A walk in the wild

Somebody honked. Another hollered. Maybe I was just paranoid.

I don’t know what I was thinking; my mind was out of whack. But that’s another tale for another date.

In this tale, I walked the streets of Boston — Dorchester to be precise — with a Derek Jeter 3K shirt on. Although it was only for about 10 minutes, still, I am thankful to have returned unscathed.

Heck, I’m glad to have spoken to two friendly natives.

Although I’m calmly sitting here now, safely typing away on my laptop in my home, about to chow down on the monster sandwich I just picked up, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t scared.

Another adventure to Yankee Stadium

Yesterday my roommate and I went to the Yankee game. Marcus Thames’ two-run homer propelled the Yankees to a 7-5 win over the Blue Jays, which extended their winning streak to eight. It was a great game, don’t get me wrong, but I think the story of getting to the game from Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Conn., was a little more entertaining.

Getting the Tickets:
As you probably know, I interned for a digital marketing agency called EIC in New York City over the summer. Toward the end of the internship, my boss, mentioned the possibility of getting Yankee tickets via a connection at Time Warner Cable. I emailed the person we knew there and told him what games in August I could go to (assuming I’d go with one of my co-workers). He didn’t get back to me until Thursday, but he responded with good news.

He dropped off the tickets with my boss and he told me I had to pick them up before 8 p.m. Friday. Since I was at school, my only option was for one of my sisters living in the city to pick them up. Of course, my older sister helped me out; yes, this one. Little did I know the trouble that lay ahead. But first, there was another conflict.

My Blog’s Meltdown:
At 11:41 a.m., while my roommate and I were just entering Manhattan to pick up the tickets and park the car, my dad called me with some frightening news. “I tried going to your site and it says your blog has been removed.” I thought it was a browser problem or my dad typing in my old blogspot URL. But when I checked on my roommate’s iPhone, I thought I was in for the worst day of my life.

I had checked my site before I left for the game and everything was fine. The last thing I did, however, was add the Twitter gadget so fans could follow me tweets live from the stadium. I’m pretty sure that’s what set off the alarm to Blogger, my site’s host. Still in the car, I tried logging into Blogger and was greeted with a message saying they had picked up suspicious activity on my site.

Thankfully, all I had to do was verify a few personal details and my blog was back.

Deja Vu with my Sister:
My roommate dropped me off next to my sister’s apartment to pick up the tickets while he parked the car. It’s 12:30 at this point; we knew were going to be a little late. I buzzed the room. No response. I buzzed again, and again, and again. Still nothing.

I weaseled my way into the lobby through the tenant, but I needed a key to activate the elevator to access the apartment. So I hit the basement button in hopes it would be accessible to get to the stairs. Luckily, it was. I ran up six flights of stairs and started banging on the apartment door. Five minutes later, my sister’s boyfriend asked, in a tired voice, if I brought up the paper. I screamed, “No! I need my tickets!”

Last year for the World Series parade I had planned to stay over at my sister’s house to get a few hours of sleep. She didn’t answer and I spent the entire night out in New York City. When my sister wasn’t responding to my calls, I thought I was in for an awful day.

The Subway Surprise:
We boarded the 4 train only to find out it was NOT running express to Yankee Stadium. This made us even more late. What more could go wrong? 

For some strange reason, my roommate still hadn’t asked where our seats were. Little did he know, we were sitting in section 110, 13 rows from the field.

I asked him about the tickets and he said, “Are they bleacher seats?” I gave him his ticket and he stared at it for a few seconds. Then his smile lit up the subway car.

Photos and Videos:

We spent the bottom of the eighth inning anticipating Mariano Rivera’s entrance. When he came out, the stadium went berserk.


The famous Freddy makes his way up the aisle giving fans a chance to ring his bell.


Mo got the last out, and my roommate and I saluted him.

For more photos from the game, check out my blog’s Facebook page.

Thanks again, Sanford and Rick, for hooking me up with the great seats!

Sometimes, the picture says it all

I’ve learned a picture is worth a thousand words. The one above is no exception, as it sums up my night at Yankee Stadium beautifully. It only left out one thing.

The Kafafian Group knows how to party!

I was invited to attend last night’s Tigers-Yankees game by Jeff Marsico, a bank consultant in The Kafafian Group who follows my blog, and it was a no-brainer for me to accept. After all, I had never enjoyed the luxury of a party suite at Yankee Stadium.

Jeff and I met around 6 p.m. at Gate 4, and we hit it off from the moment we shook hands. He introduced me to his boss and his co-workers, who were all extremely pleasant to meet and be around, and then we made it to the suite.

Complete with a table of hot dogs, pizza, chicken, popcorn an open bar and, of course, name tags, the suite was a success!

The only thing I’ve left out was the game, which I guess was OK too.

The first inning featured back-to-back homers from Mark Teixeira and Robinson Cano, both of which were hit directly at our seats, and warnings issued to both teams.

In the second inning … just kidding. Not that it wasn’t exciting, but I’m not going to bore you through what you’ve probably already heard by now.

My memory of last night won’t be the game — even though six homers were hit and my team won — it will be the conversations I had with the new friends I made.

Despite most leaving a little early, they were the ones who made the night, not the stars on the field.

And how about a little icing on the cake?

Mmm. Good.

Thanks again, Jeff! For more pictures from last night, check out my blog’s Facebook page!

My 2nd Citi Field experience (with pics): Deja vu all over again

When I saw the Mets play at Citi Field last year for the first time, I didn’t expect Bronson Arroyo to toss a shutout — but he did. When I was at the game last night, I expected Phillies ace Roy Halladay to do the same thing — and he nearly did.

Doc threw eight beautiful innings, holding the Mets to four hits without walking a batter and ousted Mets spot starter Pat Misch in a 4-0 win.

The Mets would’ve had a legitimate shot to win this game if it weren’t for their three ugly errors which cost Misch three unearned runs. Ruben Tejada’s attempted double play turn sailed into left field, Misch fielded a bunt and threw it into right field, and David Wright let a grounder go through his wickets.

Despite the errors, the most comical part of the night was listening to the boos from fans as Francisco Rodriguez trotted out from the bullpen. It was his first game of eligibility after assaulting his father-in-law.

Now for some pics:

Look at all of that red! In left field, there were more Phillies fans than Mets fans.

The only time we saw the new home run apple was during the seventh inning stretch.
Here’s a picture of the original home run apple, now located in front of the stadium.
Here was the view from our seats ($20 face value).
And here were the bozos sitting in front of us. The guy on the right’s shirt says, “Don’t mess wit da Mets, Aaight!”

You can check out more photos from the game on my Facebook page!

First Tex, then Grandy, what about A-Rod? [Video]

I attended both Yankees games this weekend with intentions of seeing Alex Rodriguez make history in the Bronx. Saturday, the red hot Mark Teixeira launched two homers to right. Sunday, the underachieving Curtis Granderson blasted two solo shots to right. But A-Rod couldn’t follow suit, and now will likely crack the 600 mark on the road.

At least the Yankees won Sunday, 12-6. Splitting a series with the Royals at Yankee Stadium would not have been an ideal way to end the homestand.

A-Rod had five chances to reach the milestone yesterday, but only three of which came before the two-and-a-half hour rain delay (which my friend and I waited through). He didn’t homer, but he did have another fine day at the plate. Here are my recorded video highlights for A-Rod. 

The video starts with his third-inning RBI double, then goes to his RBI single in the seventh and then his final AB. For more multimedia from yesterday’s game, check out the photo album I uploaded to Facebook. And yes, A-Rod is OK after getting hit in the hand in his last AB.

I was at the stadium from 12:30 to 6:30 because of the rain delay in the sixth. I knew A-Rod would get at least one more AB, and I wouldn’t have been able to sleep at night if he had hit his 600th while I was watching from my couch.

But I did witness one milestone — a little smaller in size — nonetheless, still cool to see. Robinson Cano reached the 1,000-hit plateau with a ground-rule double in the eighth inning. It’s pretty cool Cano has 1,000 hits and he’s only 27.

A failed attempt to witness another big milestone luxuriously

After receiving a surprise pair of tickets to the Delta Sky 360 Suite last night, flashbacks to last year’s memorable 9/11 game hit me. Was I about to witness another milestone from luxury seats?

Not this time! It just wasn’t in the cards. Alex Rodriguez was stranded in the on-deck circle as the would-be winning run in the ninth inning when Yuniesky Betancourt’s throw nipped Mark Teixeira at first base.

On top of that, the Yankees lost 7-4 to the Royals, as Sergio Mitre was completely ineffective in his first appearance since June 4. Dustin Moseley was utterly brilliant in relief, but the Yankees couldn’t dig themselves out of the hole Mitre dug.

I didn’t leave the stadium with a smile, but I’m sure I could have lit up a room with my smile when I took my seat a few moments before the first pitch.

The only thing missing from this picture is the sun. It beat down on us directly from above and forced my friend and I to go inside to the air conditioned suite for beverages at one point. Still, it wasn’t too hot for Carl’s Steaks. In the suite, there was a nice array of photos on the wall in a lounge area. Here’s a brief video tour:

Snapshots from the video and more photos from the stadium can be seen on Facebook.

Back at the seats, as each A-Rod at-bat passed without a homer, my hopes for 600 grew. When it came to the ninth inning, I realized A-Rod might have an opportunity to hit a walk-off grand slam for No. 600.

With two out, none on and the captain at the plate, I expected nothing more than a grounder to short. Instead, Derek Jeter came through with a ground-rule double. Curtis Granderson walked, giving Teixeira, who had hit two homers in the game already, an opportunity to tie it.

Tex worked a 2-2 count against Royals closer Joakim Soria before grounding one up the middle. Betancourt fielded it slowly, but made a hard enough throw to first to beat Teixeira by half a step. My heart sank.

Oh well. My friend had warned me of his hard luck; I just had trouble believing him. After all, Nick Swisher and Brett Gardner were out of the starting lineup. I should’ve listened to him from the get-go.

However, I was still delighted with the seats and the game wouldn’t have been the same without them. For that, I’m extremely grateful. So a big thanks goes out to my older sister’s boyfriend, Adam Klausner, for a belated birthday gift.

Pics from my Yankee Stadium experience

I attended my first game of the year at Yankee Stadium today to see Mark Teixeira hit his first homer of the year and for the Yankees to complete their sweep of the Rangers.

Oh, and I couldn’t bear looking left (at the demolished stadium) as I entered the Stadium.

Below is the view from Mohegan Sun Sports Bar. I was sitting in the bleachers in left-center field.

Unfortunately, when Teixeira crushed his first home run I watched it land on the televisions shown below.

But hey, at least I got a free Yankees calendar!

My friend and I got there over two hours early, so we had to wait for the gates to open. (The gates opened three hours before games last year.) When I first got in, I bought sliders and fries. They were very filling, and the fries were great — better than the garlic fries I bought in the sixth inning.

I definitely regret getting the cheese with them. After those disappeared, we watched the last couple innings from field level in the infield. Below is a picture of Mariano Rivera closing it out in the ninth.

And here’s a pic from the subway leaving after the game.

My Fenway Fantasy [Photos]

At a nippy Fenway Park last night, “Yankees suck” cheers followed with each Yankee run. But by the eighth inning, the fans turned to “Let’s go Red Sox” chants. This made me happy because I saw that the fans quickly had realized that there was no reason to be chanting “Yankees suck” anymore.

Mariano Rivera locked up the first Yankee victory of the season, 6-4, to force a deciding Game 3 tonight. When I arrived at Fenway for just the second time in my life (first time in about 10 years) at around 5:15, the first Yankee I recognized warming up was Mo.

I could’ve watched him throw for days. Whether he’s getting loose two hours before a game or pitching in the World Series, his fluid motion remains remarkably consistent. His accuracy is absolutely mindboggling.

Watching Rivera shag flies was also entertaining — even when my Red Sox fan friend yelled that he “had room” when he went back to the warning track to make a catch by the Green Monster (when he really didn’t).

After checking out the view from my seats (above) I felt the need to do some exploring, to really examine the old park. About five minutes later, I was posing for a picture behind the Red Sox dugout (below).

I really appreciated this because I knew Yankee Stadium wouldn’t have allowed for this to happen. Did I enjoy “Sweet Caroline” in the middle of the eighth? No, but I didn’t mind it. The Yankees had just broke up the tie game, but the Red Sox fans really didn’t seem to care once Neil Diamond started blaring. I felt the song was a nice addition to the positive atmosphere for fans attending a baseball game.

Turning point in the game:
Nick Swisher’s 11-pitch at-bat in the eighth. He eventually grounded out to short, but he really made reliever Hideki Okajima work. I believe this AB opened the door for the mini, game-winning rally shortly after.

My five most memorable plays:

1. Curtis Granderson’s sliding catch in the third.
2. Derek Jeter’s leaping grab in the fifth.
3. Nick Johnson walking with the bases loaded in the eighth.
4. Robinson Cano’s laser-like homer in the ninth.
5. Rivera jogging out from the bullpen in the ninth to “Lose Yourself” by Eminem.

Want to see the championship trophy?

 Photo from NY Post

You can, if you’re willing to travel to Fordham University this weekend. Via Yankees.com:

The championship hardware from the Yankees' 27th title run will be on display for fans to view and take photographs with from 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. ET.

I’d be there if I didn’t have so many obligations at school. If you’ve never seen any of the championship trophies in person, I’d say its worth checking out.

When I was very young, maybe eight years old, I got a tour of the Yankees clubhouse through a family-friend connection with Brian Cashman. I saw the trophy and my family and I got to talk to Cashman in his office. I was too young to document/remember much…

But the highlight of the visit by far was Cashman handing me an autographed baseball of Derek Jeter. I got Cashman to sign another ball too. I’ll post pictures next time I’m home from school.

Just another off-season day

My horrible navigation skills came in handy today.

I was trying to get from my sister's apartment in SoHo to my parents' apartment just south of Morningside Park. I took the 6 train uptown to the Upper East Side leaving me with a few avenues and Central Park to cross to get home. I wasn't mad. After all, it was a gorgeous day in New York City.

As I was walking through the park with my headphones blasting in my ear, I noticed I was practically alone. I took out my ear buds and all I heard were a few squawking birds. Nothing else.

I am here in Manhattan on the last day of my winter vacation from school, so I've gotten used to the constant sound of honking horns and explosive subwoofers in cars. But the park suppressed those distractions today, as if I were alone in my dorm.

Up by 102nd Street, I walked past a few baseball/softball fields that easily could have hosted a pickup game on this sunny January day. My history playing the game went through my mind in a flash and all I could think about was standing on one of the mounds and snapping off a sharp hook.

Instead, I looked to the bleachers, remembering the book I just started (a rarity for me) was in my coat pocket. In no rush whatsoever, I took an unfamiliar seat and started reading. My book-loving dad probably doesn't believe me at this point.

After turning a few pages I pulled out my phone, only to discover its battery was too low to take a picture and capture this beautiful setting. I settled to store the image away in my mind where I hopefully will remember it for years to come.

Soon, I gave in to my hunger, put in my bookmark (a baseball card) and left the tranquil scene.

When I first realized I had taken the wrong subway after walking up the subway station's stairs, I had planned on making an important phone call knowing I had enough time in my long walk ahead. Obviously, that call wasn't made.

When I came home and plugged in my phone, I saw I had a voice message. It was from the person I was going to call and he had resolved my problem.

Just another off-season day for a Yankees blogger in New York, I guess.

World Series parade: My homeless adventure of New York City

You may have been wondering why I did not post at all two days  after the Yankees won the World Series. Some of you learned I was at the World Series parade in N.Y.C. through twitter, but others were left in the dark.

Anyway, my two buddies and I arrived at Grand Central at 1:30 in the morning. Rather than staying at my sister’s lovely apartment less than a mile away from City Hall, we pulled an all-nighter. Here’s how it went down.

Getting to my sister’s apartment
After we made our spur-of-the-moment decision to take a train down to New York, I texted and called my sister to make arrangements. However, she never responded and never picked up. I figured she was in a meeting.

By the time we got to her apartment, I had texted her three times and called her eight times. We buzzed in several times in attempt to wake her up, but still, no response. So we began our homeless adventure.

Staying warm
Our first order of business was finding warmth. We had no other place to stay because my other sister and parents were too far away and asleep. So we went into the closest 24/7 convenience store we could find. It was a diamond in the rough. A fully-heated store with a bathroom. We nested there for about a half hour, but later regretted that decision to leave so fast.

We then walked close to a mile to reach City Hall, the culminating site of the parade. It was nice to see a few other die-hard Yankees fans loafing around in the middle of the night. We chatted with a group that stood sat right against the gates of City Hall with the best angle at the podium. We didn’t stay with them because we expected them to be kicked across the street by the police. But they did point us in the direction of a Dunkin Donuts.

Dunkin Donuts

We stayed in DD until around four, drinking hot cocoa, eating stale donuts and playing baseball trivia. “Name the eight states with at least two baseball teams.” (Thanks, Eddie.) We left when we realized it was freezing inside compared to the 24/7 convenience store. We needed a new nest, so we went exploring.

The banks
One of my friends saw a Wachovia, and it was his bank so we went inside the small ATM room to get money. We stayed their for an hour or so reading a free newspaper from DD. At 4:55 in the morning, I thought, “Won’t Modell’s open soon?” I asked my other friend with an iPhone to look it up, and I was right. So we bolted to Modell’s to pick up some Yankees gear. I bought a World Series champions hat and a navy blue thermal “Property of Yankees Baseball.”

We left and detoured past Ground Zero for my friend who had never seen it, and then proceeded to find more shelter and warmth, my other friend’s bank, Bank of America. At around 5:30, we found our standing room, on the corner of Murray St. and Broadway, right across from City Hall. We stood in the same spot for over seven hours, not including my brief trip to Starbucks for a small breakfast.

Post-parade
After the parade, I lost one of my friend’s in the mass of people, and it was nearly impossible to communicate due to everyone’s use of cell phones. Finally, my lost friend’s call got through to me, and soon found him a couple blocks away from where we were.

Instead of meeting up with the rest of my family for a small lunch, we bolted out of the city, finding a subway in Chinatown and then catching a 1:34 train, barely, back to New Haven. We waited a half hour for the shuttle home to Quinnipiac, and then waited 15 minutes for the driver to make an unnecessary cell phone call. The three of us were freezing and tired, and happy to be home when we arrived at school.

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The adventure with photos post is on the way.