GAME 6: "Yankees SUCK!"

I attended a Monday afternoon game in the Bronx -- Yanks trying to complete a 4-game sweep of the KC Royals. And I feel like I can say "Yankees suck" and have personal life experience that backs that up.

I made my way down to NYC from Kingston, NY on Monday morning. I weaved my way through New Jersey & entered the city from Lincoln Tunnel. When I emerged from the Tunnel, I was excited -- "I'm in NEW YORK CITY!" I was leaning forward in my car to see the tops of all the skyscrapers. I got into the city at about 11 or 11:30 AM, which was a good time to be driving around in traffic. Lots of buses & cabs to dodge. And I do mean dodge. I learned that the painted lanes & such on NYC roads are more like guidelines than hard & fast rules. Saw Times Sqaure. Saw Washington Square. And I made it to my 24-parking destination without any dents.

I then caught the B-train & headed up toward the Bronx. Not at all crowded. Felt safe. A little dirty & grimy. But all in all, I was thinking, "Alright. Not too bad so far."

When I made it to the Stadium, they wouldn't let me in with my back-pack. Apparently, if you're not with a group of people (like, "group seating" -- a couple is not a group), you cannot take a back-pack into Yankee Stadium. Took my back-pack into every other stadium I went to last week. But not Yankee Stadium. I had to go find this bowling alley across the street from the Stadium & "check" my bag. For five dollars, I let my back-pack sit in a bowling alley with complete strangers -- what a bargain!

When I finally got in the Stadium, I ordered a dog & a coke. It was a Nathan's Hot Dog, and I'd give an, "Eh... 6?" And the lady who took my order wasn't friendly at all, either. What is it with New Yorkers?

I found my seat in the right-centerfield bleachers. It was actually a great spot to catch possible homerun balls, but none came close to me. The guys I sat around were pretty friendly -- they saw my 'Bama visor, so several of us started talking college football.

The "collective consciousness" of Yankee Stadium is interesting. It totally sounds cliche, and I can't find the words to express it really, but they are truly "one in spirit." For example, it was a hot day. And when a cloud came overhead that blocked the sun, everyone started appaluding. But then when the cloud passed along, everyone went "Awwww" or "Boooo." And when I've heard announcers say, "And Yankee Stadium has finally come alive," I know what that means now. The stadium was only about 2/3 full Monday, but when they got excited, it is pretty rousing.

As far as the play goes, it was definitely a get-away day. Neither the Yankees or Royals wanted to be playing that game in 90-degree heat. Nobody was working counts. It was a relatively quick game. I was impressed with A-Rod -- I knew he was big, but he really looks like a giant out there on the field. And he hit a big homerun in the 7th inning that tied the game after being down 2-0.

Mariano Rivera came in to pitch in the 9th inning to hold the game to a tie. It was cool to see him trot in to Metallica's "Enter Sandman" (a song about going to sleep... in effect, saying to the Royals, "this guy is about to put you guys to bed."). Mariano Rivera has gotta be one of the coolest athletes of all time -- nothing fazes him. But the first batter hit a homerun off of him in an 0-2 count. I wanted to jump up & down in excitement to see Rivera actually blow a game in person! But I also wanted to leave with all my appendages in tact, so I bottled up all my Yankee hate for the entire game -- even that moment.

I was going to meet some friends after the game, but I was about an hour ahead of schedule. So I was going to sit in the bleachers, catch up on some phone calls, and maybe walk around the stadium a bit after the game to check it out from different viewpoints. Not a chance! The cops totally shoo'ed me out of the stadium. They were jerks. I guess they wanted to go home. But geez. Why can't you let folks hang out instead of going to cram themselves into a subway line? That sealed it -- my Yankee Stadium experience sucked. I don't like these people. And I will now root against all of their sports teams until the end of time.

I rode the subway back down to Greenwich Village to meet up with friends from home, Chris & Katy Donlan. We went to eat dinner at some famous pizza place in the West Village -- I think its called "John's Pizzeria." People wait in line outside to eat this pizza apparently. And while I was not enthralled with the "everything-on-it" style pizza (which is what I usually like), I really did enjoy the cheese pizza (which is what I usually don't like). Apparently the cheese pizza is their specialty. It was very good.

Katy, Chris, and I then went to "Magnolia's to mack on some cupcakes" (reference from Saturday Night Live's now legendary skit, "Lazy Sunday"). Magnolia's is a bakery in the West Village. I actually did buy a couple of cupcakes, and we all went down to sit on the bank of the Hudson River to watch the sunset.

Thanks again for the fun evening Katy & Chris :)

On to the tab!

Starbucks tea & Banana Nut loaf @ Starbucks Monday morning
$4.10

Lincoln Tunnel Toll to get into NYC
$8.00

Parking for under 10 hours
$30.00

NYC Subway Fare
Around $7.25 or something

Checking my backpack at Yankee Stadium
$5.00

Nathan's Hot Dog & Coke
$9.00

Magnolia's Cupcakes
I forget... I think it was around $4

Hotel in Parsippany-Troy Hills, NJ
$54

Ticket to Yankee Stadium Bleacher Seat
$23.55

The Pilgrimage Tab now stands at $1,486.21

I'm hoping to make it in under $2K

Shea Stadium tonight with Chris. Gonna find out if the humans are any more inhumane over in Queens...