Countdown to 40: The Yankees

My parents bid on a trip to Yankee Stadium and won. It was one of those charity deals, where a bunch of prizes were laid out and whomever showed for the event was able to walk around and put bids in on what they saw. Whatever money was collected went to whichever charity the function was held in honor of, I believe. Anyway, my mom put a bid in on a 4-pack of tickets to see the Yanks play Tampa Bay - complete with access to the Sony Stadium club and access to some exclusive restaurant inside the stadium as well. Big shot stuff - and she won.

My mom was born and raised in Queens, NY and my grandfather - her father - was a die-hard Yankee fan. She told me of the times she would go to the games with him and how much she loved being there as a kid. Time spent with her father - what kid doesn't like that? She hadn't been there for decades and when she entered the stadium, it was like a small piece of her from childhood woke up with bright eyes, beaming from ear-to-ear with a ravenous quest to recapture the thrill of yester-year.

Myself, I was a Mets fan growing up. I despised the Yankees, as all Mets fans do. And now, living in Mass., I suppose I'm supposed to continue despising them because of the Red Sox - but truth be told, I'm not much of a sports fan at all anymore. or me, the fun in the trip took on several angles.

I went with my son, that's the biggest piece. We had a fun ride down to Jersey, having left friday night around 10 p.m. after I returned from work and got some stuff together. We had a fun ride down, Nick watching a movie while i listened to the radio. Then about half-way through the ride, we started chatting and really had a decent time just trading words. I even got to tell him all about how Trish and I met, started hanging out together and later decided to stick it out for the long haul. He soaked it in, the beginning of the family.

We even got to stand side-by-side for a bathroom break - the first father-son pissing on the side of the highway deal we've ever done. Yes, history was made between us that night.

We had fun in Jersey also. It's a rare weekend together in Jersey that we don't enjoy the time shared. But anyway, Sunday was the game.

The first thing Nick said he wanted to do was wear his Red Sox jersey to the game. I told him he could if he wanted to but to think about this - New York fans have been known to be nasty toward Sox fans, even kids. I figured there'd be a good chance I'd wind up in a fight of some sort if he wore it, especially as the game drew on and people around us became increasingly intoxicated. Ultumately, he decided to scrap the jersey but kept his Red Sox necklace on.

Our seats were pretty, fucking amazing. I'd never been that close to the field, hadn't been to a game in fact for close to 30 years - decades, just like my mom. Down on the bottom row like that lent a whole, new perspective on the game. Several times the ball was hit, especially into foul territory, it came screaming at our area. And there were signs all around that warned of said foul balls - that may be standard these days at a ball field, but it's not something I remember from sitting in the upper tiers when i was a kid myself.

There are 7 games left at Yankee Stadium before it gets torn down. The new Stadium is there, right across the street the old one and it looks like a Roman Coliseum.

So, the game. It was almost 90 degrees out and sunny, which kicked ass. There hasn't been near enough sun this summer, so sitting in it for 3 hours was a welcome endeavor - even though I got burnt to a crisp. Whatever. My son boo'ed everything the Yanks did for the first two innings, something i was sure was going to draw the ire of those around us. It didn't though, and after several texts to Trish about the day thus far, Nick was given the ok by Poppy (Trish's dad) to root for the Yanks because he wanted the Devil Rays to lose. A Yank win / Devil Ray loss would inevitably help the Sox advance. And that made the trip all the better because now, nick was able to really get into the game.

Yankee History was made that day. Derek Jeter tied Lou Gehrig for the number of hits made inside Yankee Stadium and the place went berzerk. He tied it in style, smacking a home run over the wall - even though his next at bat proved fatal in terms of actually breaking the record as he hit a ball right into a double play. Nevertheless, with the entire stadium on their feet, all 54,300 of us chanting "DER-EK JE-TER!", I had to reflect upon what it must have felt like, for him, to hear everyone chanting his name in unison - a kid who dreamed of playing Yankee Stadium now being celebrated in about as fantastic a way as could be imagined. It was hard not to get caught up in the emotion and momentum of the event.

Nick even wound up wanting a Jeter jersey after the game was out and I picked one up for him outside our parking garage from a street vendor. All around, it was just a decent, family day. That's my mom with him, by the way.

We shot the shit with the guy selling the shirts and he gave nick a free hat, which was awfully decent of him. And in turn, Nick gave the hat to Jackie, which was jusy as nice. Grace got to keep the stuffed bear they were handing out at the gate, a pin-striped white bear with a Yankee Stadium patch. A collector's item, for sure - not that that really matters. Grace was just happy to have the bear.

Couple of pics from inside: