Texas Rangers game
I've come to realize that this blog is really about first's. Sydney attended her first Texas Rangers game last night. We're officially Rangers fans now that we've officially Texans once again after living in Georgia for 20 years. We bought a couple of tickets to the April 26 Rangers-Yankees game and could not wait to see what it was like at Globe Life Park for the first time. And, boy, was it a dandy!
We decked out in our Rangers gears and headed to the game in Arlington. We knew we were off to a good start when we got a complimentary ride on the back of a golf cart from the parking lot to the front gate. So it was not much to brag about but it was a first golf cart ride for Sydney. She was getting giddy. We were there an hour before the game so we had time to look around the concourse for a bit. We found our seats after visiting the pro shop. The seats were near the first base, just a little to the outfield (Section 36, Row 20, Seats 5 and 6). They were great seats with full view of every first base action. This was important since Sydney plays first base on her softball team so perhaps she could coach up the Rangers' first baseman from time to time? Perhaps.
Before the action got started, Sydney was thirsty so we went to find something to drink. We went back to the concourse and found an ice cream stand. Ice cream and baseball!!! What can beat that? Suddenly, this dude in a red Rangers shirt approached us as we were trying to decide on a flavor. It was all a blur so bear with me as I recount the harrowing details. He asked if we had heard of some footlong hotdog at Globe Life Park and blah, blah, blah. I eyed him suspiciously and pulled Sydney near me. Were we getting scammed to buy something for an arm and a leg? I muttered: "Well, yes, but we're not really interested. We've had dinner already." (or something like that). He grinned and say "Uh, no....it's a cart that we drive selected guests around the field before the game starts. Would you two like to be our guests?" My eyes got wide and I looked around a bit apprehensively. The concession stand workers were grinning and egging us to say yes. I asked Sydney if she would want to do it. She was also a bit skeptical but said: "Sure. Why not?" I eyeballed his badge a little, trying to memorize some information (in case we get kidnapped and held for ransom) and agreed to go with him, after promising the concession crew that we would be back for our ice cream. This could be it for us. No more Rangers games and no more blue sky ahead.
He asked us to follow him to the elevators and explained the process a bit to us while getting our names and where we were from. He was charged with finding last-minute guests as the regular guests failed to show apparently. We were it, randomly chosen out of the crowd. We would get to go behind the scene, along the corridors under the stadium and past the players' locker room and front offices. How cool was that? As we climbed into the hot dog cart, our host explained that our names would be announced to the crowd around 6:30 and we would be driven around the stadium. We would wave to the crowd during our 2 minutes on fame as our aces are shown on the Jumbotron. No way!!! I texted Tracie to tell her what was happening, in case she could catch us on live TV on the Fox Sports channel. Alas, pre-game activities were not shown on TV.
I wasn't sure who was grinning wider and geeking out while we were being driven slowly around the field - me or Sydney. I caught a couple of glimpses of us on the Jumbotron as we made our way around. I was all teeth! We drove past Brian McCann, the ex-Braves catcher who was playing for the Yankees. Too bad he was too busy talking to wave to us. I would have geeked out even worse as I was a huge McCann fan when he was with Atlanta as part of the "baby-Braves." And when it was over, we stopped an had our picture taken in front of the Rangers logo just outside of the main office before heading back up to our seats.
What a fantastic start to our ballgame experience! We headed back to the concession stand and got our drink and ice cream. Would it count as a first to say that we had our first ice cream cone and our first Sprite at Globe Life Park? Nahh, I'll let that one go. Anyway, we settled down to watch the Rangers trounce the hated Yankees 10-1 before it was all over although we did beeline for the car before the 8th inning was over, trying to get home before the nasty thunderstorm come rolling through. We got to see a bit of everything we were hoping to see, though. We saw a bunch of hits - singles and doubles. We even saw a 436-foot home run by Ian Desmond. We saw the Rangers turn a couple of double plays. We saw the starting pitcher - A.J. Griffin - striking out a couple of batters. It was sweeeeeeet! Too bad we didn't catch a foul ball as none came close enough to us. Sydney also didn't get to coach the Rangers first baseman in exchange for a game ball as I was hoping. Next time.
I don't think Sydney or I will forget this experience. She could not wait to tell her friends about it. It was too bad none of her friends went to the game for Keller ISD night. But I think she will be a Rangers fan for life.
We decked out in our Rangers gears and headed to the game in Arlington. We knew we were off to a good start when we got a complimentary ride on the back of a golf cart from the parking lot to the front gate. So it was not much to brag about but it was a first golf cart ride for Sydney. She was getting giddy. We were there an hour before the game so we had time to look around the concourse for a bit. We found our seats after visiting the pro shop. The seats were near the first base, just a little to the outfield (Section 36, Row 20, Seats 5 and 6). They were great seats with full view of every first base action. This was important since Sydney plays first base on her softball team so perhaps she could coach up the Rangers' first baseman from time to time? Perhaps.
Before the action got started, Sydney was thirsty so we went to find something to drink. We went back to the concourse and found an ice cream stand. Ice cream and baseball!!! What can beat that? Suddenly, this dude in a red Rangers shirt approached us as we were trying to decide on a flavor. It was all a blur so bear with me as I recount the harrowing details. He asked if we had heard of some footlong hotdog at Globe Life Park and blah, blah, blah. I eyed him suspiciously and pulled Sydney near me. Were we getting scammed to buy something for an arm and a leg? I muttered: "Well, yes, but we're not really interested. We've had dinner already." (or something like that). He grinned and say "Uh, no....it's a cart that we drive selected guests around the field before the game starts. Would you two like to be our guests?" My eyes got wide and I looked around a bit apprehensively. The concession stand workers were grinning and egging us to say yes. I asked Sydney if she would want to do it. She was also a bit skeptical but said: "Sure. Why not?" I eyeballed his badge a little, trying to memorize some information (in case we get kidnapped and held for ransom) and agreed to go with him, after promising the concession crew that we would be back for our ice cream. This could be it for us. No more Rangers games and no more blue sky ahead.
He asked us to follow him to the elevators and explained the process a bit to us while getting our names and where we were from. He was charged with finding last-minute guests as the regular guests failed to show apparently. We were it, randomly chosen out of the crowd. We would get to go behind the scene, along the corridors under the stadium and past the players' locker room and front offices. How cool was that? As we climbed into the hot dog cart, our host explained that our names would be announced to the crowd around 6:30 and we would be driven around the stadium. We would wave to the crowd during our 2 minutes on fame as our aces are shown on the Jumbotron. No way!!! I texted Tracie to tell her what was happening, in case she could catch us on live TV on the Fox Sports channel. Alas, pre-game activities were not shown on TV.
I wasn't sure who was grinning wider and geeking out while we were being driven slowly around the field - me or Sydney. I caught a couple of glimpses of us on the Jumbotron as we made our way around. I was all teeth! We drove past Brian McCann, the ex-Braves catcher who was playing for the Yankees. Too bad he was too busy talking to wave to us. I would have geeked out even worse as I was a huge McCann fan when he was with Atlanta as part of the "baby-Braves." And when it was over, we stopped an had our picture taken in front of the Rangers logo just outside of the main office before heading back up to our seats.
What a fantastic start to our ballgame experience! We headed back to the concession stand and got our drink and ice cream. Would it count as a first to say that we had our first ice cream cone and our first Sprite at Globe Life Park? Nahh, I'll let that one go. Anyway, we settled down to watch the Rangers trounce the hated Yankees 10-1 before it was all over although we did beeline for the car before the 8th inning was over, trying to get home before the nasty thunderstorm come rolling through. We got to see a bit of everything we were hoping to see, though. We saw a bunch of hits - singles and doubles. We even saw a 436-foot home run by Ian Desmond. We saw the Rangers turn a couple of double plays. We saw the starting pitcher - A.J. Griffin - striking out a couple of batters. It was sweeeeeeet! Too bad we didn't catch a foul ball as none came close enough to us. Sydney also didn't get to coach the Rangers first baseman in exchange for a game ball as I was hoping. Next time.
I don't think Sydney or I will forget this experience. She could not wait to tell her friends about it. It was too bad none of her friends went to the game for Keller ISD night. But I think she will be a Rangers fan for life.
posted by DaddyEyeduck at 1:59 PM
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