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Last night was nearly perfect. Kirsten and I headed up to San Francisco to see our beloved San Francisco Giants play the Washington Nationals. As always, we took Caltrain up. That was great, we caught a northbound limited and were early enough that the train was mostly empty. Even though it had been in the mid-80s all day, I was wearing layers, because as Mark Twain is alleged to have said, "the coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco."
The City by the Bay didn't disappoint, greeting us at the 4th & King station with cheerfully howling winds and temperatures in the mid-50s. We walked the long city block to AT&T Park in an ever-growing throng of fans clad in orange and black along with a few Nationals fans in red and white. AT&T Park is one of the best ballparks in baseball, and it's a joy just to be able to pass through the gates.
Once inside our first goal was redeeming our special event merchandise ticket. For tonight was Metallica Night, an annual event where the Bay Area's legendary thrash metal gods team up with the Giants. Lots of Metallica music between innings, lead guitarist Kirk Hammet played the national anthem and Take Me Out To The Ball-game, drummer Lars Ulrich threw out the first pitch, and bass player Robert Trujillo read the Giant's starting line up. A lot of fun, and we got cool new hats.
The game itself was fantastic. Chris Stratton pitched 6-2/3rds innings, allowing only two runs to score and recording five strikeouts. The pitchers and defense got out of a jam when the Nationals had runners at 2nd and 3rd with only one out. The offense was provided by Mac Williamson's laser-shot home run in the 6th that gave the Giants the lead and they never looked back. That shot traveled 464 feet and landed right about where Barry Bonds’ record-breaking 756th career home run landed.
Giants win, ballpark food and goodies, beautiful, if cold. night at a baseball game. We found the seats we want from now on. Section 136, Row 25. That's the bleachers closest to the left foul line, and the top row. There's a section of disabled seating right behind row 25, so there's a wall. We had a space to store our stuff. This would have been a perfect night of baseball except for one thing.
The Wharton Executive MBA program. Several rows in front of us in our section had strips of papers with WEMBA printed on them. OK, a group reservation. It wasn't until midway through the 2nd inning that they started showing up. That's when things turned ugly. Because while there were 39,000 people at the park for a ball game, these idiots couldn't care a whit about the game. They were networking.
There is an established set of rules of behavior for attending baseball games. There's even a video shown before each game explaining how to be a good fan. One of these rules is don't block the line of sight for other fans! Standing when something exciting happens, or standing and cheering for a big at-bat or pitch is expected. Standing in a group and talking about financial issues? No. Sit down. If you are seating in your ticketed seat it is expected that you show courtesy to the people around you and watch the game!
The sad thing is there is an area designed for non-game socializing a few steps away from where we were sitting. Behind the main scoreboard is a big dining area with tables and chairs and some of the best food options in the park, No one gives a fuck if you stand there for twenty minutes discussing mutual funds or whatever.
It got so bad that Kirsten had to get an usher to tell this group to stay seated during play. I was tempted to ask the person who appeared to be a group leader if he could, without looking up, tell me the score of the game he was attending. He had spent the entire time he was at the game glad-handing people and incessantly talking. And blocking the stairs, blocking views, and being completely clueless about his surroundings. In the top half of the 9th inning, with one out already recorded, he expressed surprise that the food vendors were closing. The game is going to be over in five minutes, dimwit. Most of them start shutting down in the 8th. Another guy expressed shock that he couldn't buy a beer. No alcohol sales after the 7th inning has been the rule for decades.
But the worst offense, the thing that made me want to call the cops to eject the entire crew, the thing that should get them banned for life is this: THEY PUT KETCHUP ON THE GARLIC FRIES! Garlic fries are perfection already! Fries, Parmesan, and garlic. Nothing else needed! Blasphemy! Burn the MBA heretics!
No, really, we should have set them on fire. It was cold in the bleachers.
The City by the Bay didn't disappoint, greeting us at the 4th & King station with cheerfully howling winds and temperatures in the mid-50s. We walked the long city block to AT&T Park in an ever-growing throng of fans clad in orange and black along with a few Nationals fans in red and white. AT&T Park is one of the best ballparks in baseball, and it's a joy just to be able to pass through the gates.
Once inside our first goal was redeeming our special event merchandise ticket. For tonight was Metallica Night, an annual event where the Bay Area's legendary thrash metal gods team up with the Giants. Lots of Metallica music between innings, lead guitarist Kirk Hammet played the national anthem and Take Me Out To The Ball-game, drummer Lars Ulrich threw out the first pitch, and bass player Robert Trujillo read the Giant's starting line up. A lot of fun, and we got cool new hats.
The game itself was fantastic. Chris Stratton pitched 6-2/3rds innings, allowing only two runs to score and recording five strikeouts. The pitchers and defense got out of a jam when the Nationals had runners at 2nd and 3rd with only one out. The offense was provided by Mac Williamson's laser-shot home run in the 6th that gave the Giants the lead and they never looked back. That shot traveled 464 feet and landed right about where Barry Bonds’ record-breaking 756th career home run landed.
Giants win, ballpark food and goodies, beautiful, if cold. night at a baseball game. We found the seats we want from now on. Section 136, Row 25. That's the bleachers closest to the left foul line, and the top row. There's a section of disabled seating right behind row 25, so there's a wall. We had a space to store our stuff. This would have been a perfect night of baseball except for one thing.
The Wharton Executive MBA program. Several rows in front of us in our section had strips of papers with WEMBA printed on them. OK, a group reservation. It wasn't until midway through the 2nd inning that they started showing up. That's when things turned ugly. Because while there were 39,000 people at the park for a ball game, these idiots couldn't care a whit about the game. They were networking.
There is an established set of rules of behavior for attending baseball games. There's even a video shown before each game explaining how to be a good fan. One of these rules is don't block the line of sight for other fans! Standing when something exciting happens, or standing and cheering for a big at-bat or pitch is expected. Standing in a group and talking about financial issues? No. Sit down. If you are seating in your ticketed seat it is expected that you show courtesy to the people around you and watch the game!
The sad thing is there is an area designed for non-game socializing a few steps away from where we were sitting. Behind the main scoreboard is a big dining area with tables and chairs and some of the best food options in the park, No one gives a fuck if you stand there for twenty minutes discussing mutual funds or whatever.
It got so bad that Kirsten had to get an usher to tell this group to stay seated during play. I was tempted to ask the person who appeared to be a group leader if he could, without looking up, tell me the score of the game he was attending. He had spent the entire time he was at the game glad-handing people and incessantly talking. And blocking the stairs, blocking views, and being completely clueless about his surroundings. In the top half of the 9th inning, with one out already recorded, he expressed surprise that the food vendors were closing. The game is going to be over in five minutes, dimwit. Most of them start shutting down in the 8th. Another guy expressed shock that he couldn't buy a beer. No alcohol sales after the 7th inning has been the rule for decades.
But the worst offense, the thing that made me want to call the cops to eject the entire crew, the thing that should get them banned for life is this: THEY PUT KETCHUP ON THE GARLIC FRIES! Garlic fries are perfection already! Fries, Parmesan, and garlic. Nothing else needed! Blasphemy! Burn the MBA heretics!
No, really, we should have set them on fire. It was cold in the bleachers.
