"Do we have any Kool-Aid for Justin?" - Jeff Salazar, 2007
Well, it's been a LONG time since I've posted and I think it's about time for an update. A lot has happened since then, most importantly the Diamondbacks made it to the playoffs and won the Division! OH YEAH! And even MORE important than that, Liz and I went to a playoff game! Gangsta! Best game ever. This whole season was a surprise, really, with all the young players on our team. Seeing as how this season had a very special feel to it from the start, we decided we just HAD to go to a playoff game. It was going to be a first for us both at a playoff game, so we were pretty excited. Liz came up and we got straight to work on our signs. Liz made an awesome 'ACTOBER' sign with the 'A' being the one from the Diamondbacks logo. It's very clever, I think it's probably one of the best signs she's ever made. It would have been great if she was able to use what her dad put together to give it support but it went against the rules of the ballpark for some reason. Her other sign, 'JUS-TIN UP-TON' was a big hit amongst Upton fans . . . namely, Liz. And what did I come up with, you ask? Being me, completely devoid of wit and creativity, decided to go with the Kool-Aid man on a big, red poster board with a little pennant and a pitcher filled with more Kool-Aid. Yep. That was it. It all comes from the post-game celebration after winning the Division when everyone was drinking champagne and Jeff Salazar selflessly inquired "Do we have any Kool-Aid for Justin?" HA HA! Quote of the year. In case you don't know, Justin Upton came up as a 19-year-old and turned 20 just a couple of months ago. He can't drink, of course! So, Kool-Aid it is. I WANTED to make the Kool-Aid man breaking through the outer wall of Wrigley Field but I figured that would be hard. Liz made it better by writing ‘NL West Champs’ and put some glitter on the ‘OH YEEAAHH!’ and the ice parts. Glitter makes everything better, it seems. My other sign was a remake of the classic 'LET'S GET SOME RUNS!' sign. Which I must add, finally made its appearance on TV! What are the chances that the world’s lamest, most uninspired sign would appear TWICE on two, separate Diamondbacks broadcasts that were MONTHS apart?! Not only that but Liz's awesome Chris Young sign made it on there as well. Also, the Mango made a guest appearance on the broadcast! And the Z's hand waving around! Gangsta! It’s craziness . . . and don't worry, I have it saved. ;)
The next day, we got our signs ready and made our way to the game, yay! Traffic wasn't bad at all. It was parking that was the problem! They apparently require passes or something, I don't get it! We were desperate to find a place to park. Thankfully, Liz had enough sense to keep me from paying $30 for a spot in some vacant lot for loser, Cub fans. We found a nice garage and walked to Chase Field. After a little situation with our tickets, we finally found where we needed to be. We got tickets for Friday's Front Row Grill! I couldn't believe it when our hostess was taking us to our seats and I still can't believe we sat where we did. Our tickets were for section 200, row 1! Crazy!
We had an awesome view of the game and great service from the waitresses that had to run up and down stairs with everyone's orders. The food is really good, I must say. And we were in actual seats, with armrests and everything! Seriously, we were like only a couple hundred feet above our bullpen. We could see Papa Grande chillin' and everyone stretching, it was nuts! Oh yeah, LIZ! I thought the hostess lady had taken our tickets but she shoved them into the envelope, I still have 'em! I'll hold on to them until I see ya again. But anyway, yeah, we had a great view of everything. We had almost bought tickets on the internet for section 106 in the bullpen reserve area, but it meant being near the Cubs bullpen, being turned slightly away from all the action and being tucked away somewhere, probably 30 rows up. We were more than happy to be high up, front row where we were near OUR bullpen. And with a great shot of everything including the fireworks, the Jumbotron, the pennant, the scoreboard and Valverde’s expectedly overdramatic entrance, what’s not to love?
With all that we had to deal with in terms of parking and getting our tickets from the right window, we still made it just in time to see everything. Player introductions, the unveiling of the pennant, National Anthem, fireworks! - everything. The game itself was very exciting. A real pitcher's duel, it wasn't a very high-scoring game. But that didn't mean it wasn’t awesome. So much of the tension came from all the jams Webb got out of in almost every inning. The crowd was really there for Webb, cheering loudly for almost every strike it seemed. We hit two homeruns, one by Reynolds and the other by DREEEEEW! Cojack brought in a run and the final score was 3-1! Yay! Webb did an awesome job, allowing only that one run. I forgot how they scored the run but who cares, it was the only one they managed to get. The crowd, Liz estimates, was a 70-30 split in terms of Diamondback fans to Cub fans. The Cub fans were VERY vocal but they had nothing really to cheer about. Their champion Soriano went 0 and 4, maybe because he was too busy flirting with the crowd. It was so weird, Byrnes got NO love from his own team at left! But whatever, we were there for him. Upton didn’t play, poor Upton sign was hardly used . . . :( It’s okay, maybe during the NLCS! ;) But yeah, everything about the game was great. I especially enjoyed Steve Bartman on the Jumbotron, headphones and all, by himself on the kiss-cam kissing a baseball! Yeah, we’re that kinda team now. Shoulda made that Bartman Syndrome sign, damn it! The best part about all this is that we went on to win yesterday’s Game 2 of the series with a final score of 8-4, so now we’re 2-0 in the playoffs and we’re officially RUNNING AWAY WITH IT, YO! I should probably calm down but our chances are really good. It’s not a “No chance, no chance” situation here, it actually looks good. We’ll see, tomorrow’s the big day!
Going home was interesting with the parking garage drama fitting for TNT. I still think Dr. Phil needs to cover that little area of that parking garage and film a special for just THAT situation right there. “What are you doin’, Saturn?!” Seriously, four cars trying to drive in a space the size of a grocery store aisle! Oh well, it was fine since we didn’t have to get directly involved in that mess. But anyway, we didn’t get lost this time on the way back, yay! And we got to hear Diamond Talk on 620 KTAR all the way home, which included player interviews, Bo Mel, fan reactions and the Govnah, who TOTALLY jumped all over Tom Candiotti during the breakdown. The Govnah is a THUG! So yeah, pretty awesome day. Hopefully we get to go to the NLCS, either against the Phreakin’s or the Chokies. Damn those Phreakins! AND the other Phreakins! Whatever, we can take ‘em. Y’all need to find a way back here during those games, yo! And if we make it to the World Series, that’s it. We’re just going. That’s all. It’ll be impossible to get tickets but I don’t care, we’re going. Until then . . . GO DBACKS! OH YEEAAAH!
The picture of our seats and many, many more of the DBacks and our postseason right here:
http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/ps/y2007/archive.jsp?series=ds_c&type=photos
Lata all!
;)
The next day, we got our signs ready and made our way to the game, yay! Traffic wasn't bad at all. It was parking that was the problem! They apparently require passes or something, I don't get it! We were desperate to find a place to park. Thankfully, Liz had enough sense to keep me from paying $30 for a spot in some vacant lot for loser, Cub fans. We found a nice garage and walked to Chase Field. After a little situation with our tickets, we finally found where we needed to be. We got tickets for Friday's Front Row Grill! I couldn't believe it when our hostess was taking us to our seats and I still can't believe we sat where we did. Our tickets were for section 200, row 1! Crazy!
We had an awesome view of the game and great service from the waitresses that had to run up and down stairs with everyone's orders. The food is really good, I must say. And we were in actual seats, with armrests and everything! Seriously, we were like only a couple hundred feet above our bullpen. We could see Papa Grande chillin' and everyone stretching, it was nuts! Oh yeah, LIZ! I thought the hostess lady had taken our tickets but she shoved them into the envelope, I still have 'em! I'll hold on to them until I see ya again. But anyway, yeah, we had a great view of everything. We had almost bought tickets on the internet for section 106 in the bullpen reserve area, but it meant being near the Cubs bullpen, being turned slightly away from all the action and being tucked away somewhere, probably 30 rows up. We were more than happy to be high up, front row where we were near OUR bullpen. And with a great shot of everything including the fireworks, the Jumbotron, the pennant, the scoreboard and Valverde’s expectedly overdramatic entrance, what’s not to love?
With all that we had to deal with in terms of parking and getting our tickets from the right window, we still made it just in time to see everything. Player introductions, the unveiling of the pennant, National Anthem, fireworks! - everything. The game itself was very exciting. A real pitcher's duel, it wasn't a very high-scoring game. But that didn't mean it wasn’t awesome. So much of the tension came from all the jams Webb got out of in almost every inning. The crowd was really there for Webb, cheering loudly for almost every strike it seemed. We hit two homeruns, one by Reynolds and the other by DREEEEEW! Cojack brought in a run and the final score was 3-1! Yay! Webb did an awesome job, allowing only that one run. I forgot how they scored the run but who cares, it was the only one they managed to get. The crowd, Liz estimates, was a 70-30 split in terms of Diamondback fans to Cub fans. The Cub fans were VERY vocal but they had nothing really to cheer about. Their champion Soriano went 0 and 4, maybe because he was too busy flirting with the crowd. It was so weird, Byrnes got NO love from his own team at left! But whatever, we were there for him. Upton didn’t play, poor Upton sign was hardly used . . . :( It’s okay, maybe during the NLCS! ;) But yeah, everything about the game was great. I especially enjoyed Steve Bartman on the Jumbotron, headphones and all, by himself on the kiss-cam kissing a baseball! Yeah, we’re that kinda team now. Shoulda made that Bartman Syndrome sign, damn it! The best part about all this is that we went on to win yesterday’s Game 2 of the series with a final score of 8-4, so now we’re 2-0 in the playoffs and we’re officially RUNNING AWAY WITH IT, YO! I should probably calm down but our chances are really good. It’s not a “No chance, no chance” situation here, it actually looks good. We’ll see, tomorrow’s the big day!
Going home was interesting with the parking garage drama fitting for TNT. I still think Dr. Phil needs to cover that little area of that parking garage and film a special for just THAT situation right there. “What are you doin’, Saturn?!” Seriously, four cars trying to drive in a space the size of a grocery store aisle! Oh well, it was fine since we didn’t have to get directly involved in that mess. But anyway, we didn’t get lost this time on the way back, yay! And we got to hear Diamond Talk on 620 KTAR all the way home, which included player interviews, Bo Mel, fan reactions and the Govnah, who TOTALLY jumped all over Tom Candiotti during the breakdown. The Govnah is a THUG! So yeah, pretty awesome day. Hopefully we get to go to the NLCS, either against the Phreakin’s or the Chokies. Damn those Phreakins! AND the other Phreakins! Whatever, we can take ‘em. Y’all need to find a way back here during those games, yo! And if we make it to the World Series, that’s it. We’re just going. That’s all. It’ll be impossible to get tickets but I don’t care, we’re going. Until then . . . GO DBACKS! OH YEEAAAH!
The picture of our seats and many, many more of the DBacks and our postseason right here:
http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/ps/y2007/archive.jsp?series=ds_c&type=photos
Lata all!
;)