annie and i had to opportunity to take in one of baseball’s fiercest rivalries: the giants and diamondbacks. and if you know nothing about baseball, i’m being sarcastic. yes, these two teams are division foes, but there hasn’t really been any sort of rivalry between them since the last time the d-backs were good which was in the early 2000s. but hey, a baseball game is a baseball game and a fun time can always be had regardless of who is playing.
anyway, one of the biggest challenges of going to a giants game is finding parking. check that - finding cheap or free parking. make no mistake, there is lots of parking around the ballpark, but it’ll cost you anywhere from $20 to $30. but if you do enough searching, you can strike parking gold. i did just that yesterday and i would share with you where i found my spot, but then i would be giving away my secret and i’m sorry, but i just can’t do that. it’s just too valuable. and yes, i’m being dead serious.
the next element of any good ballgame is the food. here’s what we got: garlic fries and chicken tenders, a large soda to share, two hot dogs, and a churro. naturally, the bill for these concessions was not cheap. but here’s the way i see it: if you’re planning on going to a ballgame to take in the game, that’s fine. you can totally do that. but if you’re planning on going for the entire experience, you damn well better buy some ballpark food, and you better be ready to count out some andrew jacksons. also, i would have taken a photo of our food, but i think we were a little too excited to eat so by the time i remembered the picture-taking plan, it was already too late. oh well. just trust me that it was tasty.
a few notes from the game. first, there was a couple on my right that i saw stand one time the entire game, and that was when they first arrived at their seats. otherwise, they remained seated and barely moved. in fact, they never cheered or clapped or had any sort of emotional reaction to the game. they didn’t even stand for the seventh inning stretch, which i’m pretty sure is required by law at a baseball game, and they left at the beginning of the eighth inning. worst of all, they ate half their garlic fries and left the other half untouched. i was just baffled. what the hell are you doing at a baseball game if you’re not going to actually be in touch with the game? people like that should be barred from the park forever.
but while i had the couple that apparently thought they were attending a funeral seated next to me, annie had a couple next to her that apparently thought they were attending a high school dance and kept making out. get a room.
oh, and speaking of kissing, this brings up an observation i have of baseball games. if there is one huge underlying theme at the ballpark it’s this: peer pressure. take the kiss cam for example. if you don’t know what it is, the kiss cam occurs between innings when the stadium camera puts couples around the ballpark on the big screen and then they’re expected to kiss. most of the time, the people oblige (the elderly couples are the best). but here’s where the peer pressure comes in: there’s almost always a pair that the camera puts on the big screen that AREN’T actually a couple. so you’ll see them shaking their heads no or mouthing no or waving their hands saying please God no. and what does the crowd do? they boo. the pair will continue to plead no and it’s obvious that they’re not a couple. in fact, that could even be brother and sister. but does the crowd care? nope. they will just boo them more and more. and the stadium cameraman is no help because he just keeps the camera mercilessly trained on those two people as 40,000 people rain their hatred on these strangers. so what does the pair do? the only thing they can do. they’ll kiss. the crowd will cheer. peer pressure alleviated, awkward car ride home.
another example of peer pressure is when the opposing team hits a home run and the ball is caught by a giants fan. the unspoken-but-actually-very-spoken rule is that if the other team hits a home run and you catch it, you are expected to throw the ball back. but imagine being that guy and you just caught your first ever legit major league piece of memorabilia. you want to hold onto that ball and tell your friends the story. but then the chant starts slowly… and then it builds… and then you have an entire chorus of people yelling in unison, “THROW IT BACK! THROW IT BACK!” people start calling you names and threatening you. you think to yourself, “aren’t we supposed to be on the same team?” nope. not until you throw that ball back. and just like it’s back in high school when you struggled for acceptance, you begrudgingly throw that ball back. but the crowd cheers and, for a brief moment, you are a cool kid.
anyway, the giants went on to win the game 4-3. but the end of the game isn’t just significant to the fans or players. it’s also significant to…
the birds. somehow, they just know when the game is winding down and they circle and circle, waiting until the fans leave so they can swarm the bleachers for leftover hot dogs and garlic fries. it seriously looks just like the hitchcock movie.
and finally, what would a game be without a trip to the souvenir store.
note: we didn’t actually buy those items because they cost a combined $28.
go giants.
