how i almost saw clemens pitch

If you know me, you know that I like to plan things. Well in advance. Down to the last detail. Which doesn't mean I can't play it by ear and be spontaneous...because I can and do. It's just that, if I can plan something, I will. Because why would you not?! I guess you could say that, to me, by planning what I can, it makes the unplanned a little more enjoyable.

So when plans have been made, and they fall apart because of the details not working out the way they're supposed to, I don't deal very well. It's even more aggravating if I'm not the one who made the plans...because in the back of my mind, there's a little voice saying, "Are you kidding me?!?" Such was the case Monday. Last week, I got invited to a Labor Day Phillies
game...but not just any Phillies game. It was a Phillies v. Astros game (which made me very happy since I didn't get to go to a single Astros game this season)...but not just any Phillies v. Astros game. In this game, the starting pitcher was Roger Clemens. Not that I know enough about baseball to tell you why he's legendary...I just know enough to know that if you can catch a game like that, you do.

When I'd asked how the ticket-purchasing was going to work, I was told (by the person putting the outing together) that we'd just get tickets when we got to the ballpark that day. Not what I would have done, but hey - if the person felt comfortable that we could get tickets, I trusted their word. After all, from what I'd heard, this person went to enough Phillies games that they would know whether this was reasonable. Then, at a barbeque on Sunday, a friend heard I was going to the game the next day and promptly said, "I bet that game sells out." But hey - I'm not worried...because a) it's not my trip to plan, and b) the person who was planning it had said we
could get tickets.

You see where this is going, right? That's right. Five of us show up to the ballpark Monday afternoon, ready to see the Phillies take on the Astros (or vice versa, depending on who you were cheering for...go 'Stros!), only to find out that the only tickets left are for standing room only. Me? I was totally cool with that! I mean, I was really looking forward to some good ol' baseball on the unofficial last day of summer. (Not to mention I'd just driven an hour and a half to get there.) Sadly, the people I was with were not at all interested in standing room only, so we found a table at the sports bar next to the ballpark, had some eats and watched the game...on TV.

Please don't get me wrong. I enjoyed the afternoon and had a nice time hanging out. But the planner and organizer inside of me was just a little perturbed. Because if I was going to watch the Astros lose in ten innings, I would have really liked to have done so inside the ballpark.

Where I am: Home

What I'm reading: a book I'm too lazy to go look at the title of right now