What I wore: black Nike sneakers (comfortable but old), grey Levi's jeans, red Cardinals Busch Stadium 1966-2005 commemorative t-shirt, black Champion warm-up jacket that doesn't fit very well, faded blue Cardinals hat.
What I did beforehand: went for dinner to the Phnom Penh Noodle House in the International District. I had the Tender Duck Noodle Soup and my friend had the Foursome Beef Noodle Soup, both of which we enjoyed. This restaurant is owned by the family of former students at my school, so I spent some time reminiscing and catching up with the mom of two boys who will now be going into 8th and 11th grade.
Who went with me: my friend/fellow teacher/fellow union activist Michael.
How I got tickets: bought them several weeks ago at the Safeco Field ticket office. Details are here.
Why I saw this game: I have traveled thousands of miles just to see a Cardinals game-- it would be ridiculous to not see every Cardinals game on one of their rare visits to Seattle.
Where I sat: section 116, row 20, seat 1. These seats were in the outfield down the first base side, and, because of that, were in prime foul ball territory. The view was quite good, but it was actually somewhat terrifying-- several line drives came into the general area of where we were sitting, one of which ricocheted and hit a man in the face, giving him a bloody nose. I regretted forgetting to bring my glove.
Things that were sad: the man getting hit in the face by the ball; the Cardinals losing for the second night in a row by a single run; how slow Yadier Molina runs.
Things that were funny: in the middle of the fifth inning, a shoeless fan wearing an American flag draped over his shoulders ran out onto the field and almost interfered with a fly ball being caught.
The fan being escorted off the field after being tackled by security
Things that were not funny: we were sitting directly in front of a very loud and entertaining older Black Cardinals fan from St. Louis. When the Cardinals did well, she would celebrate very boisterously by dancing, hollering, and waving her Cardinals blanket around. At one point during one of her celebrations, someone in the almost all-white crowd behind us started throwing popcorn at her. She then proceeded to pretty loudly announce to those around us that she's from St. Louis and not to be messed with. The popcorn throwing stopped after that. Remember-- racism is real folks, even out here in "liberal" Seattle.
What it is: an expression of loyalty that I would gladly make again and again to waste this much time and money watching my favorite baseball team lose two nights in a row.
Who should see it: anyone who enjoys sitting outside on a beautiful summer night watching grown men run around playing a game. Also anyone who enjoys remembering 1980s baseball uniforms, movies, music, and computer graphics-- it was Throwback Night and everything was 1980s-related.
What I saw on the way home: a young adult on the light rail with what appeared to be either his mother or his much-older girlfriend returning home from the game; several glum-looking Cardinals fans; junk mail in my mailbox when I got back to my building.
(Thanks to How Way Leads On To Way for inspiration.)
