Os!
so i went to see the orioles play the yankees yesterday.
and it was good.
i haven't really paid attention to baseball since i stopped playing back in high school. i'll catch a playoff game here an' there, if it's a good series. but overall, baseball bores me.
so my boy, shane, emails about the game a coupla days ago. who's in? "i'm in," i say. why not? should be fun. 'sides, a live game is always better.
a few days go by and i ask about the details. rico's coordinating the whole thing. apparently it's "student day". don't know what that meant, but there are $5 tickets we can get. and it seems rico is comfortable with getting to the park an hour ahead of time to get the tickets.
"um, you know it's the yankees, right? they're gonna sell out," i said.
"nah, we'll be ok," he says.
so friday evening we gather for the game, over at shane and rico's lab on campus. our boy nathan is coming too... but he's out drivin' a buncha kids around in a van for some church thing (yes, the heterodox has churchgoing friends...) and he underestimated the traffic. he's runnin' a little late.
we meet nathan at the UM motor pool at around 6:20. and head for b'more.
grab a parking space for $10, and head for the park. it's 7:40. the game started at 7:30. i figure we're doomed. but i don't say anything.
we get to the ticket booth, and shane ambles up to the window. "we'll take four of those $5 tickets please."
"those are all sold out," she says with a smirk.
"ok, um... what's the cheapest ticket you've got?"
"we're all sold out, sir."
i start laughin'.
crap. ok. so. what now?
they're supposed to have an official non-scalping ticket area over by gate F. we're at gate A. so we go for a stroll, lookin' out for people sellin' tickets.
...and holy crap, i've never seen so many attractive women at a sporting event in my life. perhaps i should give baseball another shot?
so we finally get to F. can't really see any official areas for anything. but some dude walks up to us and asks if we're "tryin' ta get in."
"yeah," we say.
"$20 each, i'll get you in."
"ha!"
it seems he has a deal with one of the ticket takers. we give him a 20, she lets us in. great racket.
he starts diggin' on us, cuz we're "scared" to take the deal.
"dude," i say, "it's no good. there's always ushers in the tunnel. you can't get to a seat without a ticket."
he thinks the standing area in center field is worth the twenty bucks. i say no.
shane walks over to the f gate booth to see what they have. she says they have some 55 dollar tickets. except... the most expensive ticket on the list is $45. wtf. we say no.
as we're standing there trying to figure out if we're gonna bag the game and hit a bar... and i call my boy steve to see if he's around (he lives in baltimore...but he was heading out to towson for a show) this dude walks up...
"need tickets?"
"yeah. four."
"i got three."
"how much?" i say.
"well they're the five dollar tickets.... i'll give you the three for 20."
"i'll take it," i say. "guys? yeah?" they can't decide. i take it anyway. "this way we only need one more, ya know?"
nathan turns around and this guy is right there, and he needs to unload a ticket. not a scalper... he just has an extra and he doesn't wanna eat the 45 bucks. he'll give it to us for 25. nice.
so we get into the park for 45. plus the 10 for parking. not bad.
we get to our seats... and we are at theee. top. row. in left-center field. and i swear, it rocks. great view of the park... and behind us? great view of the city.
so we get a few beers.
the score's 1-1. it's the 4th inning. there's yankee fans all over the joint. we don't like the yankess. yankees suck. and we join in the Os fans letting all the yankees fans know that.
and for those of you that saw the game... i don't need to explain what happened next... in the 6th inning.
tejada hits a solo home run. nice. next up? sammy sosa. nice. sammy hits a homer right after tejada's homer. the yankees bring in a relief pitcher. F-Rod. F-Rod gets an F for pitching. he starts walkin' everyone.
bases get loaded... and sosa's up again. heh. and he neeeeaarly does it. he cracks one that bounces over the fence. ground rule double. he drives in two more runs.
after all is said and done, Os are up 8-1 at the end of the 6th.
sweet game. sweet seats. i forgot how fun live baseball can be. and between parking, tickets to a sold out game, and beer... we only dropped $25.50 each.
and it was good.
i haven't really paid attention to baseball since i stopped playing back in high school. i'll catch a playoff game here an' there, if it's a good series. but overall, baseball bores me.
so my boy, shane, emails about the game a coupla days ago. who's in? "i'm in," i say. why not? should be fun. 'sides, a live game is always better.
a few days go by and i ask about the details. rico's coordinating the whole thing. apparently it's "student day". don't know what that meant, but there are $5 tickets we can get. and it seems rico is comfortable with getting to the park an hour ahead of time to get the tickets.
"um, you know it's the yankees, right? they're gonna sell out," i said.
"nah, we'll be ok," he says.
so friday evening we gather for the game, over at shane and rico's lab on campus. our boy nathan is coming too... but he's out drivin' a buncha kids around in a van for some church thing (yes, the heterodox has churchgoing friends...) and he underestimated the traffic. he's runnin' a little late.
we meet nathan at the UM motor pool at around 6:20. and head for b'more.
grab a parking space for $10, and head for the park. it's 7:40. the game started at 7:30. i figure we're doomed. but i don't say anything.
we get to the ticket booth, and shane ambles up to the window. "we'll take four of those $5 tickets please."
"those are all sold out," she says with a smirk.
"ok, um... what's the cheapest ticket you've got?"
"we're all sold out, sir."
i start laughin'.
crap. ok. so. what now?
they're supposed to have an official non-scalping ticket area over by gate F. we're at gate A. so we go for a stroll, lookin' out for people sellin' tickets.
...and holy crap, i've never seen so many attractive women at a sporting event in my life. perhaps i should give baseball another shot?
so we finally get to F. can't really see any official areas for anything. but some dude walks up to us and asks if we're "tryin' ta get in."
"yeah," we say.
"$20 each, i'll get you in."
"ha!"
it seems he has a deal with one of the ticket takers. we give him a 20, she lets us in. great racket.
he starts diggin' on us, cuz we're "scared" to take the deal.
"dude," i say, "it's no good. there's always ushers in the tunnel. you can't get to a seat without a ticket."
he thinks the standing area in center field is worth the twenty bucks. i say no.
shane walks over to the f gate booth to see what they have. she says they have some 55 dollar tickets. except... the most expensive ticket on the list is $45. wtf. we say no.
as we're standing there trying to figure out if we're gonna bag the game and hit a bar... and i call my boy steve to see if he's around (he lives in baltimore...but he was heading out to towson for a show) this dude walks up...
"need tickets?"
"yeah. four."
"i got three."
"how much?" i say.
"well they're the five dollar tickets.... i'll give you the three for 20."
"i'll take it," i say. "guys? yeah?" they can't decide. i take it anyway. "this way we only need one more, ya know?"
nathan turns around and this guy is right there, and he needs to unload a ticket. not a scalper... he just has an extra and he doesn't wanna eat the 45 bucks. he'll give it to us for 25. nice.
so we get into the park for 45. plus the 10 for parking. not bad.
we get to our seats... and we are at theee. top. row. in left-center field. and i swear, it rocks. great view of the park... and behind us? great view of the city.
so we get a few beers.
the score's 1-1. it's the 4th inning. there's yankee fans all over the joint. we don't like the yankess. yankees suck. and we join in the Os fans letting all the yankees fans know that.
and for those of you that saw the game... i don't need to explain what happened next... in the 6th inning.
tejada hits a solo home run. nice. next up? sammy sosa. nice. sammy hits a homer right after tejada's homer. the yankees bring in a relief pitcher. F-Rod. F-Rod gets an F for pitching. he starts walkin' everyone.
bases get loaded... and sosa's up again. heh. and he neeeeaarly does it. he cracks one that bounces over the fence. ground rule double. he drives in two more runs.
after all is said and done, Os are up 8-1 at the end of the 6th.
sweet game. sweet seats. i forgot how fun live baseball can be. and between parking, tickets to a sold out game, and beer... we only dropped $25.50 each.