And Day 3 begins…
Day 3 starts in an odd way. John told me to wake him up at 9:00 for some reason or another, but since we all stayed up late the previous night, we were all dead tired. I slept through my alarm and failed at waking up John even when I was up at 9:30. Regardless, I fell back to sleep and woke up again at about 10:45. Adam got up at around 10:00 to buy a printer so he could print out his e-tickets for the Yankees/Reds game that day. Unfortunetly, he didn’t have the proper USB cables, and the printer didn’t come with the needed USB cables. So much for the printer idea. He burns the PDF file to a disk and goes to the apartment complex’s main office where he uses their computer to print out the tickets. He says he’s going to return the $90 printer, which is his right, but I would think it would be easier to just purchase a $5 USB cable and keep the printer.
We arrive at Legends stadium at 1:00 (the stadium is right next to the Tampa Bay Buccaneer’s stadium) and take the walk to our seats which are on the 3rd base side. For those who have been to NYSEG stadium in Binghamton, Legends stadium is about the same size. The only difference is that there is a courtyard behind home plate showcasing memorials to a number of Yankees legends (Babe Ruth, Lou Gherig, etc.) Behind NYSEG stadium is… Front Street.
(Funny side-story: Adam made a point to find the sun block lotion before leaving the apartment, but he forgot to take it anyway, and he realized this just after he was pulling out of the complex. He ended up getting sun-burnt. To be honest, my face got a little burnt too, but the damage is only visible; I don’t feel a thing.)
Anyways, we watched the Yankees take on the Cincinnati Reds in Grapefruit League action. (Edit: On the way to our seats, we pass by the bullpen where Jorge is catching, and we start the following chant: “Hip hip! Jorge!” People copied that for the rest of the game. That’s how awesome we are. We start awesome chants like that.) As John said many times after the game, “How can they expect to win a World Series when they can’t even beat the fucking Reds?” Reds win 4-1 with losing pitcher Randy Johnson giving up 3 ER in 3 IP. Then again, the Yankees only started 4 of their usual starters (Cano, Sheffield, Matsui, Giambi) and they all got pulled by the 5th inning. Most of the others are at the World Baseball Classic (which I’d like to see but can’t be arsed to find the times for.) During the game, I made some calls to friends and told them where I was in an attempt to make them jealous. I’m such an asshole sometimes (… most times). Yankees left the bases loaded 3 times, once where they had bases loaded with no outs and resulted in 0 runs scored (I think Jorge poped out and Sheffield went 4-6-3 DP). And in a moment of great comedy, Danielle says that the Reds aren’t a real baseball team. Many people in Cincinnati disagree with Danielle.
Another interesting note: I expected to see many Yankees fans in attendance. What I didn’t expect to see were Red Sox fans. In fact, I saw about 17 Red Sox fans there. It was very confusing. Granted, I thought I was going to get my ass kicked for wearing my favorite Mets shirt, but as soon as I saw Red Sox shirts and hats, I knew I was safe since if anyone was going to get their ass kicked at a Yankees game, it’s going to be Red Sox fans.
Important to note: Danielle and I didn’t drink at all during the game, and everyone else did. This comes into play later.
After that, Danielle plays Designated Driver and takes us back to the apartment. To be honest, it probably would’ve been safer if Adam, who was drinking since the beginning of the game, was driving. After all, Women can’t Drive*. Going 75mph in a 30mph and attempting to pass on the right in a lane which ends in 500 feet is PROBABLY not a good idea, and neither is accelerating towards stopped cars in an attempt to pass another car and cut it off.
We get back home (where I kiss the ground upon exiting the car) and I take a shower while Adam and John get steaks they prepared in marinade yesterday and put them in the oven for cooking. At around 6:00 or so, we sample the steaks (mmmm, good) and play some more darts. From here, Adam and I go on a liquor/cigarettes run (since I’m the only sober person left to drive a car). We pick up some Jack Daniels (so I can drink Jack and Coke later) and cigarettes for Danielle and head back to pre-game or even just hang around and drink with some of Adam’s friends who are due to come over. Indeed, they do come over and all is good. More darts are played, drinks are had, everyone is merry. Danielle orders pizza to be delivered and Adam passes out from drinking too much (after the game, he kept drinking a mixed drink which consists of Ketel One vodka, cranberry juice, orange juice and Sprite (or 7up, one of the 2). Apparently, it tastes very good, so he kept drinking it until he passed out on the bathroom floor.)
At around 11:30, everyone decides to go to another Tampa Bay bar (Tiaga or something), but I’m tired and quite frankly not in the mood to deal with bar crowds, so I crash at the apartment while everyone else drives to wherever. I’m about to go to sleep, so this will most likely end Day 3…
* see previous blog entry for my policy regarding taking things too literally.