Sunday, April 12, 2015

Take Me Out



Yesterday we ventured into enemy territory. Fortunately, we had reinforcements, some in civilian garb, the better to infiltrate our opponents’ ranks, others in full uniform.



My hub and I joined a segment of our extended family on a bus trip to the Big, Bad, Apple for a Boston Red Sox vs New York Yankees game at Yankee Stadium. I like baseball on TV just fine, I go into kind of a soothing meditative glaze, but a full day at the park is a whole other commitment. And ominously, the game the day before had run to 19 innings and ended at 2 in the morning. 

     We were up at 5:30 in order to make the departure time, and I only grumbled a little externally.
Internally, there was a lot more going on. Why didn’t I just say no, getting up this early is nuts, I’m going to have to sit on a hard chair for HOURS with someone spilling beer in my hair, I’m probably going to freeze to death, it’s going to be crowded, the sun will be in my face for HOURS, etc. etc. etc. 


As it turned out, the six of us had great seats on the bus, way in the back. We basically had our own bathroom since almost no one else used it. The bus had Wi-Fi (amazing, huh?), and we arrived in what seemed like no time at all.


Half a block and we were in the park, where we wandered around, had a hot dog and strolled past all the souvenir shops where we could buy absolutely nothing, it being all blue and white instead of the colors God intended – red, white and blue. We even rose above trading remarks with one vendor who was selling Buck Foston tee shirts.
Our seats, being bus trip seats, were just short of grazing the sky but still turned out to be quite good. We had a clear view of the field and the unrecognizable ants playing on it.
 It was my first real stint in the spring sun and, with my cap shielding most of my face, it felt glorious. The only snag was they might as well have been playing in pantomime – we couldn’t see the ball. We’d hear the crack of a bat, but if you tried to track the ball, you’d miss what the runner was doing. If you followed the runner, you didn’t know what was going on in the field. 


Still, by my standards, the day was a roaring success. The two teams zipped through eight innings as though they were channeling my wishes, the weather was a bit windy, but perfect,  there was an exciting brief rally by the Yankees at the end to raise the tension a bit, and the Sox won, 8 - 4. 


 


18 comments:

  1. Ah baseball.....somewhat akin to watching paint dry.

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  2. Sounds like a great day, and your pictures are wonderful. We call those the "nosebleed" seats. :-)

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  3. I haven't been to a game since Cleveland was in the old stadium. It was expensive then; I imagine it's a month of groceries now.

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    1. Actually our seats were $24 each. (Then again, DJan has a good idea where they were.) The big bucks went to the bus, but almost anything is worth not having to drive in New York City and park your car.

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  4. Ever so often we break down and go to see the Atlanta Braves (that's our team) play, but truthfully I enjoy it more on tv.

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  5. Well that sounds like a good day -- a surprisingly good day, I agree, because I am just as averse to sporting events as you appear to be! Glad it was fun.

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  6. There is nothing except family that I would sit through for that many hours!

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  7. Ah, I was walking in your shoes the whole time.

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  8. Did you sit in the Chardonnay section? I did once.

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    1. What? I missed it. Looks like I need another trip to the park.

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  9. I did that once. Once! My day was not so nice- the sun was hot, and right in my face. I'm not a huge baseball fan anyway, but everyone else wanted to go. I'm glad your day was a good one!

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    1. Yes it was so successful I may never repeat it. What are the odds it would be so pleasant a second time!

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  10. Ah yes baseball is here. My life is complete now. Your team is doing great--mine not so much. So glad you missed that epic game.

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  11. I'm not a sports fan but I can easily imagine the description you made about not seeing the ball. We may be spoiled by the television coverage which gives us so much detail.

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    1. Yes, I really prefer to watch baseball on TV.

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  12. I can't think of anything worse than hours on a hard seat watching something -anything- going on down on an oval. (field?) I don't even watch sports on TV. I did go to a football game or two many years ago when my girl was a cheerleader, but I was so terribly bored after the girls had done their routine. she knew this and said it was okay if I didn't come to any more games.

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  13. We've been so hungry for spring here that the very best part for me was soaking ip the sun while the cool breeze blew by.
    And I've learned about some of the players over the years, so that helps.

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  14. $24 a seat for the nosebleed section? holy cow! I used to like to go to baseball games until all the games started being televised and then there was too much standing around waiting for the commercials to be over. I don't watch any sport on TV. too boring.

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