Take Me Out to the Ball Game, and Bring a Towel or Two

I've been meaning to get to a Seawolves game all summer, but either they've been out of town when I had the time to go, or I was busy with other things, or I just let time go by without thinking of going to a game. So, since this week was the last games of the season I made a concerted effort to get to a game.

When I checked their website to see what promotions were coming up, I discovered that Country Fair sponsored a ticket buy-out for Thursday games. Anyone going to Country Fair could ask for a coupon for free reserved seat tickets to be redeemed at the park. Now 'Wolves games aren't expensive to begin with, but you certainly can't argue with free. When I visited my local store, I asked for two coupons, figuring that one coupon = one ticket, and I was going to invite my dad along, for a guy's night out. I discovered, after getting the coupons, however that 1 coupon = 2 tickets, so I could invite my brother Andrew along as well. *happyclap* It turned out, though, that my mom wasn't feeling well enough to be left home alone for the approximitly 3 hours for the game, so Andrew volunteered to stay home, which worked out since he's not the biggest baseball fan, and appreciated my need for some father-son time.

Another wrinkle in my plan was the weather. I was watching the remnants of Hurricane(?) Fran(?) pass well to the east of Erie, with what appeared to be just clouds directly over the city this evening. It turned out, though, that a steady mist began to fall after the first inning, but it didn't do much to dampen our spirits. [Sorry about the pun Sky, if you read this :) ]

The Wolves gave up a few runs in the top of the second inning, but scored 7 of their own in the bottom of the frame; They loaded the bases with no outs and kept getting singles and doubles to drive runs home, 'twas very exciting. After the inning ended, I went to buy some peanuts and soda. I've been craving the "eating peaunts at the ballgame" experience ever since my braces came off. Since that time, I've had my share of peanuts, and mixed nuts, and popcorn at home, but watching a ballgame, with a fistful of peanuts, shelling them, and tossing the shells at my feet is something that cannot be replicated at home. As an unexpected bonus, the bags of nuts were kept in a warmer, which was a nice touch on the cool, drizzly evening. So, dad and I split the bag of peanuts, and settled in to watch the game unfold.

After the early explosion of scoring the teams settled down, with a few scoreless innings, and a few more with only 1 or 2 runs scoring. After the 5th inning, I was getting hungry, and walked over to the picnic area to order a sausage sandwich. Right after I placed my order, the light mist turned to drizzle, then quickly from drizzle to a steady rain shower. A delay was called, and the tarp came out. I ate my sausage in the concourse with my dad, then when the rain subsided, wathced the crew remove the tarp and prepare the field to resume play. We returned to our seats, and watched another inning, before the rain strengthened again. An executive decision was reached. The Wolves were winning, we were cold and damp, we had seen enough.

Even though we only saw six innings of the game, my dad and I had a fun time, enjoyed the game that we did see, as well as our time together. It's too bad that the season's over this weekend, but hockey season's less than a month away and then it'll be all Otters, all the time. I may even check out the new basketball team that the city got for this fall.