Go Mets!

When I first moved here I had a short list of things I wanted to do before the summer/season was over. See "Grey Gardens" - check- and see a Mets game. As the season was winding down my chance to accomplish that was dwindling. I mentioned my goal to fellow Queens friends and with the enticement of $5 tickets all 3 of us took in our first Mets game! :)

Prior to the game starting we had time to walk over to Flushing Meadows Corona Park and see the Unisphere (as seen in the opening credits of "King of Queens") and walk past the USTA National Tennis Center where the U.S. Open is played.

The fountain was shut off underneath the Unisphere and was covered with skateboarders/bikers. (If you look closely you can see tiny me below the globe - that gives you an idea of how big it is.)

This area is where the World's Fair was held in 1964.

In the Unisphere pic, to the left you can see "UFO towers". These were used towards the end of movie, "Men In Black". They were there before that though...

Time for the game! On our way in we all scored free mini bags of "The Official Chips of the Mets" Wise Bravos. Mmmmm! And then had a nice view of the sunset silloueting the NYC landscape.
Found our seats and although we were nosebleed it was a fabulous view. Needing something to compliment our free chips we all headed down to get concessions before the game started.
$4 - 24oz Aquifina
$4.50 - Nathan's Hotdog
$7.50 - Blue Bottle of Bud Light - Part of the enticement to get them was that the display bottles had the Mets Logo on it, sadly that was just the display. Only a regular Bud Light logo was on ours. :(

What they may have lost in offering tickets for $5, they gained in concession sales!

Music from Rocky (Fanfare for Rocky) started to play and like a bell to end recess it was a signal to get back to our seats because the game was starting!

Tom Glavin was pitching and didn't fare well. The Nationals got some big hits and the Mets? Well, we did get to see the Homerun TopHat and Apple in action once. The much talked about Mr. Wright wasn't all that impressive at bat.

At one point they played the Tunnel Walk music, but there was no Tunnel Walk. ;)

Lots of "Just For Men" ads ran, emphasizing that Keith (Hernandez) uses it! All I could think of were the Seinfeld episodes with him in them - There was a 2nd spitter!

There was one diehard fan that made for a hostile environment as late arriving ticket holders wanted to sit in the spot he had decided to sit already. He threw his stuff to a different seat, grumbling along, got in arguments with those around him, caused some fans to move and a little boy yelled at him to shut up after multiple times of him yelling and holding the word - "Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee" forever and then following it with "Struck that guy out!" A novelty at first, but even those yelling "Struck that guy out!" with him started to falter after a while.

I had a headache that was persistent (I had it before I had my $7.50 beer) and as the Nationals kept racking up points and fans were leaving in herds we decided to call it at 10pm and head home.

WHAT A MISTAKE!!! The next day I find out that the Mets rallied in the 9th and there was hardly anybody in the stadium to witness it - Doh!

I definitely plan on getting there a few more times before Shea Stadium is no longer. The new Citi Field is set to open in 2009. And although I've never liked the Yankees (even before I moved here) I will probably try to make it to a game there next year because their stadium is going to be torn down, too. Plus, now there's Joba to watch and I owe my friend that came with me to the Mets as he's a Yankees fan.

Now that the seasons are changing what is my new short list? Seeing "Young Frankenstein:The Musical" and seeing a Jets game! Anyone want to go?! :)