Some of these signs I saw last night, some I made up myself.

Size does matter!

I drove up to Philly with Aliza on Saturday night (Rebecca had to work). I got in late Saturday night and watched the end of game 3 with my dad on TV. The Phils made it more dramatic than they had to, but in the world series a win is a win. Sunday we watched the Eagles and Falcons on TV, and my grandparents came over to see Aliza. Honestly it was hard to focus on the Eagles beating up a second rate team with the WS game only a few hours away. I also found the time to make a quick trip to Rosenberg’s to buy a case of wine. (It’s so nice to be able to shop at a place with good selection and low alcohol tax again). We headed downtown for the game around 5:30, picked up our tickets, and made it to our seats in time for me to wander around taking pictures. One thing I did not see any of was Rays fans. I have gone to hundreds of sporting events in my life, and no matter what the event and what the city there are always a small (yet often vocal) contingent of fans of the visiting team present. This was the only exception to that rule. I walked around half the stadium, on the inside, scouted the stands, and checked the parking lots. Not a single Rays fan was to be found anywhere. I guess when the team has only been around for a decade or so and most of the “fans” have only called themselves that since August, there ins’t much time to build up a fan base that then travels to other cities.

The game was awesome. I screamed myself hoarse, drank some water to recover, and did it again. I even gave myself a headache from screaming. The only disappointing thing was that the crowd was a lot more subdued than I thought they’d be. This is the worls series – we should be at maximum intensity the whole time! Just because it’s between innings is no excuse for not making noise. Also the new open style stadiums are much quieter than the old cereal bowl style stadiums like the vet. Too much open space doesn’t reflect the sound as well. I took a lot of pictures which will all have to make their way to my flickr stream later.

The game ended after midnight, we didn’t get home till 1, and I didn’t get to sleep till 2. I then had to wake up at 5:30 to drive back down to DC. Aliza  of course had a diaper malfunction overnight so I had to change her clothes before I left. I was making great time until I got close to Baltimore – there was an accident on I-95 that backed up traffic for miles. By the time I cleared it I was hitting rush hour traffic, and then there was another accident on the DC beltway. I finally go to work around 10:30, having slept only 3 hours the night before and having already spent 4 hours in a car. Between the emotional rush of last night, the lack of sleep, and doing all the driving, I don’t think tired can even begin to describe how I feel today. Much like Obama, I transcend tired. I am in a post-exhaustion state. Somehow I have managed to avoid falling asleep with s steady regimen of eating junk food and drinking caffeine.

The only negative for me is that the Phils sloppy hitting in game 2 means that they didn’t clinch last night.  Since they didn’t I’m going to be in DC when they clinch tonight, and won’t be able to go to the massive party on broad street. There are some Phillies bars in DC but I don’t know if I’ll be awake enough to still be out at midnight.