Baseball and Hockey and Shopping, oh my

March 31, April 1, 2008

So another ball season means another trip to NYC, this time for the Yankees' home opener. This game was special for a couple of reasons. Number 1: my beloved Blue Jays were in town, Number 2: It was the first game of the season (hence opening day) and number 3: this is the last year the Yankees will play in Yankee Stadium (a new one is being constructed right next door scheduled to open for opening day next season) so it was the last opening day at one of baseball's most historic ballparks.

Opening day did not go at all how any of us planned though. My plan was to head to Yankee stadium, spend 3-5 hours watching baseball before getting back on the subway, heading back to Times square and Madison Square Gardens for the Rangers/ Penguins game later that night (baseball and hockey in one day....I tell you if they sold Keiths in NYC it would have been a perfect day......a true double header). However mother nature was no cooperating and decided that it needed to rain on opening day, thus the baseball game was postponed.....until the next day.

The game might have gotten rained out but I still took the opportunity to check out Monument Park. My 3 previous trips I actually did not go so thought I better this time, since there will not be that many opportunities left. The first picture is of course for the retired number of Jackie Robinson. No he did not play for the Yankees but 42 is retired in all of major league baseball (except for one day that I will talk about later). The second is of course Babe Ruth.

So naturally I headed back to my hotel in Times Square, (did a little shopping along the way), changed into some dry clothes and headed to the hockey game. What a great game it was too (although the second period did drag a little but once the Penguins tied in up again they started to skate a lot faster). The Rangers eventually won in overtime.

My view of Henrik Lundqvist from my seat

Sean Avery getting in a fight with someone....I don't think it matters to him who he fights just as long as he gets to hit someone.

I actually had a pretty good view from my seat. Was not too bad at all.

So the next day I got up nice and early so that I could head to Soho (which stands for south of Houston.....which is the name of a street) to do some shopping. This time I ventured off Canal Street to see what little shops I could find. I learned very quickly to avoid any store that had a professional security guard out front because real security guard means the average person cannot afford to shop there. There are lots of other affordable stores around though and did buy some stuff (and Debi you will be happy to know that not everything is black...some of them even had some colours).

After spending more money on clothes than I have in a good long while it was time to head backup to Yankee Stadium to "Opening Day" turned into " Opening Night". It turned out tuesday night was a perfect night for baseball. I met some very nice Yankee fans from New Jersey (who felt I was very, very brave to wear my Blue Jays Jersey in Yankee Stadium (a comment echoed by many on the subway was well). It is too bad that the Yankees won, but hey I will given them opening day. Reggie Jackson was even on hand to throw out the first pitch. The weather was great, the baseball was good and it actually didn't start raining until the game was over and I was heading to my car.

During the national anthems. I was expecting opening day to be a little bit flashier but I guess I am not surprised by the lack of fireworks and the focus on tradition.

The view from my seats. Very similar to where I sat last year.

Me after the game.

Of course the late night tuesday meant getting back to Pikesville a little bit later than originally planned. I rolled in around 2:30am and quickly fell asleep on my couch. Work the next night was not so good but the lack of sleep was totally worth it.



Julie