| The Tampa Bay Rays the other night. [Paramount Pictures] |
| On the bright side of strife? |
| Months ago, which might as well be years ago, I agreed to be part of a pool of Tampa Bay Rays tickets with coworkers. The deal was for four games spread out over the season at a decent price. I am not the biggest baseball fan, but my husband is, and I support the Rays and Doing Things In Our Community, etc. We put in for seats. These endeavors always seem like a good idea at the time, don't they? The dates are far off, a figment of your social imagination, an idea but not a reality. If the limit never approaches anything, the limit does not exist! Then this happens: You look at your calendar during an absolutely hellish week and discover an alert on a TUESDAY NIGHT for a RAYS GAME at 6:40 P.M. I was juggling 35 professional projects, three family birthdays (GEMINI SEASON), an end-of-school sleepover party at our crumbling house with doors that keep popping open in the swelling heat, plus that upcoming Ivy League thing I told you about last week. There was no time for athletics! And yet, that day I drove something like 100 miles to get it all done, got home from the game and worked until 1:30 a.m. My under-eyes were giving Uncle Fester. I know, wah wah. Could we have sold our tickets? Yes, in theory, but that takes organization and planning! That's a thing for people who meal prep little containers of rice and grilled chicken on Sundays! Also: I paid for the tickets. I wanted to go. The Rays are having a great season. Go Rays and all that. Lol. Lololololololololololol. Lol. About the game. You get this newsletter, which means I don't expect you to know anything about sports. If you are looking for a sports newsletter, that can be found here. Let me do my best as a non-sports person to explain. The Rays not only lost, they lost spectacularly. They lost historically bad. They lost 20 to 1. TWENTY. TO. ONE. Here's my Twitter thread to relive the horror. For particulars, read someone qualified. Just know that when all hope of victory was gone, we devolved into chaotic laughter in the stands. Everyone did. A guy behind us yelled, "ONLY 20 TO WIN, GUYS!" and cackled maniacally. I have spent the top half of this screed being negative when my life is truly a bounty of love and good fortune. I know this. So I am going to try and be positive from here on out, extracting only winning takeaways from the remarkable, groundbreaking game in which the Rays lost 20-1. - They, uh, never gave up! The boys played right until the end! As contractually obligated! - They brought everyone from different walks of life together under the dome, all booing in unison! - I got Dippin' Dots! Once the ice cream of the future, it is now the ice cream of now! - I lost the 50/50 raffle yet again, but *through gritted teeth* I gave to charity which is really the point! - Since the game was so hard to watch, we had time to get invested in the compelling character tension between DJ Kitty and Raymond! - No one took a photo of me that will haunt me for the rest of my days! Not that I know of, anyway! - The Rays bounced back and won the rest of the games in the series I didn't attend! Ha! Haha! - Many games we forget! We will remember this one always! |
No comments:
Post a Comment