Meet the Mets!

This week we went to opening night* at Shea Stadium to see the Mets take on the Phillies, thanks to my journey to Brooklyn to give blood for tickets. It was by far one of the worst games I've ever seen, live or televised. Not just because the Mets lost, but because they didn't even lose in style. In one inning alone they walked the bases loaded and walked home 3 runs! Come on Mets. Jeez. But it was still a very exciting experience. I fulfilled my life-long dream of visiting Shea, and we got to see several cool things.

I was doing back flips in my seat when I saw that Art Garfunkel was the national anthem singer for the night! It was the quietest version of the Star Spangled Banner I've ever heard, but it was awesome. And during the song, some Mets fan in our section turned around and saw three Williamsburg-esque hipsters sitting down in the row behind him, so he said "Get up!" and waved his bag of Peanuts he was holding in a "Get the fuck up now, you brats" motion. The hipsters sheepishly stood up and the guy kept turning around to make sure they were standing throughout the song. That was a happy moment in my life.

The blood tickets were ironically in the nose-bleed section (haven't I given enough?), so we moved to a closer section after a few innings. I was worried we were going to annoy the family behind us, but later I heard one of the kids say (in a thick New York accent), "Dad, Dad, Dad, we were all the way up there and now we're down here!". Other people break rules too!

It was the coldest baseball game I've ever been to, the only one I've worn winter gloves and ear warmers to. And it snowed for several innings. Later, a cat ran on the field. I have no idea how it got anywhere near Shea, but this little orange guy stopped the game for a few seconds while they opened a gate in left field for him to exit the field.

Towards the end of the game we noticed a couple of sections behind home plate yelling and booing some poor spectator. Loud, organized chants of "Yankees Suck!" followed, and security gaurds came to escort a guy wearing a Derek Jeter jersey out of the area. I hope they didn't kick him out of the game, and I'm sure they told him the same thing the Capitol Hill gaurds told me when they dragged me out of the 2005 Presidential Inauguration in handcuffs. "We're just getting you out of here for your safety." But seriously, Yankees suck.

*First night home game of the season