Mr Renn's adventures as a Phillies Fan

by Mr Renn
So most of the world didn't even care about this series. And I must say if I didn't live in Philadelphia I probably wouldn't have paid much attention to it either. But I do. As many might already know I have become more attuned to the sport of baseball in recent years but have only been to three major league games: Baltimore, NY, and Boston. I love the electric atmosphere, the smell of hot dogs or barbecue, peanuts (but not so much the cracker jacks), batting practice, the crack of the bat...it's a wonderful game. So when a friend approached me at church and said he had an extra ticket to World Series game 5 for Monday night and wondered if I'd be interested... It took a minute to respond because I was so shocked. I had been following the series on TV and knew that the Phillies could clinch it at home for that game. I humbly accepted (after clearing it with my wife) and then I just had to wait for Monday to come.
And it came soon enough. The excitement began to build while we were stuck in the car for almost 2 hours to get to the game and find parking. It started to sprinkle while we were still in the car but that didn't deter us one bit.
After fighting through crowds of happy fans we found our seats just in time for the first pitch. The crowd was loud and the team seemed to respond to it, until about the 3rd inning when it started raining a little harder and the wind came in a little stronger. We were sitting in great seats 27 rows up from the field on the third base line. I felt bad for the people in the right field bleachers because they were getting hit directly by all the wind and rain. There were quite a few open seats by the end of the 4th in that area.
It was quite the game to be at in person...to see the rain falling harder and your breathing getting more visible...to see the players struggling in the mud and wet turf, straining to see fly balls because of the rain drops falling in their eyes...the pitchers struggling to get good grips on the ball. It was amazing they didn't' call the game earlier than they did. But as many of you know they did call it half way through the fifth. And it was postponed for 2 days until Wednesday night. Where we returned. We made much better time traffic-wise and were able to get seated an hour before game time. It was very interesting to sit in the same seats and to see all of the same people sitting by you. It was still cold, but at least it was dry.

Round two

3 strikes to goThe crowd was even more loud and than Monday. There really was something in the air that the Phillies were going to win their first championship in 28 years. And as you all know, they did.

I have never given so many high fives and hugs to random people in my life. We stayed until they presented the trophy and then cheerfully began walking out of the stadium. There were almost as many cars and people coming to the stadium to celebrate as there were leaving to go home. The streets were packed, the sidewalks were saturated with beer, horns were honking, and cheers and high fives came from everyone we passed. It was marvelous! One of the coolest scenes that I didn't' get a picture of was a mob of phans (phillies+fans) blocking an intersection as two firetrucks with sirens were attempting to get through. Rather than honking the horns, the firemen rolled down the windows and gave the mob members high fives. Classic. It was nice to be a part of history (being one of 45,000 fans that attended the longest game in World Series history almost 47 hours (with a 36 hour rain delay). If you have a minute, some great stories behind the scenes. I was very fortunate to have this opportunity and I wish to thank my friends (and Pepsi Bottling) for the seats.