Insane Random Ramblings

This will be really quick. I’m really surprised at the number of “sports-bloggers” who haven’t said a peep about the last game at Yankee stadium. I know a lot of people are Yankee-haters so I’m not surprised about them. I am surprised by a blog that I read that usually takes the opportunity to make fun of anyone in the sports world, yet didn’t say anything about the 18 people arrested for theft.

I guess the love-hate relationship runs deeper than I thought.

I didn’t cry but I almost did. Not because of the game but because of the speeches and the end of the game. It was just really an emotional experience.

They introduced the players like the did during the All-Star game. They ended the introductions of past players and coaches with Bernie Williams. They still love Bernie in NY. Bernie got what seemed like a 5 minute ovation. It was definitely the longest ovation of the night. The Babe Ruth’s 92 year old daughter threw out the ceremonial first pitch to Jorge Posada. I was glad to see Jorge take part in the festivities although he’s hurt.

After the game, Derek Jeter gave a speech surrounded by all of his team-mates. Then they walked around the stadium waving to the fans. The players took pictures with each other, they took pictures of the fans and gave out autographs and souvenirs. It was awesome.

It’s something I wish I could have been a part of.

Here are the last memorable plays at Yankee Stadium:
Last hit Jason Giambi

Last Home Run Jose Molina

Last Winning Pitcher Andy Pettit

Last Winning Save Mariano Rivera (Of course!!!!!!!!!!)

I think even non-Yankee fans would have enjoyed the celebration. Except Yankee-haters…I’m sure they didn’t like it. It’s just too bad it’s over. It was such a great thing to watch. 

But I know I will. The Yankees are playing their final game at Yankee Stadium tonight. ESPN has basically been YankeesTV all day today. I’ve been watching football so I haven’t watched any of it.

I know I’ll cry tonight. Not because the Yankees are all but eliminated from the playoffs. Not because this will probably be the last time this season I get to see A-Rod play. But I’ll cry for sentimental reasons.

I cried when Cal Ripken broke the consecutive games streak.

I cried when the Steelers played their last game at Three Rivers Stadium.

I cried then Barry Bonds (Mr. *) broke the home run record.

Hell, I even cry at commercials. I know it’s coming.

Just as an aside, why is there no love for the Mets? This is the last season at their stadium too.

I got my homework done yesterday so I wouldn’t have to worry about it today. I’ll wait until tomorrow to wash clothes. That way I can watch sports all day long. I probably won’t watch the early football game. But I’ll watch the Steelers vs the Eagles at 4:15. Then I’ll watch the Yankees vs the Orioles at 8pm. I guess you know who I’ll be rooting for right?

The only thing I may do early in the day before the games come on is clean the bathroom. My sink, especially the Kohler faucets are kind of spotty. I’ll also mop the floor and clean the mirror. That shouldn’t take long at all.

Then I’ll od on sports for the rest of the day.

I don’t get a chance to see many Yankees games. If I still lived in NJ where my mom lives, I would see their games all of the time because she gets a NY channel with her cable company. Here in Pittsburgh, we don’t get any special channels. The only way I get to see the Yankees is if they come on ESPN.

Well yesterday a game was supposed to come on but rain ruined everything. The game was postponed until today when they played a double header. Unfortunately neither game came on tv. The best I can do is watch the highlights on Sports Center tonight.

The Yankees won 10-0. Joba pitched a great game and lasted into the 6th. There were so many Yankees fans there that he got a standing ovation when he left the game. It wasn’t a huge ovation but it was large enough that he noticed it and did a slight wave to the crowd. You had to really be watching because the wave was very subtle.

Today is the last game of the three game set here in Pittsburgh. It was raining when I left home this morning and I was kinda hoping for a rainout so they would have to come back again. Not very nice of me was it? I know but I was thinking that some of those people wouldn’t be able to come back so I could get tickets and go to a game. There are tickets for today but they’re standing room only. Ummm no. I’ll sit in the comfort of my living room and watch the game.

Today is Jeter’s birthday too. Happy Birthday Jeet!

It wasn’t even really that close. They were losing 12-3 in the top of the eighth when Bobby Abreu hit a 2 run homer. But it was still a good game. I thought some of the Pirates fans were going to have heart attacks because there was so much action. I kept thinking that I hope they had gotten extra life insurance before the game. There was so much hype surrounding the game which made for a really fun night. I just wish I could get tickets to tonight or tomorrow night’s game. The only seats they have left are the standing room only seats and I’m not about to buy those.

The game was a sell-out with over 38,000 people in attendance. There were empty seats but I think the sro people made up the difference. Most of those empty seats were scalper seats. They were out in full effect before the game trying to unload their tickets. One guy had a huge stack of tickets and most of them were decent seats. That really burns me up. I don’t care about people re-selling seats or even buying them to sell later at a profit. But when you have more than 10 seats, that’s just wrong. I hope they all take a loss. There are plenty of people that wanted to go but couldn’t get seats because these guys were hogging up all of the seats.

Whew! Enough ranting. It was a fun time and I can’t wait to do it again. Hopefully I’ll see the Yankees at least 1 more time before the summer is out.

I was really bummed for a long time about this series. The Yankees are in town for 3 days starting today through Thursday. I’ve wanted to go to these games since last year when they announced that they were coming to town. The Yankees haven’t been to Pittsburgh in 48 years so it’s a pretty big deal around town.

When tickets went on sale they sold out in 10 minutes and I wasn’t able to get tickets. At first I was upset about not being able to go. Then I got mad when I saw all of the tickets on Ebay, StubHub and a couple of other auction sites. I knew that the reason the seats went so fast was because scalpers had them and were selling them at outrageous prices. I mean a $9.00 cheap seat was going for almost $40. That’s just ridiculous but I guess people were willing to pay it. I was bummed because I wasn’t spending that much money. No way no how.

Then yesterday I went on the Pirates site just wishing and hoping. I saw that they had tickets available but I had a gift card that was at home. After work we went to WalMart and did some shopping. Once we got back home I mentioned to John that I had saw the tickets. He’s a Yankees hater so I didn’t think he would want to go. He told me to try and get seats. I went on and most seats were sold out but there was a 7 minute delay while people decided on the tickets that they had. After about 10 minutes, I got seats!

I can not wait until tonight! I just wish I had gotten a camera.

The best part was that the Yankees won 1-0 over the Cleveland Indians. Melky Cabrera hit a homerun in the 5th inning for the only run of the game. Robinson Cano was on 1st but got picked off trying to steal second. If he hadn’t gotten caught, it would have been a 2-run game.

Chien-Ming Wang and C.C. Sabathia were the pitchers. Jorge Posada got scratched just before the game started and got placed on the 15-day dl with a bad shoulder. Grady Sizemore didn’t play for the Indians because he had a sore right ankle. Everyone else that I wanted to see played.

John thought I didn’t have fun because there wasn’t more scoring but I enjoyed every minute of it. Well everything except the obnoxious Yankees fan next to me. He was a total jerk for most of the game and we were rooting for the same team. He’s one of the people that gives fans of any team a bad name.

I took my digital camera but it wasn’t working. I don’t know if it’s the batteries or the camera though. I should have tested it out before we went but it was a last minute decision to grab it anyway. Oh well I’ll be sure to check it out next time. And there will be a next time.

I’m already plotting our next game. I think it will be in Chicago over the Memorial Day weekend. I hope to catch at least 3 games at 3 different venues this summer.

I am really hoping the weather cooperates for us on Saturday but especially on Sunday. Saturday I want to go see the Pirates vs the Phillies here in Pittsburgh. I don’t have the tickets yet but I have a gift card that I bought back in March that I can use. If it rains I won’t go but I’m hoping it’s nice so I can go. This is the only time the Phillies come to Pittsburgh this year. They usually only come once a season. Last year their trip here was in August and I was on vacation.

Sunday we’re going to Cleveland to see the Indians vs the Yankees. Guess who I’m rooting for? We got those tickets the day they went on sale. I’ve been waiting for this day for what seems like forever. It’s supposed to rain on Sunday and I’m really hoping it doesn’t. If the game is rained out we might not be able to go to the new game, especially if it’s a weeknight. We would have to take half a day the day of the game and be tired the next day because we wouldn’t get home until after midnight.

If it rains and they have the game anyway, we’ll have to sit in the rain and that doesn’t sound appealing. I just hope the rain stays away.