Mexican Family Fun Part one

At the old ballpark
January 2010
Mazatlan is an indigenous Indian name for “Land of the Deer”. Although a deer is not the most ferocious critter to ban an athletic team’s mascot, Venados (Spanish for deer) works for the Triple AAA and most popular professional team in this city. Every Venados baseball game is televised, yet the locals fill the stadium for most games because the experience of attending has so little to do with baseball. It is a happening place to be and to be seen.
Although the entertainment value of attending a Venados game transcends baseball, don’t be fooled into thinking that this isn’t baseball at a lofty level. Since the regular season takes place from October to late December, many major league players come down to Mexico to work on their game. Mexicans take pride in playing in front of their people, so this league attracts the best players Mexico has to offer. Adrian Gonzales who is a super star for the San Diego Padres has played for the Venados in past seasons. His brother has played for the past five years here. It is not uncommon for the biggest stars to all of a sudden appear on a roster during the playoffs.
Mazatlan’s Venados sets records for attendance each year. The popularity of the games isn’t solely due to the level of play. Sure many men attend the games with their compadres. Others bring their sons to their passion. So why do so many women and men who could care less about baseball buy tickets? For the women it is to be seen. The men in charge of the jumbotron mostly show outrageously attractive and well endowed women. There is some narration going on, but unfortunately, my espanol is not strong enough to share in the audience’s laughter. I want you to know that once a woman is on screen though, all coy, demure, and shy behavior disappears. They beam, often stand up, and sometimes move in ways a father doesn’t want to see his daughter move. I know friends of mine who raved about going to the game, yet couldn’t recollect one decisive moment of the game itself.
My first game this season I attended without my wife. David, my Canadian cohort, and his adult son, Craig joined me along the left field bleachers at the top of the stadium where we stood with our elbows on the wall and the only cool breeze to be found. Our cost of admission was $55 pesos or less than four dollars. Our beer man never wandered more than twenty feet from us. Cost of a beer $20 pesos or a dollar fifty. Has anyone been to a ballgame in the States lately to compare with those prices? I believe that a beer in AT&T Park goes for at least $8 gringo. Given the bargains we were enjoying left us a bit giddy. Watching the jumbotron without wives left us in a most jocular mood. Our banter would have impressed no woman I know. This was so much fun.
The fun wasn’t being had just by the men though. The Venados mascot is hilarious. He would be banned for some of his antics in the States, but this is Mexico. He attacked good looking women of film. In a game my son and wife attended the mascot ran in a full sprint when one woman on the complete other side of the stadium stood up and started to shake, rattle, and roll. The music became seductive. The mascot, deer antlers and all dove in for a kiss. He scores. The crowd went wild. He made a few more really inappropriate physical gyrations as the game descended into the evening’s trivia. Who won that game? Oh yeah that was the night we thought the game started at 8 instead of when it did start at 6. We caught an inning and a half, but that’s another story. Jake’s highlight of the night wasn’t the mascot, but that the beer man didn’t leave until the lights of the stadium went out. None of this capping the sells after the seventh inning takes place here.
Speaking of the seventh inning, Jaime, the kindest human being I have ever met, but a Mexican male, has a tradition that bears repeating. After the seventh inning, those in the cheapest seats like ours, can travel down to the center of the concession stands where the good food is sold. It is outside the stadium, but it has two mongo sized screens so you miss none of the game. Jaime doesn’t go there for the food though. If a man stands in the correct location, he can see jumbo screens and more importantly, all of the women as they make their way to the restrooms behind you. When I mentioned that women come to be seen, I meant that they wear clothes that beg a camera to zoom in on. When a Mexican woman decides to dress to impress, we are talking about tight pants, high heels (higher than I have ever seen any where), and a top that …well … a nice top.