Thursday, April 21, 2011

A Day At The Races

Actually, it was A Night at the Ballgame, but the Marx Brothers never got around to making that movie; but a titular allusion to Abbott & Costello's "Who's On First?" routine seemed a bit obvious; plus, if I did allude to that routine, I'd have to include a footnote stipulating to the fact that that routine was not really Abbott & Costello's, but actually an old vaudeville routine whose origins can't really be pinpointed; and the only reason I'd have to do that would be to preempt a certain reader who, were I not to point that out, would feel obliged to leave a comment saying, e.g., "Abbott & Costello were not really the originators of 'WoF?' ..."

Take my word — it was just easier to go with the Marx Brothers movie title1.

Anyroad, on Tuesday night, Ian and I went to the Phillies game and stayed till the bitter end, watching as our Phils got their collective @$$es handed to them by the Brewers, 9-zip. Yep, and Doc Halladay (best pitcher in the majors) was our starter that night. Not a good night for Phillies fans!

Cliché alert: The game was actually closer than it sounds (it didn't get out of hand till the 7th), but there really wasn't much to cheer for because the Phils didn't bring their sticks that night, getting a mere two hits, one of which was a bunt single by Rollins.

Ian and I agreed that we had a great time anyway, and as we left after the last out in the bottom of the ninth (a good two-thirds of the crowd had already left), one of the ushers looked at us and said, "These are the real fans!" And I was like, "I never stopped believing they might come back!" which is a bit of a lie, the truth being more that I certainly didn't want to be in the car driving home listening on the radio as the announcers went: "WHAT A COMEBACK BY THE PHILLIES!1! Down by 9 runs, they win it 10-9 in the NINTH!1!"

That wasn't likely to happen but the only surefire way to prevent it was to stay2. Which successfully prevented it from happening.

Anyroad, I'll let these pix do the rest of the talking:





Ian and I got to Citizens Bank Park a half hour before the gates even opened (at 4:35; game time: 7:05) because Ian wanted to see batting practice. It being a moist day, the tarp was down all day and there was no batting practice. And even though we were wandering around in- and outside the stadium for 3 hours, we only got stopped by two official photographers (last time, we got stopped by about 6) and the four pix above are the results. Proofs, of course, because each picture costs $20! Eff that.

My pix:
 Outside at around 4:00, waiting for the gates to open at 4:35 (Ian is wearing his Utley jersey, which he's had for months, for the first time; I wore my Ibañez jersey, of course ...)

 
Banner of CRIFF REE!1! outside CBP. We'd've seen Lee pitch if there hadn't been a rainout. Still, we got to see Doc so ... no complaints.

View looking up at the Left Field Gate (Duh)

Still waiting ....

Poor Ian never got that Utley autograph ...
1 Which, as every student of 1970s music knows, they stole from the title of the Queen album, on which album you are exhorted to engage in some rather questionable borderline-bondage behavior with your own maternal ancestor. Go ahead. Feel free. Smoke 'em if you got 'em. I'm not here to judge you.

2 Of course all is forgiven now because yesterday afternoon the Phils did come back from a 3-0 deficit to beat the Brewers 4-3. Now that was an exciting game! Ian and I watched it on TV.
Posted by at 8:48 AM
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13 comments:

  1. Last night we watched Real Sports w Bryant Gumble who did a profile on J-Roll. I'm learning more and more about your Phillies. Bryant mentioned Cliff Lee and I yelled out CRIFF REEEEEE!!!!!!! Scott looked at me like I was crazy.

    Cute pics :)

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  2. @Beth - CRIFF REEEEEEEEEEE!1!!!1!

    JRoll got one of the two hits the Phillies had the night we went. I told Ian that Ibañez was gonna hit 3 home runs for us.

    He went 0 for 3.

    Suck.

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  3. I like saying Criff Reeeee almost as much as I lurve yelling Ichirrrrrrrrooooooooo! 'Cept he's a west coaster.....

    Anyroad - looks like you two had a blast at the game, I am stoked to catch a few Metropolitan games in June when they travel down here to play the stinkin' Boston/Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves....

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  4. Once again, the Phillie Phanatic was chosen best mascot of the year, followed by the San Diego Chicken. Sluggo, the UCSB Banana Slug, remains the worst.

    Haven't seen the Marxist "A Day at the Race Riots" in a while. But I have heard Craig Ferguson do his Chico Marx impersonation from that film 20 times in the past month. "Get your Tutsi Fruitsy Ice Cream..."

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  5. Okay, so now that you've said that you know I'm going to post something, I won't.

    Not much to report anyway. I've been ill.

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  6. Oh, there IS something to report. I got pulled over by a cop for driving through a red light. I said, "It's really stupid, but can I give you an explanation? I hit a light on green that turned yellow as I went through, and then another one and then I hit one on yellow and thought 'three in a row!' - and I'm usually the one that complains about people who go through on yellow and the guy behind him who sneaks through on red - and then I hit another one, even closer to turning red... and I couldn't believe my good luck, so I just wanted to see how long this would go on, as it would never happen again, and I got to this one and, yeah, it wasn't even close, it was red. But I'd never do it again."

    The officer then said, "Sir, you've just admitted to breaking the law three times. I'm only citing you for the last one."

    Crap. I thought that'd work. 0 for twentysomething on moving violations, lifetime.

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  7. Nothing more iconic than a dad and his son at the ball game. These are the memories your son will keep forever.

    However, the big question. Have you taught him how to keep score?

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  8. Someone clicked through on the link from your post to my blog! A hit! That's a first!

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  9. Priceless proofs beat $80 in rip-offs. You both look so happy. :)

    Seems like "Brewers" would be a more appropriate name for the team that YOU root for :)...oh well. When I was a kid, we went to some Giants and A's games. "Athletics" has always seemed strange to me as a baseball team name.

    @SteveQ--Twenty-something moving violations?? Geez...I'll try to remember not to ask YOU for a ride!
    ...and, I believe it's the UCSC (Santa Cruz) Banana Slugs. The REAL slugs are kinda cool (but you have to watch not to squish them while running the trails in the Santa Cruz Mtns in the SF Bay Area); the fake one (human mascot) is definitely NOT cool.

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  10. Even though it's a phillies post I read it anyway because Ian is so cool. Great photos! My thinking is that if I've paid for a performance, I'm going to stay and watch it all. And time spent with your kid doing something you both enjoy is total gold.

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  11. This might be my favorite G post EVER!

    1. Dad and son at the ballpark pix are way cool
    2. The San Diego Chicken got a shout out!
    3. SteveQ is lying because I clicked through to his blog and I'm going to try out his chocolate chip cookie recipe now

    oh wait.

    The Phillies just beat the Pads...so I hate you now... (on the other hand, it's gonna happen lots this season, so I should get used to it).

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  12. @TrailTurtle: well, 15 of those were all in one night. Got 90 days in county for resisting arrest and stopped drinking and driving.

    @Aka Alice: now I have to check the stats to see if there's two clickthroughs. Hope you like the recipe.

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  13. 3 hits in the past day, fewer than 6 for the week. That's not clickthroughs, that's hits by the Twins (actually they split their last series).

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