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August 04, 2004
Classic New York City
Tonite i went to my first Yankees game, with my NY friend Kyle. He's a big Yankees fan, and even after going to a game last night, he endeavored to get me to one tonite :) We took the '4' train all the way up to 161st St., signaling my first trip into the Bronx. As we got off the train and Yankee Stadium came into view, you could hear people getting all excited and pumped up for the game. (And note, this is a Wednesday!) The Yanks were playing the Oakland A's this week, and after losing terribly the night prior, we hoped they'd redeem themselves this evening.
We didn't have tickets yet, hoping to get them at the ticket office. After getting worried from seeing so many closed ticket windows, one area was still open, and packed with people. We get in line, and no more than 2 minutes later, a guy approaches us and asks if we want to buy 2 tickets! They're relatively good seats for $30 each, and so we take them happily (after paying, of course...). We're almost at Gate 2 to enter, tickets in hand, and then we realize i needed to check my backpack first (none allowed in the stadium). So $5 later and another trip half way around the stadium, we get back to Gate 2 and get in, as the game is starting. We sit down, watch the first inning, get some obscenely expensive food and continue the game.
The Yanks were down by 1 or 2 runs almost the whole time, but I was amused by such things as the classic beach ball getting tossed around until a cop snatched it away, beer that tasted like nasty soda and cost $8, the YMCA-dancing infield smoothing guys, some fans throwing an A's homerun ball continuously back into the outfield, wondering how many times the beer guy says "draft or light" each night, and generally seeing a crowd of 47,885 people just enjoying themselves and watching a baseball game.
Finally, in the bottom of the ninth, after much suspense, Gary Sheffield slams a two-run homer into left field to tie it up, 6-6. The crowd goes wild, and knows the Yankees are still in the running. Mariano Rivera came out to pitch for overtime, to his own unique accompaniment of Metallica's "Enter Sandman". After 3 more halves of inactivity, and the game approaching four hours in length, A-Rod finally let everyone go home by crushing a 2-run homer into left field - almost directly in front of us! As Frank Sinatra's classic "New York, New York" sang thru the loudspeakers, alot of happy Yankees fans left the stadium, crowding onto the subway trains for home.
Indeed, it was quite a great night -- as i was walking out to retrieve my backpack, listening to the music, i realized i'm really going to miss this place (i leave this coming Sunday). That song has some deeper, closer meaning to me now, and these past 3 months have given me a glimpse of the good and the bad, the ups and the downs, and the overall greatness that NY'ers experience everyday, and the dual hometown/celebrity feeling that attracts so many people to the Big Apple. Here's to you, New York City!
Posted by MaTT at August 4, 2004 11:54 PM
Comments
Sounds fun, except for all the baseball! :D
Posted by: srah at August 5, 2004 04:19 AM
I'm disappointed in you, Matthew. First cardinal rule--Never cheer for the Yankees. Second cardinal rule--Never cheer for the Yankees. And so on and so on. I've enjoyed reading about your experiences in NYC since I've never been.
Posted by: mommy (srah's) at August 5, 2004 08:04 AM
How's this: (maybe it's even worse...) I usually cheer for the home team :)
Posted by: MaTT at August 5, 2004 10:25 AM
How about cheering for any team as long as it's not the Yankees? There's a reason why they wrote a musical entitled "Damn Yankees."
Posted by: mommy (srah's) at August 5, 2004 01:12 PM
I could so do a one-woman show of that play.
Posted by: alfie at August 6, 2004 12:13 AM
Hey! It must be an impostor! My real mommy would never call me srah!
Posted by: srah at August 6, 2004 06:04 AM
What? Maybe she's protecting your secret identity ;)
Posted by: MaTT at August 6, 2004 10:07 AM