Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Day 40; Turner Field, Atlanta: September 17



At 10:00 a.m. I am still with Jason in Hollywood, FLA walking back to his apartment after breakfast even though my flight is at 11:10. I speed pack, speed speed, speed park, speed get lost in car garage, speed shuttle bus to the correct terminal and somehow still make it to my gate moments before they would most likely announce my name over the loudspeaker for the 3rd time in 4 days. I don't feel like reading on the flight so I play trivia against other passengers. A woman from Jeopardy asks me to be on the show. I am that amazing. I tell her I am not interested and want keep my amateur status by playing only on airplanes. The handle on my new duffle bag breaks when I get to Atlanta so I actually have to carry this mostrosity now instead of rolling it. I take the MARTA train north to meet my friend, Joey, near his office. It's VERY dark out and the sky is ominous. A rain out at this stage would be bad like a heat wave before a snowmobile race. Joey and I get to the stadium around six and discuss strategy for getting free tickets. Strategy number one is Joey holding up one finger hoping for two free tickets. It works as we get two and don't pay a nickel. Once inside, we try to sneak in some reasonable seats but are quickly tossed out. We walk a few sections over and I grease the palms of a very friendly usher with 1000 pennies worth of greenback. He puts us in the 5th row! Other highlghts include my southwestern hotdog, yelling at Jason Werth and Charlie Manuel of the Phillies, running to first base with about 10 three year olds in the playground area, pretending to serve a snow cone, interviewing 81 year old Paul from Atlanta (who was in Yankee Stadium for Lou Gehrig day!) and passing out on top of the Phillies Dugout after one too many O'Douls. Twenty six down, 4 to go!

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