This is how we do it

756!

It's all about Bonds, Barry Bonds! Yes people, we witnessed history! Ronnie and I were GIVEN two tickets to the Giants game last night from one of our tenants. We wanted to take the whole family but since Barry was trying to break the home run record, the game was sold out and scalper tickets were not cheap! So, we got Madison a last min. babysitter (thanks Liz) and took Bex to see the game.

Let me just paint you this picture, because no matter how many times you read about it, or see it on TV, there was nothing like being there! When we've gone to games in the past, Ronnie and I have always had tickets either behind the plate, or along the baseline where you can see the game with the water in the background. It is a beautiful stadium situated right on the bay and I actually prefer watching the view more than the game some nights. Not this night, our tickets happened to be out in the left field bleachers in the second row. We knew coming to the game that there would be people trying for that lucky ball that would be the record breaker but we didn't know that we would feel like idiots because we were the ONLY ones without our mitts and camera! (I have to give credit to the internet sites I snagged the photos from. I actually had a few of my own from my phone because we were that close, but they just weren't quite as good!) It was crazy; the atmosphere was exciting, and people were thrilled to be there in the hopes of witnessing history.

Each time Barry got up to bat, the crowd went wild. Everyone would stand up, and thousands of cameras flashed with each swing of his bat. He hit a single and a double his first couple of times up and scored a couple of runs and I commented to Ronnie how funny it was that when he was driven in by someone else's homerun, it was Barry that the big screen showed trotting around the bases. Video cameras were everywhere and even Bex got a little air time. They were interviewing people all around us, even the guys who caught the other teams home runs. "Do you think you can catch another one? Will Barry get one...?" Then Bonds came up for his third at bat and on a 3-2 count, he did it, he smashed a huge one right out into center field! Things went crazy, I have to tell you, even I got pretty excited, jumping up and down and giving high fives to complete strangers all around us. Fire works lit up the sky as Bonds ran the bases, streamers fell on the stands, and people were cheering, "Barry, Barry, Barry...!" He ran across home plate to be greeted by his mama, his wife, kids, and godfather Willie Mays. Then they played a video of Hank Aaron congratulating Barry on breaking his record. A fan even made it over all the security and the wall to run out on the field and get tackled (quite forcefully) by the police. He wasn't phased as he danced a jig off the field in handcuffs with two big cops on his arms.

As for the guy who caught the record breaking ball, he wasn't even a Giants fan! Just some guy from Queens, wearing a Mets jersey, on his way to Australia for vacation. He had flown out that day and somehow acquired a ticket, either from a scalper or a standing room only ticket which means he wasn't in the right seat! Luckily he survived the ordeal with only scrapes and bruises. Amazing because he was tackled by the surrounding crowd. The police automatically escorted him out of the stands as to avoid further injury! That ball that he covered with his body to ward off thieves is estimated to be worth $400,000 to $5 million dollars! WOW! I am actually pretty happy it didn't come our way. Though the monetary rewards would have been nice, I am not sure we could have kept little Bex safe from the crowd, they didn't care who was under their feet, they wanted that ball! One lady even said she was trying her best to steal the ball from the guy and came up with his shoe.

All in all we were thrilled to witness history, thanks to our nice tenants for the tickets! I am sure they are regretting their decision to give them up! On the way home, I quickly realized what a lot of people are saying today, inside that stadium, and possibly the city of SF, people could care less. This was their night, their team, their record. But the rest of the nation was probably a little more down to earth about it all.

There was a lot of talk about the record being tainted from steroid use. It was kind of sad, coming from such an amazing high in that stadium to listening to all these people raining on our parade. Sure, it stinks that he cheated, but come on people, let the SF fans have their fun, at least for one night! It is unfortunate that each time you hear about the record, the steroid issue will come up. Growing up in Baltimore, Ronnie was a huge Cal Ripken fan, more so because of his integrity and the way he approached the game than his talent on the field. For this reason, it has been hard for us to be big Barry fans because everyone knows he used the performance enhancers, but he won't admit to it. Regardless, for us, the record wasn't the important part. We just had a great time in that atmosphere amongst the fans. And for a moment in time, that didn't matter one bit, Barry was the man and with or without steroids, he has hit an amazing 756 home runs and counting!