Fun Family Activity: Minor League Sports Games
Daddy Clay discusses a fun family activity; taking the kids to live soccer games. Many medium sized cities have major league soccer or minor league sports that provide an excellent venue for fun activities for children. In tough economic times it's easy to get good value out of smaller venue sporting events such as the Austin Aztex. The Austin Aztex is a professional soccer team that plays in the USL-First Division, and often plays against MLS Soccer teams. Most minor league teams play at a professional sports caliber and provide a fun, sports arena experience at a fraction of the cost of other professional and major college sports games. Grab the kids, throw on your soccer jerseys and get ready to cheer on your new favorite soccer players. Minor league baseball, hockey, basketball and Arena Football are great activities to get your kids excited about team sports, and provide an opportunity to cheer on a new professional sports team. Quality Time ep 521 Brought to you by BabyBjorn.
Daddy Clay: Somebody please help me. I'm turning into a SOCCER FAN!
This weeks episode of quality time of brought to you by BabyBjorn. Why wait? Your child’s first ballgame should be seen from right here.
Yes, today I am rocking the Austin Aztex jersey because I’ve become fan. Not ashamed to say it. I’m a convert since I took my while family to a game last week. But what I’m really a fan of is small venue or minor league sports.
If you live in a mid-size city like Austin or smaller, you probably don’t have a major league franchise. And if you did, can you afford to take the family? A recent study showed that the average cost of taking a family of 4 to an NFL game was about $400. MLB will set you back half that. But it’s still a couple hundred bucks.
Major college sports aren’t really any better. Watching my beloved horns play football is not any cheaper with tickets north of $60, if you can find them.
Going to major league sports games is one of those things that grandpa picks up the tab for. A special treat. Like going to a fancy restaurant. Or college.
Minor leagues are generally about the same price point as going to a movie. Which isn’t cheap, but generally you can take the whole family, tickets, parking, dogs and a beer for the old man, for less than a benjamin.
The cheese factor is what makes it so good. Gives you permission to enjoy the outing as much as the game. Not to take it all so freaking seriously and to have a good laugh.
Minor league baseball. In Austin we have the Round Rock Express. AAA Houston Astros affiliate. Pricing is great. In the summer we watch the Cape League.
NBA development league team, the Austin Toros.
We used to have a pro hockey team that folded. That was a sort of Ultimate Fighting Ice Capades mashup.
Austin Aztex are Division 1 USL team, there are other teams in Durham, Miami, Tampa Bay, Portland and Vancouver. Their website says this makes them a major league, There were about 5000 fans at the game which was played at a high school. Which seems more minor league, but they certainly charge like major leagues. Better kid discounts, guys.
But they ran a promo thing with my son’s soccer team. Quality Seafood is just around the corner. So we decided to make a Friday night of it.
Being a soccer fan is a pretty tough sell for me. Sports talk personalities like Jim Rome regularly bash the sport, and I get it. How could a game that takes a couple of hours to play and ends 1-0 be interesting to watch. They have ties.
Most of the world has to be on to something. I’ve learned enough from watching my kid to have a vague appreciation, but somebody has to explain offsides. These athletes are incredibly impressive. You have to enjoy the drama of the near miss.
My favorite part of soccer right now are the fake injuries. Guys on the ground screaming. I expect the leg is off below the knee, then like ten seconds later he scores a goal and does a backflip. It’s like WWF.
My older son loves going. The younger two scamper around the stadium, eat snacks, and try to avoid the mascot, which I think is supposed to be a jalapeno, but looks more like an anorexic apple.
One big advantage of soccer is the international aspect, and that you can play for a lifetime. I have lots of friends my age who play in adult soccer leagues. Try that with football. And soccer games attracts a UN of folks. At one point my kid looks at me and says “people come in all colors, don’t they.”
If you live in a town with a USL D-1 team, take the kids.
If you have a minor league franchise in your town that you love taking the kids to, please go to DadLabs dot com and tell us all about it. What the team is, why you like going. Talk some smack if you must.
This weeks episode of quality time of brought to you by BabyBjorn. Why wait? Your child’s first ballgame should be seen from right here.
Yes, today I am rocking the Austin Aztex jersey because I’ve become fan. Not ashamed to say it. I’m a convert since I took my while family to a game last week. But what I’m really a fan of is small venue or minor league sports.
If you live in a mid-size city like Austin or smaller, you probably don’t have a major league franchise. And if you did, can you afford to take the family? A recent study showed that the average cost of taking a family of 4 to an NFL game was about $400. MLB will set you back half that. But it’s still a couple hundred bucks.
Major college sports aren’t really any better. Watching my beloved horns play football is not any cheaper with tickets north of $60, if you can find them.
Going to major league sports games is one of those things that grandpa picks up the tab for. A special treat. Like going to a fancy restaurant. Or college.
Minor leagues are generally about the same price point as going to a movie. Which isn’t cheap, but generally you can take the whole family, tickets, parking, dogs and a beer for the old man, for less than a benjamin.
The cheese factor is what makes it so good. Gives you permission to enjoy the outing as much as the game. Not to take it all so freaking seriously and to have a good laugh.
Minor league baseball. In Austin we have the Round Rock Express. AAA Houston Astros affiliate. Pricing is great. In the summer we watch the Cape League.
NBA development league team, the Austin Toros.
We used to have a pro hockey team that folded. That was a sort of Ultimate Fighting Ice Capades mashup.
Austin Aztex are Division 1 USL team, there are other teams in Durham, Miami, Tampa Bay, Portland and Vancouver. Their website says this makes them a major league, There were about 5000 fans at the game which was played at a high school. Which seems more minor league, but they certainly charge like major leagues. Better kid discounts, guys.
But they ran a promo thing with my son’s soccer team. Quality Seafood is just around the corner. So we decided to make a Friday night of it.
Being a soccer fan is a pretty tough sell for me. Sports talk personalities like Jim Rome regularly bash the sport, and I get it. How could a game that takes a couple of hours to play and ends 1-0 be interesting to watch. They have ties.
Most of the world has to be on to something. I’ve learned enough from watching my kid to have a vague appreciation, but somebody has to explain offsides. These athletes are incredibly impressive. You have to enjoy the drama of the near miss.
My favorite part of soccer right now are the fake injuries. Guys on the ground screaming. I expect the leg is off below the knee, then like ten seconds later he scores a goal and does a backflip. It’s like WWF.
My older son loves going. The younger two scamper around the stadium, eat snacks, and try to avoid the mascot, which I think is supposed to be a jalapeno, but looks more like an anorexic apple.
One big advantage of soccer is the international aspect, and that you can play for a lifetime. I have lots of friends my age who play in adult soccer leagues. Try that with football. And soccer games attracts a UN of folks. At one point my kid looks at me and says “people come in all colors, don’t they.”
If you live in a town with a USL D-1 team, take the kids.
If you have a minor league franchise in your town that you love taking the kids to, please go to DadLabs dot com and tell us all about it. What the team is, why you like going. Talk some smack if you must.
written by krellpw, May 27, 2009
We're fortunate enough to have the Durham Bulls, AAA affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays, in our area. Love it for all of the reasons that cited. Affordable ($9 for the most expensive tickets); great family atmosphere, and lots of between inning activities to entertain the kids.
We've actually got a group of families (we take up 28 seats in all), and we all buy the same set of 10 games every season. We've got kids from 7 on down. We're like this rolling nursery brigade. There are times when I feel a little sorry for the hard core fans that get seated next to us. It's hysterical. The group's been going together for 10 seasons now and we love it.
Most of us can't even get through a full game because of bed times, etc, and we couldn't tell you the final score even if we saw all 9 innings, with all the bath room breaks and concession stand runs. But that's really not the point.
We're all there together, catching up with one another, sharing some laughs and enjoying the summer with our kids.
Take me out to the ball game!
We've actually got a group of families (we take up 28 seats in all), and we all buy the same set of 10 games every season. We've got kids from 7 on down. We're like this rolling nursery brigade. There are times when I feel a little sorry for the hard core fans that get seated next to us. It's hysterical. The group's been going together for 10 seasons now and we love it.
Most of us can't even get through a full game because of bed times, etc, and we couldn't tell you the final score even if we saw all 9 innings, with all the bath room breaks and concession stand runs. But that's really not the point.
We're all there together, catching up with one another, sharing some laughs and enjoying the summer with our kids.
Take me out to the ball game!
written by BETH STEVENS, October 17, 2011
When my son was younger, we really enjoyed his baseball games. My daughter had her excitement in all her softball games. It was free, educational and we could take as many of their friends as we wanted. What better way to get a child interested in something fun and that can hold their attention and abilities in one arena? Thanks BabyBjorn for sponsoring this video and for donating your wonderful products for us to win!!
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But enough about soccer... Minor League stuff. We just got home from an outing to the Fort Wayne TinCaps. (aka PotHeads) Johnny Appleseed (yes, he was a real person) is buried up the street from my house and the owners changed the name of the Single-A franchise to go with his headwear of choice, a tin pot. This was the second game I've take our now 13 month old to. Lawn Seats are $5, kids under 2 are free. So for $7, if I preorder my ticket online) we sit in a mostly unoccupied area of sloped grass above the outfield. The last time, I took him in a baby backpack and trekked over from our church parking lot about four blocks away. This time we parked in the garage parking for $4 and then came to realize that we didn't know where there might be an elevator. Turns out it looks like there isn't one. So the hike up to level 5 was "interesting".
Anyway, he can only deal with being contained for a couple hours and then it's harder work. Today we prayed for a thunderstorm to cancel the game and it struck in the middle of the third inning. It looks like the weather cleared enough to restart, but we had our fill for the day.
These lawn areas at ball parks are the best thing ever. One of the biggest pluses in our stadium is that they put all of the region's microbrews in a bar at the top of the section. It's the only place in the stadium where they all appear together. So you see Dads sitting up on bar stools looking over their kids with a pint of American Pale and a brat while the kids are wearing themselves ragged rolling down the hill or climbing into piles of other kids.
The game? Well, we were losing 11-2 in the third when we left. I don't think there's comeback potential today. But we got to see the two runs off a nicely placed hit to the center field wall.