Saturday, September 22, 2012
Free Falling
So, it's the end of the season, pretty much and I had a chance to use some free passes to the 4pm Pirates-Brewers game. Probably my last chance to catch a game for the whole year. I'd worked early that morning, so I could end my day early. It was a beautiful day and it was a key moment of the hometown season. The Pirates had lost 8 of their last 10 to bring them down to a point that was unthinkable two months ago: .500. At one point it was no question that they'd have a winning season, it was merely a question of what playoff slot they'd have. Even though no one could go with me, I headed downtown.
The park was pretty empty. Pretty much families and scattered crackpots. After about an hour of being surrounded by hyperactive kids and unoriginal racist hecklers, I moved seats. I wound up moving several times during the 4-hour game, which was an enjoyable back-and-forth affair with the Pirates coming back from being down 4-0 but then blowing a 7-4 lead and eventually losing to dip into "losing season" territory. They've gone on to get killed by the terrible Houston Astros so maybe this broke their back.
I wound up rooting for the Brewers for old time's sake, mostly because I hated the Pirate fan hecklers so much. Ryan Braun's positive drug-test result was overturned. He served no suspension. Yet they gave it to him, hard, all night. One self-impressed idiot just wouldn't let it go, sitting in the "family section" and calling Braun every name he could imagine. Another old timer "cleverly" combined "Juuuuice" to sound like "Jewwwws" which was a nice shout-out during the high holy days for one of the few Jewish ballplayers. I felt like standing up and pointing to the heckler and yelling, "This guy is a child molester! He touches four year oooooooolds! He's a pedoooooophile! Sure, he says he isn't and there's no evidence but I'm going to keep saying it!" What's wrong with that? Same thing, right?
I spent the last few half innings making my way slowly down the giant circular ramp from the upper deck to the ground, watching each half inning from a different turn. It became such a lovely night, but the Pirates are a cruel, cruel mistress, Pittsburgh.
So, it's the end of the season, pretty much and I had a chance to use some free passes to the 4pm Pirates-Brewers game. Probably my last chance to catch a game for the whole year. I'd worked early that morning, so I could end my day early. It was a beautiful day and it was a key moment of the hometown season. The Pirates had lost 8 of their last 10 to bring them down to a point that was unthinkable two months ago: .500. At one point it was no question that they'd have a winning season, it was merely a question of what playoff slot they'd have. Even though no one could go with me, I headed downtown.
The park was pretty empty. Pretty much families and scattered crackpots. After about an hour of being surrounded by hyperactive kids and unoriginal racist hecklers, I moved seats. I wound up moving several times during the 4-hour game, which was an enjoyable back-and-forth affair with the Pirates coming back from being down 4-0 but then blowing a 7-4 lead and eventually losing to dip into "losing season" territory. They've gone on to get killed by the terrible Houston Astros so maybe this broke their back.
I wound up rooting for the Brewers for old time's sake, mostly because I hated the Pirate fan hecklers so much. Ryan Braun's positive drug-test result was overturned. He served no suspension. Yet they gave it to him, hard, all night. One self-impressed idiot just wouldn't let it go, sitting in the "family section" and calling Braun every name he could imagine. Another old timer "cleverly" combined "Juuuuice" to sound like "Jewwwws" which was a nice shout-out during the high holy days for one of the few Jewish ballplayers. I felt like standing up and pointing to the heckler and yelling, "This guy is a child molester! He touches four year oooooooolds! He's a pedoooooophile! Sure, he says he isn't and there's no evidence but I'm going to keep saying it!" What's wrong with that? Same thing, right?
I spent the last few half innings making my way slowly down the giant circular ramp from the upper deck to the ground, watching each half inning from a different turn. It became such a lovely night, but the Pirates are a cruel, cruel mistress, Pittsburgh.
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