So Friday my friend Greg calls and asks if I want to go to Yankee Stadium on the 4th of July because he had two free tickets fall into his lap. I have a rule -- any time I can celebrate America's birthday by watching the quintessential American baseball play a team from Canada while starting a guy from Taiwan and subsequently having a guy from Puerto Rico ultimately win the game, I always go. You can never pass that up.
Allow me to share my experience with you.
The day started just fine, we were rolling down 87 South making small talk in my fuel-efficient Jeep Cherokee when I realized something was horribly wrong. With the game set for a 1:05 start, that would mean one thing - I'd miss the Nathan's hot dog eating contest.
Now I love the hot dog eating contest like David Duchovny loves free porn and I immediately became distraught. A quick phone call to the girlfriend at least ensured she'd DVR the event for me. With my mind at relative ease, our trip continued uneventfully, although I was pretty sure there would be no way I'd be able to avoid learning who won the mustard belt before I could watch it for myself.
Once the vehicle was parked we were off on a mission to buy overpriced souvenirs for Greg's wife and son so he could make up for abandoning them so we could drink beer and watch baseball. Being men, this took 2 minutes, which meant we had time to duck into Stan's to slam a few cold ones before the game started.
Before we continue, I've been in Stan's many times but just went on their web site for the first time and let me just say I'm shocked. The site is about 100 times nicer than the actual bar and due to my line of work, I'm familiar with how much it costs to develop a web site. Let's just say Stan's sunk some money into a web presence. I'm flabbergasted.
This is where the story takes a turn for the good - being a great American bar, Stan's has the hot dog eating contest on. With beer in hand, we settle in to watch Joey Chestnut set records and keep the mustard belt in the USA. Greg got the whole bar involved by starting the U-S-A chant with 2 minutes to go. God bless this country.
Allow me to share my experience with you.
The day started just fine, we were rolling down 87 South making small talk in my fuel-efficient Jeep Cherokee when I realized something was horribly wrong. With the game set for a 1:05 start, that would mean one thing - I'd miss the Nathan's hot dog eating contest.
Now I love the hot dog eating contest like David Duchovny loves free porn and I immediately became distraught. A quick phone call to the girlfriend at least ensured she'd DVR the event for me. With my mind at relative ease, our trip continued uneventfully, although I was pretty sure there would be no way I'd be able to avoid learning who won the mustard belt before I could watch it for myself.
Once the vehicle was parked we were off on a mission to buy overpriced souvenirs for Greg's wife and son so he could make up for abandoning them so we could drink beer and watch baseball. Being men, this took 2 minutes, which meant we had time to duck into Stan's to slam a few cold ones before the game started.
Before we continue, I've been in Stan's many times but just went on their web site for the first time and let me just say I'm shocked. The site is about 100 times nicer than the actual bar and due to my line of work, I'm familiar with how much it costs to develop a web site. Let's just say Stan's sunk some money into a web presence. I'm flabbergasted.
This is where the story takes a turn for the good - being a great American bar, Stan's has the hot dog eating contest on. With beer in hand, we settle in to watch Joey Chestnut set records and keep the mustard belt in the USA. Greg got the whole bar involved by starting the U-S-A chant with 2 minutes to go. God bless this country.
After Joey's inspiring victory, we were fired up to check out the new stadium. For anyone that's been, or anyone that's interested in this type of thing, I'm not about to break any new ground here, but the new place is really nice. Like most of the new parks being built these days, you can see the field from most of the concourse areas, which is great when you're paying for $9 Coors Lights and $6 Nathan's hot dogs (actual prices). A fun fact, if Joey Chestnut had to buy every hot dog he ate at the contest at Yankee Stadium, it would have cost him $408.
So, we get to our seats and low and behold, they are really, really good. In fact, you know you have good seats when you see this on the seat in front of you:
The day was beautiful and sunny, and since the game happend nearly 2 days ago now, there's no need for me to recap it for you. However I did take a few other shots for your viewing pleasure. You'll have to excuse the quality of the photos, I once again forgot my camera and had to rely on the camera phone on blackberry curve.
Everyone's favorite - Alex Rodriguez - I really don't like the red hats.
Robinson Cano had another tough day:
Jeter, looking bored. You would be too if the person to your right constantly talks in cliches and leads the league in blank stares.
I'd like to make one point on the Yankees since we don't discuss baseball much on this blog. Wang left the game with shoulder trouble and it looks like Phil Hughes will stay in the bullpen. I understand that Wang has been very good over the prior three years, but the fact of the matter is that this year he hasn't been right. Even when he's marginally effective he's only giving you 5 innings. It's time to get Hughes ready to be a starter again. No one wins a pennant based on how they played the year before.
So the moral of this post is - if someone offers you ridiculously good seats to a great stadium, take them. Especially when the Yankees win it in 12 innings.
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