We went to Opening Day today. Aaron and the Hethan made it to the parade and enjoyed themselves immensely. Can you see why? Chipotle and the Big Green Hand!
Now, the game was slated to begin at 2:10. I left work at 12:00. President Bush was throwing out the ceremonial first pitch and security was set at maximum. Needless to say, I took nothing except my photo id, car keys, cell phone, and rain poncho with me. I made it downtown in good time, found a spot in the parking garage on the Newport Levee, and walked across the bridge from Kentucky to Ohio. Got to the Great American Ballpark, meandered over to an entrance... and laughed. The line was HUGE! So I walked to another entrance. Same story. I was starting to freak out a little here-- it was 1:00 at this point and there was no way those lines were moving fast enough to get me in by the first pitch. So I speed walked to the main entrance--- yay! They actually had about 15 metal detectors as opposed to the 1 or 2 at the other entrances. I did have to stand in line, and as I was standing there, I read the bricks-- people dedicated bricks to others. I found this one, and wondered if it belonged to the family of a friend's significant other-- Sarah Cool, any clues?
I got inside in about 15 minutes, after being wand-ed by the security guards... We had awesome seats, down low on the third base line.
I knew the temps were supposed to fall during the day, but holy crud! By the end of the first inning (which did NOT go well--- Cubs 5, Reds 1, at that stage) I was ready to buy a blanket or a sweatshirt or SOMETHING. Yeah. Sweatshirts were 60.00. Jackets were 100.00. There were no blankets to be had. And the sweatshirts were rapidly selling out, because it was cooler and windier than anyone expected. I finally made it back to our seats at the top of the 5th--- and the score was tied! Yay Reds!
As we sat there shivering, Hethan kept begging for cotton candy. So I went to get him some. Heck, it was warmer in the concession area than it was in the seats! And everyone else felt the same way--- I've never been to a game where the concession area was so crowded and the seats so empty.
The game went downhill after I returned with cotton candy. Adam Dunn made mistake after mistake. The Reds pitchers couldn't get the Cubbies out. It was pitiful. Finally, we couldn't take the cold anymore and LEFT the OPENING DAY GAME!!! in the bottom of the 6th. We NEVER leave games early. Especially not Opening Day!!! But we did this year. In the end, the Reds lost to the Cubs... the score...pitiful...16-7. So so sad.
But the Hethan had a good time at the parade.And it was neat to see Bush throw out the pitch. And hey, people drink more when it is cold outside, so there were lots of interesting people around. Heaps o fun there. Anyhow, there will be more Reds games in our future...hopefully the game and the weather will be better for those future games!
3 comments:
Hahahahahahahahahaaa.... I am laughing SO HARD. I LOVE the fact that you, my friend, went to Opening Day, waited in line, read the bricks, found this one, took a picture, put it on your blog and asked me about it. You are truly awesome and amazing.
I think there are like 400000 woebkenberg's in Cincinnati, so it might be a distant relative (says tyler's cousin here at work) - i think they actually do have a family brick down in sawyer point or something, tyler showed it to me once.
Jenette, can we play raquetball soon?? How about next Monday night or something?
love you!!!
Even with the cold, I'll take it! I spent waaay too much time in the bleacher seats at Busch Stadium in high school and college, drinking beer, having fun and watching the Cardinals play (the beer was in college, obviously...). I miss it!
But $60 sweatshirts??? No way, man.
First of all, the Chipotle Flying Garbage Bag looks just plain weird! Ethan looks so cute though!
I love a good baseball game--Go Cubbies (sorry!)
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