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Right about now, somewhere in the neighboring state, my husband, just like throngs of other die-hard Mets fans, is probably watching history online, on t.v. or if they’re lucky– in person– at Shea.
It’s a big day in Queens and the rest of NYC. The Mets, the team that “lives” in our living room for half of the year, is celebrating opening day in Flushing for the last time at
Shea– the place where the Amazin’s have called home for 40-some years.
Personally, we’ve had awesome seats, some pretty bad seats; we’ve seen some great games and we’ve witnessed some miserable ones, too. Beyond our personal memories, Shea is storied with its own history.
I can’t recite stats instinctively like my husband can, but I can tell you that the Mets aren’t just a
team that we follow. They’re a team that has hometown ties, a team that has lifted us up and has let us down…in monumental ways. Our fondness begins with Jeff’s childhood adoration which permeated my way and if it’s possible, grew stronger as we set up shop in the Tri-State area.
On September 30, 2007, the Mets punctuated the most historic collapse in baseball history. On that same day, we left a NJ hospital with our new baby.
For those who have cheered for teams and are familiar with misfortune, “bittersweet” hardly sums it up.
How could we be disappointed when it was *really* the happiest day of our lives?
It’s a new season and baseball’s in full swing.
With a new baseball fan in our brood, not to mention a new stadium opening up for an 
all “new” team, we’re looking forward to even more memories.
[update: ok, so they lost their last home opener at Shea.]
Moral of the story: whether it’s baseball or not, Ya Gotta Believe.
We’re not big Mets fans or anything…
Since Super Bowl is this weekend, I thought I’d share this article about our neighbor, the NY Giants quarterback, the “geeky” Eli Manning.
In case you don’t follow sports, the media and a lot of fans are tapping Eli as the anti-hero who isn’t as flashy as other major famous NY sports figures or his (pretty) colleague, Tom Brady, the quarterback of the Patriots.
Tom Brady, baby-daddy to Bridget Moynahan and boyfriend to supermodel Gisele, has a spiffy pad in the West Village. The magazine insists that Eli is a goofy dude and the antithesis of the quarterback “hero.” The article attempts to illustrate the young Manning’s geekiness with the statement, “When you’re the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft and you move to New York City, you don’t live with your college sweetheart. In Hoboken.”
Whatever. The kid’s geeky. Let him be.
If it’s geeky to live in Hoboken, then we’re ahead of the game.
**
Another interesting Super Bowl tidbit:
Americans will spend an estimated $55 million on their favorite pleasure foods (think junk) so they can eat approximately 11 million pounds of potato chips, 8 million pounds of tortilla chips and 4,000 tons of popcorn.
How much food will YOU have this Sunday?
While the rest of the nation will be busy chowing on guacamole, shoving chips and chomping on wings for the biggest eating holiday behind Thanksgiving, we will be busy with our own celebration. Jack will be baptized on Sunday as a handful of friends and all of our family look on. On the same day as the highly anticipated Super Bowl, Jack’s baptism or Bapt-bowl, as my friend lovingly called it, will be a significant spiritual day for our family.
As I was downloading some pictures from our camera last night, I noticed how the last 500 gazillion pictures or so were not only of Jack, but how he has become quite the sports fan by default. Since sports are always streaming from our tv year round, it’s a good thing Jack has his own gear. From his matching Mr. Mets hat with Jeff to his Skins sleeper, the kid is set for every sporting event.
This poor kid! I keep dressing him up in outfits to take pictures to send to his gracious gift givers. With last night’s game, Ohio v. LSU, I dressed Jack up in his Ohio State outfit from a colleague. His football gear came complete with an accompanying Brutus the Buckeye. Jack couldn’t let the stuffed mascot just sit there, it was imperative that he taste tested the Buckeye for good measure!
A few weeks ago, when we were hanging out with one of our couple friends in town, we were talking about concerts and couple-y stuff. I should re-phrase that: our friends were telling us about the concerts and fun stuff they were doing this summer. One friend asked me what concerts we were going to this summer, if any. I motioned to my growing belly and then pointed to Jeff and joked, “oh we’re probably passing on concerts this summer. And besides, Jeff is a bit agoraphobic.”
So then the other friend said in disbelief, “So what DO you guys like to do?”
As if we sit at home and watch tv every day all day. hahahaha. I looked at Jeff, shrugged my shoulders and reminded them how up until 7 months ago we were quite the bar regulars down the street. And oh yeah, we love BASEBALL!
This year doesn’t count because I’m a bit rotund which makes trekking to Queens a bit difficult. But in years past, Jeff and I loooved going to Mets games. From April until October, we watch every single game on tv unless we had tickets. Jeff’s always been a lifelong Mets fan. And since moving to the area, I can collectively say, we eat, breathe and sleep the Mets all summer long.
Sadly, our Amazins have been in a mid-season slump, but that didn’t stop us from catching a game on Monday night. Jeff’s best friend from high school surprised us with a text by saying he was in the City. Since Joe and Jeff are both die hard Mets fans, we all made plans to catch a game after work. Joe, who has worked aboard ships since he finished school, recently got engaged, so the boys were able to celebrate each other’s major milestones over beer and baseball. Seeing how happy Jeff was with his old friend makes me so excited for next season, in hopes that our little Mets fan can join us for a game or two.
Though it was uncomfortable dealing with the rush hour commuter traffic on the train and then climbing the vertical incline to the Upper Reserves at Shea, Monday night was a gorgeous night. Major milestones and MLB with good friends made for another unforgettable summer memory.
the new stadium in progress
Babyrific 
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