My View of the 25-Run 4-Hour Marathon

Image courtesy of LJ’s Twitpic

There’s nothing quite like a slugfest, but sometimes it’s the game within the game which really takes on a life of its own.

I won’t comment too much about what happened on the field because most of you saw it unravel on television. If you thought it seemed like forever to watch from home, then you should have been there at the Rogers Centre.

I’m all for an exciting back and forth game, but that game made me feel like I aged ten years. I wish I had a stopwatch because at one point, it seemed like Josh Beckett was taking 15 seconds to come set between each pitch. 

Aside from what happened on the field, what I do want to touch on, is my experience at the ballpark.

To begin, I sat down in my seat only to find I was surrounded by Red Sox fans. I mean I was literally surrounded … they were to the left, the right, behind and in front of me. I was convinced there were more Red Sox fans than Blue Jays Fans in my section.

Immediately I noticed the Jays fans were outnumbered, but the hometown crowd was much much louder than the visitors. Kudos to the hecklers sitting in section 114; I tip my cap to you. Not only were you consistent with your heckles, but you made it interactive and fun for everyone.

Since the dome was so quiet, I’m sure you probably heard them loud and clear on the radio or television broadcast. Some of my personal favourites were:

• “Nice turtleneck, Beckett!”
• “March 15th was a horrible day!” (alluding to Youkilis’ birthday)
• “Scutaro, did they give you a booster seat for the dugout?”
• “It’s 9:30!”(You probably heard about that on Jays Talk)
  

Even more impressive was that there was a female heckler, the first I’ve ever encountered. She was the loudest of them all, and proceeded to lay into Josh Beckett and Kevin Youkilis all game long.

Another funny thing was back to back instances where a man sitting about 15 rows up in section 113A failed to catch a foul ball because he was too busy enjoying his nachos. To add insult to injury, of all sports paraphernalia to wear to the Rogers Centre, he was sporting a Phoenix Suns jersey. After being ridiculed for missing two foul balls, he proceeded to stand for the final three innings of the game, probably in fear that he’d miss another chance to snag a ball.

Another interesting fan I noticed in the section next to us was a gentlemen who took it upon himself to wear a paper bag over his head which said “Go Leafs Go”. It must be bad when Leafs fans can’t even go to another sporting event without concealing their identity.

All in all, it was a great game. It would have been a hell of a lot better if the Jays had won, but unfortunately that’s the way they go sometimes. I’m inclined to say that last night’s 13-12 loss was actually more fun to watch and be at than the Home Opener.

There may have been only 13,000 fans there last night, however most of them were there to take in a great ballgame and not to merely join in the drunken fraternizing.