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Thursday, May 8, 2008
love of the game vs. hate of the Yankees
love of the game vs. hate of the yankees Thursday, May 8 - 10 p.m.
Yankee Stadium.
Few sports venues conjure up the level of emotion and history as the home of the Bronx Bombers. Love them or hate them, one must admit the historical significance of a place such is this is unmatched. We arrived today around 11, and could feel a buzz of greatness in the air as we approached the hallowed stadium. To see Yankee Stadium on t.v. is one thing, but to actually walk inside and see the batters box where greats such as Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, and Joe Dimaggio once dug in is a great feeling. I personally despise the Yankees, but I could hardly contain my excitement as I emerged from the tunnel and found myself staring history in the face.
Although the stadium itself is old and rundown, the chills running up and down our spines were hard to shake as Mike Mussina took the hill, or when Derek Jeter kept his hands back and took a Paul Byrd breaking ball to right field. I hate the pinstripes, but I respect the legacy they have built in the Bronx with their 26 world championships. That respect was strengthened today as I got my first taste of “the house that Ruth built.”
I will quit rambling about this subject now because I am starting to sound like a Yankee fan, which I never want to be accused of, but I just wanted to accurately express what it felt like to finally enter Yankee Stadium, after waiting for years to do so.
A couple of other cool things about the game. Because Latroy Hawkins hooked us up with tickets, we were sitting in the family section, and sat right behind the brothers of Robinson Cano, Bobby Abreu, and Melky Cabrera. We didn’t talk to them much, but it was still cool to rub elbows with the siblings of Yankees.
Also, the Yankees recognized us on the jumbotron during the 5th inning. They flashed a message on the screen and also read it on the public address system. It stated that we were driving five-thousand miles to lots of stadiums and raising money for breast cancer. It was an awesome feeling to know that we really are making a difference by raising money for breast cancer.
We are now in Connecticut at Andrew Waller’s house, our catcher from LeTourneau. We’re worn out and just lying around tonight, but tomorrow we’ll be up and moving early as we plan to see some sights in NYC and catch a Reds-Mets game at Shea Stadium tomorrow night.
Thanks for reading and keep donating! We have raised close to $700 for the Susan G. Komen for the Cure but we’ve driven 2,000 miles, so we need some more donations to keep pace with our goal of 5,000 miles for 5,000 dollars!
Stay tuned, new pictures and video from Detroit and New York will be coming soon!
Keep telling people about what we are doing and donate if you can! Every little bit helps!
Also, we have been talking with Big D & Bubba everyday so far, and will continue to do so throughout our trip. They have been airing our melodious voices around 9:45 a.m. Central Standard Time. You can tune in to 101.5 fm or listen online at www.knue.com.
Goodnight from Connecticut!
-Aaron
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The Motor City!
The Motor City! Wednesday, May 8 - 12 p.m.
Unfortantely, we’re headed out of Chi-town! We ended up staying with Ally, who we met at the White Sox game. She works for the Cubs and is quite the baseball fan. She was gracious enough to let us crash on the floor of her apartment after showing us the sights of Chicago after the game. Chicago is an awesome place, and we wish we had time to spend a few more days and see the Cubs play, but alas, Detroit is calling our name. It’s raining pretty hard as I write, but we are in good hands with our trusty Tahoe and GPS system, which we have named Mindy. Mindy has been a reliable source of direction on this exciting trip, and we are eternally indebted to her. Check back with ya’ll tonight after the Tigers play host to the Red Sox at Comerica Park.
11:30 p.m.
After seeing two great games, we didn’t know if our luck would be sustained through tonight’s game—
It most definitely was.
Thanks to Red Sox starting pitcher Clay Buchholz and his sister Ashleigh, we sat about 30 rows behind the plate at the immaculate Comerica Park. Buchholz started and did not have his best start of the year as he allowed five runs on 10 hits in four innings pitched, however he did strikeout six Tigers. Armando Galarraga was on the bump for the Tigers and had a similar line as he gave up five runs on seven hits in 5.1 innings. He mirrored Buchholz in strikeouts and each pitcher received a no-decision as it came down to a walk-off single by Placido Polanco. The ballgame was knotted up at 8 heading to the ninth until the Sox pushed a run across and seemed to have the game in hand as Jonathan Papelbon cruised in from the bullpen. However, after a bloop hit, an error, a perfect bunt by Pudge Rodriguez, and a broken bat single by Polanco, the Tigers notched the victory, handing Papelbon his first blown save of the season, and Todd Jones his first victory. After seeing great pitching in Kansas City and Chicago, it was refreshing to see a traditional American League slugfest by two of the most high-powered offenses in all of baseball.
We have been eating hotdogs at each stadium, and in my opinion, Detroit’s Italian sausage, with onions and peppers was by far the best. I also think Detroit is the classiest ballpark we have seen thus far on our tour. From the level of play, to the park, to the food, to the fans, Detroit is a great baseball city that every fan should visit.
Well, we have a 1:05 matchup to catch at Yankee Stadium tomorrow so we’re about to pull an all-nighter from Detroit to New York tonight. I’ll check back with you if anything fun happens along the way.
4 a.m.
I’m barely keeping my eyes open as I write this but we just swung through Cleveland to make a stop at Progressive Field, formerly known as Jacobs Field, home of the Cleveland Indians. Because of the late hour [or early, however you want to look at it] we were able to pull right up to the stadium and it was an instant kodak moment as we were all dead-tired. As we were walking back to the Tahoe, a Cleveland cop rolled up and asked if we needed help. We told him what we were doing and that we just wanted to take a picture. He said that was fine but that we needed to hurry up because this is not a very nice part of town and can get dangerous. We jumped in, locked the doors, and continued on. Yankee Stadium here we come!
-Aaron
