At The Yankee Game (and what happened after)

Dan called me this morning with an offer of free Yankees tickets care of Sony. Though I despise the Yankees, baseball is still baseball, and I haven't been to (and hadn't planned on attending) a major league game all year. I happily accepted, and invited my family along. Though Dad couldn't make it, Dan (my brother), Amy, Mom and I made the trek.

I'd never driven to Yankee Stadium before, but made it with a minimum of fuss. I drove around the Stadium for awhile before I got my bearings, and eventually made it to Parking Deck 8 (where Sony had provided me with a prepaid parking pass).

Upon arrival, the announcement of the trade of Armando Benitez to the Mariners elicited raucous celebrations from the Yankee fans and groans from me. All I wanted this fall was to see Benitez implode again and again in pinstripes; now I shall be deprived of even that basic pleasure.

Seats were fairly good (well, they were free, so they were actually excellent). The view was partially obstructed by the foul pole, but rain was a possibiltiy, so the overhang made up for that.

In attendance at the game were Kevin Costner and [deep breath] Paul McCartney! Seeing him would have been enough to make the night worthwhile, but the game itself was actually quite good. In spite of early control problems, Rangers pitcher John Thompson settled down and went 6 innings, giving up four runs and David Wells went 7, giving up 3. The last was a solo home run by Alex Rodriguez, which I captured in what will probably be the best picture I will ever take.

The Rangers beat Mariano Rivera in the 9th for two runs to win for the first time this season when they trailed going into the 9th. Perhaps I'll be seeing a pitcher implode in pinstripes after all...

After the game, getting out of the parking deck was a nightmare. It culminated in my getting tapped by a car from behind as I pulled out. Mom felt it, I didn't (it was that light), and Dan jumped right out of the car to confront the driver of the offending vehicle. He told them repeatedly to back up so he could check the damage, but the passenger acted like he was speaking another language. After a minute or so, the passenger jumped out of the car, apparently looking to start something with Dan (which is weird in itself, because my brother is a fairly imposing guy), then noticed that, OH SHIT, WE REALLY DID HIT THIS CAR. He began apologizing profusely, offering us his cell phone number and driver's license while imploring the driver to back up.

The extra space revealed that there is nothing but a minor scratch on the rear bumper; Dan has already made plans to buff it out tomorrow. This marks the third time that I have been in an "accident:" all three times I have been rear-ended, and they've all resulted in little to no damage.

All told, tonight was capital-A-Awesome. Thanks again, Dan. Great baseball, a great time with my family, and only minor bumper damage. What more could I have asked for?

August 07, 2003 - 12:54 AM

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