Off To Toledo For Me

Mud Hen Heaven

Here's hoping you didn't jump to conclusions (or maybe that you did) upon reading the title of this post. Just to clear things up, I am not moving to Toledo to handle the academic struggles of athletes there. Just because OUR head coach and staff just left for there at double their current salary doesn't mean I get to go. Besides, doubling my current salary for toiling in academia would put me barely above the minimum for poverty income! But that doesn't mean I don't want to go to Toledo...I do; and here's why: baseball season.
If you're old enough to remember M*A*S*H, you'll remember Corporal Klinger was from Toledo and a huge Mud Hens (the minor league baseball franchise there) fan. The Mud hens are to that part of the country as the St. Paul Saints or the DePere Legion teams are to this area. However, typical of the minors, there's always a new gimmick, and lately it's been food. No doubt beginning in the low minors was the all-you-can-et-before-the-7th-inning seat gastrointestinal deluge, but that's moved uptown to the majors, necessitating new and different food promotions. Remember the deep fried burger made from a Krispy Kreme doughnut of a couple of years ago? If not, spend this weekend searching past blogs...it's there, just about this time a couple of years ago. Anyway, this year, the MUd Hens even had a "new food" press conference to introduce delectable items on this summer's fare for ballpark food lovers; and many of them include a full-sized batting helmet--not as a souvenir, but as the DISH for the item! Popcorn or nachos in a helmet are all very fine, but line me up for the Fifth Third Fanatic Freeze: fifteen scoops of ice cream sundae nestled inside the batting helmet big enough to fit your head!
Supposedly feeding from one to eight people (in my case: one), the dairy delight sounds just too good to be true. While the $25 price tag might be a bit steep for some, let me remind you that game tickets are not pricey like in the majors.
I'm scanning the schedule as I write this to find out how I can get to Toledo this summer. My buddy Jeff used to make a summer occupation of touring minor league parks. I'll check with him.
I wonder if the helmet has holes in it for ventilation?