more, including a bunch of retired stadiums.

Here's Matt's ratings of the fields he's visited:
First tier: Fenway Park (Boston Red Sox), Camden Yards (Baltimore Orioles) and PNC Park (Pittsburgh Pirates)
Second tier, and close behind: Busch Stadium (St. Louis Cardinals), Comerica Park (Detroit Tigers), Wrigley Field (Chicago Cubs)
Third tier, still close behind: Coors Field (Colorado Rockies), Miller Park (Milwaukee Brewers), Citi Field (Mets)
Fourth tier and further back: Shea Stadium (New York Mets), U.S. Cellular Field (Chicago White Sox), Yankee Stadium (New York Stinkees)
Fifth and this is a bad stadium: Metrodome (Minnesota Twins).
You can read ESPN Page 2's else review of all these stadiums right here.

Lynne and Matt plan to add two new stadiums to the list this weekend, so reports will be posted here soon!

Honeymoon Adventures IIX: A little perspective

The entire honeymoon in Peru was wonderful and memorable. But two days were truly unforgettable.
The first was Wednesday, July 23, the day Lynne and Matt visited the Shantytown. It was both humbling and inspiring. When people heard Lynne and Matt were going to Peru, there was always a few raised eyebrows. People had heard about Macchu Picchu, maybe Shining Path. To most people, Peru seemed like an odd choice for a honeymoon. Not very relaxing and not really romantic.
Wednesday was the kind of the day they were talking about: the group took a bus to the poorest part of Lima, the capital city in Peru. Not normal honeymoon behavior. And yet, it was one of the more rewarding experiences of Lynne and Matt's lives.
The day began at 7:30 a.m. when the new tour guide, Jose, took everyone to the fishing village along the ocean. Here, the absolute most poor fisherman head out to the ocean everyday, competing with pelicans for a bit to eat and bit to sell. Some of the fisherman snacked on their bait - small bugs that looked like grubs - rather than eat lunch during the day. Watching the fisherman try to eke out a living, Lynne and Matt felt the first twinges of voyeurism. Some people were friendly, willing to pose for pictures. Others shooed intruders away, or turned their backs on the Americans.
The people in the small fish market knew we weren't going to buy any fish, so they didn't much like us hanging around there. Although the tour group gave them a tip - and some of the fisherman were very friendly - Lynne and Matt couldn't help but feel a bit imperialistic, dropping in to see how the other half lives.
Near the fishing was a traditional market where everything from fresh fruit to soap to underwear was sold in a maze of tiny booths that were virtually indistinguishable from each other. Half of the market was closed because - just like in the U.S. - a megamart down the street had undercut their prices and was much more convenient for shoppers. Although this scenario plays itself out in the U.S. all the time, you had to wonder what will happen to these fisherman and small merchants, who have absolutely no education or skills to fall back on.
Then, the group headed to a sad and marvelous place: Santa Rosa, a huge shanty town on the edge of Lima. The residents had mostly come from the Andes Mountains where natural disaster, poverty, famine or lack of government support had driven them toward the city. These people essentially squat on the edges of a town, at the sides and base of huge hill. With no weather to worry about, they build their houses from cast off materials and garbage. Lynne and Matt saw roofs made from banners that had advertised sales in restaurants. Walls were made up abandoned scraps of wood. Row after row after row - hundreds of "homes" that were really just rooms that housed families of four, five or even six.
Shanty towns are very controversial in Peru. Even though most of Lima started as shanty towns, the established residents don't like the newcomers dirtying up the edges of their city. The shanty towns have been outlawed. Just a week before Lynne and Matt visited Santa Rosa, the government had come through with bulldozers, indiscriminately knocking over homes, crushing beds and school report cards. Miraculously, no one was hurt. A week later, the residents had simply put their homes back together. They were survivors.
The residents have banded together, reasoning that alone they are vulnerable and together they are a force. Even though many of them work the most menial jobs in Peru, they all donate a little of their paycheck to the group kitchen. There, for two soles (about 60 cents), they can eat a full dinner. If you can't pay two soles (because you have no work), you can clean dishes or cook and pay one sole. If you are physically unable to do that, you are sponsored by the other residents. After the bulldozing, the kitchen had saved up enough money to give free meals to the residents for eight days. The sense of community among these people - bond by poverty - is amazing.
The community has carved out a small, dirt soccer field. They hire one of the residents to serve as a "policeman", who is really more of a watchman, keeping an eye out for enterprising thieves and government trucks. (Few of the homes have locks, which are too expensive.) The roads are covered in large rocks the residents carried in an effort to flatten the ground, since they can't afford to pave the roads.
It's important to understand how poor these people are. One woman, Mirabel, invited us into her home. There was no plumbing, no sink, no toilet, no electricity. The home was one room, dirt floor. The roof was a tarp and the walls were reeds. The seven family members slept in two double beds. There were no dressers, because there was not multiple changes of clothes. Just a few items piled in a garbage pail. There was small table in the corner, which doubled as a workspace the crafts Mirabel made and sold.
On the wall, Mirabel had posted some artwork her children had done in school. All of her families money went to paying for her children's schooling so they could have professional jobs (like tour guides) someday. Mirabel started crying when told us about that because her last child had started school recently. It was the tears of someone who is overwhelmed by the idea that there may be hope for her family.
Lynne and Matt realized that standing there with their hiking boots on, wedding rings and digital cameras, they were carrying more wealth than this entire family had. But no one would take donations.
They encouraged everyone to buy the crafts the residents had made: hats, finger puppets, magnets, pins, bracelets. The children learned the crafts as a way to make money and learn a trade. The profits were split between the community pot and the creator. Lynne and Matt happily stocked up on all sorts of trinkets. It hardly seemed enough.
No, it wasn't romantic, but it was eye opening. The people were truly wonderful. They were generous when they had nothing and welcoming when they could have been ashamed. Lynne and Matt were acutely aware of how lucky they are. And while Lynne and Matt felt obtrusive, they never felt unwanted.
And there is proof that these shanty towns can survive and thrive. After Santa Rosa, the group went to Villa el Salvador, a "Stage 2" shanty town. the first squatters came in 1970 and lived in shacks. But they slowly fortified their own reed homes with bricks and wood. They built their own banks and paved their own roads. They started a thriving industry that supplies some of the nicest furniture to Peru at prices that were ridiculously cheap (dining room table and six chairs for $300). The community was still "poor" but it was clearly thriving, growing. And, the residents were nominated for the Nobel Prize for the community efforts.
It was an unforgettable visit, filled with despair, hope and perspective.
That night, after a spaghetti lunch in a Swiss restaurant, Lynne and Matt took a death defying cab ride to downtown Lima. Traffic lanes, signals and patterns were merely suggestions to this driver. Lynne and Matt visited the Inquisition Museum, which looked cool in the guide books but turned out to be a dud because everything was in heavy Spanish and none of the exhibits made much sense. But the pictures look pretty cool.
The entire group had sent their laundry down to a cleaners at our guide's suggestion and collecting all the right clothing was a challenge. ("If I come down wearing too long pants, you will know they are not mine," said one woman.) But everyone headed to bed, grateful for all they had and ready for a flight to Cusco the next day.

Day Eight Summary: Zero flights, zero boat trips and zero bus rides; one humbling visit to an amazing city; one dud Inquisition Museum.
Mustache: Glorious. The mustache was having it's best day yet. It was neither the thin creepy mustache yet, nor the vague not-yet-shaven experience. The mustache was truly in its element this day.
Weird foods eaten: Spaghetti at a Swiss restaurant in Peru is fairly odd
Coming next: Thin air and a famous stone

We are happy and blessed

One year ago...

...happily ever after.

Lynne is crying

On the day he proposed to the girl of his dreams, Matt cried.
This is nothing to be ashamed of. Strong men cry.
On the day he found out his wife was pregnant, Matt cried.
This is nothing to ashamed of. Happy men can shed tears.
When Kermit got hit by a car and couldn't remember his name, Matt cried.
Ok, that's a little awkward, actually.



But through all the things, Lynne did not cry. She did not weep. She did not shed a tear.
Lynne is a rock.
Until she got pregnant. Now, she is a fountain. A weeping, sobbing mess. A bluthering tear factory.
And anything can set it off.
Lynne, Matt and Leslie went to see Up. There's some pretty heavy stuff in there and plenty of people were sniffling, including Matt. But Lynne was sobbing for the entire movie. When the sad parts had ended, she thought about them again and just started crying. She turned Matt's coat into a big tissue rag.
Lynne almost had to pull over while listening to the country station while driving. She mists up at commercials. For cereal. She cried at a graduation speech for someone she never met.
It’s kind of neat, actually. Finally, Matt isn't the only one crying when they eliminate a team from the Amazing Race.

Least supporting actor: Man on Train Platform

Matt will post a very short review of Public Enemies later this week. For now, enjoy a pre-publication of a column Matt wrote about looking for himself in the movie.

For least supporting actor
By Matt
In case you hadn’t heard, a movie called Public Enemies opened this week. It’s hardly gotten any media coverage, so it should be noted here that parts of the John Dillinger biopic were filmed in Aurora and Chicago.
Allegedly, the movie stars Johnny Depp and Christian Bale. I saw Public Enemies when it opened Wednesday, but I have no way of knowing if these two fine actors made the final cut. I was too busy looking for the real star: me.
More than a year ago, I tried out to be an extra. Initially I thought I’d been rejected, but I ended up getting the call.
In May 2008, I spent two nights walking back and forth in Union Station and outside the Biograph Theater in Chicago . Most of the time I was so far away from the cameras, I never heard anyone yell “Action!” or “Cut!” and never had any idea what was going on.
It was like working security at the Super Bowl — great seats, but you’re facing the wrong way.
At some point, I did spot all the male leads: Bill Crudup passed me in Union Station, I glimpsed Johnny Depp at Biograph, and I actually walked past Christian Bale during a scene. If an extra tells you they don’t care about seeing the stars, or it doesn’t matter if they end up on camera, they’re terrible liars. That’s the only reason to do it.
That being said, an extra’s life isn’t glamorous. On set, we were never called “extras,” which would at least imply we were some kind of happy bonus. We were “background” — the mobile equivalent of a tree or a telephone.
It was a very strange, monotonous experience punctuated by moments of seeing something — or someone — exciting. So although I knew it would only last a split second, I was eager to look for myself. (Oddly, I can not find the same level of enthusiasm for locating myself every morning in the bathroom mirror.)
I thought there were two possibilities: I was in a large crowd of people waiting for a train to pull into Union Station. The odds weren’t good there. But, I had ended up very close to a scene where Bale is organizing FBI men outside the Biograph. I put the odds at 50-50 the back of my head might appear in that scene.
I had enlisted my family to assist in the hunt, although I was a bit discouraged when my mom left the theater, pointed to a picture and asked if that was the Public Enemies poster. It was an ad for the new Harry Potter film.
In the theater, I kept my eyes wide. (Think Clockwork Orange .) I’ve watched thousands of movies, but for the first time, I looked right past the stars. I found myself admiring the subtle work of Woman On Bench, Confused Bank Customer and Man with Hat. I was even jealous of Reporter Who Asks Dumb Question. (My real-life specialty.)
Soon enough, the credits were rolling without a glimpse of my ugly mug. Still, I enjoyed seeing how “my” scenes looked in a real movie.
As we walked out, my wife said: “I think I saw you.” Surely, she was joking.
“Were you wearing a brown coat?”
“Yes.”
“Were you wearing a tan hat?”
“Yes.”
“Were you holding a suitcase? And you were standing, like this, facing the train? And were there two guys behind you?”
Yes, yes, yes.
I couldn’t believe it.
I had missed me, even though I knew where to look. I had waited a year, then whiffed.
But I’m told Man on Train Platform was brilliant. Is there an Academy Award category for that?

At a theater near you

Well, the reviews are in and the critics have absolutely nothing bad to say about Matt's performance in Public Enemies.

- Roger Ebert of the Sun Times gives it 3-1/2 stars, in a review that doesn't match the enthusiasm of that rating.

"This is a very good film, with Depp and Bale performances of brutal clarity. I'm trying to understand why it is not quite a great film."

- Dan Gire of the Daily Herald says the movie hits the target.

"It's a great, iconic Chicago story, served up by a native Chicagoan with plenty of punch and panache, and a subdued performance by Johnny Depp."

- Michael Phillips of the Tribune gives the movie three stars, but a very mixed review. "Mann's direction is excellent; the script, hit and miss."

Matt is going to see his big debut at 8:20 p.m., with reviews to follow right here! He'll let you know if he spots Johnny Depp.