Spinsterblog

My crushing disappointment and anguish has been temporarily counteracted by the recent presidential election, so I thought I’d take this time to write a little entry about the World Series.

Game Seven of the ALCS was a weird experience, to say the least. Erin and Danielle were pretty damn gracious about conceding the series pretty early, whereas late into the game I was still arguing that the Rays were going to lose. And unlike them, I was imagining that I was going to be pretty damn bitter and cranky about it for weeks. And then, unbelievably enough, the Rays actually WON and I was able to feel very sympathetic about their pain. Trying not to come across as gloating is MUCH more fun than trying not to irrationally yell at people for things over which they have no control.

Let me tell you how gracious Danielle was. The next morning, when I was in the most flaily of my excitement, and had started saying I might fly to Florida for the WS Game Two, she did not say, “That is a ridiculous idea.” No, she said, “Maybe I’ll come.” (I believe my reaction was pretty much stunned disbelief. IN A GOOD WAY.)

And so, that is how we found ourselves headed to Florida three days after the Rays won the Pennant. Like LUNATICS.

I am not really the spur-of-the-moment trip type. I am (and this is a vast, VAST understatement) the plan-a-trip-six-months-ahead-of-time-in-excrutiating-detail-including-spreadsheets-itineraries-and-maps type of girl. So planning a trip three days ahead of time was crazy enough, but I bought my plane tickets before I even had tickets to the game. (At that point I figured once I was there, I was DAMN WELL going to the game, if I had to commit some sort of crime to do so. (I did not.))

We arrived in beautiful sunny Florida Thursday morning. (Please note that even though Danielle is a Red Sox fan first and a Rays fan much more casually, she still did not even complain about having a flight at 6 am. THAT is how awesome her enthusiasm for going to the World Series was.) Driving to the hotel from the airport was ten kinds of awesome, because on every billboard between Tampa and downtown St. Pete, there were messages of cheer and encouragement for the Rays.

With vast days hours minutes of free time ahead of us, and an overcast sky of doom (seriously, WTH, Florida? If I wanted days of nonstop clouds and dreariness, I would live in Virginia.), real beach-going was out of the question. However, I was in Florida and near the beach, so by God I was going to put my feet in the water and walk through the sand, even if I was cold and wet while I did it. (A sure sign I have moved from “Floridian” to “tourist.”)

On our way past the pirate to Treasure Island, we stopped at The Floridian, where I had a yummy Cuban sandwich. I persist in trying to find good Cuban sandwiches up here, which is kind of like trying to find good sweet tea in New Jersey. My only complaint was the addition of salami, which I do not believe in. It is unnatural.

Many, many hours before the game started, we drove past my high school and headed on over to the Heritage Hotel (where I believe I had some sort of dance or Junior Civitan event or something) to get our tickets from the ticket broker. We were initially in the upper deck, down the first base line in row HH, possibly with an obstructed view. However, when we picked up the tickets, we were upgraded to the upper deck behind home plate, in row L. It was a great view of the game, and I can whole-heartedly recommend the broker, Tickets of America.

This was our view (photo by Danielle):

Of note, getting to the game eleven thousand hours before it started meant that we didn’t have to pay to park–we just snatched up some street parking on our way. As soon as walked to the parking lot, there was all kinds of World Series chaos, which pretty much meant that I spent the entire time saying, “OMG! We are at the WORLD SERIES!!”

We were able to take in batting practice, which is always a little nerve-wracking for me, because of how I am scarred for life, thanks to Wily Mo Pena.

We used the time between BP and the game to buy a ridiculous amount of merchandise at the team store, which was already so crowded that we had to wait in line to get in. After that, it was time for food and seat-finding. If you are at the Trop and trying to decide, I can recommend the tacos. They were yummy, but if you are carrying them around while you try and find your seat, you WILL be stopped by about four thousand people, asking where you got them. Perhaps you should make up a sign ahead of time.

Somewhere in the chaos of the pre-game insanity, they were doing free RAYS airbrush tattoos for fans. I got mine on my arm, because I embrace the classics, but Danielle got hers on her neck. That is how she rolls.

The game was awesome. Everybody was cheering their little hearts out and ringing their little cowbells. Unlike the ALDS, though, no one in our immediate bubble of fans had a cowbell, so that really spared our ears. Particularly delicate little Danielle’s ears, since she managed to drop one of her earplugs on the ground.

Walking back to the car after the game was less fun, due to the pouring rain, but I was so excited that I didn’t really care. In spite of living in Virginia, I got to be at the Rays’ first playoff appearance and win, AND I was there for their only first World Series win. I could go on and on about my feelings about the rest of the series–and I have many complaints–but I’m going to focus on the positive. I did something impulsive and crazy and I loved every minute of it. And after all, I will always have this:

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 13th, 2008 at 11:33 am and is filed under Baseball, Baseball Jinx. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.