Hello LilyOnTheLam.Com Readers:
I am not the biggest sports nut. I couldn't tell you the last time I watched a sports event on TV in my home, but I can tell you the unit of measurement would be in years if not a decade. But I do like the enthusiasm of a live game - and I prefer the live sports in this order 1) Hockey, 2) Basketball, 3) Soccer, 4) People on Twitter arguing what Real Housewives franchise team they are on, 5) Mixed Martial Arts, 6) Boxing, 7) My Cats Chasing Each Other, 8) Football, 9) Baseball, 10) Javelin Throwing, 11) NASCAR, 12) Watching My Leg Hair Grow and 13) Golf.
I used to date a guy who tried to make me watch golf with him. His butchered body is now buried in the desert. And I may or may not be joking about that.
My enthusiasm of live sporting games increases exponentially based on the amount of free team merch swag given. If anyone out there has a Rays DJ Kitty Bobblehead they want to give me out of the sheer goodness of their warm, warm hearts; I would love you forever - or at least long enough to sing your praises in a post on this website.
This past Friday, the Tampa Bay Rays baseball team had an Oktoberfest promotion where they gave away heavy, solid, nicely logo-ed Tampa Bay Rays beer steins. To my knowledge there were no drunken fans using the beer steins as weapons and if this is true, I salute all drunk fans everywhere! Because these were formidable beer steins and would cause a lot of damage if wielded like a sledge hammer. And sports fans who drink a lot are not always the most rational of thinkers.
Determined to get my hands on a beer stein, I went to the Rays vs. Baltimore Orioles game with two friends. Yes, I admit it - the actual baseball game was ancillary to my quest for a ceramic beer stein. I won't lie and I won't be ashamed! (OK maybe a little wee fraction ashamed, sorry baseball players!)
My desire for a beer stein inadvertently put me on a collision course with history -- in that at the end of the 9th inning, the Rays and Baltimore were tied 4-4. My friend Ms. SC had happily departed after the 5th inning with beer stein in hand, but big time baseball fan Mrs. KG and I were in it for the long haul as she explained to me that in baseball the teams will just keep playing until someone scores ... no matter how many innings it takes. Let me just repeat that - no matter how many innings it takes.
I naively yelled out "COMMITTED!" as in committed to staying in our seats until the tie was broken. But as we entered into the 14th inning, I was feeling less committed. To me, nine innings is a lifetime -- so this long extended game was like me realizing I am a vampire who will NEVER DIE. I felt like every batter was hitting pop flies backward. I started tweeting messages about my arse screaming from sitting in the hard Tropicana Field seats.
(Side Note: Follow me on Twitter.com @SouthTampaLily if you like to read snarky messages about The Real Housewives Bravo TV franchise and angry messages about who I wanted to win the Emmys! @Cinnabon, @MargaretCho and a Twitter account devoted to Grumpy Cat follow me and you should too! But if you're into shaming and chastising people who express their opinions, then don't follow me - save sweeping generalization holier than thou judgments for someone who wants to hear/read them.)
The scoreboard announced sometime around the 15th inning (I think) that this game had beaten the Rays' record for longest game in their franchise's history. Mrs. KG and I high-fived in astounding glee. Hello history-making event! And I participated in this history making by sitting on my butt and eating a tasty beer-soaked brat with a big ceramic beer stein bubble-wrapped in my purse.
By the 16th inning, Mrs. KG and I kept eyeing each other - wondering which one of us was going to say "Let's stop this madness and go get pie at Village Inn instead." I quietly said "Committed!" with a lot less enthusiasm than I had before. The crowds were getting smaller and smaller. It was like Mrs. KG and I were playing chicken - which one would scream "Let's go - who cares who wins?" first.
The game had started at 7:10 p.m. Mrs. KG announced when the clock passed 1:50 a.m. I kept staring the clock incredulously - how could it be so late and why were we still here? Would this game ever end?
I started looking for toothpicks to hold up my eyelids. I was no longer yawning every now and again. I was just doing one long yawn that lasted multiple innings.
Then finally slightly before 2:10 a.m. in the eighteenth inning, the moment I had been hoping and praying for finally happened. The Rays broke the tie! The Rays win! We vaulted out of our seats and used every last bit of energy to scream, jump up and down and hug. You would have thought we won the lottery - but really I was just excited that now I could go home and go to sleep!
Unfortunately for the teams, the Rays and the Orioles would be playing again at 1 p.m. - less than 12 hours away. The announcer joked that if you were attending the Saturday game, feel free to sleep in your cars. I was so tired after working a full day and then watching an almost 7 hour game, I contemplated sleeping in my car.
Eighteen innings - it was like watching a double header. Mrs. KG, my baseball expert, said that some games have gone much longer than 18 innings. According to Wikipedia, the longest game in professional baseball history lasted 33 innings.
Let me just make it clear that if the Rays decide to break their now current record and play longer than 18 innings, I won't be there saying "Committed" - I'll be at Village Inn, committing myself to a piece of pie ... or a whole pie. Or to a whole pie case. Doing whatever I have to do to artfully demonstrate my commitment ... to pie.
But regardless of my fickle nature, congratulations to the Tampa Bay Rays for overcoming exhaustion and beating the Baltimore Orioles in the 18th inning. I don't think I have ever been so happy to see a baseball team win a game! It was a great lesson in dedication and perseverance that I would have truly reveled in, had I not been so sleepy!
Thanks for a very long, but ultimately very satisfying 18 inning game, Tampa Bay Rays!
I am not the biggest sports nut. I couldn't tell you the last time I watched a sports event on TV in my home, but I can tell you the unit of measurement would be in years if not a decade. But I do like the enthusiasm of a live game - and I prefer the live sports in this order 1) Hockey, 2) Basketball, 3) Soccer, 4) People on Twitter arguing what Real Housewives franchise team they are on, 5) Mixed Martial Arts, 6) Boxing, 7) My Cats Chasing Each Other, 8) Football, 9) Baseball, 10) Javelin Throwing, 11) NASCAR, 12) Watching My Leg Hair Grow and 13) Golf.
I used to date a guy who tried to make me watch golf with him. His butchered body is now buried in the desert. And I may or may not be joking about that.
My enthusiasm of live sporting games increases exponentially based on the amount of free team merch swag given. If anyone out there has a Rays DJ Kitty Bobblehead they want to give me out of the sheer goodness of their warm, warm hearts; I would love you forever - or at least long enough to sing your praises in a post on this website.
This past Friday, the Tampa Bay Rays baseball team had an Oktoberfest promotion where they gave away heavy, solid, nicely logo-ed Tampa Bay Rays beer steins. To my knowledge there were no drunken fans using the beer steins as weapons and if this is true, I salute all drunk fans everywhere! Because these were formidable beer steins and would cause a lot of damage if wielded like a sledge hammer. And sports fans who drink a lot are not always the most rational of thinkers.
Determined to get my hands on a beer stein, I went to the Rays vs. Baltimore Orioles game with two friends. Yes, I admit it - the actual baseball game was ancillary to my quest for a ceramic beer stein. I won't lie and I won't be ashamed! (OK maybe a little wee fraction ashamed, sorry baseball players!)
My desire for a beer stein inadvertently put me on a collision course with history -- in that at the end of the 9th inning, the Rays and Baltimore were tied 4-4. My friend Ms. SC had happily departed after the 5th inning with beer stein in hand, but big time baseball fan Mrs. KG and I were in it for the long haul as she explained to me that in baseball the teams will just keep playing until someone scores ... no matter how many innings it takes. Let me just repeat that - no matter how many innings it takes.
I naively yelled out "COMMITTED!" as in committed to staying in our seats until the tie was broken. But as we entered into the 14th inning, I was feeling less committed. To me, nine innings is a lifetime -- so this long extended game was like me realizing I am a vampire who will NEVER DIE. I felt like every batter was hitting pop flies backward. I started tweeting messages about my arse screaming from sitting in the hard Tropicana Field seats.
(Side Note: Follow me on Twitter.com @SouthTampaLily if you like to read snarky messages about The Real Housewives Bravo TV franchise and angry messages about who I wanted to win the Emmys! @Cinnabon, @MargaretCho and a Twitter account devoted to Grumpy Cat follow me and you should too! But if you're into shaming and chastising people who express their opinions, then don't follow me - save sweeping generalization holier than thou judgments for someone who wants to hear/read them.)
The scoreboard announced sometime around the 15th inning (I think) that this game had beaten the Rays' record for longest game in their franchise's history. Mrs. KG and I high-fived in astounding glee. Hello history-making event! And I participated in this history making by sitting on my butt and eating a tasty beer-soaked brat with a big ceramic beer stein bubble-wrapped in my purse.
By the 16th inning, Mrs. KG and I kept eyeing each other - wondering which one of us was going to say "Let's stop this madness and go get pie at Village Inn instead." I quietly said "Committed!" with a lot less enthusiasm than I had before. The crowds were getting smaller and smaller. It was like Mrs. KG and I were playing chicken - which one would scream "Let's go - who cares who wins?" first.
The game had started at 7:10 p.m. Mrs. KG announced when the clock passed 1:50 a.m. I kept staring the clock incredulously - how could it be so late and why were we still here? Would this game ever end?
I started looking for toothpicks to hold up my eyelids. I was no longer yawning every now and again. I was just doing one long yawn that lasted multiple innings.
Then finally slightly before 2:10 a.m. in the eighteenth inning, the moment I had been hoping and praying for finally happened. The Rays broke the tie! The Rays win! We vaulted out of our seats and used every last bit of energy to scream, jump up and down and hug. You would have thought we won the lottery - but really I was just excited that now I could go home and go to sleep!
Unfortunately for the teams, the Rays and the Orioles would be playing again at 1 p.m. - less than 12 hours away. The announcer joked that if you were attending the Saturday game, feel free to sleep in your cars. I was so tired after working a full day and then watching an almost 7 hour game, I contemplated sleeping in my car.
Eighteen innings - it was like watching a double header. Mrs. KG, my baseball expert, said that some games have gone much longer than 18 innings. According to Wikipedia, the longest game in professional baseball history lasted 33 innings.
Let me just make it clear that if the Rays decide to break their now current record and play longer than 18 innings, I won't be there saying "Committed" - I'll be at Village Inn, committing myself to a piece of pie ... or a whole pie. Or to a whole pie case. Doing whatever I have to do to artfully demonstrate my commitment ... to pie.
But regardless of my fickle nature, congratulations to the Tampa Bay Rays for overcoming exhaustion and beating the Baltimore Orioles in the 18th inning. I don't think I have ever been so happy to see a baseball team win a game! It was a great lesson in dedication and perseverance that I would have truly reveled in, had I not been so sleepy!
Thanks for a very long, but ultimately very satisfying 18 inning game, Tampa Bay Rays!
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