The Junction City Generals

Last night was the first time that I have been to a Generals game this season, last year I went a couple of times, but the game from last night was an improvement from last year.

The first surprise was $5 tickets instead of $8. That is a small $3 change but it might be a huge one, because when we went to go get a set I was surprise to see that there was a rather large crowd on hand, especially considering that this game is in the middle of the season. I estimate that there was around 800-1,000 people there, and possibly more because it was hard to tell how many people were in the beer garden.

The game that the Generals put on isn't anything special. They have a fair amount of local players, but they don't seem to be lacking in any skills. The opponent for the night was the Omaha Strikezone, which I assume is a traveling team from Omaha. The choice of opponents is the only fault I could find with the Generals. They are an independent team, so their opponents are limited, but the Strikezone could not handle the Generals after the Strikezone's starting pitcher was rotated out. The game ended up being a lopsided 18-1 win for the Generals.

I didn't get any food at the game, but they seemed to have all the normal stuff, plus ice cream from Baskin Robin's, also there was talk of smoked turkey legs, but I think that was over by the beer garden. For the last couple of innings they offered $1 hot dogs, which was almost enough to tempt me to get one, if I had any cash on me.

After the game the Generals put on a fireworks show (which they do every Friday). Now I was not expecting much, at all, but they put on a very good show that lasted for about 15 minutes and had a much wider range of fireworks than even Manhattan's 4th of July show. I was impressed, it was almost worth $5 to just see the show.

I really hope that the Generals catch on and they can get a full-blown league going. They are trying to do everything as good as possible, they are not cutting corners, and it shows. It looks like Junction City is supporting the team more this season, hopefully they get enough attendance to keep the team going. The Generals are one heck of a deal at $5, and by far the best thing going on in Junction City, if not Manhattan during the summer.

If you are in the mood for some good summer fun head on over to JC for a Generals game. And if it is a Friday be sure to stick around for the fireworks after the game.