Pride of the Yankees

OK, so Adam and Matt and Brooke were in town this past weekend. Let's travel back to this Saturday when Adam showed up. For those of you who don't know, Adam is my buddy from my Einstein's days. We talk sports quite a bit (college football, the SEC, why the DH is a terrible idea, etc.), and he has family who live on the upper west side. So he got into town Saturday and met us at Trailer Park down in Chelsea. Him and I ended up closing the bar down with a few other folks, and as we were making our way out the door, this cute girl starts talking to me and informs me that it's her birthday and she wanted a shot. Typically, I don't fall for this line (seeing as it's her 21st birthday and all, I actually called BS to her, but I was a bit more eloquent). I finally relented and asked what she wanted a shot of, and she said "jaeger." Wow. Heavy hitter at 21. This is Stackhouses kind of woman, as he's a big time jaeger guy. So I buy her a shot, but I can't just pay for the shot on my card, it's a $20 minimum. Of course, no good deed goes unpunished. So I buy Adam and I shots as well. She gets her equally cute friend Holly to come over, and wanted me to buy her a shot as well. Yeah, nice try. I offered an alternative. Let's find another bar to go grab drinks, which they were receptive. Awesome. To add to the awesomeness, they had a dude with them who was Holly's brother. OK, so three dude's and two girls, pretty good odds. We start walking and birthday shot girl (Kristen) and I begin discussing our love of the Office. Adam and Holly are getting along great too, while the other guy is kind of following behind. We find this other bar, and Holly picks up the first round. I'll cut to the chase. Turns out that Kristen is dating the other dude. Basically, I told her it's too bad she's got a boyfriend, because I'd have asked for her number, which surprised her (ladies, guys know you like to flirt for free drinks, so it's not a big deal). We got home later that night and crashed.

The next day was Matt and Brooke's last in town. I ended up meeting Adam at the Museum of Natural History. The cool thing was they were closing in 30 minutes, and they don't check your ticket, so I snuck in through the gift shop. Pretty sweet. We ended up checking out a bunch of dinosaur fossils, a mummified wolly mammoth, and other mammals from the early Cenozoic (I'll explain the Cenozoic in another blog for those that don't understand). Matt and Brooke left that early the next morning, and I miss 'em already.

Monday night, Adam and I took in a game at Yankee Stadium. We got a couple of $30 tickets, and had decent seats. Good view of the field and all the action, so no complaints here. Brian note: I grew up a Yankees fan until I was about 12 or 13. When asked who's my favorite baseball team now, I have to say the Atlanta Braves. Never thought they'd pass the Yankees for me, but things change. I saw my first baseball game at Yankee Stadium when I was 9 years old. It really is quite a sight. For those of you who haven't heard, both Yankee and Shea Stadium (home of the Mets) are being torn down and replaced by new stadiums. Now Shea is a pile of crap, reminiscent of such architectural wonders and Veterans Stadium (former home of the Phillies) and Fulton County Stadium (former home of the Braves). Their new pad is going to be sort of a cross between the old Polo Grounds (where the New York Giants played before moving to San Fransisco) and Ebbets Field (former home of the Brooklyn Dodgers). The Yankees are going to play in New Yankee Stadium which is literally next door. I never thought I'd say this, but it's a good thing Yankee Stadium is being replaced. You read that correctly. Yankee Stadium back in the 30's and 40's was great (from what I heard and read), and that's what they're going for next door. Don't get me wrong, Yankee Stadium is a landmark, but as far as watching a ball game, there's no way in hell it holds up to the modern day fan friendly stadiums like Camden Yards in Baltimore, AT&T Park in San Fransisco, and Turner Field in Atlanta. It was like walking through a cellar, and the field looked terrible. It looked like something that a rec league would play on. I think part of it has to do with the extensive renovations done to the stadium in the 70's that took away most of its charm. It's not like that anymore. If people are going to fork over their hard-earned money to go to games, it's all about the experience, and the retro ballparks provide that. At AT&T park, there's a spot you can walk by and watch a game for free. At Turner Field, you can purchase tickets and stand in center field and watch the game, or drink a beer in the Chop House and watch the action. I hope New Yankee Stadium offers some of these amenities.

Again, sorry for being a slacker, I'll try to post more!!