RYN: 141 poems over 15 years is a lot?
Ok, so maybe 130 of them are since I joined bloop in May of 03 but even that is 6 years. Not like I spend more than 10 minutes from start to finish on the majority of my poems.
The Stadium Trip
Sidney Picked me up at 6AM on Wednesday. My mom had packed a cooler and a snack bag for us to take. We made a quick stop at DND for coffee and juice then we were on our way to Yankee stadium.
We got in the area about 10;30 and we used his GPS and found a diner. Although the food was good and they gave good helpings, we were the only people who spoke English though. Sid had bought a parking spot at a lot on line. So we found the lot, parked and headed to the stadium. We first walked into the shop they have when you first walk in. After looking around a bit, decided we would go back after the game so we didn’t have to carry around the stuff. We went to find out if we could get better seats using my disability. Sid tried like heck. We talked to a few people before talking to the ADA person at the stadium who came over and greeted us. Asking us our names. He said he would see what he could do. (this was after someone else said they could upgrade our seats for 200 dollars each) After 10 minutes waiting for this guy, and spending about 45 minutes all together with people, Sid left his name and seat location. They said if they can help us, they will come and get us.
So along the way of getting to our seats starting with leaving the Yankee store, there was a little keyaus every 20 feet selling Yankee crap. There were people wearing fun shirts that down played the Redsox or glorified the Yankees. It was funny. Like one said “we cheer for two teams, the Yankees and anyone who is playing the RedSox” and “at this rate, it will take you 3 centuries to catch up to us” (referring to the RedSox and the number of championships we have compared to them) They were creative.
We got to our section in the 2nd deck but Sid still tried to get us good seats. He saw people sitting in folding seats in a handicap section. Sid asked if we could sit there. They said no because did have tickets to sit there. He kept saying to me “they don’t look like they are disabled at all”. He asked someone else and he said he would ask his supervisor. The supervisor said it was ok so he got us 2 folding chairs. The seats were very comfortable. The section in front of us was just benches. There was no backs or arm rests. Talk about cheep! At one point, Sidney looked at our tickets and said that our seats are actually in the front row of the section in front of us. He asked me if I wanted to move. Sure I would be closer by about 50 feet, but I would be sitting on a meddle bench. I rather sit in these nice chairs. The stadium was nothing really special. They had a 30m dollar score board that 8 million dollar would have been just fine. They had a flag hanging from the top of the stadium of each of the major league teams. The entire thing was concrete.
The game itself was a good game. It even went into extra innings. Derrick Jeter got hit with a ball, knocking him out of the game and late in the game, Rodriguez was hit but stayed in and was able to score the game winning run for the NY Yankees.
After the game we went back to the shop. I got a shot glass that says inaugural season of the new Yankee stadium. Sid got a shirt for a friend of his.
Everything in the stadium when it comes to food cost 5 bucks. A water, 5 bucks, a hotdog 5 bucks. An ice tea, 5 bucks. A beer, 9 bucks. A pretzel, 4.50. So if you want to bring a family of 4, make sure you mortgage your house first. We each had a pretzel and a drink and it cost us 20 dollars.
After the game, we headed to Baltimore to stay with Sidney’s sister Marci and her family.
We had stopped 3-4th on our trip for dinner gas and bathroom. It wasn’t exciting food, but it was food. I had BK and he had some chicken from a fast food chicken place. He put on a Billy Joel greatest hits CD and than a Meatloaf CD. He had it blasting to keep him awake. I sang along to the songs I knew.
We got to Marci’s place about 12;15 and I was shown to where I’d be sleeping and shortly fell to sleep.
I woke up just before 9 and got ready for the day. I have no idea what we are doing during the day but Sidney said something about walking around the inner harbor. We drove down and the down town area. Parked between the inner harbor and the football stadium. We were going to the preseason game that night between the Washington RedSkins and the Baltimore Ravens.
We walked to the football stadium first to take pictures and see if their store was opened yet. Figured we would buy things and leave them in the car so we didn’t have to both with the crowds during-after the game. After walking around a bit, finding the baseball stadium and eventually, after asking people, found the football stadium. The shop didn’t open till they opened the gates to the stadium but we did take pictures from the outside of a statue and signs. My friend was looking for a football t-jersey to buy for his friend. If they were cheep, I would buy my twin a Ray Lewis one and of all the stores we went in-out of, we couldn’t find any so we headed to the inner harbor area. It was hot this day, about 85 and humid but I was good. We walked in-out of the little mall and shops they had there. There was also a Hard Rock, a book store, ESPN Zone and a lot of other chain restaurants and stores around the walk way of the body of water. We chilled out a bit “people watching”-resting. Went into the ESPN zone for lunch. The food was good and they served healthy portions. I got a salad and buffalo chicken. Sidney got a tomato and basle with penne. My chicken was a bit spicy for me but I enjoyed it. I tried some of Sidney’s dish, he tried some of my chicken and we ended up sharing the dishes. I enjoyed his and he enjoyed mine. Being in the ESPN Zone, they had a few games on the tvs at the same time. After we paid we figured we’d head down to the football stadium. We headed over but it was raining when we left the restaurant. It was not bad so we started to walk. There was a point that we stopped and got under cover since it was coming down in buckets. Good thing it was a passing waterfall. When the had lightened up, we continued to the stadium. Since our car was half way, we stopped at the car to put some stuff he bought in the car and to dry off a bit. After 20 minutes, the sun was out, again, shining hotly. We got to the stadium and the gates weren’t opened yet. There was Baltimore Raven Cheerleaders outside signing autographs and chatting with people. I had nothing to sign but they had a cheerleading team picture they were handing out that you could get signed. They were all very nice women. The first one was a bit more perky and friendly. I think I was able to get 6 of them to sign my picture. I had a RedSox shirt on so two commented about it. One saying she is originally from Massachusetts, some town I never heard of an other said she had family in Worcester. We got in line to get into the stadium. There was a good number of people wearing redskins stuff. The woman who took our ticket was a Redskins fan too. Hmm a RedSkin fan working for the Ravens wearing all Raven stuff. She was funny though.
Our tickets were in section 550. So we had to go to the 5th floor. We asked, and no kidding, 5 people who worked there and they had no idea how to get around this place. We had made it to the 5th floor and walked towards the 550 section and there was a wall. We asked a few more people and they said we had to walk down the stairs and walk over and back up. So we did that and eventually we got to our seats. We were on the 10 yard line way up, so you could see the entire field. OH, the cool thing about this stadium, when you are out where the bathrooms and concessions are, there is no outer walls. So you can see the entire city of Baltimore.
I knew that we wouldn’t get to see Marci much so I suggested we leave at half time to spend time with her and her family and besides, I said, the back up players would be in by them. He wasn’t so thrilled since we did spend a lot of money on these tickets, but he said afterwards that it was a great idea. We got back to Marci’s place about 10 ish and hung with her for a while. Her 7 year old son went to sleep soon after we got home since he had camp in the morning and her husband did the same since he wakes up early for work. We had dessert, cookies and milk and just sat around the kitchen table chatting. It was so funny to me. Hearing these two grown up 40 some adults with children of their own, acting like little kids, like the brother and sister they are. She had just got a new phone and couldn’t figure something out so since it was a phone company that he works for, he gave it to him to look at. He tried to figure it out and he was saying something. She grabbed the phone from him and says “na-ah, you’re wrong” and showed him why she thought he was wrong. And he took it back looking at it again. And they were calling each other dumb and moron and other names like that as they tried to figure out this phone. When this was settled and Marci says “I have to get up at 7, I’m going to sleep. Sidney goes. NO, I am tired, I’m going to sleep. I definitely laughed at this childish display as they went back and forth a few times on who was more tired-er. They went their ways and I went down to my bed.
I woke a few times but finally woke to stay up about 10. I got ready to leave. Making sure I got everything I came with. Sid had Sports center on. The news of the day was Michael Vick signing with the Philladulphia Egles and the responses from everywhere. I had got Marci’s son a little gift a “thank you for letting me stay”. My mom always says you cant go over someone’s house empty handed. So I left that on the kitchen table and Sidney left a silly note for his sister and we were out of there. There is this wicked awesome bagel place that we had to stop at. I got a baker’s dozen to bring home to my family. I had got to this place when we visited 5 years ago to see a few baseball games in Baltimore. The bagels were so amazing I had to go back this time. Again, the bagels were amazing. It took a bit to find this place and find our way out of the area but once we did it was back to Massachusetts. We each had 2 bagels and we figured that would be good till we got to Massachusetts where we would stop for dinner.
It was Friday, we got to NY city about 3;30. um hello! Can you say RUSH HOUR TRAFIC!? We were listening to sports radio and heard the Mets were playing a home game. After a few phone calls to find out the address of the stadium and to let his wife know we were going to try to get tickets, we figured that it would be better to go to a game than sitting in traffic for 2 or more hours. We got to the stadium after pulling away from the traffic. Sidney went in and they had handicap seating available at different locations at different prices. He bought the… 30 dollar seats. Awesome with me. And we parked about 300 feet from the main entrance. Pretty cool. The parking was only 18 compared to the 30 at Yankee stadium that was a few streets away. We went into the shop so I could get a shot glass from this stadium. I wanted one similar to the one I got from Yankee stadium. The woman behind the counter wasn’t shore if they had any more. They were a very popular item. She came back and said it was the only one. (I didn’t believe it, but it was exactly what I wanted) It was a city field, Mets inaugural season …. Shot glass. The ushers were very nice. Directing us from one usher to the next till we were shown to our seats. We had 3rd deck, 5th row, between homeplate and first base. The place definitely had character and some flavor of the old stadium but the uniqueness to it’s own. They had brought the “home run apple” from the old stadium. They had USA flags around the top of the stadium on the infield. They were all nice chairs. No cheep meddle benches like at Yankee stadium. The only down fall to the stadium, and was the same for the old Met’s stadium, it is right near an airport so every 2 to 5 minutes you would hear a plane fly over the stadium. The concessions and bathroom were behind the chairs facing the field. So as you are waiting for your food or your turn to use the bathroom, you could watch the game with no obstructions. The game was a great pitching match between a has-been for the Giants and a kid making only his second major league start. The Met’s lead off batter hit a home run and that was all they needed because the young kid on the mound went 6 innings of 3 hit ball, shutting out the Giants on the way to a Mets 3-0 victory. The game was a brief 2 hour and 19 minute game.
All I could think of was how some reason driving from Baltimore I didn’t feel complete but after this game, I felt like, ok, I can go home now. Sometimes I feel like this at casinos. My parents are ready to go and I’m not. I try to convince them to stay and when I do, usually I win money and I feel contented even if I only break even. I had the same feeling as I was leaving City field
On the way home we listened to sports radio for a bit and he played an Elton John CD. We got to listen to the end of the RedSox game when we got close to MA. And back to sports radio to hear the Yankees winning on the west coast.
At one point on the way home I said “From the time you picked me up on Wednesday till you drop me off it will be 67.5 hours.”
He said a minute later, “and we would have driven 930 miles in that time”
At 1;30 I walked into my house. Put the cooler and snack bag on the kitchen table. Put the bag of Bagel on the kitchen counter. Brought my suitcase down stairs and unpacked a bit than looked at my emails, saw I had about 20 something emails. I shut off the computer, saying I will get to them all tomorrow than going to sleep.
Major League Baseball Stadium number 15 and stadium number 16 for Jonathan.
P. S.
I just mapquested the distance between ESPN Zone and the T&M field which we walked 3 times in 85 degree humid weather. 1.61 miles.
|
Loading...
