The Manda Celebrates July 4th

I love minor league baseball. LOVE.

There is nothing more entertaining than going to a minor league game at the local hometown stadium, which is what my dad and I did this evening to celebrate the 4th of July.

There was a dude there in a cow costume, promoting a local country music station, and that was the least weird thing I saw all evening. Not sure what it would take to get me in a cow costume on a humid Carolina night, but hey, times is hard.

The cow also got in on the post- 4th inning "tradition" that allows all the children in the stadium to chase the team mascot across the outfield. You have not lived until you've seen about 300 toddlers chasing a man in a crawdad suit across a baseball diamond.

Other between-inning fun included a race in pedal cars, a "dance-off" on top of a dugout, and a race in which pairs of people dressed as hamburger buns scrambled to assemble a faux giant burger.

And at minor league games, at least around here, there also seems to be a disproportionate number of women who evoke one of my favorite quotes from Bull Durham: "Who dresses you? Don't you think this is a little much for the Carolina League?"

Think really big hair and too many sequins.

Best patriotic moment: while Lee Greenwood's recording of "God Bless the USA" played over the PA system, a dude in a giant foam cowboy hat (and his assistants) launched hot dogs into the crowd with a slingshot.

Much as I love the Red Sox, they just don't offer that kind of entertainment value at Fenway Park.