Saturday, February 24, 2007

Who was at the game on Sept. 28th, 2006 down in DC?

I got my first spring training baseball magazine yesterday (Athlon Sports). I haven't gotten to the rankings and everything, but there is a little column on the game last season between the Phillies and Nationals that didn't start until 11:30 pm. The game was at RFK stadium and there were probably only about a max of 500 people there, all of them Phillies fans. I went to that game and an amazing time, despite the fact that the Phillies couldn't will themselves into the playoffs with any hits.
If anyone was at that game, I was the kid right at the end of the Nationals dugout with his shirt off screaming at every non-Phillies player and fan and cheering for everyone Phillies related.
Here is the article just because I like to think it was written about me. haha.
How Late Was It?
So late that the RFK Stadium cleaning crew began sweeping the upper deck before te game started. So late that the ushers went home. So late the concession stands closed 90 minutes prior to the first pitch. So late that the last out was seen by only a few hundred fans. For four hours, 27 minutes, the Nationals and Phillies waited to start their game on Spet. 28 - 28 minutes before Sept. 29 actually - their persistence owing to its import to the wild card chase. By the time the Nats eked out a 3-1 win, it was 2:07 am. The tiny crowd that stuck it out consisted mostly of rowdies visiting from Philly who provided as much entertainment as the game itself. Clustered in the front rows were the hardcores (some shirtless despite 50-degree temps), easily heard in the empty stadium cussing Nats players, booing 10-foot tall Thomas Jefferson who took a spectacular fall in the fourth-inning "President's Race," chanting "Harry Kallas" at the PA announcer and taunting the Washington mascot. Even Nats president Stan Kasten got in the spirit of things, sitting behind home plate holding a sign that read "Ball Game Today." "I don't know if we'll ever experience that kind of atmosphere again," waxed catcher Brian Schneider. And oh by the way, the two teams had played a 14-inning marathon the night before that had last just short of five hours.
I'm not going to remember the fact that the Phils basically ended their season with that loss or that that game should not have been postponed, what I'm going to remember is how much fun it was to be there and be a part of that excitement even if it came to nothing. Hopefully this year we can wrap up a playoff berth before the final weekend, that would be real nice.

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