Tag / San Diego Comic-Con

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Ballpark Tour: Qualcomm Stadium

JackMurphy

Stadium Name: Qualcomm Stadium

Location: San Diego

Home Team: Padres

Years in Service: 1969 – 2003

Visits: 1

San Diego Stadium opened on August 20, 1967 as the home of the AFL’s Chargers and opened for baseball the following spring for the final season of the minor league San Diego Padres.  The following season, San Diego’s expansion team, also named the Padres, moved in and stayed as the main tenants until the end of the 2003 season.  The stadium was renamed in 1980 for local sportswriter Jack Murphy, who had championed support for the building of the stadium, after he passed away.  That name stuck until 1997, when the naming rights were sold to technology company Qualcomm.

In 2003, I was in San Diego for what, to date, was my 3rd and final Comic Con.  On the afternoon of July 17, I skipped out on the con and took the trolley out to Mission Valley to take in the day’s contest between the Padres and the Diamondbacks.  I don’t remember much about the game, which the Diamondbacks won handidly 9-1, other than Curt Schilling taking the bump for the Dbacks.  The park, one of the last remaining cookie cutter stadiums that popped up in the late 60s and early 70s and designed to house both baseball and football teams while doing service to neither, did not really register one way or the other and hold’s no particular space in my memory.  I do seem to remember a giant outdoor escalator, but that might have been Candlestick.

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30 For 30 – Save Pennies To Go Somewhere You Really Want To Go

The fine folks at away.com have come up with a list of 30 Things Every Traveler Must Do Before They’re 30.  Of those 30, I’ve managed to accomplish 12 of them, or roughly 40% of them, some of which was even before I turned 30.  Today we look at #23 on their list, save pennies to go somewhere you really want to go.  When I graduated from college back in May of 1997, I gave myself a little buffer before starting my job in August.  The plan was to head out west for San Diego Comic Con.  The only problem with that was that things like traveling and attending a con costs money.  And, since I had put off starting my career, I had none.

So, I had to push my plans back a year for my first foray to southern California.  As summer of 1998 rolled around, I had managed to put together enough sheckles to head out to San Diego and split a hotel room with 7 other people.  I turned into a full-fledged vacation, getting out there well before the con started and hitting up the zoo and other tourist attractions around the San Diego area.

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30 For 30 – Take A Vacation That Isn’t Spring Break

The fine folks at away.com have come up with a list of 30 Things Every Traveler Must Do Before They’re 30.  Of those 30, I’ve managed to accomplish 12 of them, or roughly 40% of them, some of which was even before I turned 30.  Today we look at #4 on their list, Take a Vacation that isn’t Spring Break.  I graduated from college in the spring of 1997 and didn’t start my job until August because I was going to take a trip.  The only problem with that plan was that travelling takes money, and, since I hadn’t started my career yet, I didn’t have any.  So, rather than moving on to the working world I had prepared the past 4 years for, I went back to my old job at a bank for 2 1/2 months.  The next summer, though, was going to be my first real adult vacation: San Diego Comic-Con!

Back in 1998, the Internet was not as advanced as it was today, and instead of social media and message boards, we had email lists dedicated to topics of interest.  One of those lists, devoted to fans of the comic series Strangers in Paradise, had a number of people heading to San Diego for the big convention that summer.  If I remember correctly, there were 8 of us and we were all staying in the same room at the lovely Days Inn in downtown San Diego.  While most of the group was just coming out for the con, I headed out early, spending the entire week out on the west coast.  Along with two other guys who had traveled down from Canada, we explored all San Diego had to offer.

One of the advantages of travelling when you are 23 is that you’re able to stay in a crappy hotel room with 7 other people.  I most likely would not stay in a Days Inn by myself these days or anywhere with 7 other people, unless it was a suite of some kind.  But when you’re young, stretching the dollar is your number one priority, not necessarily personal comfort.