baseball bitterness fiesta

Best quote from the NY Times Bats Blog today

Asked if he planned to watch the playoffs, Moises Alou said, “no, I hate baseball right now.”

Excerpt from my IM with a work buddy. Amazing how many Mets fans there are here at work.

Me:Ever since yesterday, doctor, i've been feeling this strange lump in my throat...
Jrl : hmm, mets disease
Me : /cough/choke/cough
Jrl : yup
Me : i think my problem is that i really started following the mets last year
Me : when they actually made it to the playoffs
Me : if i had really been following over a number of years, i would've gotten very used to them sucking
Me : and not been disappointed
Jrl : well, this year was really a trap year
Jrl : after last year, i'm not sure that gave them much hunger
Me : yeah
Me : From the NYT: Asked if he planned to watch the playoffs, Moises Alou said, “no, I hate baseball right now”
Jrl : haha
Me : bad pitching will screw up a team every time
Jrl : i think they might have felt entitled to be in teh playoffs again
Me : yeah that's what i think
Jrl : like after last year, they'll just be there again
Jrl : i think that set in in june
Me : yeah
Me : well, i guess i'll have John Maine's near no-no to warm my heart during the cold months
Jrl : sigh
Jrl : were you there?
Me : i thought about it
Me : i only live 6 stops but considering the nervous wreck that i was on saturday, and the fact that i was trying to relax, i decided against it
Jrl : right
Me : i had gone to the cardinals-mets game on thursday. Pineiro for the cards pitched a real gem
Jrl : yuck
Me : and what was crazy about yesterday -- the bullpen was actually good
Me : ok, i have to stop talking about this before i get angry again
Me : so, Goooooo Rockies!
Jrl: hehe
Jrl : i didn't even watch a highlight; i tuned in at 1:30 when it was already 7-1 and just turned off
Me : smart of you
Me : i tortured myself by turning on the tv every once in a while and of course, i had to watch the 2 hour baseball tonight special

implosion of the Mets

I'm too depressed to even want to talk about it. Although I felt pretty Zen last night. Pineiro pitched a great game for the Red Birds, and we had awesome seats. And Pedro had a lot of strikeouts, but man, of all the times for the Mets to suddenly stop hitting.

Updated on Sunday to say: ARGGGGGGH!
First of all, Maine was brilliant on Saturday, and my baseball buddy K was absolutely unwavering in her devotion to him. Second, what the heck happened to Tommy Glavine -- on the day he needs to pitch the game of his life, he allows 7 runs in the first inning! Oh well, just wait till next year!

sports fiend

Lots of sporting events that I've been attending:
- I forgot to mention that I went to the US Open twice at the beginning of September, but I only took photos on my cell phone. When I find the widget, I'll upload those too. Saw Roddick vs. someone who retired in the match; Blake vs. Haas a crazy 5 setter - both in 3rd round; then with my mom, saw Djokovic vs. Moya in QuarterFinals, along with exhibition match of Navratilova.
- Mets at the movies (took video clips of Mr. Met singing Take Me Out to the Ballgame, and blocking the screen)
- Mets - Dodgers on Jewish Heritage night -- Take me out to the ballgame sounds very gutteral in Yiddish.
- Yankees vs. Blue Jays -- yesterday day match, with incredible $125 seats that I got for free from the CFO (well, from an underling of the CFO). I took my friend, Dr. Eyes from Pittsburgh, with me to the game and it was spectacular. As soon as she emails me the photos, I will post my action shots of Joba Chamberlain, A-Rod, Jeter, etc.
- Coming up this Thursday, the Mets-Cardinals makeup game. Please don't rain, please don't rain.

soccer part deux

So the date went well. I took a few photos from the game with my cell phone and have posted them here for your enjoyment.

The seats were really good -- we were smack dab behind the goalie, a few rows up. Didn't actually end up sitting in my actual seat because that whole section was occupied by the rowdy supporters of Metro (now known as Red Bulls) . Very bilingual, that group -- with drums and flags and banners -- they could sing insults in at least two languages! Most of which involved Ronaldo's mother or wife....not that he's actually on this team.

I can't believe that the home team scored two goals within a few minutes of each other, and it took me so long to get to my seat from the other side of the stadium that I missed both and had to watch the replay! I was seriously annoyed for a bit. And then the third goal came in the second half and was scored on the other end of the field so of course, it was hard to see from one end.

Refreshments were lousy -- I don't know if they're better when the Giants and Jets play. But wow, RFK stadium has an impressive spicy sausage sandwich (totally worth going to the Nationals games for), and Shea has better dogs and fries. Thankfully, my heartburn went away pretty quick. No wonder I was so hungry today after eating such junk.

And in a classic end to the evening, on the way back to the city, our public bus driver got lost, we were so close to getting back, and then it seemed we missed a turn and went right back past the stadium again. Naturally, he got a huge ovation when we arrived at port authority.

Overall, great fun, two thumbs up and all that. I might go back again to watch another soccer game, but honestly, I think I'd rather go to an exhibition series when the stadium is packed. It's kind of sad when it's half empty.

soccer game

One of my coworkers is a season ticket holder for the NY Red Bulls soccer team. And he offered up some free tickets for the game tonight vs. the Chicago Fire. Should be fun, and yes, I am taking a date. It's one of the guys I met on my ski trip several months ago -- he's the technical recruiter. Had a beer with him the other night, but before that, we actually hadn't seen each other in a few months because, well, he kind of dropped off the face of the earth for a bit when he had to change jobs, and it was basically sucking up all his energy and time. That kind of non-communication tends to drive me crazy, after all, how am I supposed to know if someone is interested in me if I don't hear from him. Anyway, figured I'd give it another go.

I decided not to follow up with rocket scientist guy, and I had an enlightening conversation with another woman that I went on a recent hike with. She and I were on the same ski trip (but didn't meet up then) and it turns out that she got into a long conversation with rocket scientist guy -- turned out he had just been dumped from a promising relationship and he was pretty devastated, etc. That would explain the slight air of desperation that he had that weekend on the ski trip. I can't really remember what else she said...something about how he had told his ex-gf 'i love you' too soon...and that he was interested in only tall women. Anyway, I don't think I would want to be the "rebound" person. I don't really want to hear anyone else's sad stories at this point. Isn't that what therapy, or a blog is for? (ha!)

More importantly, I've been meeting a lot of interesting women -- so now I think I'm assembling a group of good regular girlfriends who are interested in doing fun, outdoors, physical activity. As Calvin & Hobbes would say "the days are just packed!" Boy, I can't wait for summer.

(I hope this satisfies those of you who were saying I'm not talking enough about my dating life...well, when you have the flu, and work, and job searching....there just wasn't a lot of material for a while)

But back to the soccer team names -- who comes up with these names anyway? I supposed I should be glad that it isn't the NY PacBell or some other company name. Neighborsman, do you remember what was the full name of your A's babe ruth or little league team? I know it had something to do with a plumbing association.