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August 18, 2005
Dream Fullfilled
What with a week's vacation and a work trip to New York, it's been a while since I've posted a blog. However, I think regular readers of this blog will forgive me when they learn that I fulfilled a life-long dream and watched a game at Yankee Stadium. Now it should be noted that I am not a Yankee Fan, its just that I've always wanted to visit the stadium where some of greatest players who ever played the game called home. I visited Memorial Park and saw the plaques of Ruth, Gehrig, Mantle and Berra, I ate a pastrami sandwich, drank a couple of beers, took a lot of pictures and, with John Rocker in mind, I rode the Number 4 Subway to and from the game. Derek Jeter hit a homer in the bottom of the 8th inning for a 9 to 8 lead and Mariano Rivera came on in the 9th for his 32nd save in a victory over the Texas Rangers. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on how you look at it, I was not at the game where the young fan jumped from the second deck on the netting behind home plate. Asked later by authorities why he did it, he told them that he had been dared to do it by his friends. Some friends huh? With friends like those you definitely don't need enemies. I sat there in the park and looked at the jump that he'd taken and tried to play out that conversation in my head. "Hey Jimmy, we dare you to jump over the railing onto the netting behind home plate". "Nah, someone else do it, I crawled out on the beams of the Verrazano Bridge the other night remember". "No way Jimmy, its your turn, what are you chicken, besides, I jumped down onto the subway tracks the other day and besides, no one dared you at the bridge so it doesn't count". "OK, I'll do it, but will you guys pay my fine when I get caught?" Sure Jimmy, we'll pay your fine, here have another beer." Yes, the young man was intoxicated, go figure, and he was arrested and he's barred from Yankee Stadium forever. I had a great time with some good friends and I've checked another of baseball's Holy Trinity off of my list. Now I have to watch a game at Fenway and visit Cooperstown and then I can die a happy man.
Posted by Kevin O'Leary at 5:13 AM
