Last night i witnessed Redbird’s history. At 1am when the video screen informed us that we were attending the longest lasting baseball game in Autozone Park history, i felt a little warm and fuzzy.
I don’t really like baseball. I collected baseball cards like a fanatic as a child, which seems like just a obsession in a small form, like collecting warez as a teenager. I played baseball as a child, knowing the rules, always wishing i was better, etc.
Then somehow, during my teen NIN years, i lost touch with baseball or any kind of sport that was nationally recognized. It lost the magic and it figures…with the strikes, the 20 million salaries that don’t seem to be enough, etc. Greed seems like the only common denominator in American spirit now..
Last night i sat through 19 innings of baseball tho. Shane called me at 5pm and invited me to a AAA baseball game at the downtown stadium. I had never been to a game, just broken up with my girlfriend, so it sounded really good. We drove down, parked in a parking garage and went the game.
I remember looking at the scoreboard and saying “so games only last 9 innings?” and he said “naw, usually around 8”.
Of course after the Redbirds hit 3 home runs in one fucking inning, i was like “omg it’s a tie game”. Thats when it got intresting. It was a tie fucking game. No one had any idea who the winner or who the loser would be. Yet people were getting up and leaving. I didn’t understand it…how could they leave when at any moment some fucker could crack that ball out of the park.
Shane asked me about twice if i wanted to leave and i was like “No way, fuck those faggots, i want to see who wins, in real life”. The green grass, the dark dirt…this shit was glowing in the eyes of someone who only seems aim windows and pixels all day.
By the 17th inning, i was sure the umpire was going to call the game. The innings were going by so fast, those 3 outs just coming and going. The fatigue of every player showing as one dude accidently threw a bat into the crowd and when the Olkahoma picther beaned a batter.
The 19th inning, 6 and a half hours later, the game ended. We were so weary, waiting, like people in a movie theatre, just wanting something, ANYTHING! to happen when Olkahoma got a faggot on 3rd. They hit a base hit and the asshole ran home.
There were only about 200 something people left in the stadium at the point. Shane and I were commenting on how cute the guys/girls were that were left in the stadium when those fuckers finally won.
Now I hate Memphis as much as anyone else who has lived here long enough does. This city fucking sucks. But after 19 fucking innings, you want the dudes who buy 40’s at the same gas station as you do, to fucking own those faggots. So you feel a little owned when those butt pirates walk across the plate, scoring that last run.
We left Autozone park after 6 and a half hours, the longest game in that park’s history, tired and weary. The guy at the gate gave us 2 free tickets to whatever Redbird’s game we wanted to see and i really understood baseball at that moment.
That night and the morning afterwards, everyone was like “Toad, you like baseball?” and i responded “yeah i guess so”. I mean quite honestly i never liked baseball before that night. I really figured it out that night tho. The bright lights, the green grass, the beatiful girls, the anticipation with each pitch that it could sail out of the park and change the 19 inning game….i can honestly say i don’t like sports…i like competition, hehe….
I wanna thank Shane for talking me to this game. I havn’t had such a weird “You never thought you could feel this” kinda moment in a very, very long time. I never thought i could actually think that baseball was a really cool sport but now i could honestly enjoy any baseball, basketball or footbal game as long as it was it was happening in front of me.
Kinda makes me feel like shit since i told Shane i was going to go to tonight’s game with him but i didn’t make it back from my run in time to shower and change and go with him. Oh well, anyone who knows me well enough to invite me to a baseball game knows that i’m such a flake that i won’t be on time for anything….
Anyway, i’m gonna add some pics to this update of the game and i really wanna thank shane for inviting me out of the blue to this incredible game. It wouldn’t have been the same with anyone else and i appreciate it….and with that, im gonna take my drunk ass to bed….fdalksdjflakjsdflkajsdlfjasldfkalksdjf
