I got a chance to watch the Nationals beat the Meets last night at the new and amazingly clean Nationals stadium in DC. I sat in the “J” section of 115 and it was so close to the field I thought I was going to get beaned by a ball on a couple of times when I was text messaged by my son. It was a great date night with the Mrs.. I do have one caveat for you though. You should save some money for the event. It was as expensive an evening as going out to dinner at one of DC’s many upscale restaurants. And be careful if you take the subway system we call the Metro. It’s a jungle down there.
Getting to the stadium via the metro was not as fun. I parked my car in the place where you need the “Smart Card” to exonerate yourself from. I must have looked lost because a homeless guy jumped in behind me quick enough not having to pay and made onto the next train before the metro attendant could get out of the booth. When I got onto the train that was full of trash it looked like an old bus station. I grabbed a seat to meet the Mrs. who was waiting for me downtown. The other riders were mostly young women wearing less clothing than my wife does around the house, also unabashedly showing more fat than should be allowed. The prettiest rider among us was actually a dude whose makeup was flawless. Yeah, he had that “Crying Game” thing going on. Lawd, help me to hold out! It was a long ride from the suburbs. As I got closer to the transfer point of Metro, it became a madhouse. Nationals’ fans were easy to spot; they all had baseball regalia and had something red on. They added to the mayhem which is rush hour. Transit police did their best to keep the disgruntled moving. I couldn’t wait to get above ground. Once you do make it up the very long escalator from the subterranean caverns people push and move with abandon. Some I am sure are pickpockets that take advantage of the movement to shop.
The stadium itself is beautiful. It’s lit up so brightly that you feel like you are in the Emerald City. Hard to believe that this used to be the part of town where Trax night club, a chop shop, some really bad Chinese restaurants, a limousine company and former mayor of DC the honorable Marion S. Barry was busted once at Buzzards Point.
There is so much going on before you sit down that you really don’t have to. You could just meander around all night. But we had great seats. I am a people watcher more than a sports fan and believe me, there was a lot to see. Memorable people included the “Heineken Man.” He was the guy that sold beer with a Heineken can on his head. What I thought was cool about him was he had an electric can opener hooked to his hand with a cable wrapped around his arm that could open two beer cans in a few seconds allowing him to pour the usually frothy beverage smoothly two at a time. It was like a Borg invention (a la Star Trek) and I wondered if he had created it or was “assimilated” for the task.
We sat in the Visiting team section meaning I was surrounded by New Yorkers like my wife which added to the colorfulness of the game. Mets fans talked to the players entering and exiting the dugout like they were cousins. I got caught up too. They really poured it on when “Fernando” the outfielder hurt himself during the game. I was hollering too by the end of it.
Near third base when the Met’s were on the field, there was the Dancing Umpire. He danced as low key as he could the meringue whenever Latin music played. He was probably Cuban or Dominican born but whatever he was he looked like a happy man. That made me happy.
The weather was perfect and fall is on its way here in the Nations Capital. I feel like dancing a little myself.
0 comments:
Post a Comment