Today I spent a rather lovely evening with my husband, two children and our very good friends and their two children watching a minor league baseball game. I haven't been to a ballgame in almost 20 years and it seemed like a good way to spend a Friday night.
Let me tell you, there is nothing more fascinating than people watching at a sporting event (except, perhaps, people watching at a fair). It is definitely a look into people as a whole. But let's start at the beginning.
First, who on earth picks the team names? Mudhens? Really? That sounds intimidating doesn't it? Of all the animals in the animal kingdom, they have a chicken as a mascot. Oooooh. I am shaking in my boots. Of course, I grew up in a school that has a leaf as a mascot so I guess it does get worse.
Secondly, I am totally convinced at this point that people go to sporting events to eat. They have to. I can honestly say that I missed at least half of the game with people walking by to stuff their faces with deep fried, overpriced crap and crappy, overpriced beer. Now I totally get that beer and ballgames is a total pastime, and who wouldn't mind a ballpark dog with the works? The problem is that it was a steady stream of people. When the beer is gone, they of course go for more beer. Chicken fingers shoved in? Lets go for popcorn. Then ice cream. How about some cotton candy? Seriously people, it is okay to go 2.5 hours without shoving every edible item you see into your gaping piehole. Here is another novel idea, get more than one item at a time! You could even send one designated food person to avoid an entire line of people. OR...OR...there are these nifty vendors that come by hocking the same shit you insist on shoving past me to get yourself that will bring it right to you! Amazing right?
With that said, as the game progressed, the obnoxiousness did begin to slow. At least on a mass scale. Individual annoyance was still in high demand.
Dear woman with the SLR camera you don't know how to use. Your pictures are going to suck. Trust me. Buying a big, fancy camera doesn't mean shit if you don't know how to use it. With that said, get your skinny, bedazzled ass out of the aisle, which happens to be right in my line of sight to the batter. If you can't take pictures from your seat, give it up. Oh, talking on your cell phone while standing in the way is also obnoxious. Take your yuppy, SUV driving tush back to your seat.
Whew. Held that one back the entire game ;)
Another thing I found absolutely fascinating is the volume. During the first three innings, the stands were fairly subdued. There was some clapping, maybe a little stomp stomp clap when the music called, but mostly pretty quiet. You could actually hear the intoxication level of the fans go up. People got louder, happier. There was more participation. My section attempted to start the wave probably about 30 times before it finally caught on enough to make it all the way around. The atmosphere became really fun (but I admit I don't even want to know how half of them got home this evening)
Overall, it was a good time and I can think of worse things to spend money on. Our team lost of course. That is pretty standard that whoever we root for ends up not doing so well, but it was a fairly close game and the fireworks after were some of the best I have seen in years. I could totally do it again.
Oh, and note, no pictures from me. SOMEBODY (me) grabbed the camera and failed to...oh I don't know...put a memory card in it. Strike one for me.
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