In what originally seemed like a great idea, SUN and the Block Captain network have since apologized for the “Opening Day Family Field Trip.” The original concept was to add another event to bring the community together, where parents and kids took a bus downtown to enjoy pregame festivities and then go to the game. The plan would be perfect for any other baseball game, but the chosen day was opening day.
“It got out of hand right away,” says field trip participant Cindy Johnson. “One of the couples had clearly already been drinking, and the wife danced the entire bus ride.” “People were drinking and telling stories as if kids weren’t even there,” said Mark Hartley. “It got crazy, really, really fast.”
Once the group arrived downtown, they headed straight over to Fados to enjoy more alcoholic beverages outside. “We ordered bucket, after bucket, after bucket of beers,” said Rob Nagle. “We were having a blast. And the kids did great. Holding our beers, not drifting off too far, and making sure we stayed out of trouble. I assume they had fun.”
The group never did make it to the game, getting so drunk that by the fourth inning, they were sending their kids to the bar to get their beers. “Maybe that wasn’t originally what we had planned on doing,” says Mark. “But, we kind of went with the flow, and the flow ended up not taking us to the game. I hope they do this event next year.” In the end, only four of the parents missed the bus ride home, six passed out on the ride back to Stapleton, and no kids were lost. ]]>