BfloGirlTravel: 2016 sports bus trips with Know How Tours

Visit Watkins Glen International with Know How Tours
credit: paulathompsonfreelance.com

Know How Tours is offering a number of sports bus tours for the 2016 season, including trips to three baseball stadiums and a NASCAR race.

• Boston Red Sox at Toronto Blue Jays – on Saturday, April 9, head across the border to catch the Boston Red Sox and Toronto Blue Jays in a 1:07 p.m. game. Cost is $115 per person and includes round-trip motorcoach and ticket to the game.
• Los Angeles Angels at Pittsburgh Pirates – on Saturday, June 4, the Angels visit Pittsburgh for a 4 p.m. game. This package – cost is $129 per person – includes round-trip motorcoach, ticket to the game in section 204 and an all-you-can-eat package with hot dogs, hamburgers, nachos, popcorn, peanuts and more.
• New York Yankees at Cleveland Indians – on Sunday, July 10, the Yankees and Indians match up for the final game of a four-game stand at 1:10 p.m. Cost is $135 per person and includes round-trip motorcoach, ticket to the game and an all-you-can-eat package with hot dogs, nachos, popcorn, peanuts and Pepsi products.
• Cheez-It 355 @ The Glen – NASCAR visits the Finger Lakes region on Sunday, August 7. Cost is $125 per person adult and $95 per person child 19 and under, and includes round-trip motorcoach, frontstretch grandstand seating and the pre-race Fan Walk ticket.
• New York Yankees at Toronto Blue Jays – on Saturday, September 25, cross the border to catch the Yankees and Blue Jays in a 1:07 p.m. game. Cost is $115 per person and includes round-trip motorcoach and ticket to the game.

BfloGirlTravel: 2016 sports bus trips with D&F Travel

The view from the "suite" seats in Cleveland - 2015
credit: paulathompsonfreelance.com

D&F Travel doesn’t specialize in sports bus trips, but it does know how to make each sporting adventure a great one. Here are some of this year’s trips for sports fans:

• New York Yankees at Toronto Blue Jays – there are two dates for fans on this one – Thursday, April 14 (7:07 p.m. game) and Saturday, September 24 (1:07 p.m. game). Each trip is $99 per person and includes round-trip motorcoach and ticket to the game.
• New York Yankees at Cleveland Indians – catch one or all four games in this series, with trips scheduled for July 7, 8, 9 and 10 (Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday) to Progressive Field. These trips include round-trip motorcoach, “suite” seat to the game and all-you-can-eat food and non-alcohol beverages until the middle of the 7^th inning – this is a great deal at $130 per person! (I’ve done this trip the last two seasons – great seats and lots of great ballpark food and more!)
• Cheez-It 355 @ The Glen – NASCAR visits the Finger Lakes region for one of two annual road course races on the Sprint Cup Series schedule on Sunday, August 7. Cost is $125 per person and includes round-trip motorcoach, grandstand seating and the pre-race Fan Walk ticket. 

Sports Shorts – August 21, 2014

The era of Derek Jeter is coming to an end soon…going to Yankees games will never be the same without “the Captain.” I was blessed to see the “Core Four” play, and hopefully Jeter, Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera and Andy Pettitte will be recognized together in Monument Park.

Thanks Captain!
paulathompsonfreelance.com

While Terry Pegula has yet to put a winning hockey team on the ice, he’s certainly bringing hockey to Buffalo in a big way. Harbor Center will host the 2015 and 2016 NHL Combine, and the First Niagara Center will once again host the USA Hockey Prospects Game in September – there are also rumors of will also be an Erie Otters game at the FNC this season - October 22.

I can’t wait for Harbor Center to open – I’m looking forward to checking out the new (716) restaurant and the Sabres-themed Tim Hortons!

Dear NFL – PLEASE give the Bills to Terry Pegula!!

For local auto racing fans, the fiasco at Lancaster…er, Elegant Builders Raceway Park is almost as bad as Bills ownership scenarios. Hopefully calmer heads will prevail and we can at least see the annual Tommy Druar-Tony Jankowiak Memorial 110 run where it should be – EBRP. Then we can look forward to 2015 and a new beginning! (Hey, maybe Terry Pegula has a few extra dollars… J)

****ETA - calmer heads have prevailed! The US Open is a go - read all about it here!

Three races till the Chase, one til the Countdown and two left in the IndyCar season – this is one of the best times to be a racing fan! One of NASCAR’s biggest stories is the number of drivers without a win yet this season – at the forefront, Matt Kenseth, who went from seven wins last year to winless in 2014. In the NHRA, John Force is once again a hot topic as he keeps going rounds and winning Wallys – the thought that this legend may be sidelined next year due to loss of sponsorship is unthinkable. The compacted IndyCar Series season has kept it in the sports page more regularly this season – last year, there were a few breaks of three or so weeks at a time, allowing fans to forget about the series.

Thousands of Fans, Six Inductees and the Tomahawk Chop: The National Baseball Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony

One hot Sunday in July, thousands of baseball fans converged on someplace akin to Paradise for lovers of America’s National Pastime. That place goes by one name: Cooperstown.

National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum on Induction Ceremony morning

The village of Cooperstown, New York is home to more than the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, but for the last weekend of July, there is nothing else. That weekend is Hall of Fame Weekend, and this year, six new members were inducted into the Hall.

Inside the Hall of Fame

D&F Travel offered a day trip to the hallowed grounds of baseball on Sunday, July 27^th for the Induction Ceremony, with six inductees who were a who’s who of my era of baseball fandom: Tony LaRussa, Frank Thomas, Bobby Cox, Greg Maddox, Tom Glavine and Joe Torre. To say that Atlanta as a baseball city (LaRussa, Cox, Maddox, Glavine and Torre) and Georgia as a state (Thomas, who was born in Georgia and went to Auburn) were well represented is an understatement.

Atlanta fans doing the Chop

Tomahawk chops began well before the ceremony started, and continued through the first three inductees presented: Maddox, Cox and Glavine. Glavine, who was also drafted by the Los Angeles Kings, made reference to his two-sport past with tongue-in-cheek humor: having been drafted ahead of Hockey Hall of Famers Luc Robitaille and Brett Hull, he imagined that he would’ve been inducted into that Hall of Fame if he hadn’t chosen the baseball path.

Tom Glavine

LaRussa and an emotional Thomas came next, followed by the man I, as a Yankees fan, went there to see: Torre, the Yankees skipper for six AL pennants and four World Series titles; Torre was also a nine-time All-Star as a player for the Braves. Torre was cheered loudest when he told us we’d be back in a few years to see a couple more Yankees inductions, referring to future Hall of Famers Mariano Rivera and Derek Jeter.

Joe Torre's plaque presentation

I also spent some time in the Hall of Fame Museum, but in all honesty, it’s not the place to visit on Induction Ceremony morning – it’s a huge monument to the game, but seemed sooooo small with thousands of people trying to make their way through it in a short time. I definitely need to go back!

all photos: paulathompsonfreelance.com