DBAP/Durham—I arrived in downtown Durham tonight around 6:15 p.m. for the 7:05 first pitch to be thrown by the Bulls' ace right-hander Alex Cobb, against the Charlotte Knights in game two of a three-game series.
I parked near the intersection of W. Morgan St. and the Downtown Loop in one of the curb spots that are free with unlimited after 6 p.m. There are closer places to park for a game, but it was 70 degrees and sunny and I wanted the fifteen-minute stroll. It's not easy to stroll around the Downtown Loop (there are no sidewalks), so I hugged the parallel-parked cars along the curb for maybe a quarter of a mile, and then I took a right and walked down Blackwell St.
I made it all the way to the DBAP when I realized I'd left my Media Pass in the car. By then it was about 6:30 and I did not want to miss Cobb's first pitch. There was still plenty of time (I can walk faster than a stroll) but I can't afford any more mistakes. Rather than go back to the intersection of the Downtown Loop and Blackwell St. and take a left, returning the way I came, I save some time by cutting a diagonal path up and over the mound of three sets of railroad tracks running parallel in between the Downtown Loop and W. Pettigrew St. Walking along the tracks closest to the Downtown Loop, I noticed that they were no long in use — weeds were grown up over them, whereas the other two tracks are used regularly by Amtrak and other rail lines (you can see and hear them from your seat in the DBAP during every game). As I approached the point where I needed to leave the tracks and hoof it toward my car, I realized that these abandoned tracks disappeared into a small jungle of urban vegetation. I never noticed that. The Downtown Loop is one-way in the opposite direction and because the railroad bed is raised well above the roads on both sides of the tracks, there would be no way to see that site unless you were walking westward down the tracks. I'd never had a reason to do that, until tonight.
The first pitch was two minutes late due to the trotting out of a military flag regiment for the national anthem (most of the time we salute the flags flying beyond the outfield wall on permanent poles).
The game lasted two hours and forty-six minutes. Afterward, Bulls' manager Charlie Montoyo told the media that his son Tyson, who joined him for his routine post-game comments, had joked that little brother Alex had fallen asleep during the game because it was so boring.
The Bulls' offense was indeed nothing to write home about.