salliek76

I understand that, but the sign was not in many languages, only English. Same goes for pics of other stores I could find in the same complex. When I visited Russia (this was 20 plus years ago, so things may have changed) there were a few people who spoke basic English, but it's definitely not like Western Europe where you can expect to find English speakers fairly easily. It was not at all common to see signage in the Roman alphabet, especially exclusively. I had a very basic ability with the Cyrillic alphabet, but otherwise I would have been totally lost.

I've got lots of family in Knoxville and have been to many games at Neyland (vs. LSU only once I think, but lots of other conference games).

You'll be fine in terms of finding tickets; considering their lackluster record, I'd be surprised if you even have to pay face value.

Tailgating there is much different from LSU; you're going to be in a business's parking lot or a sidewalk on The Strip. I prefer the green space of LSU, but their campus is much different from ours.

Important note: OPEN CONTAINER TICKETS ARE HANDED OUT LIKE CANDY. This is pretty easy to avoid by just pouring your drink into a cup, but seriously, I've seen it happen dozens of times to fans of all ages, home or visitors. I'd say they tolerate liveliness, even rowdiness, from visiting fans, but when it crosses over into plain assholery you're looking for trouble.

Have fun and Geaux Tigers!

I agree with your interpretation, but this rule is entirely too harsh. Two outs and loss of run is literally the harshest penalty I can think of, definitely in baseball, but in any other sport either.

What would happen if the runner slid into 3rd at the start of a 6-5-4-3 triple play. Is everybody out?

Shades is a good spot, but IMO there's no reason to go that far east unless you just want to for some reason. Traffic at the 395 intersection has gotten to be a huge PITA even in the off-season, so IMO if you can stay on the west side of Seaside it will be much less hassle.

If you have kids with you, The Hub (in Prominence, just east of Watersound Beach) will be the best spot for watching the Alabama-Tennessee game, and I'm sure they'll have the LSU game on smaller screens. I like that place b/c it's set up kind of like a big outdoor food court with a big grassy area where the kids can't really escape.

Not quite as kid-friendly, Local Catch and McTighe's (both in Blue Mountain Beach) or Hurricane Oyster Bar in Grayton Beach are all good setups and reasonably affordable, at least by 30A standards.

Beef O'Brady's in Sandestin closed down, and AFAIK there hasn't been a good replacement spot in Sandestin for watching sports.

Source: I live and work on 30A.

Trust me, it's better in your imagination. :lol:

Sounds like a cool experience. Be sure to post pics here later!

Local here. My recommendation is The Hub, which is a new-ish place that's part of Prominence, just east of the main entrance to Watersound. It's set up kind of like an outdoor food court with a big (artificial) grass area in the middle, so if you've got kids they can go run around and stay out of the way where you can still keep an eye on them. Big projection screens for the ballgames. Bear in mind that you most likely won't be able to hear the game, so if that's important I'd pick somewhere else.

Other than that, the suggestions others have made are good too--Acme Ice House in Seacrest is owned by a colleague's husband, and they have delicious cheese grits, but like most everything on 30A it can be pricey. If you're looking to be a little less yuppie-fied than the Seaside/Rosemary crowd, I recommend McTighe's or Local Catch, both in Blue Mountain Beach.

There's a part in the book Huck Finn where Jim the slave has escaped, and Huck is supposed to be praying for him to be caught, but after trying for a few minutes, he finally concludes that "You can't pray a lie."

Similarly, you can't pull a lie. There's no way to pull for a team if your heart is telling you otherwise.

Honest question: would it make sense for you to use a wheelchair for the game and get one of the handicapped seats? (Not sure if you have to buy those seats in advance or if you can somehow trade your current tix for them, maybe through the ticket office in advance?) I'm assuming you already have a temporary handicapped placard for parking; if not, your doc will hook you up with whatever you need to show the ticket office.

If you think you're physically up to it, go for it, but be realistic. I know that when I had knee surgery a few years back, the things that were the biggest pain in the arse were things that required me to be in a small-ish space where I couldn't stretch my leg out in front of me. Since you're forced to sit with your leg straight you are going to physically take up a lot of space, which always made me feel a little awkward. (Plus I was always worried about people tripping over me and hurting my knee, especially when surrounded by drunks.)

I think he was doing the Chinese Bandits afterward. Did anybody else see that?

Bho, since you seem to have the most expertise on this, help me think through my logic here and tell me if this makes sense.

Scenario 1--Infield fly rule IS invoked
Result by rule--Batter-runner is out, runners on first and second may choose to advance under ordinary fly ball rules (i.e., they must tag up if the ball is caught, but they are not forced to advance because the batter-runner has been called out)

Scenario 2--Infield fly rule IS NOT invoked
Result by rule--Batter-runner is only out if the ball is caught; runners on first and second must advance if ball is not caught; if ball is caught they may advance after tagging up.

The infield fly rule is not about the batter-runner. It exists to protect the baserunners from an intentional drop resulting in a double-play. I agree that the rule shouldn't have been invoked in this scenario, but here's where I'm unsure. Since the baserunners advanced safely, the only "damages" to the Braves were the out/loss of baserunner of the batter-runner. Even though that is obviously important, it is irrelevant to the spirit/purpose of the infield fly rule.

The other nagging question in my mind is whether the umpire's signal is what caused the ball to be dropped to begin with (each fielder thought the umpire's voice was the other fielder calling him off), in which case the late call actually helped the Braves (since the runners would not have been able to advance without tagging had the catch been made).

Obviously one out/bases loaded is a much different scenario than two outs/two baserunners, but you can't assume that the subsequent at-bats would have played out the same way without the delay, open base, etc.

So the question of whether the Braves were actually harmed really comes down to whether the catch would have been made without the umpire's intervention. The SS especially seems to react as though he thinks he's being called off by the outfielder, but I really can't say for sure. I definitely don't think the SS would've caught it using the "ordinary effort" required by the rule, but in my opinion the call, strangely, actually benefited the Braves. What do you think?