take me out with the crowd

i finally had the chance to go see a game the other night, and it was a good one. i'm only living a little over 100 miles from where i grew up but it's amazing how isolated it sometimes feels from the familiar.
although it can get a bit pricey going to see a game, i try and at least get down there for at least one each season. and every once in a while some kind soul will bestow upon me the gift of a seat and ask me to join them. and so it was as this past monday night my friends kyle and chelsey invited me along as a fourth.
like i said, a little over a hundred miles, but these outings can very quickly turn into complex journeys as work schedules need to be modified, traffic patterns studied and train timetables downloaded. kyle and chelsey had taken the day off work and headed down to the city early to make a day of it. i was to meet up with the third member of our party whom i didn't know, and drive down together. we made plans to meet up at my house and i was impressed by the precision of his planning from door to door. he had it all dialed in. how quickly my impression would change.
brian pulled up and my wife recognized him right away. his then fiancee jenny had lived in the apartment behind ours and we had met them a couple times before they were married and she moved out. small world.
brian is a red-sox fan and he showed up sporting a sox cap and a grateful dead shirt (it was jerry garcia tribute night at the at+t) cargo shorts and flip flops. i said "are you going to be warm enough?" knowing that although it was over 90 degrees outside, we would soon be in downtown fog city with the sun going down. "yeah, i'll be ok" he said as we left my apartment. we did end up stopping by his place on the way out of town to grab a sweatshirt and some zucchini muffins (thanks jenny) and were on our way with jerry and the band on the ipod.
the drive to the bay was smooth and we parked at an east bay bart to take the next leg to the city. after surviving the transbay tube trip we hoofed it from embarcadero station over to the park. as we walked i started spotting fans of the dead and it felt a little like we were headed to a different event. (a big shout out to the hippies from chico for bringing down the old international bus) we found kyle and chelsey at the willie mays statue and were now complete.
i should say at this point that we were all the beneficiaries of field club seating through an anonymous contact which meant we had our very own entrance to the park. once inside we felt like baseball fan aristocracy. i'd never come through this door before and was amazed at what lay before my eyes. it was an entire lounge area with our own private food court which included a wine bar and kebob grill. and the whole thing had a fabulously upscale feel compared to the regular concourse above.

once we had all secured food and beverage we made our way through the bowels of the field level tunnels toward our seats which happened to be directly behind the giants dugout. "is this heaven?" i asked kevin costner. we sat and ate garlic fries grooving to the sounds of a grateful dead tribute band. bill walton made a speech in front of home plate, after which phil lesh, mickey hart and a haggard looking bob weir sang the anthem. (i began sniffing the air) jerry's daughter annabelle threw a bouncer to home plate to start the game and then a four year old shyly said "play ball" into a microphone addressing the world.

and as i began to accustom myself to my new environment the game began. giants got off to a rocky start and gave up 2 in the first. i settled in. my new friend brian was showing the city of san francisco why everybody sympathizes with red-sox fans as he began rooting the home nine with great veracity. at one point during the night team mascot lou seal came by with free cracker jack and brian went nuts yelling out "cracker jack!!! hey, cracker jack!!!" whereby lou seal lifted his glasses, and then raised and lowered his paws as a sort of "calm down dude" gesture.
well, we did get our free cracker jack, and as brian shivered in his shorts and flip flops, the kind ladies next to us took pity on him and lent him a spare fleece blanket.
giants tied it up on a wild pitch in the fifth and then both teams scored another run in the sixth. and they remained deadlocked through the ninth and played on. the tenth came and went and although the giants threatened in the tenth the game remained tied. it was getting later and the knife began to slice away the casual observers from the most serious of fans invested in the outcome of this contest. i don't want to make stereotypes, but as the seats near me began to empty i really had to question the dedication of some of these more nattily dressed fans. sure, i know, it was monday night, a work night for most folks and the midnight chimes were fast approaching. time to leave the ball. and though my ticket was free, i had already paid a heavy price to get there and i was committed to the end.

in the bottom of the 11th with bases loaded and no outs pat burrell hit a long sac fly to center to win it. in exultation we began to shuffle out together crooned by mr. tony bennett. a most excellent time indeed. and before we hit the tunnel i turned around and took one more look at that field, not exactly sure when i'd be back. it is without question, my favorite place in all the world.
it's the little things that make it great, all of the details and touches that keep me yearning to return. a true haven for fans of this game. and even though i faced a long journey home and ended up only getting three hours sleep, when i ran into kyle and chelsey at work the next day we all agreed, totally worth it.