Just call me Mrs. October

The cat's out of the bag: I went to Florida last week to see the Rays play in their first playoff game ever. Spud helped fly me down for game 1 to surprise MAD. We actually didn't surprise them the way we intended as we had to tell them I was coming at the last minute.

I left the Emerald City on Tuesday night on a red eye. It was strange to leave the city solo and fly to a city other than Boston. I landed at DFW early Wednesday morning and upgraded myself to first class since the flight to Tampa was empty. I've never flown first class and I figured I might as well try it. It wasn't that much different than flying Jet Blue except that I had a hot breakfast. I felt a little like a fraud flying first class considering I'm merely a freelancer/ consultant (fancy way to say unemployed) in jeans and a fleece. I also flew first class back from Tampa to Dallas on Friday morning but by that time it had lost it's luster. It was nice to enjoy a few hours of spacious seating considering I spent my connecting flight sandwiched between two seat hogs.

But back to the game.



It was a truly unique experience watching a playoff game. When my dad and I arrived at Tropicana Field an hour before the game it was a madhouse. There was the frenzied energy of a Red Sox Yankee game in the air. Everyone was delirious excitement and $7 beer. It was evident I was at least four drinks behind everyone else (though I will confess I never caught up. I can't fathom spending $30 on beer. But I did have one so I could get an ALDS souvenir cup).

It's been well over a year since I went to a game in Tampa with my whole family, so it was nice to see them. We even wore matching shirts.



My sister and dad taught us an awesome game to play while watching baseball live: Ball Change. At the start of every inning everyone in the group throws a buck into the pot. Every time a new ball is put in play (by the Umpire, after a homerun, foul ball, dirty ball, ect) you yell Ball Change! and pass the cash to the person on your right. The next time the ball changes you do the same. Whomever has the ball at the end of the inning gets to keep the cash. We only played a few innings but I did win $4.

It was a pretty exciting game, lots of homeruns, some close fights, and Raymond our awesome mascot had his ATV stolen by a White Sox pitcher. Raymond, one of the most lewd and crude mascots in MLB, is actually a 27 year-old female.



Tropicana Field is a loud place, but when you factor is 35,041 cowbells, it becomes deafening. I learned the hard way that there is such thing as too much cowbell.



And of course the Rays won.