"Take Me Out to the Ballgame"

If any of this is highlighted in white, I apologize ahead of time.

“Choosing a path means having to miss out on others” 

― Paulo Coelho

I recently saw this quote on my friend Gillian's Facebook and it couldn't be more true for this week's post. While I'm not sure what my plans were any more for last Monday night (but I'm certain there was something) around midday, my colleague peaked her head up so to see me above my monitor (our desks face each other) and said, "Hey, Sarah, wanna go to a Yankee game tonight?"

I thought on it for half of a second then said, "Sure."

Danielle then returned to her phone conversation and said, "Yeah, Sarah's in; she's the easy one to convince." Or something to that effect.

'Tis true. Life has taught me that even the best laid plans can distract you or detract from potential greatness. There's a fantastic line in the Pirates of the Caribbean movie (I think the first), where the pirates who are allegedly governed by the sacred code "as laid forth by Morgan and Bartholomew". Someone (not a pirate) says when she sees that they are deviating from their constitution, "What about the code?" 

The pirates shrug and say, "They're more like guidelines." 

I think we should use the same approach to plans, especially after my Monday night.

The regular workday played-on; did some grant-writing training, knocked out an expense report, taped things to paper, etc. (If you're a regular reader, you should know by now that this job is anything but dull or in-need of excitement). But at one point I realized that it was going to be chilly out, and my little university fleece would not meet the grade at Yankee Stadium. For weeks I've been putting off purchasing a Columbia Uni sweatshirt, but this was just the push that I needed. 

The end of the work-day rolled around and Danielle and I were ready to fly. We made a last minute decision to take the train into Harlem as opposed to waiting for the bus, which turned out great. We were able to stop by her apartment to freshen up and Danielle was able to grab some warmer clothes for herself, little did we know (I just love that cliche) how good these decisions to grab extra layers would turn out to be.

Yankee Stadium
If you live in NYC and you haven't been, why not? This was my second official visit to the area, and while I hear that Old Yankee Stadium was a sight to see, the new Yankee Stadium is a monolith of its own right.

Danielle and I were awed by the sights, the sounds, the crowds and we completely bi-passed the gate where  her step-dad was waiting for us with the tickets. With the flotsam and jetsam that is the hour before gametime, this isn't hard to do. It was like floating through a sea of Yankee-blue decorations. But of course, this is New York, so the awe of it all would occasionally bring us back to NYC, when a disgruntled fan would scream profanities for people getting in their way. Don't slow down or physically block New Yorkers; it never works in your favor.

Eventually, we made our way to Gate 6, found Rob, and into the Stadium we went. My first time to Yankee stadium was about a year ago and this time around, the stadium was equally as incredible.

As a nerd with a particular emphasis on New York history, being surrounded by something that is such and has been such an integral part to New York life, was spectacular. Not going to lie, I don't know much about the game - I was raised in a Charger/Dallas football-only household, but I do enjoy watching baseball and playing very much. Regardless if the Yankees won or lost, it was going to be a great and blog-worthy experience.

We left our extra ticket with will-call for a friend that was coming later and then headed off to our seats. And boy were we delightfully surprised-

We were in the section where there were warnings on the back of every seat that said "Look out for foul balls and bats." The seats were padded, the leg room was great, and, believe it or not, we had the option of not leaving our seats to go and get treats.

In-seat service, baby. But we chose to go the old-fashioned way and stand in line ourselves. It was interesting though to watch the runners come and check the placards to see if anyone was ready to order anything and a number of people did. If you spend that much for seats, you might as well. But being as our tickets were free...

The game was delightfully engaging. The first foul ball landed a couple of rows in front of us. A camera guy came right up in Danielle's face and she and a corner of me ended up on the mega-tv for the whole stadium to see! There was even a marriage proposal on the mega-screen and as it turns out, the lucky guy and lady were about thirty feet to our lefts. (She said 'yes').

Our missing friend, Rachael, came and joined us and we discussed the many meanings of "ramparts" from the National Anthem, the awesomeness of the seats, and we witnessed what it means to have the foam-finger in the first-class seats -

The life of the game came from four young men who were sitting just behind us. One of them was particularly verbal, but he was not profane in any way. At one point, there was a huge argument among the umpires and the Yankees coach, and we were privileged enough to hear "first-hand' the conversation thanks to these guys, one of whom was clairvoyant and was channeling word for word the dialogue. This gave us and the people directly behind us a ton of laughs. When the young man stopped his prolific expressions, the people behind us cheered him on and told him that the game wasn't worth it without his dialogue. Delighted by this, the man stood up and started berating  and coaching the players again.

Toward the end of the game, Rachael pointed to the back of the field and said, "Isn't it a trip how there's a wall of television screens?"

To which I replied, "That's a club." I had been in there once before thanks to a trip I made to Yankee stadium last year. It wasn't much, I explained, but the view of the field was incredible. Granted, our seats were incredible.

Upon further examination of our tickets, Rachael said, "Hey look, we can get into that club." Sure enough, our tickets granted us access to the exclusive Mohegan Sun bar. So, Danielle, Rachael, and I skipped off on a little adventure to the Mohegan Sun to see what was inside. When we got there, we were a little let down. I'm not sure that if I'm "allowed" to write about it, but the views at our seats were better. If anything, it was warmer in the enclosed club and the bathroom was nice.

Back out into the cold we journeyed, returning to our seats. Our tummies were starting to rumble and it was getting very cold, but we still had a great time. And the Yankees won.

After the game, we skipped off to enjoy cocktail hour at Applebee's where the good times continued to roll. It was a great night and even though we had to be back at work early the next morning, what is a lack of sleep when compared to the joy brought by spontaneity?

"Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit."

-Henry David Thoreau.

Your humble writer,

S. Faxon